Page 76 of Together

“Ready to tell me its name yet?”

“Huh?”

Nik wiggles his eyebrows and all those loving thoughts of how sweet and generous he is get muddled by him being a little shit.

“Are you for real right now?” I whisper shout, looking around.

“You really think anyone here is going to know what you’re talking about if you just tell me a name?”

“Well, no, but... are you ever going to drop it?”

“No.”

He tosses some Wheat Thins in the cart, looks closer at them, places them back on the shelf and grabs the sun-dried tomato flavored crackers instead. “These are the ones you like, yeah?” he asks when he notices me watching him.

I nod and he pushes the cart forward, stopping for a container of vanilla wafer cookies. They’re disgusting and I love them. I eat two every day. Okay, that’s a lie. I eat more than two but I can’t help it. I’m craving those flavorless crumbly cookies that hold zero nutritional value. And Nik doesn’t mind one bit.

“Want me to grill a bunch of chicken tonight? We can use it this week for lunches, then.”

Again, I nod. My voice box got stolen right along with my heart.

Darn Nik and his swoony ways.

How dare he make me fall for him.

“Jamie,” I blurt out.

“No shit? Well, that makes sense,” he says, laughing. The fact that he caught on to me saying a name and knew what I was referencing, and who it is named after, makes me smile.

“I’m a wee bit obsessed,” I say, trying to feign a Scottish accent.

He bursts out laughing and stops the cart in the middle of the cheese aisle. Mmm. Cheese. “Yeah. That didn’t work. Listen,” he says, “I’m a wee bit obsessed.” His accent is spot on. I’m actually surprised he’snotfrom Scotland for as perfect as his accent sounds.

“Holy shit.” I think I just had an orgasm right next to the smoked gouda.

“It’s all in the tongue.”

“Of course it is,” I agree. “Say something else.”

He rolls his eyes. “You’re ridiculous,” he says, pulling me in and kissing my forehead. “I dinnae want to wait for our wee barra to arrive,” he says. He’s full-on Scottish. With the exception of a few English words thrown in, too.

“Wowza.”

“You like that, did ya?” He grabs three blocks of cheese and dumps them into the shopping cart.

“Just a tad, yeah. You’ve been holding out on me.”

“Like to keep a bit of mystery about me. Don’t want to lay it all out there. Where’s the fun in that?”

I wrap my arms around his waist and give him a squeeze. He kisses me on top of the head and all I can think is that I can’t wait to keep finding out more of the mysteries that make up Nik Warner.

Chapter Seventeen

Ashley - Seven Months Along

“I’ll callyou when I’m on my way home, okay?”

“Sounds good,” Nik replies. “Just be safe and have fun.”

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