Page 109 of Not Part of the Plan
“Could you say no to that?” Emma’s voice was shrill. “How could anyone pass up Nikolai Vulkov? He’s sexy, smart, funny, sweet, rides a motorcycle, looks even better naked than he does wearing clothes, and he looks damn good wearing clothes.” She ticked the points off on her fingers. “I just wanted to see what it was like to be with him and not worry about the future for once.”
Ellery and Anthony had given up all pretenses of minding their own business and were watching in rapt fascination.
Then they all heard it. The whole bar tuned in to the revving of a motorcycle engine.
Emma felt the color drain from her cheeks. “Shit.”
“Heeeeeee’s baaaaaaaack,” Joey sang.
The engine cut out.
Emma was debating whether she should just crouch down behind the bar or try to make a run for the back door when Niko strode inside. He proved her point to a tee, wearing jeans, boots, and a leather jacket over a fitted gray t-shirt. His hair was tousled, and the thin line of his mouth and the sharp, dark eyes told Emma he was beyond pissed.
“You want to explain why I wake up to an empty bed and then have to rent a fucking car at the train station to get back home, Emmaline?”
She blanched. She hadn’t actually expected him to return to Blue Moon and hadn’t felt guilty about taking her car from the station.
Joey leaned in. “I’m just going to point out that he just called Blue Moon ‘home,’” she said in a stage whisper.
“Shut up, Joey,” Emma said without looking at her friend. “Don’t you guys have some place else to be?”
“Oh, hell no.”
“Nope.”
“I’m very comfortable right here.”
Niko stalked right behind the bar and grabbed her arm. “Let’s talk.”
“I don’t want to.” She sounded like a three-year-old.
“I don’t give a shit.”
An “oooooh” from their audience echoed off the rafters.
“This is my job. You can’t come in here and pick a fight with me!”
“I’d rather fight with you at my place, but you snuck out in the middle of the night!”
Emma shot a scathing look down the bar silencing the next “oooooh.”
“Fine,” she shrugged. “You want to have it out in front of everyone? I rejected you, and you’re pissed off. Let’s deal with it. I live and work here in Blue Moon. You live and work in the city. Why don’t we just get back to our separate lives and forget any of this happened?”
Niko slammed his hand down on the bar, and Emma flinched. The girls pulled their drinks out of the danger zone.
“I havenevermet a woman that made me want to strangle her like you do,” he growled.
And why exactly did that admission get her just the tiniest bit hot?Emma wanted to know. Her body was a god damn traitor. Just Niko’s presence had her blood pumping and a painful throb intensifying in her core.
“Threats of violence? That’s a great way to win over a woman,” Emma sneered.
“That’s it.” The words cracked like a whip. “We’re finishing this, and you’re going to listen.” He pulled out his wallet and threw some bills on the bar and eyed Cheryl. “Next round’s on me. Sorry for the disturbance.”
Before Emma could argue, Niko’s fingers closed around her wrist, and he was dragging her in the direction of her office.
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“You’re taking this scorned lover thing to extremes,” Emma complained, yanking away from him and stepping inside. Her relief at finishing this in private wavered when he slammed the door shut hard enough to rattle it on its hinges.
