Page 16 of Sweet as Sin (Bad Habit 1)
“Nico, no. Just no. Please stop it. I’m not a toy. You need to respect what I’m telling you. I’m flattered, but I’m not interested in anything except getting through today, and getting back to real life. Okay?”
He paused, gauging my tone. “Okay.”
Relief swept through me. Disappointment, too, but I ignored that. I shouldn’t have been too relieved, however, because Nico wasn’t done with me yet.
“I’ll let you up on one condition: prove you’re not attracted to me.”
I glared at him. “Would you prefer me to stab you with one of my heels, or gouge your eyes out with my fingernails?”
“Nah. A kiss will do the job.”
Was I on drugs? Had I even gotten out of bed this morning? Maybe this was all an elaborate dream, and right now I was snug in bed with the covers pulled over my head. I stared at Nico, at a loss for what to do.
My body had a few ideas, but my brain wasn’t on board with any of them.
“I don’t kiss strange men.”
“I’m not a stranger. We’ve been introduced.” His fingers curled over the curve of my hip. His head dipped toward mine.
Breathing was becoming difficult. My face felt so hot it burned. “I don’t kiss men with girlfriends.”
“We already covered that. She’s not my girlfriend. Next excuse?”
My hands were flattened against his bare chest as I tried to push him away. My voice came out small. “I don’t want to.”
Nico shook his head, his eyes hot. “Such a fuckin’ liar,” he whispered.
Before I could react, he lowered his mouth to mine.
“Dude!”
“What a jerk.”
“An insanely hot jerk!”
“Yet a jerk, nonetheless.”
Grace wasn’t nearly as impressed by my scorching encounter with Nico as Chloe was. Older than Chloe and me by five years, Grace was a marriage and family therapist in Beverly Hills who had no time for players, bullshitters, or cheaters. She clearly had put Nico Nyx into all three categories.
Rightly so.
We were at Lula’s. It was past eight o’clock. I was on my second margarita, halfway through telling the story of my incredible, insane, impossible day.
“Please tell me you slapped him. Or at least didn’t kiss him back.” Grace waited for my answer, a chip loaded with salsa poised in the air on the way to her mouth.
“Um.”
Grace was scandalized. The chip fell to her plate. “Kat!”
“I couldn’t help it!”
Chloe was practically swooning at the thought of me kissing Nico. “Oh, God, I bet he tastes like sunshine. Does he taste like sunshine?”
No, Chloe. He actually tastes like crack. Or what I assume crack must taste like: heaven.
I made a noncommittal noise instead of voicing my thoughts, and shoveled more chips into my mouth.
“Kat.”
