Page 21 of Sweet as Sin (Bad Habit 1)
“No.” His response was immediate and unequivocal, as hard as two fingers snapping.
We were quiet. Something was happening here. I felt it, I knew it, but I couldn’t trust it. Not yet.
But I could be real about how I felt. I could own my confusion. If nothing else, at least I could be honest. I took a breath, and leapt.
“I don’t get it. The whole thing with Avery. I want to believe you, but it seems really weird. And honestly like you could just be bullshitting me to get me to sleep with you. I’ve been down a lot of crappy relationship roads, Nico. Yes, today was amazing. Yes, I loved meeting you. Yes . . . I’m attracted to you.”
His intake of breath thrilled me. I imagined Grace wagging her finger in my face.
“But I’m not interested in being the on-the-side girl. The one-nighter girl. The meaningless-fuck girl. That’s just not me.”
There was silence. When he finally spoke again his voice was quiet. “You ever have somethin’ in your life you can’t talk about, not just because people wouldn’t understand, but also because keepin’ your mouth shut was the right thing to do? For someone else?”
That one was a no-brainer. A painful bitch of a no-brainer. “Yes.”
“It’s that. With me and Avery. And honestly? I’ve never had to explain this shit before, because the women I usually run into don’t give a fuck about who else I’m with.”
I formed a mental picture of Nico’s dick “running into” several women, and grimaced.
“But you do. So I’m explainin’ it. Because I want you to understand, and to believe me. Because, like I said, I wanna get to know you. Avery isn’t my girlfriend. She’s important to me, and I care about her, but not in that way.”
I had finally managed to unroll all the toilet paper from the plastic dispenser on the stall wall. I stared down at the pile at my feet, debating with myself. Trying to convince myself I didn’t really think he was telling the truth.
Only I did.
“Okay.”
“Okay, what?”
“Okay, I believe you.”
Silence. Then, softly, “Fuckin’ A, Kat.”
He was happy. More than happy, judging by his voice. Ridiculously, that made me happy, too.
But first, some rules.
“This doesn’t mean I’m sleeping with you. Or that we’re going to date, in any normal sense of the word. It only means that I get you need to protect whatever it is you have with Avery, and I believe you when you say she isn’t your girlfriend. Everything else is still up for debate.”
“Well, let’s get to it, then.”
I frowned. “Get to what?”
“Debatin’. I’m outside Lula’s now. I’ll be right in.”
Nico disconnected the call.
My stomach dropped to the general vicinity of my ankles. I shot off the toilet, slammed out of the stall, and ran back to the table.
Grace took one look at my face and knew. “Shit. He’s coming here, isn’t he?”
I sank into my chair, too freaked out to respond.
“What? Here? When?” Chloe jumped up, craning her neck, looking around the restaurant in terror as if it were a mafia hitman she was expecting.
And not just, you know, one of the most famous, handsome, sexy, famous men in the country.
I managed a rational question. “What do I do?”
