Sweet As Sin

15

“Yeah, I do. And remember before that, when I said you were a liar?”

“Do you think you’re being cute?”

“I’m a lot of things, Kat, but cute isn’t one of ’em.”

He said the word “cute” as if it tasted really bad coming out of his mouth. I had to smile at how much that irritated him.

“Well, my friend Grace would agree with you there. She thinks you have a huge ego, you never hear the word ‘no,’ and you’re only interested in me because you hate not getting your way.”

The pauses in this conversation were growing longer and longer.

“Hmm. Your friend already hates me, and we haven’t even met yet? Bummer.”

“Well, Chloe doesn’t hate you. She thinks I should give you a chance.”

“I like Chloe better than Grace,” Nico said immediately.

I had to laugh. Talking with him felt good. Also incredibly strange, but mostly just good.

“Love that fuckin’ laugh of yours, Kat Reid.”

His voice had gone all low and rough. Which, in turn, made my face get hot. I didn’t know what to say. I fiddled with the toilet paper dispenser.

“I wanna see you again.”

I closed my eyes. “I’m not that girl, Nico,” I said softly.

“We have chemistry that’s off the fuckin’ charts, Kat. You ever felt like that before, first time meetin’ someone? Because I sure fuckin’ haven’t. There’s somethin’ between us. I wanna get to know you, find out what it is. Gimme a chance.”

His words thrilled me. But then again I was a closet romantic with a long and glorious history of shitty choices in men. My judgment couldn’t be trusted.

However, he cursed more than me, which was no small achievement. I liked it. And I liked hearing him talk. I liked the deep, lilting timbre of his voice. It did something to me.

All that was beside the point. The glaringly obvious point.

“Avery—”

“Is not my girlfriend.” His voice was rough, but in a different way. He was frustrated. “I told you, I wouldn’t ask you out if she was.”

Did I believe him? Could I? I’d unrolled half the toilet paper onto the floor before I spoke again. “Is that what you’re doing? Asking me out?”

“Just tryin’ to get to know you. We can go out, we can stay in. We can just drive around in my car if you want. I do that sometimes, drive around, nowhere in mind. Just to clear my head.”

“Me, too.”

I was surprised we had that in common. Why would Nico Nyx need to drive around and clear his head? Too many choices about how to spend his money?

“Is that a yes?”

I heard the hope in his voice. My heart, which to this point had been doing a reasonable job of not bursting, threatened to do just that. Determination wavering, I bit my lip.

“My boyfriend wouldn’t like it.”

“Yeah, if he fuckin’ existed, he probably wouldn’t. Quit playin’ games with me, Kat.”

I faked offense. “How do you know I don’t have a boyfriend? Do I look like I couldn’t get a boyfriend or something?”

I might have been fishing for a compliment there.

Nico didn’t take the bait. He made an aggravated sound, halfway between a sigh and a growl. “All right. Here’s the deal. If you really don’t want me to, I won’t call again. I’m not a stalker. But I think you’re bullshittin’ me about havin’ a boyfriend. At least be up front about it.”

He was quiet for a moment, just breathing. “Well?”

Again, that hope in his voice. Who was this badass rocker/hopeful boy with the filthy mouth and that beautiful, sweet soulfulness? The combination made me crumble.

“I don’t have a boyfriend.”

His exhalation was relieved. Hearing it, my stupid, never-learning heart soared. “Do you have a girlfriend?” I asked.

“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-f**k 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 b***h of a no-brainer. “Yes.”

“It’s that. With me and Avery. And honestly? I’ve never had to explain this s**t before, because the women I usually run into don’t give a f**k about who else I’m with.”

I formed a mental picture of Nico’s d**k “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.”