Lily sidestepped Nikoli, and he turned baleful eyes upon her. Didn’t the woman know when to stay put?
“Adam, what do you want?” she said, resigned.
“I came to talk to you, to apologize, but I see you are busy doing…”
“Don’t,” Nikoli said softly.
“You need to get the fuck out,” Adam snarled. “I came to talk to Lily, not you.”
“But I’m not ready to talk to you, Adam.” Lily walked over to the door and motioned for Adam to leave. “What you did…I can’t just forget it. At least not yet. I need you to leave.”
“Lily, please,” Adam begged. “We can’t leave it like this…”
“You should have thought of that before you decided to be an ass,” Nikoli told him. “Now get out.”
“Lily, you can’t trust him.” Adam begged her with his eyes.
“Right now, I trust him more than I do you.”
Adam’s face paled, but he nodded. “I’m sorry, Lils, for everything. I’ll make this right.” He started to leave, but stopped in front of her. “I swear to you I will.” He gave her a quick hug, looking sad when her entire body flinched.
Nikoli noticed the flinch. She’d been around him all day and hadn’t flinched once. His plan was working. The longer she was around him, and the more he forced her to get used to his touch, the less it scared her. Odd that Adam scared her, though. They’d been around each other since they were little kids. She had to know the feel of him better than anyone else. She even admitted that Adam had tried to help her in the beginning. Maybe the key was she hadn’t wanted to be helped back then. She wanted help now. Either way, it was a win-win for him.
Lily was pale when she closed the door. Nikoli had wanted to try to push her a little farther, but he knew that was probably out of the question now. “You want to come over for a while? Luther would love to hear all the details of how you kicked my ass today.”
She smiled, but shook her head. “No, I have some stuff I need to do, and I promised some of the girls we’d watch a movie later. Besides, I’m not sure I want to go to your place…ever.”
“Why the hell not?” he asked indignantly. What was wrong with his place?
“It can’t be at all sterile.” Lily shuddered at the thought. “I mean, I’ve heard the stories about your furniture.”
Nikoli grinned his lazy grin. “We are going to have some fun on that furniture too.”
She shook her head. “You plan on having me sit, yeah?”
“Sit, bend over, lie down,” Nikoli purred. “On the couch, the table, the bed…yes, Milaya, you are going to become very intimate with my furniture.”
“Not in this lifetime,” she said, grimacing. “God only knows what kind of fluids are still there. You want me to come over? Get some new furniture, especially the table.”
“You want me to get rid of perfectly good furniture just so you’ll come over?”
“I want you to get rid of the nasty furniture covered in countless diseases.”
“It’s not covered in diseases.” He rolled his eyes. The chick was being ridiculous.
“How often do you clean your couch?” she countered. “Do you scrub your table in bleach afterward? Do you realize you could be eating nasty fluids?”
He frowned. “No.”
“So gross, Nikoli. I’m not stepping foot in that place till you clean it. There, or your other place, for that matter.”
“Lily, you were just there last night.”
“I wasn’t thinking about it then!” she yelled. “If you think for one second I’m getting into a bed other women have been in, you’re insane!”
He laughed. “I’ll buy new sheets.” He didn’t think she even realized what she’d said and where her thoughts were taking her. If she was talking about getting into bed, his chances just got a whole lot better.
“Not gonna happen, buster!” She pointed her finger at him. “It’s the principle of the thing! Every time I look at it, I’ll think about all the women who’ve been in it before!”
Nikoli laughed out loud. She looked offended.
“It’s not funny!” she fumed.
“Yeah, Lily Bells, it’s funny as hell.” His grin only made her more furious, but he didn’t care.
“Trust me, Kincaid, I’m not stepping foot in there until you buy some new furniture.”
“You’re serious, aren’t you?”
“Dead serious.”
“How would you even know if it’s new or not?” he asked.
“I’ve been to your apartment before,” she told him smugly.
“When?”
“Remember when I tutored Luther?”
He groaned. Luther had been embarrassed about failing one of his classes last year, and Lily must have come by the apartment to help him. She knew what the furniture looked like. Dammit. He was going have to spend money.
“Fine, I’ll buy some fucking new furniture. Happy?”
Lily smiled. “Yes, very.”
“How happy?” he asked, moving closer to her.
Her eyes narrowed. “Not that happy.”
He stopped moving and studied her for a moment. She looked nervous, but the fear and panic from last night weren’t in her eyes. He wasn’t stupid enough to think it couldn’t rear back up if he pushed too hard. All the progress he’d made today would be lost if he didn’t do this just right.
“Come here, Lily.”
“Why?” She took another step backward.
“Come. Here.” He put more force into his words, into his voice.
Lily frowned, but shuffled closer. “What do you want?”
“Here.” He pointed to the spot right in front of him. “Don’t make me ask again.”
He fought a smile at her indignant expression. She didn’t like being told what to do. At all. She moved to within inches of him, though, despite the anger in her eyes.
“Was that so hard?” he murmured.
“Depends on why you decided to go all alpha male.” Her eyes were warier than they had been a minute ago.
“Patience is only a small part of helping you, Lily,” he told her solemnly. “The other part is dominance. You need rules and structures to completely heal.”
Her eyes narrowed and he held up his hand to stop her before she said anything. “Last night you were a mess, Milaya, crying and nearly going into a panic attack at the thought of my hands on you.”
“And?”
“And do you feel that way today?” he asked gently. “Do you feel anxious being this close to me? Do you need to run, to hide, or to flinch away from my touch?”
Her eyes widened slightly.
“The answer is no, Milaya. I didn’t give you choices today. You spent the day with me, dressed exactly as I wanted you dressed. I helped you decide to touch me by trapping you, distracting you so you couldn’t panic. I set the rules for our outing today, and you are stronger, more confident now because of those rules.”
“I…I’m not sure what you want me to say.” Her eyes were full of questions and uncertainty.
“I don’t want you to say anything, Milaya,” he said, his voice firm. “I just want you to stand perfectly still and remain silent. Don’t move, and keep your eyes straight ahead.”
He studied her profile. She was nervous, but not nearly as nervous as when Adam left. Deciding to take a chance on pushing her, Nikoli walked over to her closet. She had it partially open, and he’d seen several scarves. He selected the thinnest one he could find. He had much more suitable ones at the apartment, but this would have to do for now.
Lily trembled. She could hear Nikoli behind her rummaging through her closet. She’d heard the sliding door squeak as he pushed it out of his way. Why was he in her closet? The urge to look was strong, but she fought it. Honestly, she was almost afraid to look. She closed her eyes and shifted from foot to foot. She wanted to laugh at the absurdity of the situation. The campus manwhore was in her room, giving her crazy orders, and she was obeying. Why? No clue other than she’d never been in a situation like this before and she was curious. Curious enough to tamp down her own fears for a few minutes.