Wild Nights With My Brother's Ex-Best Friend novel Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Chapter 18

NICOLE

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Roman’s pleased at the sight of me, and I can tell just how proud he is of himself by the smug look on his ridiculously handsome face.

“This is completely unacceptable behavior, Roman!” I say through clenched teeth.

“Let’s just get in the car before anyone you might know sees us, alright?” He opens the passenger’s door for me, and I get in his car. It’s a sports car of some kind-a Porsche, I think-and the windows are smoked. I watch as he slowly makes his way around the car before opening his own door and getting in.

His eyes are on me as he settles into his seat. I keep my eyes trained on his face with my arms crossed. The way he looks at me makes me melt-quite literally. I squeeze my thighs shut because of the sudden itchy stab I feel between my legs, and his gaze drops suddenly, lingering on my thighs before they return to my face.

He noticed. Of course, he did.

“Nikki,” he begins calmly and patiently like he’s talking to a child who doesn’t know any better and is probably getting on his nerves, “you’re making things unnecessarily difficult for us both, you know that?”

I sigh. “Roman, don’t—”

“Before you interrupt me, let’s get a few things straight from the get-go. What do you know? What did I tell you? Carmen means nothing to me. Our engagement was—you already know this, Nikki-a thing I agreed to because I was bored. I didn’t have anything better to do with my time and the benefits attached to it were tempting. I’m a businessman and an opportunist, Nikki. Taking advantage of situations is what I do best.”

I narrow my eyes at him. “Why does it feel like you’re saying that to me?”

He makes a face. “Because I am.”

“That’s not what I mean, Roman!”

“The point is,” he adds loudly, “that I want you with every fiber of my fucking being, alright? One word from you and I end the engagement. It won’t cost me a fucking thing.”

“Is it fair to her?”

“She’ll probably find another billionaire to sink her teeth into,” Roman replies, smirking as he strokes his chin. “You don’t have to worry about her, Little Miss Empath.”

My face colors. “You don’t have to be a dick about it. It sucks, alright? This whole situation sucks.”

“Harder than you did last night?”

I groan. “Could you be serious for once? Please?”

“Only if you ask nicely. On your knees, preferably.”

15:15 Wed, Oct 22

Chapter 18

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I start to open the door but he grabs my wrist, stopping me. “Okay, fine. I’ll stop. I mean it. I’m just…you don’t have to be so defensive around me, Nikki. We’ve known each other our whole lives. You’re not like this.”

“You don’t know that,” I shoot back. “People change. You’ve changed.”

“Not that much. I’m still as crazy about you as I was before.”

I search his eyes. “You’re a damn liar. You weren’t that crazy about me. If you were, you would’ve made a

move.”

“How could I when you were my best friend’s sister? Mason would’ve killed me. Plus, it’s an unspoken rule- you don’t date your friend’s sister.”

I feel sick to my stomach. I really don’t like discussing Mason when I’m with him. Roman digs his fingers under my chin and forces me to look at him. “I didn’t have anything better to do with my time. I didn’t have much to look forward to. But now that I’ve found you, I don’t want to let you go. I can’t. Don’t ask me to, Nikki.”

God, I’m so insanely, blindly attracted to this man. Everything about Roman is so inviting to me. Even the way he looks at me is enough to make me weak in the knees. His stare holds a promise that my body aches to fulfill. And he knows exactly what he does to me even though we never mention it out loud. It’s like speaking a language only we know.

“I don’t know what I’m doing, Roman,” I admit.

“Neither do I, to tell you the truth. And don’t make the mistake of thinking I didn’t put any thought into this. Trust me, I’ve been beating myself up lately. But I know for a fact that I want you, Nikki. Let me take you out for dinner-I want to spend more time with you.”

I think of the first thing that could prevent me from going out with him. “You’re famous, Roman. Aren’t you afraid the paparazzi or something will catch us and your fiancée will find out before you have a chance to talk to her about things?”

“No, actually,” is his response. “I’ll take you somewhere quiet.”

I sigh. “I don’t know, Roman.”

He places his hand on my thigh and my breath hitches in my throat. “Come on, don’t do this to me. You’re breaking my heart here.”

I meet his gaze and realize that I can’t tell whether he’s being genuine or not. It’s so hard to tell with Roman because he’s such a jokester at best. But the truth is that I want to be around him, too. And you know what? I believe him. I don’t think he’s lying about Carmen.

That doesn’t change anything, though.

“Fine,” I say. “I’ll go out with you. But after tonight, we can’t see each other again. I have my reasons, Roman, and I can’t move past them. You know that.”

He runs a hand through his hair, disheveling it. The look he gives me makes my heart beat a lot faster. “Fine, Nikki. You win. This’ll be our last time, then.”

15:15 Wed, Oct 22

Chapter 18

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I’m partly relieved and disappointed when he says this. Nodding, I open his car and step out. I’ve only got one foot on the sidewalk when he grabs my arm, though.

“I’ll make it count,” is all he says before releasing me. Why am I so turned on by his words? This should be a goodbye, for crying out loud. I have responsibilities and they can’t be ignored.

As I walk back to the building, I realize that maybe I made a mistake by agreeing to see him. Instinctively, I know that this won’t amount to anything good. Roman is persistent and he’s such a pain in the ass at most. At this point, I’m just toying with my own feelings and prolonging the inevitable.

Not only that, I’m making sure my heart will get really broken by the time this fling of ours comes to an end.

Haley’s in the office when I get back, and the sight of her makes my heart skip a beat. Her eyes are wide when she looks at me. “Where were you? You didn’t lock up and I got so worried.”

“Just went out for some fresh air,” I claim as I look around the room. The damned bouquet of red roses is right on my table, and yes, she’s already seen them.

“Who are these from?” she asks, picking it up. The card that came along with it is right next to my keyboard. Did she see it? I don’t think so.

“Dan,” I simply answer.

Haley’s eyes meet mine, and for a moment, I’m not sure what I’m reading in them. I don’t like it, though. She returns the bouquet to its original position, then tells me, “You’ve got to be careful with that man. He’s dangerous. Come on, I want to show you how the flyers look.”

I realize later on that I don’t know who she was referring to, Roman or Dan, and the knots in my tummy just get more and more painfully twisted.

It could be either one of them.

God, I have to end this thing with Roman tonight. It can’t wait. I need to get my old life back, no matter the

cost.