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“It’s impossible not to think about something so lovely.” Nico’s eyes lick up my body until they meet the unimpressed look on my face.
“It would be nice if you could actually treat me like thefriendyou say you are.” My hands run over the sticky skin of my thighs. “Maybe you simply don’t know how to. I can’t fault you for that, but I’d appreciate it if sometimes consideringwow, how will this affect Lily?could be a part of your thought process.”
“I do.” He frowns, and I immediately feel bad for laying into him like this, but there’s no use letting grievances like this fester.
“You try but—” I want to piece my words together nicely. Maybe I’m overreacting. We aren’t dating. However, we’ll be living together for the next three weeks, and I can’t just let him walk all over me. I would make no exception for any other man in my company. “You leave your breakfast dishes out every morning and expect me to pick them up. The other day you used my toothpaste and never gave it back. You take my things, finish my snacks, and pretend my things are ours.”
“My things are yours if you want them,” he says sheepishly.
“That’s not what I’m saying, Nico. Of course you can use my things.” I sigh, feeling incredibly petty for no real reason. “Look, my younger sister and Avery always do little things like this. It’s like you’ve always been taken care of and don’t have to consider others too much. I know it may seem small, but if you can just try, it would make me feel better.”
Nico frowns, watching me for a moment. “You’re right, Lily. I didn’t even realize I was annoying you.”
“It’s fine, honestly.” I try to smile, but Nico looks positively crushed. I feel like crap. “I don’t want to work myself up into resenting you over some unspoken nonsense.”
“I’m sorry, Lil.” Nico kicks the sand off his feet. “I’ll make it up to you by introducing you to Diego later tonight.”
“Didn’t you already agree to do that?”
“Yes, but now I’ll be nice about it.” The grin returns, and Nico jogs off toward Ana’s cafe. While he’s away, I start thinking about what I’m going to do with my writing for the rest of the time I’m here.
“Have you always been such a deep thinker?” Nico hands over a bag of delectablecoxinhas, and I take his peace offering that he spent a few minutes fetching for me.
“I usually have a lot on my mind.” I take a bite out of the long-awaited lunch.
A part of me aches to share thatCoastal Flinghad record sales this week. The novella is doing better than all of my other releases. There’s been an uptick in readership on my blog too.
I even got an email from a book podcast wanting to do an interview. Unfortunately, they refused to record me without video, and since I’m never planning to reveal my face, I had to pass.
It’s still kind of exciting. I’ve already made the same amount of money the Mademoiselle would pay me for a month of work, tips included. The sudden influx of cash is a reasonable enough excuse for procrastinating buying my ticket home.
The reminder of New York makes my food taste sour, so I turn to Nico and try to steer the conversation in a different direction. “I’ve been meaning to ask, don’t you have an app to build? I feel like I’m distracting you from working.”
“Maybe I like it when you distract me.”
Of course, he’s deflecting any and all questions about his job. I suppose I’m doing the same. We’re more alike than I care to admit, given our different philosophies on life.
“How’s itactuallygoing?” I ask.
“This morning, I learned that the concept I wanted to create already exists. Now, I get to spend the next three weeks enjoying my surf lessons before figuring out my next destination or staying in Brazil a while longer.” Nico flops down next to me, his elbows on his knees. “An idea will present itself, eventually. I’m not worried about it.”
“At least you have all summer, right? It’s bound to work out.”
“Exactly. I think I’m in a small creative rut right now, but I’ll be thinking outside the box in no time.” The corner of Nico’s lips rises in a half smirk, and I’m not sure if his confidence is actually waning.
The only thing I know about Nico’s job is that after selling his first app to Viggle, he was brought on to work as a lead software engineer. Maybe he’s simply not motivated by a paycheck.
Although, I do remember Avery mentioning that Nico has more money than her husband—and Luca owns a three-bedroom condo on the Upper West Side, plus a ten-million-dollar house in Montauk.
Very well-off indeed.
I shudder at how quickly my imagination inflates.What do I know?It’s all talk anyway.
“I’m sure the next big thing will come.” I try to keep my eyes off another part of Nico that’s very big and well-off.
“Always does.” He winks. “Kind of my specialty.”
“Nico?”
