“Thank you,” he told her seriously as he looked her in the eye. “Really. I’ve been walking all night, and I had no idea where I was.”
“I was wondering why there was a white boy walking down our street at this time of night,” Honey said as she finally finished.
Nikos looked at the shirt before he glanced at the hall that led to her bedroom. “Boyfriend?”
“Ex,” Honey corrected, “though it’s not any of your business.”
Nikos slipped the shirt on, flexing his abs as he did so, and Honey stood.
“Okay, you can go now,” Honey said as she made her way over to her kitchen. “If you go two blocks down to your right, you can catch the train, or you can call for a taxi or an Uber.”
“Is this how you treat all of your guests?” Nikos asked with a lazy grin. “No offer for a drink or water, breakfast in bed?”
“Breakfast in bed is definitely off the table for you,” Honey said. “Only the men that I like receive that.”
“So, I’m still on your hit list,” Nikos said as he came over, leaning against her counter as she unbagged her groceries. “I was hoping my gift would take me off that.”
“It will take more than flowers to get me to actually like you, Nikos,” Honey said. “But the gift was appreciated, and I’m pretty sure the girls like you more than ever now. Now there probably won’t be one girl at the club untouched by you.”
“Except you,” Nikos said, amused.
“Except me,” Honey agreed.
Nikos came around the counter and crowded her space until her back was pressed against her refrigerator. “I’m still wondering if there’s a way I can change that.”
“It’s not possible,” Honey said, unimpressed by him. Though they were close, and she could smell the scent of his woody cologne and feel the heat of his body, she wouldn’t break. Nikos Drakos was a handsome guy and skillful with his words and tongue, but she wasn’t a woman to fall for pretty blue eyes and a pretty face.
She needed more than that, considering she was responsible for more than herself now.
Just as Nikos got ready to probably toss another flirtatious line her way, in which she would show him where the front door was since he seemed to have forgotten, she heard a door creak along with the light patter of feet against her wooden floors. Both she and Nikos turned to the right to see her eight-year-old son standing in front of them. He wore a pair of Transformer pajamas and had a transformers toy in his hand.
Honey pushed Nikos back.
“Kai, why are you still up? It’s time for bed,” Honey said, exasperated. She had put her son to bed just before making a quick drop to the store. She didn’t think she and Nikos made that much noise, but the walls in her apartment were notoriously thin.
“I couldn’t go to sleep,” he said as he looked at Nikos curiously, and now Honey wished she had pushed Nikos out the moment she finished helping him. She didn’t like having strangers around her child, and it was very rare that she brought a man around her son, not that Nikos was a man to her.
“This is your son?” Nikos asked, surprised with a bewildered look on his face. She couldn’t blame him. It was not like she had necessarily broadcasted to the world that she had a child. Many of the girls at the club had no clue that she had a son, except for Rachel and Amber.
“Nikos, this is my son, Kai,” Honey introduced. Maybe it wasn’t a bad thing that Nikos knew she had a son. Maybe this would stop all of his flirtations as it did with most men.
“How do you know my mom?” Kai asked curiously. He kept his distance which he often did with adults he didn’t know.
“Umm…I’m your mom’s friend,” Nikos said, and Honey whipped her head to look at him incredulously. She would not describe them as friends at all. They were barely co-workers.
“You sure? Are you my mom’s boyfriend?” Kai asked, looking at Nikos suspiciously.
“Kai,” Honey admonished as Nikos laughed.
“No, we’re just friends for now,” Nikos explained. “How old are you, kid?”
“Eight and a half,” Kai said. If Nikos thought anything of his age and hers, he didn’t say anything, which was good because ifshe saw a hint of judgment in his eyes, she would throw him out of her apartment herself.
“Cool. I remember when I was eight like you,” Nikos said as he bent down to her son’s level. “I used to play with the same toys too.”
“You played with transformers too?” Kai asked excitedly as he approached Nikos more openly. Nikos took the toy, fiddling with it until he turned it into a car.
“Yeah, but my toys were definitely not as extravagant as these. You’re lucky, kid. Are you an Autobot or a Decepticon?” Nikos asked.
