“I went today to finalize your bachelorette, and it was totally fine, but that’s probably because Miles doesn’t know Bea and Nate broke up yet.”
“He doesn’t?”
I shook my head.
“Let’s go there, then.”
I texted Miles asking him if his free seat offer was still good. When he said yes, I told him to save me two at the bar and then texted Mom our destination.
After helping Adalyn clean up the salon, we bundled up and trekked toward Seoul Sister that glowed like a beacon in the dark night and painted the snow lining the sidewalk gold. I pulled open the door, brushing the snow off my boots. Soulful tunes eddied through the warm air. In a few hours, the place would heave with club beats and a lot more people, but the dinner crowd, even on Saturday nights, was rather tame.
Miles was just coming back toward the door when we walked in, a smile turning up his mouth. “Twice in twenty-four hours. This must be my lucky day.” He leaned in and kissed my cheek, which made me freeze, because he’d never kissed my cheek before. I waited to see if he’d greet Adalyn the same way, but he just shot her a smile and grabbed two menus.
As we followed him to the bar seats he’d saved us, Adalyn pinched my waist and raised her dark eyebrows. I knew she was thinking: “What the hell was that?”
Since I didn’t know what the hell that was, I shrugged.
Before leaving, Miles clicked his fingers to get the bartender’s attention. “These girls have already been carded. Get them anything they want. On me.”
I turned toward him as I pulled off my coat and draped it across my seat. “Miles, you don’t have to—”
“Tonight, you two are my guests.” He winked. “I’ll catch you a little later.”
Once he was gone, and we’d asked the bartender for two screwdrivers, Adalyn hissed, “Miles?”
I tucked a lock of hair behind my ear, marveling at how silky it felt. “Discussing your penis cake brought us closer.”
“I’m sorry. What?”
“Wolf’s out of the bag. Yes, that’s the shape you’re getting next week.”
“Which I’m excited about, but that’s not what I saidwhatabout.”
“What did you saywhatabout then?”
She leaned in real close and hissed. “Thebringing youcloserpart. Nikki, that’s not a good idea.”
I bristled. “Geez . . . I didn’t say I was interested.”
“Good, because you really can’t go there. Not for like a year anyway.” When I cocked an eyebrow, she added, “And only if Nate and Bea don’t end up getting back together, otherwise it’s going to make things weird for everyone.”
“Honestly, I never even considered it. I swear.” I wanted to bang my head against the bar. Instead I grabbed my citrusy vodka drink and sucked half of it down.
When she didn’t answer, I looked her way. She was typing something on her phone. “Sorry. Just answering your worrywart brother. You’d think we didn’t have a cockblocking bond tying us.”
I snorted at her terminology, however accurate it was. A mating link prevented sexual relations with anyone other than your mate.
“I wish I had a mate. It would make things so much simpler.”
She flipped over her phone to give me her undivided attention. “Only if you liked the person you were bound to.”
“Well, I wouldn’t complete a mating link with someone I didn’t like.” I wrapped my lips around my straw and took another pull of my delicious drink. The fact that I couldn’t even taste the vodka made me wonder if the bartender had actually put any inside.
“Real-talk: do you want me to find out if Liam’s interested?”
My sip went down the wrong hole, and I sputtered, then banged my fist against my chest and coughed out a, “Don’t you dare.”
“I wasn’t going to ask him point-blank. I was going to get Nash to weasel it out of him.”
