I excusedmyself to use the restroom before dinner arrived. Gratefully, it was empty. Peering into the mirror, I was shocked at my reflection. Turning from side to side, I giggled. My cheeks were pink, my smile wide, and my eyes seemed to sparkle.
Niko and I had flirted, laughed, and even teased each other. It had never been like this with a man, not even Ethan. Snarling at the thought of him, I couldn’t believe what had happened.
After confronting my awful ex-boyfriend, here I was giddy and, well, flushed. I replayed the wrist kiss and the nickname in my head.
Whew, I was getting flustered just thinking about it again. When a woman with a severe bun and a judgmental sneer side-eyed me on the way to a stall, I took a deep breath.
I was already making a mental note to find these Turkish soaps when I had a chance. If any of them looked or sounded anything like Nikolas Demir, sign me up.
Holy hotness, Batman. Rubbing my wrist, I could still feel the tickle of his short beard, where his lips burned my skin like a tattoo. I breathed out a heavy sigh followed by a giggle. Bun lady cleared her throat before flushing the toilet and exiting the stall.
She moved to the opposite end of the line of sinks and washed her hands with precision, ignoring me.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to make it weird or anything. It’s just that my date, well, he’s mypretenddate, just kissed the inside of my wrist, and made my ex scurry away like a woodland animal,” I gushed. “Let me tell you. It was glorious.”
She grabbed towels from the dispenser with force, looking me up and down in fear.
Maybe it was the pulse point comment. Too much?
Poor lady couldn’t get out the door fast enough. But nothing, not even a church lady look-alike, was bringing down my mood tonight.
The man called me hyatim. HYATIM.My life.
Maybe that should be my first tattoo.
I washed my hands and headed back, skipping the facilities. I’d only come in here to calm down anyway.
Niko stood when I got back to the table. So much for calming down. Good grief. He was such a gentleman.
“Hey,” he said, making me smile. His shyness was such a contrast to the suave use of English and Turkish he had just employed. Gone was the pulse-kissing romantic. This was just Niko. He was perfect.
“Hey,” I answered with a smile as I sat down.
“Our server refilled our waters and said our meals were on their way out soon.”
Laying my fancy napkin in my lap, I said, “Sounds great, thank you.”
He straightened his already straight silverware. Feeling his nervousness, I decided, once again, to help restart the conversation.
“So,” I said, my voice making him turn back to me with so much expectancy that I wanted to laugh but dared not. “Have you run out of subjects to talk about so soon? Or do you just sweep unsuspecting women off their feet with Turkish words and swoony hand kissing and render them speechless so you don’thaveto talk anymore?”
He huffed and stared at his place setting. “I told you I needed help. Not sure what to say.”
“Well, let’s see. If this were arealdate, you could ask me about my work.”
Niko looked at me and smiled. “I alreadyknowabout your work.”
Knowing there was no way to ignore the elephant in the room, I ground out, “Pretend I’m the woman you are interested in. What would you want to talk to her about? And you know, this would be much easier if I knew her name.”
His panicked look alarmed me, so I waited. His lips twitched as if he were working through a problem in his head. How hard was it to just say her name?
Then it hit me. What if his hesitation meant it was someone from work? Mentally scanning my staff for possible suspects who were still single.
“Pam,” he said so loudly, I jumped. Eyeing him suspiciously, I went through my contacts in my head.
Pam. Pam. Pam. I don’t think I know a Pam. No Pams at work that I was aware of.
Now that she had an actual name, all of this became very real. There was a woman named Pam who had Niko so wound up that he took me up on my offer to help him. Who was this woman?Was she beautiful? Tall, with long dark hair like his? Was she Turkish?
