Touch Me Not Read online

  Touch Me Not

  A Manwhore Series Novel

  By Apryl Baker

  Touch Me Not

  Copyright © 2015 by Apryl Baker.

  All rights reserved.

  First Print Edition: September 2015

  Limitless Publishing, LLC

  Kailua, HI 96734

  www.limitlesspublishing.com

  Formatting: Limitless Publishing

  ISBN-13: 978-1-68058-284-0

  ISBN-10: 1-68058-284-4

  No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to locales, events, business establishments, or actual persons—living or dead—is entirely coincidental.

  Dedication

  For Sofiane

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Epilogue

  Chapter One

  The student union of Boston University was packed, inside and out. The first day of moving into the dorms was always hectic, and by lunch, everyone wanted to just find a seat and sit down. Late August in Boston, while not hot, wasn’t cool either, so most wore shorts, tanks, skirts, and various other summer paraphernalia. A Dr. Dre Beatbox on one of the outside tables blared some upbeat playlist, and lots of the people assembled outside moved to the music. A veritable feast of hormones.

  At least that’s how Nikoli Kincaid saw things. His gaze moved over the mass of bodies, categorizing all the women there. He couldn’t find a single one outside the newly arrived freshmen he hadn’t bedded over the last three years. Well, there were some, but he simply wasn’t attracted to those few. He never had sex with the same woman twice. It was a strict rule of his, and one he refused to break for anyone. He sat there and debated if he should pick up the cute little redhead who looked lost or the brazen blonde who eyeballed him with open lust.

  Nikoli smiled at the blonde. He knew the effect he had on women and used it to his advantage daily. His grandmother called his good looks a curse; he called them facilitators of a good time. Hair the color of rich, dark chocolate and onyx eyes pulled women to him. His eyes were always full of the promise of mind blowing sex. His Russian accent only added to his allure. He’d had a woman twice his age tell him that once. He’d been a little grossed out at first being hit on by a woman who could be his mother, but he’d accepted a long time ago what his looks could do for him.

  No better way to christen the beginning of his senior year than…his mouth dropped open, earning him a questioning look from the guy sitting beside him. Luther Conway had been his best friend since freshman year of high school and was the only person who really knew him. Hell, some days Nik didn’t know himself, but he could count on Luther to keep him grounded.

  “She is not a freshman.”

  “Who?” Luther sat up and scanned the crowd, his eyes coming to land on what caught Nik’s attention so thoroughly. Hair so black it glinted blue in any kind of light was held up in a high ponytail. Warm blue eyes rested on the guy she spoke with. Her small, delicate face radiated laughter. She was a stunning beauty who had no idea how beautiful she really was. Lily Holmes really had no idea the effect she had on men.

  “Don’t even think about it, Nik,” he warned. “That’s Lily Holmes.”

  Ah, the fabled Lily Holmes. He’d heard her name often. She tutored most of the football team and several members of his own frat house. How had he never laid eyes on her before?

  “They’ll break every bone in your body if you hurt her,” Luther growled at him.

  “It’ll be worth it.” He grinned and jumped up, the lusty little blonde forgotten as he sauntered over to meet Miss Lily Holmes.

  Lily smiled, but inside she grimaced. All she really wanted to do was go find a quiet corner and sit for a bit. Not that that was even a possibility. She sighed as several of Adam’s football buddies came over. They all had to say hello, and then more people wandered over, the small crowd around the maple tree in front of the Student Union growing by the second. She’d promised to meet Adam here for lunch, but if he didn’t show up soon, she was going to bail. She needed to check with the bookstore to see if her lit book was in yet. As of yesterday, it still wasn’t in stock, but they were hopeful it’d be in today.

  She scanned the crowd and sighed in relief when she spotted Adam heading her way. He looked so all American, boy-next-doorish with his sandy blond hair artfully spiked, laughing at his friend Mike Craft as the two of them pushed their way through the crowd. Lily smiled softly as they approached. Adam Roberts had been her best friend since third grade. She only wished he would wake up and realize how much more they could be, but she’d given up on that hope a long time ago. Now he was engaged to be married to Susan Williams, and she had to pretend to be ecstatically happy for him when all she wanted to do was cry. It sucked to be her, but then that was nothing new.

  For two seconds, she wanted to growl in frustration. Sue and her little posse of sorority sisters were firmly attached. Adam had been so busy over the summer working for his dad and then spending what time he had left with Sue, that Lily had been put on the back burner. She’d been busy herself, interning at a literary agency in New York most of the summer. While she didn’t hold it against him—well, not much—she would like to sit down and eat one meal with him, just the two of them. She missed her best friend.

  “Lily.” Adam grinned and wrapped her in a bear hug, but only for a second. He knew about her phobia.

  “Hey.” She grinned right back at him. “Hi, Sue.”

  “Lils, you gonna be too busy to help me with my economics class this semester?” Mike asked.

  She loved Mikey dearly. He was the only other person besides Adam who she trusted. Mike’s curly brown hair and big old green eyes were always gentle. Now, put him on the football field, and people ran from the terror those eyes inspired. It always made her laugh.

  “Mikey, I’ve never taken an economics class.”

  “What? Why haven’t you taken the class?” He frowned at her.

  “Um, because I’m not a business major?”

  “Well, hell, Lily, what am I gonna do?”

  “Hell if I know.” She laughed at his chagrined expression. Somehow, over the last three years, she’d become the unofficial football team tutor. She blamed Adam for that. It had started with him asking her to help out a friend or two, and before she realized it, she was tutoring most of them in one subject or another. Now she found it hard to say no. They depended on her. As a result, she was friends with the entire team, their frat houses, and several of their girlfriends and their sorority houses. She’d gained tons of “friends,” but really, she could count her friends on one hand. Sad, but true. She had major trust issues.

  “He can go sign up for a tutor.” His girlfriend, Janet, shook her head at him. Janet was a tiny little thing. She always reminded Lily of Tinker B
ell with her gamin features and pixie cut strawberry blonde hair.

  “Hey, can I borrow you for a sec?” That was the only thing Lily heard before someone grabbed her hand and she was running to keep up. What the hell?

  She ran straight into him when he stopped. They stood about a hundred feet away from the crowd she’d just been in. Yanking her hand free and taking several steps backward, she turned furious blue eyes up at him and nearly stopped breathing. The inky black depths she stared into were alight with amusement.

  “That was rude,” she told him in an attempt to regain a bit of her composure.

  “I thought you needed rescuing, Lily Bells.”

  “That’s not my name,” she seethed. The nerve.

  “I know who you are.”

  Lily knew exactly who he was too, and what his reputation was, but damn, why was his voice like silk with his sexy Russian accent? She had no intention of ending up on his list of one-nighters, though.

  “And I know who you are, Nikoli Kincaid, so you can just march yourself back to wherever you came from. I’m not interested.”

  “Aw, now, Lily Bells, don’t get your panties all in a twist. I never once asked you out.”

  Lily narrowed her eyes. She could see Adam and Mikey staring at them, a frown on both their faces. “I’m just saving you the trouble.”

  He smiled, which caused things south of the border to clench, and Lily gasped slightly. “What if all I wanted was a tutoring session?”

  “Your GPA is as high as mine.”

  He reached up and traced the outline of her lips with a finger, and she flinched back. She did not like to be touched.

  “That’s enough,” she told him a little more forcefully than she’d intended. “I’m going back to my friends now. And even if you did just want a tutoring session, the answer is still no.”

  His words stopped her retreat.

  “I don’t give up that easy, Lily. I always get what I want.”

  “Then get used to disappointment.”

  Nikoli watched her stomp back over to her friends and smiled wickedly. He hadn’t had a challenge since the ripe old age of seventeen when he’d set out to seduce one of his uncle’s newly divorced friends. She’d held on to her morals for all of a week. Lily was going to be a challenge he’d relish.

  Yes, indeed, Lily Holmes and he were going to be on intimate terms, and soon. This was going to be fun.

  Chapter Two

  Lily was fuming by the time she returned to her friends. The nerve of the cheeky bastard. She was mad at herself too. Nikoli’s touch had not inspired the same type of fear everyone else’s did. The fear was still there, just lessened a bit by something else she didn’t understand. Something that made her stomach clench deliciously. He wasn’t going to know that, though, not ever. She had no intention of ever being one his girls.

  “What was that about?” Adam asked as soon as she returned.

  “Nothing,” she said dismissively. “So how was your summer, Mikey?”

  Mike laughed at her obvious attempt to change the subject. “You need us to go explain a few things to old Nik?”

  “No, there’s nothing to explain,” she said, exasperated. “He needed a tutor, and I told him I didn’t have time to take on anyone else.”

  “Tutor, my ass,” Adam grumbled. “Lily, you…”

  “I know exactly who he is, Adam,” she interrupted. “I already told him no.”

  Adam frowned at her, before turning his eyes back to where Nik still stood under the tree where she’d left him. Sue, who up until now had not said anything one way or the other to Lily, reached out and tugged Adam to her, reminding him she was there. He looked down and gave her his one hundred watt smile. Lily died a little inside at the sight, but she kept her bland expression firmly in place. Wouldn’t do to give Sue any more ammunition against her.

  “So, did you guys watch the news last night?” Janet piped up. “There was another woman reported missing.”

  Lily had been watching the news, and it disturbed her. Three women had gone missing in the Boston area over the last three months. The bodies were recovered exactly a week after their disappearance. All three had been brutally raped, tortured, and severely beaten before being strangled. The police were finally admitting they had a serial killer on their hands. This latest disappearance had occurred six days ago. If the serial killer stuck to his pattern, the poor woman’s body would show up tomorrow.

  “Janet, you worry too much.” Sue rolled her eyes. “We’re perfectly safe on campus.”

  Lily wanted to roll her eyes at the little blonde tart. She honestly thought they were safe just because of a college campus? Psycho killers could stroll through campuses as easily as they could through a mall. There was no major security when it came to monitoring who was and who was not supposed to be on campus. Colleges were just as open to the public as the local McDonald’s. Sue grew up in a bubble. She had no idea of the big bad wolves out in the real world, right in your own backyard. Stupid.

  “Don’t worry, ladies.” Mike flexed his muscles. “We’ll protect you.”

  Lily did roll her eyes at that. Mikey, for all of his six feet, two inches, still behaved very much like a little kid showing off. It was one of the things she loved about him, though.

  “All right, Michelangelo, I feel soooo much safer now,” she said. She and Mike had bonded over Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reruns last year when Janet broke up with him. They were both addicted to the new TMNT cartoon series, despite the fact they were both technically adults. Who said adults couldn’t watch cartoons?

  He smiled and threw a fist in the air. “Who else is gonna save your ass?”

  “Campus security?” Lily asked dryly.

  He stuck his tongue out at her. So mature. Lily turned her attention back to Adam, who was still nose deep into Sue. They looked so happy. It was one of the reasons she was so supportive. She didn’t really like her, but Sue made him happy, and that was all that mattered to Lily.

  “Lunch?” she asked Adam pointedly.

  A contrite expression appeared. Oh, no…the little Barbie struck again.

  “Lils, we had something come up, and I have to go to lunch with Sue and her Mom. Wedding plans.”

  “No worries.” Lily laughed good-naturedly, even though she was cursing six ways to Sunday inside. “You go do what you need to do. We’ll get dinner or something later in the week.”

  “You could always come with?”

  Sue glared the promise of death at her from behind him. She was tempted to say yes just to piss her off, but shook her head instead. “No, I’m good. I’m gonna go grab a bite, then head to the bookstore to check on a textbook I’m waiting for.”

  “You sure?” he asked again, a hopeful expression on his face. Lily knew for a fact he detested Sue’s mother. His bed, he could lie in it.

  “Yeah, I’m sure. You two go make your wedding plans.”

  “He’s a blind fool, Lils,” Mike whispered sympathetically as they watched Adam and Sue walk away.

  She sighed, not bothering to deny anything was wrong. Mike knew her too well, almost as well as Adam. Instead, she changed the subject. “What are we gonna do about that economics class of yours?”

  “Did you have to remind me of that?” he grouched. “You know I’m doomed, and I won’t graduate.”

  She rolled her eyes at him. Despite being a jock, Mike was exceptionally smart. He just needed a little prodding in the right direction sometimes. “You know I’m not gonna let you fail if I got you through statistics.”

  They both grimaced over that statement. Statistics and Mike were not things that should ever be said in the same sentence. Lily had almost given up on him before she found something that made sense to him. Thank God she had, or they’d both have failed. She’d spent so much time trying to teach him the basics, she’d fallen behind herself last year. It hadn’t even been a class she needed, as she was an English major. She’d only taken it to help him, but she refused to do that agai
n. Her GPA meant to much to her.

  “I’ll find you a tutor,” she promised. And she would. God help her if she’d let him fail after all the time and effort she’d put into him so far.

  “How was your summer?” Janet asked, bringing Lily’s attention back to her.

  “It was great.” She smiled. “I spent most of the summer interning at a literary agency in New York.”

  “You were in New York all summer?” Janet’s eyes lit up. She wanted to move to New York after graduation to become a journalist, and Mike wanted to work on Wall Street. The two of them had been together for almost two years now. Lily was expecting Janet to show her a ring soon. Mike was over the moon for her.

  “I can’t believe you were in New York all summer and didn’t think to call up and say, ‘Hey, Mikey, I got a pad in NYC!’” He looked seriously injured. “Do you realize the epic parties we could have had?”

  Lily laughed at his outraged expression. “Sorry, Mikey.”

  “Dude, not cool.” He glared. “Not cool at all.”

  She laughed “I’ll catch you guys later. I do need to check and see if my book is in before all the new freshmen swarm the bookstore.”

  Every time Lily was around Adam and Sue, she got so frustrated it was all she could do not to scream. She honestly couldn’t figure out what Adam saw in the little tart, aside from her being a blonde, blue-eyed Barbie doll. Adam had always been a sucker for blonde hair. There was no substance to Sue. All she cared about was herself. There wasn’t a kind bone in her body. She had even attempted to stop Lily and Adam from being friends, but that was where Adam had drawn the line. He’d told her in no uncertain terms that Lily was family, and if she pushed, she wouldn’t like the outcome. Sue had shut up, but she still did little things to try and separate them. Like lunch today. Lily would guarantee the emergency was nothing but a ruse to get Adam away from her.