6. Savanna #2
I pretend to think for a few seconds before finally nodding and saying, “I do really love steak.”
“I was banking on that,” he says, giving me a hint of that sexy smile of his.
“You know I love Cindy like a sister, but I will never have her willpower when it comes to being a vegetarian.”
“Bacon,” is all Niki says, and it’s all he needs to say because that one word says it all.
“Exactly,” I tell him and then follow his lead when he heads towards the lone elevator in the corner. I watch as he presses his thumb to a scanner and then lifts his face to the corner. I don’t see anything, but after a brief pause, the doors open and he motions for me to step in.
“What just happened?” I ask when he gets in after me. Before he can even push any of the buttons, he presses his thumb to yet another sensor so it will unlock for him. I turn my head to look at him. “Are you paranoid or are people just always trying to kill you?”
He leans against the side of the elevator and shrugs. “A little bit of both, I guess. My parents live in the penthouse here, so they use this elevator too. I’m in charge of all the security, and I’d rather be paranoid than risk someone getting hurt.”
The elevator stops at the floor below the penthouse, and when we step out, I notice the way he quickly scans the hall to make sure it’s clear.
His hand briefly rests on my lower back as he guides me in the right direction, and soon we’re standing outside his door and I’m suddenly very nervous and very excited.
I want to know more about him, and being surrounded by his things will help me with that.
Once we’re inside, I don’t even bother trying to hide my curiosity.
I step into the large living room, greedily running my eyes over everything.
There’s a large sectional couch that looks designed purely for comfort, the kind of thing you could lay down on and never want to get back up from, and across from it is a huge, flat-screen TV that nearly covers the wall.
It’s an open floor plan, and the kitchen doesn’t look like he spends a bunch of time there.
It’s spotless and filled with high-end appliances, but nothing personal.
I have a feeling he mainly eats out or orders in.
Aside from some gaming equipment, there’s not much lying around.
I’m guessing he has an entire room devoted to his tech stuff.
The place feels comfortable, and there’s no denying it’s gorgeous with all the floor-to-ceiling windows and amazing views of the city, but my favorite thing about it are the photos that he has decorating the walls and tucked into frames on every available surface.
He’s filled his home with the people he cares about, and I love that about him.
Spotting a photo of him, I step closer and pick up the frame.
He’s holding Lyra, his brother’s little girl, and I take a few seconds to appreciate how gorgeous he looks holding a baby.
She looks so tiny in his muscled, tattooed arms, and when I manage to pull my eyes away, I look over to find him staring at me just as intently as I’d been devouring the image of him.
“I love all your family photos,” I say to try and cover all the things I’m feeling. I grab the next photo, the one of Niki when he’s much younger and surrounded by all of his cousins. “This is great. You’re so lucky to have such a big family.”
He walks over, glancing at the photo I’m holding.
A smile tugs at his lips at whatever memory it brings up.
“It’s amazing we all got along so well.” He points a finger at Val and Yel.
The two of them are a tad bit off to the side, arms slung around each other’s shoulders with big smiles on their faces. “Some of us more than others.”
I laugh and put the frame back where it was. “So they were the only two who got a little curious?”
“God, yes,” he says with a laugh. “I wouldn’t even say they got curious.
They just knew. They’ve always been in love.
The rest of us always felt like siblings.
” He looks back at the photo and cringes at the idea.
“Definitely just those two. Nat, Mia, Sveta, and Yel have always felt like sisters to me.”
I look back at the picture, unable to hide my grin when I see Niki’s young face. “You were a really cute kid, but I’m not surprised by that.”
“Oh yeah?” He lifts a dark brow when he looks down at me. “And why is that?”
I realize what I’ve just walked myself into, but there’s no taking it back now, so I tell him the truth. “Because I don’t think you’re capable of not looking good. You were just born that way.”
His smile is big, but his eyes look more surprised than anything else, and I can’t for the life of me figure out why. He must know how gorgeous he is.
He breaks the silence by saying, “I could say the same thing about you, Van. I’ve never met anyone as beautiful as you.”
Now it’s my turn to look stunned. I’m still tripping over my tongue and trying to figure out what to say when there’s a knock at the door.
“That’ll be our food,” he says, but he makes no move to go and get the door. Instead, he steps closer. Lifting his hand, he very gently caresses my right cheek, and when I smile, he grins and runs his thumb over my dimple. “I really love that dimple, Van.”
Without another word, he turns to get the door, leaving me stunned and more aroused by that one touch than I probably should be.
I’m still standing in the middle of his living room when he returns with our bags of food.
The delicious scent of steak snakes its way over to me, and my stomach lets out another embarrassingly loud growl in front of him.
“I’m glad you’re hungry,” he says while walking into the kitchen and setting everything down on the large island. “Because I ordered a lot. There’s cheesecake for dessert, too.”
“Careful, Niki, or you’re going to make me fall in love with you,” I say, only half joking.
Without missing a beat, he looks up from the bag and gives me a smile. “I’m happy to see my plan is working.”
I grin back at him while he grabs two plates and starts filling them.
When they’re both loaded with food, we sit down at the small table and dig in.
Being with Niki is always so surprisingly easy.
Even when neither one of us is talking, it’s not awkward.
It’s peaceful and feels oddly familiar, the kind of comfortable you feel around someone you’ve known your whole life.
“This is really good,” I say in between bites.
The steak is cooked to perfection and so tender it nearly melts in my mouth, and the potato has enough toppings to satisfy my cheese-loving heart.
I nibble on the salad to be polite, but I doubt I’m going to be able to eat everything, and I’d rather save room for the really good stuff.
“I’m glad you like it.” He cuts off another piece of steak, and I have to force myself to not stare at the way his sharp jaw looks when he chews. I’ve never known anyone to look so sexy while eating.
Trying to distract myself, I look around the apartment and ask, “So where’s all your computer stuff? This is not at all how I envisioned a hacker’s home.”
“No?” he asks. “What did you envision?”
“More cave-like,” I say. “Maybe a bunch of monitors and fast food wrappers and energy drinks all over the place.” I take another bite and look around the beautiful apartment. “I’m a little disappointed.”
“Well, we can’t have that.” He stands up and holds his hand out for me.
I take it without question and let him pull me up.
Keeping his hand around mine, he leads me down the hall.
I’m nosy by nature, so I look in every room we pass.
I see a large bathroom that I’m thrilled looks clean, and a home gym that explains why he looks as mouthwatering as he does.
When he steps into the last room and the first thing I see is a large, king-size bed, my heart starts racing as I instinctively squeeze his hand tighter.
“I hope this doesn’t disappoint you too much,” he says, pulling my attention to the other side of the room.
There’s a large desk and several monitors, and it’s the exact kind of set-up I imagined a genius hacker having.
Lots of expensive-looking equipment and high-tech things I’ve never even heard of.
The room is huge, so there’s plenty of space for him to work and not have it feel crowded.
Plus, this room like all the others has large windows that ensure it’s filled with sunlight during the day.
He even has several plants along the thick windowsill.
“Wow,” I say, taking a cautious step towards the computers that I will never understand like he does. “I’m afraid to get too close. I’m bad enough with them that I could probably break one from here.”
“That’s impressive.” His hand is still wrapped around mine, and when he brushes his thumb over my skin, every single part of me zeroes in on that one small touch.
“Why do you keep everything in here?” I ask him. “Don’t you ever want a break from it? That’s one of the things I hate about living out of a room. I can’t ever just shut the door and fall into bed. I’m always surrounded by classwork and assignments that need to get done. There’s no separation.”
“Yeah, I’m really bad about that.” He glances over at his bed. “I don’t sleep all that well, so I’m usually up late working, and it’s the first thing I check when I wake up. It’s not ideal, but in case you haven’t noticed, I like to have my computer close.”
“It’s very cute,” I tell him, making him laugh.
“Cute?” He slowly threads his fingers through mine, and every touch is like a little electric spark along my skin. “Is that what you think of me?”