Chapter 19 #3
“We’re ready. Niko, you’ve got this,” Luke said, his steely game face set.
Niko nodded, his gaze sliding to me. Those little stolen glances had happened often throughout the evening.
I would smile whenever he looked embarrassed to have been caught, which confused me.
I didn’t know who this “other” woman was who had his interest, but for tonight, I would enjoy his attention.
When I looked at the tablet, the answer was Blake Lively. The guys looked at each other as if they had this in the bag.
“Oh boy. Okay, Niko, you’ll have to pay attention,” Mike said. He hit the timer, and immediately they started barking out clues.
“Ryan Reynold’s wife. Deadpool guy.”
“She’s an actress.”
“He doesn’t know those references,” Mike shouted out, pulling his hair, trying to figure out what to say next.
“Oh, she made that surf movie with the shark,” they yelled over each other, but poor Niko was clueless.
“Blonde hair, light eyes. Blue, maybe green?” Mike said, jumping up. “She’s beautiful and has freckles.”
Niko’s eyes were now set on mine, and a smile slowly grew across his gorgeous face.
Mike started yelling at him to skip, but Niko’s attention was locked in. Finally, Mike shoved him, breaking our eye contact and moving them to the next answer.
When they couldn’t pull out the win, the three of them moaned and whined like children, making the girls laugh and do a crazy victory dance. Niko and I laughed, still lost in each other’s gaze as the girls danced and the boys argued, too distracted to notice us.
When they finally calmed down, we moved to the kitchen to refill our drinks. Luke, Miles, and Mike were still growling about the loss.
“Too bad it didn’t say Leyla. With those clues, he would’ve gotten it,” Luke grumbled, making my heart rate surge with understanding. Blonde hair, light eyes, freckles, surfing reference.
Niko started coughing, then took a sip of water when he heard Luke.
“Oh, my gosh. That’s so true. I hadn’t put that together,” Vicky giggled. “What a coincidence.”
I could see Miles give his wife a warning look, which only made her purse her lips in amusement.
While my attention was on her, Sofia slipped in with a mortifying statement. “So, Niko, we need to know some more about you. You know, personal stuff. Fun stuff.”
I swear, they were like a pack of velociraptors. One made a diversion while the other attacked unnoticed.
Niko looked like a deer in headlights.
“There wasn’t time to get to know you when you came over for dinner last time,” Sofia said, acting nonchalant by gathering up empty platters.
“Niko is full of all kinds of facts and interests,” Mike said before putting a cube of asiago cheese in his mouth.
Niko side-eyed him, but Mike just winked in response.
“What, um, what would you like to know?” Niko asked, looking at Sofia like was facing a firing squad. He wasn’t far off.
“Just facts about you so we can get to know you better. We were all glad to hear that you and Leyla finally kissed and made up,” she cooed. Vicky had to turn around to hide her laughter, but Mike burst out laughing, the sound rattling the windows.
Poor Niko looked mortified as his eyes went between my ridiculous friend and me. I had to step in and save him.
“Niko, you’ve got to excuse my friend. Her jokes don’t always translate correctly,” I said with disdain. “She didn’t mean that literally.”
He nodded and smiled. “I understand.”
Sofia rolled her eyes, placing her hand on her cocked hip. “Just saying, you’re amongst friends now,” she said, emphasizing the word that described Niko and me. “Are you seeing anyone? If so, you can invite her to the next game night. Then Leyla could team up with Mike, and we’ll be even.”
Psychotic. That was the only word that described her at the moment.
Niko was so flustered that he nearly knocked over his drink. Mike’s sweet smile took on a mischievous look as he answered for his friend.
“Actually, Niko is very interested in someone. She’s pretty special to him, but he’s been a little shy about approaching her.”
My throat was suddenly dry, and I hoped the smile I plastered on didn’t look maniacal.
Niko looked like he was about to toss his cookies all over Mike’s shoes. The way he was glaring at Mike, he may have enjoyed doing just that to shut him up. It felt like everyone was in on a joke that had Niko and me right in the middle of it.
“Well, that’s convenient, because Leyla…” Sofia was interrupted when Luke grabbed her by the hand and pulled her out of the kitchen, saying something I couldn’t hear.
She protested and said, “But the baby’s not here.” Then they disappeared. I would have to thank Luke for the save later.
“Anyone want some cake?” Vicky asked in a high-pitched voice while Miles shook his head in amusement.
“Cake! Yes, I’m down,” Mike said, rubbing his hands together. This guy had strong golden retriever vibes.
When Sofia and Luke returned, she behaved for the rest of the evening. The conversation moved to places in San Diego we loved, and Niko told us his favorite things about Istanbul that had us all intrigued.
“It’s the only country in the world that is separated by two continents. Asia and Europe,” he explained. We all asked questions that made me double down on my interest in visiting.
“Miles, I’d love to hear more about your tech company and the health app you’ve created.
My grandmother lives in an assisted living facility nearby, and she and her friends are always complaining about navigating their doctors’ appointments and other online health tasks,” Mike said as we moved back into the living room.
“Absolutely. Put your number in my phone, and we can talk when you’re ready.
I’ll even go over there and talk to them as a group to get them started.
We’ve really made it user-friendly. There’s so much they can do with the app.
Do they all have smartphones or tablets?
” Miles asked, leaning his elbows on his knees.
Mike burst out laughing. “Oh yeah. How else will they get on Facebook?” That made us all laugh.
“There’s a group of four of them that run that place like the mafia.
I call them the Granny Squad, and you do not want to mess with them.
I swear, I don’t know whether it was the best or worst thing for me to get my Grammy that tablet and introduce her to social media.
Now she texts me inappropriate emojis all day. ”
“Oh, wow. I can’t wait to meet them,” Miles said, giving Mike his phone to exchange numbers. Mike and I exchanged knowing looks. Miles didn’t have a clue what he was getting himself into with those four.
“Sounds like the nonnas from my town back in Rome,” Vicky said with a huff of laughter.
Everyone traded funny grandparent stories, but I could see Niko was getting antsy, pulling out his phone from time to time. It looked like he was more than ready to go.
Giving him an out, I said, “Well, I don’t know about you party people, but my bed is calling me.”
Niko looked at me with a wide grin and a heavy sigh of relief.
We all hugged and made loose plans to get together again soon.
Sofia pulled me into a tight hug at the door and whispered in my ear, “Don’t be mad. I was just doing reconnaissance on your behalf. We’ll find out who this chick is and get her out of the picture.”
Pulling away, I made the sign across my neck with my finger, letting her know she was going down soon. She wouldn’t get off that easily.