Sweet On You - By Kate Perry Page 0,43

Nico was behind that oversight.

"You haven't told us why we're ensconced in the ritziest room in one of the most expensive hotels in the country much less San Francisco, eating little crustless sandwiches and sipping tea." Lola lifted her cup. "We've been patient, but that's only because you had food waiting for us. You'll have anarchy on your hands soon."

Daniela smiled. She had been cryptic when she'd called them and invited them over to Nico's suite for tea, but she hadn't wanted to get into it over the phone. "I was restless, so I thought I'd invite my friends over for tea."

"Please excuse me," Lola said, reaching for a truffle, "but, delicately put, that's bullshit. Since when did you start hanging out at the Mandarin Oriental instead of your own mausoleum?"

"Mausoleum?" Eve asked with an amused lift of her eyebrow.

Lola shrugged. "I've got a way with words."

"Right now, the mausoleum is housing my brother, and since he's not my favorite person, I decided to come stay here." She paused. "In Nico's place."

Lola sat up, alert. "Nico? Is that the guy you're seeing? He lives here?"

"Is he around?" Eve whispered, craning her neck.

"He's in the study working." She'd interrupted him to tell him she'd invited a couple friends over, and that she was ordering tea if he wanted any. He'd replied that he only wanted her. She smiled wickedly, remembering when he'd shown her how much.

Lola nudged Eve. "Look at the expression on her face. I had that expression when I first started getting it on with Sam."

"You still get that expression when you talk about Sam."

"What can I say? My man is a god in bed."

"So is Nico," Daniela said with a wink.

The women stared at her and then burst into raucous laughter.

"So tell us about him," Eve insisted, pouring more tea for them all. "How long have you been seeing him?"

"Not that long." It seemed like a whirlwind, like she just met him yesterday and had known him forever. "But we've been seeing each other—"

"Otherwise known as 'getting it on,'" Lola interjected.

"—pretty regularly." She picked up a shortbread and dunked it in the earl grey. "So when my brother arrived unannounced, it seemed natural to crash here for the duration."

"Natural?" Lola eyed her in disbelief. "Natural is staying with a girlfriend, or someone's empty apartment. Natural isn't shacking up with a man you just met. Not unless you're really into him."

Daniela shook her head. "It's not like that. I'm just taking a timeout."

"Beauty took a timeout in the beast's castle," Lola pointed out, "and look how that turned out."

"Nico isn't a beast." She pursed her lips in thought. "Usually."

Eve put a hand on her arm. "Daniela, in her own creative way, Lola's trying to say that it seems serious with your guy if you're living with him."

"Can we really call me staying in his suite while my brother lays siege on my house 'living with him?'"

"Yes," both her friends said.

She grinned sheepishly. "I guess this is where I confess he cleared out part of his closet so I could hang my clothes."

"What does he do that he lives in a hotel?" Eve asked. "Does he travel a lot?"

"He's in real estate." She shrugged. "He hasn't traveled since we met."

"That means he likes you," Lola declared. "A man would have to be a fool to leave when he just met a woman he liked, without securing her affections or taking her with. If this guy—what's his name?"

"Nico." Saying it was like letting chocolate melt on your tongue.

"If Nico is as successful as this suite suggests, he's no fool." Lola leaned forward, her blue eyes wide with excitement. "The question is, how much do you like him. A lot, if this is your sanctuary."

Eve lifted her teacup to her lips. "You obviously feel comfortable and safe around him."

"I really—"

Just that moment, she heard the door to his office open and then the light sound of his bare feet on the hardwood floors.

They fell silent, all three of them turning toward the hallway right as Nico stepped into the room. He wore jeans with an untucked shirt open at the collar, and his hair was rumpled like he'd run his hands through it in frustration.

He was gorgeous. Daniela wanted to go up to him and tear his shirt off.

She glanced at Lola and Eve. Her friends gawked at him. She knew they understood what she saw in him.

They turned to her, and then they all burst into laughter.

Nico's brow furrowed as he