Kissing Mr. Darcy Read online

  KEV WAS RIGHT. DAMAGE control was downright impossible when the other person wouldn’t even talk to you.

  At school Titus kept his distance, taking a seat at the other side of the room, then slipping out early before I could waylay him. For three weeks he avoided me like the plague. Then I got an idea. I was not normally a confrontational person, but these were dire times. I skipped class and waited at the classroom doors until he exited. If his expression was anything to go by, he was not pleased to see me.

  “Titus, we need to talk.” I fidgeted, struggling to maintain eye contact.

  “Nothing to talk about.” A muscle flexed angrily in his jaw.

  “That night? It isn’t what you think.”

  He gave me an incredulous look. “Oh, really? Because it looked like you were trying to date two of us at the same time.”

  “Er, okay, so it was how it looked. Sort of. I didn’t mean to. Kev sort of talked me into it. We hadn’t even been on a date yet, and he was worried I’d just...” I shrugged helplessly.

  “Just what?”

  I winced. “Get involved too quickly? Put all my eggs in one basket? I don’t know. He said I likely wasn’t the only person you’d asked out, either.”

  He flushed bright crimson, and my eyes widened. Kev had been right, after all. I ignored the niggle of hurt that he wasn’t so crazy about me he’d forgotten other women. I knew it was silly since I’d done the same thing, but in my meager experience, dating wasn’t a logical thing.

  “See,” I said, “it’s not a big deal. Right? We’re just getting to know each other. It’s not a big thing.”

  “Fine,” Titus muttered angrily. “But I usually don’t throw my dates into each other’s faces.”

  “Fair enough. But I didn’t plan it that way. It was a mistake.”

  He nodded. “How long you been dating this guy?”

  “I haven’t. I only just met him. Never been out with him before or since.”

  “He didn’t forgive you, huh?”

  The truth was I hadn’t apologized yet. Or rather, I had by text but not in person. Kyle was ignoring me, too.

  “I like you better,” I said. It was true. I knew him better, too. I felt we had some kind of connection. “Can we try again?” I pleaded, giving him my best puppy-dog eyes. They’d always worked on my uncles and grandfather.

  He sighed. “I don’t know.”

  “Coffee. Nothing more. You can decide after that.” I was practically pleading now. It wasn’t like me to run after a guy, but I was the one in the wrong here. Well, sort of. I wasn’t wrong dating other guys, but it had been wrong to hurt his feelings even if I hadn’t meant to.

  “All right. Coffee.”

  Relief flooded me. He could be my Mr. Darcy yet. “It’s a date.”

  Chapter 11

  “ALL RIGHT, EVERYONE, special assignment. This will be a large portion of your grade, so listen closely. I don’t want to repeat myself.” Professor McGillicudy glared at us as if the entire class were full of cut-ups who would take any chance to ignore her.

  My gaze slid to the front row where her new teacher’s aide sat, elegantly dressed in a royal blue button-down shirt, pinstripe charcoal slacks, and a matching vest. I swear I could see his reflection in his highly polished shoes. Every dark hair was neatly smoothed into place. He looked expensive, upper crust, the epitome of what I imagined a British aristocrat would be. Not that he was one. McGillicudy had simply introduced him as Clive.

  Clive was an unfortunate name, as far as I was concerned. Unless you’re talking Clive Owen. That is a sexy man. And the Clive sitting in the first row blew Clive Owen out of the water in the looks department, so maybe Clive was a sexy name after all.

  Titus nudged me. “Are you paying attention?”

  I fought back a blush. “Yes. Now hush so I can hear.”

  McGillicudy droned on. “You will each choose a piece of literature from the time period and bring one aspect of it to life. I don’t care if you bake a loaf of bread or take up gardening. In four weeks I want to see a living demonstration of one aspect of your chosen novel. Any questions?”

  Giddy excitement rushed through me. A grin stretched my lips wide. I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I leaned over to Titus and whispered, “Will you be my model for the assignment?”

  He gave me a baffled look. “Model?”

  I nodded and gave him a cheeky grin. “It’ll be fun. I promise.”

  “Okay,” he agreed, but he looked nervous.

  He should be. I almost couldn’t stop the giggles. This was going to be interesting.

  “One condition,” he said.

  “What’s that?”

  “Tonight we go out for drinks. Something stronger than coffee.”

  I grinned. “You’re on.”

  THE COCKTAIL BAR WAS upscale but relaxed. Clusters of men and women recently escaped from their cubicles gathered around the bar, relaxed on couches, or huddled together at the small tables. Top 40s with a slightly heavy house beat jammed on the stereo system, and the dim lighting and alcohol fumes made everyone look attractive and sophisticated.

  I felt a little out of place in my pink, ruffled tunic and skinny jeans. Everyone else was dressed in varying shades of black business attire. Still, I followed Titus to the bar, where he ordered our drinks. They were ghastly expensive. I did the quick mental calculations from pounds to dollars. Nearly twenty a piece. Good thing Titus was buying because that was way out of my budget.

  There were no free couches or tables, so he led me to a quiet corner where we leaned against the wall, drinks in hand. I took a sip of my sweet, fruity cocktail and searched for something to say.

  “Have you figured out what you’re doing for the assignment?” I asked.

  “Not yet. I’ll think of something.” Instead of looking at me, his gaze flitted around the room as if searching for something —or someone—else.

  I frowned, willing him to look at me. To pay attention to me. I got that he was probably still a little pissed at me, but he had agreed to go out again. In fact, he was the one who’d wanted to go for drinks instead of the more casual coffee.

  “We never talked about what you plan to do with your degree once you finish.”

  He shrugged, still looking around. “Not sure. Probably go to work for my dad.”

  This was the first time he’d mentioned his family, and my ears perked up. “Oh, really? What does he do?”

  “He deals with cars.”

  “Oh, like a mechanic.”

  This time he did focus on me, but expression was withering. “Please. He owns several high-end dealerships around the country.”

  “Oh.” I felt like an idiot. But how was I to know? Besides, what was wrong with being a mechanic? It paid well, and talk about job security. Okay, it wasn’t sexy or Mr. Darcy-like, but I could compromise. He didn’t have to act like I’d suggested he was a panhandler or something.

  I downed the last of my drink and searched for somewhere to put my glass. A waiter passing by nodded and held out his hand. “I can take that for you, miss.”

  I smiled my thanks and handed it to him. He vanished into the crowd, and I turned to see a dark scowl on Titus’s face.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I can’t believe you did that,” he snarled.

  I was baffled. “Did what?’

  “Flirted with that guy right in front of me.”

  Now I was really confused. “The waiter? I just gave him my glass. I wasn’t flirting.” I admit, I’m not an expert on flirting, but even I knew better than to consider that flirting.

  “Please. I saw the way you looked at him.”

  Was he for real? “I don’t know what you think you saw, but trust me, I wasn’t flirting. I was being polite.”

  “Sure got an interesting way of showing it,” he said, staring sulkily at the bar.

  He was being ridiculous, but I figured maybe it was just the whole double date thing. He was probably still sore over that and tak
ing it out on me. Not nice, but he’d see it was silly. Eventually.

  Since he was sulking like a child, I excused myself to use the ladies’. I was gone less than two minutes, but when I returned, Titus wasn’t where I’d left him. Had he ditched me? Taken off as some sort of revenge?

  Then I spotted him leaning against one of the high tables. I figured he’d seen some friends. I started toward him and noticed that every single person at the table was female. And every single one was giggling and casting coquettish looks his way. As I watched, he stroked one of the women’s arm. It wasn’t a friendly caress, either. It was the sort that people did in bedrooms and dark corners.

  An angry flush stained my cheeks, but I told myself not to jump to conclusions. That was his thing, not mine. Then his hand moved to her thigh. Very high on her thigh. Like get-arrested-for-indecent-exposure kind of high.

  “Titus.” I paused behind him, waiting, arms crossed.

  He turned slowly, his hand still on the other woman’s thigh. “Emma.” He didn’t even look guilty at getting caught flirting with other women. And he’d dared accuse me of it! The other woman gave me a smug look, as if she was proud she’d stolen something from me. Something desirable. Except in that moment the only thing I desired was to plant my fist in Titus’s face.

  Not wanting to wind up in jail, I gave Titus a sickly sweet smile. “You know what? I’ve decided you aren’t worth another moment of my time. Good luck. Oh, and I won’t be needing you for the assignment.” I glanced at the woman and gave her a haughty stare, doing my best Kev impression when his dander was up. “You can have him. But you might want to put a leash on him.”

  And with that I turned on my heel and stalked from the bar, head held high. “Men,” I muttered angrily as I stormed out the door of the cocktail bar and down the street.

  “Yeah, I know. We’re jerks.”

  I looked up, startled by the familiar voice. “Nik? What are you doing here? Are you following me? I swear...”

  He held up his hands, palms out in surrender. Blue eyes danced with amusement. “Mercy! No, I wasn’t following you. I live nearby, and I happened to be headed to that restaurant for dinner.” He pointed at a little corner restaurant with lots of windows and bright Kelly green walls. It looked a bit like a cafeteria. Very divey.

  “You’re eating there?”

  “Don’t sound so horrified. Some of the best dumplings in Chinatown. Why don’t you join me? You can tell me all about why, specifically, men are horrid.”

  I couldn’t help myself. I laughed. “All right. I am a bit hungry.”

  “That’s my girl.” He held out his arm in a courtly manner, and I slipped my hand through the crook. Too bad he wasn’t Mr. Darcy. He was awfully cute, and kind of sweet, but Mr. Darcy would never work in a coffee shop or live in blue jeans. And he certainly wouldn’t eat at dives in Chinatown, no matter how good the food.

  We strolled to the restaurant arm in arm. It was nice, comfortable—well, if I ignored the little zing of attraction every time we brushed against each other. Or the way the rumble of his voice sent excited messages to my happy place. My cheeks burned a little at the thought. With a few words, this man could do to me what any other man could accomplish no matter the amount of flirtation or kissing or whatnot. I had to nip this ridiculousness in the bud or I was going to be in serious trouble.

  Inside, the tiny restaurant was steamy and warm. At a table next to the door sat a woman, nimble fingers flying as she turned piles of dough into dumplings. Nearly all the tables were full, so the waitress ushered us to a small one in the corner.

  We ordered jasmine tea, two kinds of dumplings, and a plate of Singapore noodles to share. As we waited for our food, Nik nudged me.

  “All right. Tell me what happened.”

  I heaved a sigh. What to say that wouldn’t make me look like an idiot? Probably nothing, so I decided to go for honesty. “I guess I’d better start at the beginning. The night I dated two men.”

  His eyes widened. “Wait, is this the night you stormed out of the pub and nearly ran me over?”

  “I did not nearly run you over, but yes it is.”

  He leaned forward with a devilish grin. “Go ahead. I want all the juicy details.”

  I told him all about Titus and Kyle and both of them asking me out, how Kev had convinced me to date them, and then how I’d mixed up and booked for the same night. I finished with a rousing rendition of the face-off in the pub as the waitress returned with our food.

  I let out a little moan as I bit into one of the piping hot dumplings, the slightly spicy pork filling was simple yet delicious. I popped the rest of it in my mouth and grabbed another.

  “You really got yourself in a tight spot, didn’t you?” Nik seemed amused, which was both irritating and understandable.

  “This is really not me—honest,” I insisted. “I’m usually lucky to get one date.” I realized how bad that sounded when his eyebrow quirked. “I mean, I haven’t dated a lot. School, you know. And work,” I finished lamely.

  “I get it. You’ve suddenly got the prospect of dating two people, and Kev talks you into doing it on the same night.”

  “Sort of. I made an honest mistake in scheduling. I was going to change one date to another night, but Kev was of the opinion that two birds could be hit with a single stone or something. Anyway, things went awry, and they found out and ditched me. Which I totally understand.”

  “I don’t.”

  I blinked in surprise. “What?”

  “Faint heart never won fair maiden.”

  I flushed. “Sure. Right. Well, they didn’t feel that way. Eventually Titus—that’s the one from school—agreed to try again.”

  “I’m guessing it didn’t go well.”

  “Not even a little. First he accused me of flirting with the waiter. Then he was downright rude. And when I came back from the bathroom, I found him at a table full of women. He had his hand on someone’s thigh. And possibly elsewhere.” I glowered at the dumpling still in my hand before dunking it in chili sauce and popping it in my mouth. Delicious. A girl could really get used to eating this way.

  Nik poured me a cup of jasmine tea. “He was clearly not the right man for you.”

  I snorted. “You think?” I heaved a sigh. “Just once it would be nice to go on a date with a guy who wasn’t a total jackass.”

  He gave me a funny look but didn’t say anything. Instead he focused on his dumplings.

  “Gosh, these are good,” I said to fill the suddenly awkward silence. “Thanks for bringing me here. I’d have never found it on my own.”

  He grinned. “One of London’s best kept secrets. Stick with me, kid, and you’ll never go wrong.”

  I laughed, and the gloomy cloud I’d been huddling under broke up and drifted away. As Nik and I joked and laughed in the cramped little cafe, the world suddenly seemed full of endless possibilities.

  Chapter 12

  “I NEED YOUR HELP,” I told Kev the next morning over tea.

  He’d literally just rolled out of bed. His hair was still sticking up awkwardly in places. He looked like he hadn’t slept in a week.

  “What’s wrong with you?” I asked. “You look like rubbish.”

  “Gee, thanks, sweetie. Just what a man likes to hear in the morning.”

  “Seriously. Have you not been sleeping? I thought I heard you moving around last night.”

  Kev blushed furiously, the pink stain in his cheeks clashing slightly with the red of his hair. He stared into his mug, ignoring my comment.

  “Oh, my gosh, you had a date! And you brought him home!” I was practically shrieking as I danced around the kitchen.

  “Oh, shut it, will you? You want the entire world to know?”

  “Where is he?” I glanced around as if Kev’s new paramour might suddenly pop out of the toaster.

  “Don’t worry, sweetums,” Kev drawled. “He left early.”

  “Darn. Tell me everything.”

  “Why don’t you
tell me what it is you want me to do?”

  “Changing the subject, are we?”

  “Why yes, we are,” he said, swirling a spoon in his cup.

  “Fine. I have a special project due this month, and I need a model. Titus was going to do it, but clearly that isn’t going to happen.”

  “Clearly.” Kev’s tone was tart.

  “Can you do it?”

  He leaned against the counter and gave me a suspicious look. “What will I be modeling?” His eyes lit up. “Roman togas? Because I can do that. But I’ll need to get a spray tan first.”

  “No spray tans. It’s a Regency era thing. I’m going to dress you up as Mr. Darcy for my presentation.”

  His eyes widened. “Well, la. When is this extravaganza?”

  “The last Tuesday of the month.”

  He pulled out his phone and swiped. “I can’t.”

  “You can’t?” Kev wasn’t exactly the sort to turn down a chance at dress-up.

  “Sorry, love. But I’ve got one of these hairdresser convention things up in Manchester that week. Don’t worry. I’ll find someone for you. I’ve got the perfect person in mind.”

  “Who?”

  He waved airily. “One of my friends. He’s not a model or anything, but he’s handsome enough and has a good physique.” He waggled his eyebrows.

  “It isn’t Rowan, is it?” Rowan was one of Kev’s best friends. I hadn’t met him yet, but I knew from Kate he was straight. I really didn’t want to have to deal with a fitting for a straight man. After the fiasco with Titus, measuring an inseam was only bearable if the guy thought I was as interesting as lime gelatin.

  “I’ve got someone better in mind.”

  I breathed a sigh of relief. “Are you sure he’ll be able to do it? Willing? We’ll have to start right away on fittings.”

  “You leave it to me, honey. Just tell me when and where you need him, and he’ll be there.”

  I felt the tension drain away. Everything would be okay. Kev had a lot of really gorgeous friends. Whoever he sent was bound to be perfect, and I wouldn’t have to worry about any of them wanting to date me or vice versa. I would have my Mr. Darcy, at least for the presentation.