The Dating Plan(71)

“Liam!”

“So, are you going home with him tonight?” He swallowed hard, trying to keep his anger in check. “Are you going to watch Wim Wenders films and share interesting trivia facts while you—”

“Do not even go there,” she warned.

“I think the waiter was held up at the bar.” He pushed his chair away. “I’ll get Rainey to set me up. Do you want anything?”

“I want you to stop drinking.” She stood beside him. “I’m going to tell her to cut you off.”

“Be my guest.”

Rainey was busy talking to Hunter at the bar. The dude was like a snake, slithering all over the place, sticking his nose where it didn’t belong. Or was it a tongue? How did snakes smell? He opened his mouth to ask Daisy, but Hunter got to her first.

“Hey, babe.” Hunter smiled. He’d obviously had dental work. No one’s teeth were that perfect. “I was just ordering some food for the table. You want anything? I’m vegetarian, but—”

“Daisy likes meat,” Liam said abruptly, throwing an arm around Daisy’s shoulders. “We went to an Indian restaurant and she pounded back an entire plate of rogan josh like she hadn’t eaten in weeks. She attacked it like a piranha. I didn’t think a pound of meat could disappear that fast.”

Daisy pushed his arm away. “What’s gotten into you?”

Hunter’s gaze flicked from Liam to Daisy and back to Liam. “Hey, man. I don’t want to step on any toes. I heard you two were in some kind of fake relationship, but if it’s real . . .”

“It’s not,” Daisy said.

Liam leaned against the bar, arms folded across his chest. “We have a plan. Daisy is all about plans. And then we didn’t follow the plan. But now it seems the part of the plan where we can see other people is still on the table.” He looked over at Rainey. “Any hot tub parties going on tonight?”

“Ethan’s got a bead on something going on after the bar shuts down.”

“Great.” His gaze fixed on Daisy. “Tell him I’m in.”



* * *



? ? ?

“YOU’RE going to a hot tub party?” Daisy glared at him. “On our date?” She could just imagine him in a hot tub surrounded by women. They would be all over him like leeches.

“Our date was over when you invited the whole office along,” he said in a tone lined with frost.

“I think I’ll go wait for the food at the table.” Hunter turned from the bar. “Let you guys talk it out.”

Daisy watched Hunter cross the room. He was a nice guy. Definitely a ten in the looks department. Sociable, friendly, and fairly normal. He was an accountant, a trivia machine, and he liked art house films. They had a lot in common. She should have been over-the-moon thrilled that he was interested in her, and five weeks ago she would have been. But something was missing. Something that was staring her in the face.

“I invited them because we need people to see us out together,” she explained. Partially true. But the real reason was that she’d been worried she wouldn’t be able to keep her hands off Liam after a few drinks. And now, after discovering he’d set this date up on a quiz night and watching him glare at Hunter every time the dude even looked in her direction, it was clear she’d been right. It was taking all her effort not to throw her arms around him and drag him away.

“What good does it do if you tell them our relationship isn’t real?” Liam spluttered.

“I didn’t tell him. Mia did. She knew I liked him, and she heard that he’d asked about me . . .”

“Is that ‘like’ as in ‘like as a friend’?” His petulant tone made her lips quiver with a smile. “Or ‘like’ as in ‘I think I like him, too’?”

Daisy cupped his face between her hands. “Don’t do this,” she said softly. “We had rules, a plan.”

“I can’t help it. The dude is trying to get into your pants.” He covered her hand with his, gliding his fingers slowly over her skin. She felt his touch as a shimmer of heat through her body that coalesced into a throb between her thighs. It took only seconds, and yet she felt like they’d just spent hours between the sheets. She couldn’t move, couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe. She wanted the feeling to go on forever. She wanted to understand this curious connection and how that simple touch could set her body on fire.

“Maybe I wanted him in my pants.” She leaned closer, brushed her lips over his.

A soft growl rumbled in Liam’s chest. “Are they as pretty as your dress?”

“They would be if I were wearing some.” Rules be damned. She wanted him. Now. And it was clear he wanted her, too.

Liam raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t think you were that kind of woman.”

“The kind of woman who would come to a bar without her pants? Or the kind who would mention it?” Her pulse kicked up a notch when he slid his arm around her waist. “And why would you care about my pants since you’re going to a hot tub party?”

“I only care if they’re going to get in my way.” His free hand slid up her thigh and under her skirt.

“Get a room.” Rainey threw a set of keys on the counter. “Back office. You have fifteen minutes, and you’d better give me a good tip.”