Pride and Papercuts (The Austens #5) - Staci Hart Page 0,33

come up. Is it a date if you don’t get kissed at the end?”

There was that sadness again, the one that came and went like a comet. “I haven’t dated much since Georgie.”

The admission struck me with regret. “Oh, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t … I didn’t even think.”

“It’s okay, really,” he said in a way that was impossible not to believe. “But I’m calling it a date. I did buy your dinner.”

“You did,” I said on a chuckle, saving my work once more before closing my laptop. “What time is it?”

“Eight. What are you working on?”

“This campaign for work. Get this—Darcy wouldn’t listen to my ideas, so I challenged him to a competition, and if he accepts, I’m going to annihilate him.”

“I hope it’s humiliating.”

“Me too, if for nothing more than to see the look on his face. I can’t imagine Liam is a graceful loser.”

“You’re right about that. Once, he—”

I waited when Wyatt stilled, his eyes narrowed and trained behind me.

When I followed his gaze, it landed on one very unexpected, very beautiful Liam Darcy. But he wasn’t beautiful in the peaceful, reverent way the word was usually used, a thing to be quietly admired and worshipped. He was beautiful destruction, a tempest conjuring mountains from waves and putting out the stars with his fury, leaving the world beneath him heaving in the dark.

He’d stopped a few yards inside, a pillar of shadows. The black of his hair, of his eyes, of his glare. The long, inky double-breasted wool coat, the kind that only rich men wore, swathing him in a vacuum of color. And though the two men were twenty feet apart, the air cracked and sizzled between them.

And then he laid those impenetrable eyes on me.

The weight of that gaze crushed my lungs, leaving them devoid of air.

Confused, I blinked and hitched a shallow inhale, sliding out of the booth. Wyatt moved to follow, but I stayed him with a hand. And I crossed the space between us, suddenly uncertain of everything.

I stopped in front of him, and though I was a few feet away, the heat of him licked at me, as it always seemed to. “What … what are you doing here?” I asked. “And at eight at night?”

For a handful of heartbeats, he looked down at me, his eyes piercing. Again, my lungs ceased to function.

“I considered your challenge, and I accept.”

Still baffled, I stared back at him. “You could have emailed me.”

One of his brows ticked up.

“Or called. Or texted.”

“But I came here. So now you know.” His eyes shifted back to Wyatt, and the temperature dropped ten degrees in a breath. “I’m sorry to interrupt.”

What is even happening right now?

He ruined Georgie’s life and Wyatt’s along with it. Let’s not forget that.

I stiffened. “Well, you’ve delivered your message.”

“Yes. I suppose I have.” He took a step back, and I felt a strange void in the empty space. “I’ll need you in the office tomorrow to announce the competition to the team and reassign them.”

“I’ll be there.”

A slight nod. A glance at Wyatt. A sling of daggers. A final look at me, and he turned to go.

For a second, I just stood there, staring at his back. When I caught myself, I headed back to Wyatt, looking over my shoulder before I sat to catch a sliver of black disappearing into the night.

“What did he want?” Wyatt asked through his teeth.

“He accepted my challenge.”

A pause. “And he came here to tell you?”

I sighed. “He is not a normal guy. I couldn’t tell you what he wanted or what his motive was. The man is a mystery in a designer suit.”

“He’s simpler than you might think,” he said darkly, but with some internal snap of self, he smiled. “Come on—let’s go get you some shawarma before you disappear.”

“Only if you promise to come up this time.”

He considered it, looking at my lips as a smile rose on his. “Deal. If you play your cards right, you might even get that kiss.”

I laughed as we headed out, flustered at the thought of kissing him. “Who even are you?”

“Just a guy who doesn’t want to screw up again. That’s all.”

At that, I smiled, lips together and face soft. “Well, you’re safe with me.”

And when he wrapped his arm around my shoulders, I felt safe too.

Safety—a thing I so often took for granted. At the thought, Liam’s dark eyes flashed in my mind, a portal to a bottomless chasm. Those eyes were dangerous, an unpredictable depth, a