a quick peek at Addison’s feet clad in peep-toe sandals – her pedicure. Addison toyed with the pearl necklace that was a permanent fixture around her slender throat. “Why are you looking at me like that, Kira?”
“How is it that you’ve been teaching seven-year-old kids all day and you look like you just stepped out of a modelling shoot, and I’ve done nothing more strenuous then sit at a desk and I look like this.” Kira pointed to her wrinkled skirt and the stain on her jacket.
“Oh, please. You’re beautiful and you’re rocking those power suits. Don’t change the subject – are you really going to date Dr. MacMillan to make my brother jealous?” Addison said.
“Fake date,” Kira said. “You’re missing an important key component. It’s not real.”
“And this was Gracie’s idea?”
“It’s a good idea.” Grace walked into the living room, wearing jeans and a scrub top with her name embroidered on it. She was holding two bottles of beer in one hand and a half-full glass of wine in the other. She handed Kira a bottle of beer and Addison the wine glass before sinking into the couch next Addison. “These were the last two beers in your fridge, Kira.”
“Okay, but what happens if Daniel does get jealous and realizes he wants to be with you?” Addison took a sip of her wine. “This wedding that you’re gonna be Dr. MacMillan’s date for isn’t for like a month, right? You know how my brother is just as well as I do, he’s not exactly the patient type.”
Kira nodded. “I know. Connor and I will take a couple of weeks to get to know each other first and then announce we’re dating, which will only give us two weeks until the wedding. I mean, if we want to sell this whole ‘we’re dating’ thing, we need to know each other’s personal background, likes and dislikes, and… other stuff.”
“Other stuff?” Grace lowered her beer bottle. “What kind of…other stuff?”
Kira knew she was blushing, but if she was honest with herself, she wanted to tell Grace and Addie what happened. She’d wavered between giddiness and guilt about kissing Connor all damn day.
“Kira? Spill your guts, girl,” Grace said.
“Okay, so, the first night I met with Connor to talk about dating, he kissed me.”
Addie paused with her wine glass halfway to her mouth. “He kissed you?”
“Yes. He said he wanted to find out if we had chemistry before we tried to sell this whole dating thing.”
Grace took a swig of beer. “Makes sense.”
“Or he just wanted an excuse to grope Kira.” Addison gave her an affronted look.
“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Grace replied. “Nothing wrong with a little mutual groping from time to time…”
Addison made an unladylike snort. “Go on, Kira.”
Kira took a big swallow of beer. “So, we did have chemistry, which is good, but I was bad at the kissing part.”
Addison frowned. “He told you that?”
“Not in a mean way,” Kira said. “More in a… practical way.”
Addison gave her a blank look, but Grace laughed. “Yep, that sounds like Connor.”
“Still, if some guy tells you that you’re bad at kissing,” Addison said, “he isn’t worth your time.”
“But what if he’s right? I’ve only kissed two guys before and neither of them kissed me like Connor kissed me, so…”
“What do you mean?” Addison took a sip of wine.
“I mean,” Kira tried to think of how to explain it, “when I kissed a guy before, it was pleasant and, um, fun, but mostly I just kept thinking about how wet it was and how their tongues felt really big and gross in my mouth and the one guy had really bad breath and just… it wasn’t exactly the fireworks I expected, you know?”
“Well,” Addison said delicately, “not every kiss can be fireworks.”
“What?” Grace gave her a mock look of surprise. “Not every kiss with Harrison is full of sexy sparkles?”
“My love life with Harrison is perfectly fine, thank you,” Addison said.
“Perfectly fine? That’s not exactly a roaring endorsement for his bedroom skills,” Grace said.
Addison flushed before throwing one of the couch pillows at her. “Hush, Gracie. Harrison is fantastic in bed and that’s all I’ll say on the matter.”
Grace grinned at her. “Good for you, honey. You deserve fantastic in bed.”
“Anyway, back to Kira. Sorry, sweetie,” Addison said. “You were saying that kissing Connor is different.”
“Yes.” Kira fidgeted with the buttons on her suit jacket. “He’s a good kisser, I think. I definitely wasn’t thinking about it being too wet