Page 12 of Twice as Tempting

Kelly’s brain started whirring—she was a marketing guru after all. “Maybe I could help you with that,” she suggested, her eyes lighting up.

“You’d want to do that?”

“Sure, why not? It’s what I do. I’m the one who came up with the name for the bookstore, and I’m the one who does most of the marketing for the store.”

“Yeah, but car stuff…”

Kelly put her hands on her hips indignantly. “It doesn’t matter what the product is, marketing is marketing.”

Damian crossed his arms over his chest and gazed at her intently. “Ok, smarty. So, what’s a chassis?”

“It’s…um…it’s that thing…um…”

“That’s what I thought. You don’t know a damn thing about cars!”

The sound of the doorbell saved Kelly from having to retort. Damian jumped up to get the door while Kelly went into the kitchen to procure the plates and utensils. The whole scene felt surreal; it was like she and Damian hadn’t missed a beat. They’d eaten Chinese in her apartment before and followed it up with heart-pounding, against-the-kitchen-counter…

“Here we are,” Damian said and set down the containers on the kitchen table.

When Kelly turned around with the utensils, he studied her inquisitively. “You ok? You look a little flushed.”

“I’m fine. I think I just stood up too fast.” Liar, liar, pants on fire! Literally!

Damian accepted her explanation and began to dish out the food. “I don’t suppose there’s any more beer in your fridge?”

“Actually, I picked some up on the way home from work the other day. Just because…you know…I felt like having a beer.” Her second lie of the evening! She had picked it up on the off-chance that Damian might visit her apartment again.

Kelly pulled two beers out of the fridge and plunked them down on the table.

“Thanks,” Damian said, and he shot her another one of those spectacular Kostas’s smiles.

They dug into the food with gusto, as they had every time they’d eaten together, and Kelly enjoyed their companionable silence. Maybe having Damian for a neighbor wouldn’t be so bad after all, as long as everybody kept their clothes on!

After they had finished eating and Kelly had put away their dishes, the silence turned awkward. If they had been dating, Kelly might have suggested watching a movie, or going out for ice cream, or… Who was she kidding? They would have most likely ended up in bed, but since that wasn’t happening, she wasn’t sure what to do.

Damian stood up abruptly and shoved his hands in his front pockets, a sure sign that he felt uncomfortable too. “I should probably get going,” he said and moved toward the door.

Kelly followed a few steps behind him. “Yeah, ok. Thanks for dinner,” she said.

“No problem.” Damian had one hand on the doorknob, but he suddenly turned around. “You know, I might ask for your help with some marketing stuff, even though you don’t know shit about cars.”

Kelly’s lips curled up in a satisfied grin. “You could teach me,” she said flirtatiously.

The air crackled between them. “Are you a good student?”

“I got all A’s and B’s in school.”

“You might get dirty.”

“I’m ok with that.”

Damian smirked, but Kelly stood her ground. “I’m good at what I do, Damian.”

“Don’t I know it!” He eyed her up and down and then opened the door.

“Goodnight, Kell,” he said and headed down the stairs.

Kelly watched him leave, and just before he was out of sight, she yelled, “Hey, you forgot your leftovers.”

“That’s ok. I know where you live.”

The last thing she heard was his deep chuckle before he disappeared into the night.