The Dating Plan Read online

  Just what she needed. A lifetime’s worth of humiliation descending on her all at once.

  Liam studied her intently as if he hadn’t heard the burn. “How long has it been?”

  “Ten years, eleven months, thirteen days, thirteen hours, forty-seven minutes, and sixteen seconds.” The clock behind him had a bright red second hand for precise calculation.

  She realized her mistake when his lips tugged into an infuriating smirk.

  “You haven’t changed.”

  Hadn’t changed? Was he serious? She’d grown up the night she had to go to the prom with Layla instead of with the most infamous bad boy in their high school. It was supposed to be the defining night of her high school life—the moment when she showed everyone she wasn’t the geek they thought she was. Someone wanted her—someone handsome and charming who had insisted on being her escort when he found out she didn’t have a date.

  A senior when she was a freshman, Liam was the boy every girl wanted and every guy wanted to befriend. He had spent more time in the principal’s office than he did in class. With a new girlfriend every week, a permanent gang of hangers-on who followed him around the school, and the legendary pranks he’d played etched on the restroom walls, he was still remembered years after graduation. It would have been perfect. But now, as she took in those sparkling blue eyes and thick dark hair, the chiseled planes and angles of a face that had morphed from good-looking into devastatingly handsome, she couldn’t believe she had fallen so hard for someone who had always been completely out of her league.

  “I have changed. No glasses. No frizzy hair. Better clothes. Bigger boobs . . . Not that any of that matters. You made it clear what you thought about me.”

  “That was a long time ago.” His voice was rough, strained. “I don’t feel good about what happened.”

  “What a coincidence. Neither do I.”

  He let out a ragged breath. “Don’t tell me you’re still upset.”

  “‘Upset’?” She wanted to scream. Angry. Hurt. Humiliated. Disappointed. Crushed. Bitter. Wrecked. Destroyed. There were so many better words to describe her devastation when the man of her dreams stood her up for her senior prom and then disappeared from her life.

  But what had she expected? Her own mother had abandoned her, too.

  “No,” she lied, letting the pain and hurt she’d been harboring for the past decade wash away any thoughts of forgiveness. If she clung to it, embraced it, maybe she wouldn’t think about her pathetic teenage fantasies, the embarrassing ways she’d tried to catch his attention, the dreams of kissing him and living happily ever after with the only boy she’d ever loved.

  “I’m totally over it,” she continued. “High school prom? What’s that? I never think about it. Or you. I never think about you. When I bumped into you right now, I couldn’t even remember your last name.”

  He raised an incredulous eyebrow. “That’s hard to believe since you probably know the details of every meeting that’s going on in every room, the location of every exit, the number of attendees, and how long it takes to walk from one end of the conference center to the other.”

  She did know all those things. Her brain had an irritating habit of working even when she wasn’t conscious it was processing information. Over the years she’d found a way to shut it down. Unfortunately, her mental tricks only worked when her life was under control, and right now she was caught in a maelstrom of contradictory emotions that threatened to tear her apart. Why did he have to look so breathtakingly gorgeous? Why couldn’t he have worn a boring suit and tie instead of a badass leather jacket that made him look like a young James Dean?

  “I only remember important things.” She bent down to pick up the pads, tearing her gaze away as she tried to control her instinctive reaction to him. Although she desperately wanted to escape, she couldn’t return to Tyler empty-handed.

  “You’re angry with me.” A pained expression crossed his face.

  “I thought that was obvious.”

  “Let me help.” Liam crouched down beside her and picked up one of the boxes.

  How irritating. She wanted him to act like the bad guy he was. Saving her from a fall and crouching on the floor of a conference center to help her stuff pads back into boxes were not the actions of a villain.

  “That’s a lot of . . .” His faced reddened and he cleared his throat. “Products.”

  She snatched the box from his hand. “My boss needed one for a pitch and I accidentally got too many.”

  “Who do you work for?”

  “Organicare. We’re in the personal care business.” After leaving Madison behind, Daisy had taken some time off from her work as a software engineering consultant to help Layla start up her new recruitment business. Office management involved too much social interaction and hadn’t given her the intellectual challenge she craved, so she’d responded to Tyler’s ad for a senior software engineer who could support his rapidly hemorrhaging engineering department. He’d been up front about the financial state of the company, but Daisy didn’t mind. She’d spent her career hopping from start-up to start-up, moving on before she made attachments that would make it difficult to leave.

  “I haven’t heard of them.”

  “Why would you?”

  “I’m with Evolution Ventures, a venture capital company based in New York. I moved out here a few weeks ago to head up our new West Coast office. We mainly fund start-ups in the food services industry, but we’ve been expanding into tech so I’m here for the pitch sessions.”

  Even more irritating. Hopefully Tyler hadn’t put Evolution on the pitch list. Bad enough that he’d dragged her along to answer questions about the software system and pour blue liquid onto pads to demonstrate the superior absorbency of Organicare’s products. But to have to beg Liam Murphy for money to save the company . . . She couldn’t imagine anything worse.

  “I’m glad things worked out for you, Liam, but honestly, if we weren’t in public, I’d slap you across the face.”

  “That’s very considerate of you.” He held out a hand to help her up, but she waved him off as she stood, cradling the boxes in one arm.

  “I’m surprised you even know what that word means.”

  His behavior on her prom night had been all the more devastating because Daisy had seen another side of Liam when he had first started coming to her house to hang out with her older brother, Sanjay. He joked with her, teased her, even played video games with her if Sanjay had homework to do. Although he’d become more distant after she turned sixteen, he was more protective of her than her own brother, volunteering to pick her up from late-night study sessions, and showing up to drive her home on the few occasions Layla managed to drag her to a party.

  “Let me take you for a drink after the conference.” He handed her the last box. “We can catch up, and you can tell me about your dad and Sanjay . . .”

  Her anger finally peaked, crashing through her veins in a tidal wave of emotion. Every moment of her prom night was etched into her mind—from the heartfelt emotion in her father’s eyes when she walked down the stairs in her dress, to the tears on her pillow as she cried herself to sleep. Liam had been a fixture in her life for eight years, and he had disappeared without even saying goodbye.

  “Are you serious?” She rounded on him, now grateful for the heels that put her a few inches closer to his eye level. “I don’t want to have a drink with you. I don’t even want to breathe the same air as you. I don’t want to catch up or talk about the fun times we had. And you don’t deserve to know about Sanjay and my dad because you didn’t just leave me; you left them, too.”

  Liam went utterly still, his eyes intense, brows knitted together in a puzzled frown. She moved to step past him, but he caught her arm in a gentle grip.

  “Daisy . . . wait.”

  She spun to face him. “I don’t owe you anything.”

 
“What if I beg?” He tipped his head to the side, his seductive smile so achingly familiar her heart squeezed in her chest. This was the Liam she’d fallen for when she was ten years old. Reckless. Charming. Handsome. Charisma flowing off him in waves. Despite her antipathy toward him, it was impossible not to still feel the pull of attraction.

  “Daisy!” Madison waved from the crowd, tugging a reluctant Orson along; in the distance, relentless like the tide, came Salena Auntie and poor Roshan.

  There was nowhere to run. No graceful way to extract herself from the situation without losing face. Daisy tipped her head back and groaned.

  Liam frowned. “What’s wrong?”

  Gritting her teeth she gestured to the left. “That’s my aunt coming toward us with the man she wants me to marry. And in three seconds, we’ll be accosted by my old boss. She’s with my ex, Orson. I got him a job at my last start-up, and the next thing I knew, she’d stolen him away. This day is getting worse by the second.”

  Liam twisted his lips to the side, considering. “I can see why you—”

  “Shh.” She held up a warning hand. “I’m praying for a natural disaster—earthquake, flood, tornado, murder wasps, even a plague of locusts will do.”

  “How about a kiss?”

  Daisy frowned. “How is that going to fix anything?”

  His gaze dropped to her lips. “You can’t get married if you’re seeing someone else, and you’ll be able to show your ex and your boss that you’ve moved on. It’s a perfect solution.”

  It would have been perfect ten years ago at the senior prom. She’d imagined it night after night. The shock and awe in the faces of her classmates. The jacket he would place over her shoulders when she shivered. The gentle squeeze of his hand as he walked her to the dance floor. His arms around her, warm and strong. The slow, steady beat of the music. His whispered declaration that he’d loved her since the moment they met. And then his lips on her lips . . .

  “You are the last man on earth I want to kiss.”

  His voice dropped to a low rumble that vibrated through her body. “I would do the kissing.”

  Daisy looked back over her shoulder at the approaching storm. It was a perfect solution. She would have her fantasy prom kiss, show Orson and Madison she was no victim, and shut down her matchmaking aunties all in one fell swoop. And after they’d gone, she’d be close enough to knee Liam in the groin.

  “Fine. Just one kiss,” she gritted out through clenched teeth. “And there are rules.”

  “I wouldn’t expect anything less.” He stepped closer, sliding an arm around her waist, crushing the boxes of pads between them.

  All her nerves fired at once and she drew in a calming breath, desperately trying to regain her sense of self-possession. “No tongue. No pressure. No open mouth. No roaming hands . . .” Her voice trailed off when his lips moved over her hair. She drew in a sharp breath, inhaling the scent of him—leather and the ocean breeze and something so deeply familiar, longing stirred inside her, melting the ice in her veins.

  Bristling, she stiffened against him. She needed that ice. Needed the walls that kept her safe. It had been easy to hate Liam when he was gone, but now that he was here, only a whisper away, it was almost impossible to hold back the feelings that she had buried along with her heart.

  “I’ll try not to throw up in your mouth.”

  Liam chuckled. “Is that your idea of foreplay?”

  “It’s my idea of getting this over with as quickly as possible so I can go back to pretending you don’t exist.”

  With a soft growl of amusement, Liam gently cupped her face with his free hand, filling her vision with the face that still haunted her dreams.

  Daisy’s heart pounded a staccato beat. “Hurry.”

  His lips brushed over hers in a featherlight caress, so gentle and unexpected she forgot to breathe. There was no passion in the kiss. The earth didn’t move, time didn’t stand still, fireworks didn’t fill the sky, not even a single bird twittered around her head. But it was tender and sweet, his lips were soft and gentle, and for the briefest second she was tempted to give in to the heat of sensation and kiss him like she was a lovelorn teenager all over again.

  “Daisy! How nice to see you.” Madison’s voice grated over her nerves, pulling her out of the moment. Her defenses slammed back into place and she jerked away.

  “Madison.” Turning, Daisy forced a smile and slid one arm around Liam’s waist. He was broad and solid and mouthwateringly hard, like he spent his days pumping weights in the gym. “Nice to see you, too.”

  “We’re together.” Liam slid his arm around Daisy’s shoulder and pulled her to his side.

  “You’re with him?” Orson’s bushy eyebrows flew up like two dancing caterpillars.

  “Oh, Orson.” Daisy leaned into Liam’s side, feigning surprise. “I didn’t see you hiding there behind Madison.”

  She made the introductions. Orson glared as he shook Liam’s hand. Madison was too busy checking Liam out to notice that her new boyfriend had spiked a jealousy fever.

  “How sweet. Daisy has a new boyfriend.” Madison licked her lips like a predator about to feast.

  Daisy’s pulse kicked up a notch and panic fuzzed her brain. She had no interest in Liam. That ship had sailed ten years ago on a tide of tears. But she wasn’t about to let Madison steal another man away.

  “We’re actually . . . engaged.” The word dropped from her mouth before she could catch it, and she shot Liam a frantic sideways glance silently begging him to play along.

  “Engaged?” Orson’s voice cracked. “We only broke up a short while ago.”

  “When you know, you know.” Liam pressed a kiss to her temple, jumping on the bandwagon without hesitation.

  “‘Engaged’?” Salena Auntie pushed past Orson to stand right in front of her, red purse clutched to her chest. “You’re engaged? Does your father know? Who is this boy?” She turned and squeezed Roshan’s arm. “I didn’t know. I thought she was available.”

  “Um . . .” Lying to her aunt wasn’t part of her impromptu plan, but Orson and Madison were watching with avid fascination. “This is Liam.”

  “Lemon?” Salena Auntie’s forehead wrinkled.

  “Liam.”

  “Limb?”

  Seemingly nonplussed by Salena Auntie’s inability to say his name, Liam held out his hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

  “Salena Patel.” She shook his hand, mollified by his warm smile and easy charm. “What kind of name is Limb?”

  Daisy sighed. “His name is Liam, but it doesn’t really matter—”

  “‘It doesn’t matter’?” Salena Auntie staggered back, hand over her heart as if she were about to collapse. Her matchmaking aunt put the queen in drama queen. “You are secretly engaged and it doesn’t matter? When did this happen? What does he do? Who is his family? Your poor father . . .”

  Madison mouthed a sympathetic goodbye and turned away, tugging Orson behind her, as a slew of questions tumbled from Salena Auntie’s lips: Who? Why? Where? What? When?

  “It only just happened today.” Daisy interrupted her aunt with an apologetic shrug. “You’re the first to know. I’m going to tell the rest of the family when dad gets back from his trip.” Her dad had flown to Belize with his new girlfriend, Priya, and they weren’t due back for another three weeks. By then, she hopefully would have come up with a story about how she’d been engaged and then unengaged and have found another way to put her matchmaking aunties off the scent.

  Salena Auntie’s eyes narrowed. “Why not tell him now? Marriage is a family affair. You shouldn’t have done this without speaking to him first.”

  “I didn’t want to bother him on his holiday with something so . . . trivial.”

  “An unmarried woman of your age left alone to roam the streets is no trivial matter.” Salena Auntie shook her
finger. “Look what happened. Your father goes away and this Limb boy took advantage. It isn’t right.”

  “I’m not old!” Daisy protested.

  Liam lifted an eyebrow. “In some countries, you’d have been put out to pasture by now.”

  She shot him a sideways look. “Stay out of this.”

  “I don’t think you’re old,” Roshan countered.

  “Such a good boy.” Salena Auntie patted his arm. “Don’t worry. I have another niece for you. Her name is Sonam. Beautiful girl. Very smart. She’s a lawyer, but don’t hold it against her. Her office isn’t far.” She narrowed her eyes at Daisy. “And you . . . We’ll speak later after I’ve talked to your aunties. Everyone will need to meet Limb.”

  “It’s Liam.”

  Her aunt waved as she turned away. “Goodbye, Daisy and Limb.”

  After bidding farewell to Roshan and her aunt, Daisy lifted Liam’s arm from her shoulders. “Thanks. You didn’t have to play along.”

  “Anytime you need a fabulously handsome fake fiancé, my lips are at your service.” He made a theatrical bow. “It’s the least I can do after you managed not to throw up from my kiss.”

  Daisy shook her head, unsettled by his teasing warmth. He didn’t act like a man who would stand her up and disappear for ten years without a word. He acted like the old Liam, the one who’d made her feel like her quirks and lists and plans were perfectly normal, the one who’d made her laugh and kept her safe and filled the hole in her chest that her mother had left when she moved to New York, leaving her young family behind.

  “Nothing has changed, Liam.” She heard the chill in her voice. “I don’t want to see you ever again.”

  He flinched the tiniest bit, but a slight smile still played on his lips. “So the engagement is off? I’d say it was a pleasure but . . .”

  “It wasn’t.” Daisy finished his sentence.

  A shadow of sorrow flickered across his face so quickly she wondered if she’d seen it. “See you in another ten years.” His softened tone, unwanted and unexpected, rippled gently over her senses like a warm summer breeze.