Kissing Lessons (Kissing Creek)

by Stefanie London

  Damn. “Okay, don’t get too cocky. That was a warm-up question.”

  Audrey’s eyes sparkled. “You’re going to have to try harder than that.”

  “How many extra bones does a baby have than an adult?” he asked.

  “Ooh, that’s a good one.” She sucked on her lower lip as she thought, eyes narrowed in concentration. “I feel like I read an article about this a while back. It was a lot. I know their skulls are not fully formed so there’s flexibility for the birthing process.”

  “Final answer?”

  “Hmmm. I feel like it’s high double-digits, in the nineties maybe.”

  “It’s ninety-four. Babies have three hundred bones and adults have two-hundred and six.”

  Audrey snapped her fingers in victory. “Another win for the trivia genius.”

  “I was unprepared. Next time I see you, I’ll have some harder questions up my sleeve.”

  “Deal.” She smiled at him in a way that made him feel warm inside. They had this connection between them—a glimmering little thread based on attraction and a mutual love of learning and knowledge. “Bring your A game next time.”

  They joined Deanna, who was already ordering her hot dog—extra cheese, onions, and every sauce. She took the liberty of ordering one for her sister, too. Plus two large Cokes. He caught Audrey frowning a little out of the corner of his eye as she pulled her wallet from her bag and looked inside.

  There was definitely something going on with Audrey. The comment she’d made last weekend about “playing mom” and having lots of responsibility, putting food on the table for her siblings, not working toward anything with her education…

  “Deanna,” Audrey said softly, as though she didn’t want him to hear. “We shouldn’t…”

  “I’ve got it.” Ronan pulled his wallet out of his back pocket and smiled at the cashier. “Could you add another dog to that order?”

  “Sure.” The cashier gave him the updated amount.

  “I can’t let you pay.” Audrey placed a hand on his arm, and her green eyes met his. The touch—so innocent and so human—shot sparks through him in a way that was totally out of alignment with the action. It was like his body had its awareness dialed up to a hundred, and even the smallest contact felt like fireworks. “That’s not right.”

  “It’s nothing.”

  But clearly it was to her. To her family. He almost wanted to slap himself for the careless comment. Twenty bucks to him was inconsequential. Sure, as a professor at a smaller college he wasn’t earning a fortune, but he came from means. His artist mother might not have bothered to spend time with him at any point in his life, but she’d left him and Keira very comfortable financially.

  That was a comfort Audrey clearly didn’t have.

  “I mean…” He scrambled for the right thing to say. “I owe you for the other day.”

  She raised an eyebrow skeptically. “Oh yeah?”

  “For showing me to the bookstore and…” He was clutching at straws now. “Helping me clean up after the Lily incident. A few hot dogs is the least I can do.”

  He handed a few bills to the cashier and passed the bulging hot dogs to Audrey and Deanna. The younger woman’s eyes widened, and she sank her teeth straight into her meal.

  “Oh my God,” she said with her mouth full. “It’s wicked good.”

  Audrey laughed and ducked her eyes. “Thank you, Ronan. You didn’t have to do that.”

  “Sure, I did.” They grabbed their Cokes and made their way to the bleachers. “I could have walked right into Lily’s trap without your sage advice.”

  “The advice I dispensed from behind the cover of a bookshelf?” Audrey laughed.

  “You were the smart one in that situation. And you called Lily’s owner.” He took a long sip from his drink. “I’d say you deserve more than stadium food for that.”

  She looked at him, her olive-green eyes flicking over his face as if she was trying to figure something out. As if she was waiting for a hidden motive to reveal itself. There was something so guarded about Audrey. A veneer, impenetrable and sunny, hiding the real her underneath.

  He chose not to take it personally. As someone who generally kept people at arm’s length, he understood that driving and deep-seated need for self-preservation. Instead, he bit down into his hot dog. “It is good.”

  “See?” Deanna shot him a knowing look. She had a dot of yellow mustard on the corner of her lip. “Told you.”

  The bleachers were already starting to get full, and they found a spot with enough room for the three of them to squeeze in. As he sat, he was acutely aware of Audrey’s thigh pressing against his. With her hands occupied by food and drink, her skirt rose up her legs as she sat, and although she tried to subtly pull the hem down, she didn’t have any luck.

  “So, how do you two know each other?” Deanna asked as they settled in. “I can tell you’re not from around here.”

  “How’s that?” Ronan looked down at himself. He didn’t look that different from the average person in Kissing Creek, especially since he wasn’t wearing his elbow patches today.

  “You’re…” She wrinkled her nose, and it struck him as so like Audrey. “Fancy.”

  He laughed. “Fancy?”

  “I think she means clean-cut,” Audrey supplied. “Well, aside from the beard.”

  “You don’t like the beard?”

  “Oh no, I do.” Pink colored her cheeks, and Ronan decided then that he wanted to see her blush more often. There was something so honest about it, a reaction that even she, with her careful veneer, couldn’t hide. “It suits you.”

  “Thanks.” He was aware that Deanna was watching the two of them very closely, her brow crinkled as though she might be drawing her own conclusions. Better to correct that. “Actually, I’m Audrey’s—”

  “Customer.” She cut him off and shot him a pleading look out of Deanna’s line of vision. “Ronan gets his coffee at Kisspresso.”

  Okay, that was a little weird. Sure, she wasn’t lying, since he had gotten his coffee at Kisspresso most mornings and Audrey had served him whenever she was in. But the more obvious answer—which he’d been about to give—was that he was her professor. Yet, for some reason, she didn’t want her sister to know that.

  It seemed the more time he spent with Audrey, the more questions he accumulated. And that was only going to make it more difficult to keep his distance.

  Chapter Eight

  Mistakes had been made.

  Mistake number one was stopping to chat to Ronan when he called her name. Not because she didn’t want to talk to him—she definitely did—but because having Deanna beside her added a whole new level of risk.

  Mistake number two was wearing a dress she knew was a little on the short side when she sat down. But laundry day had come and gone three days ago, and Audrey hadn’t found a spare moment to do it. In fact, she’d contemplated canceling on the exhibition match tonight so she could catch up with housework—since the place was starting to look like a dump site—but Deanna had been so excited she hadn’t found it in herself to say no.

  Hence, her clueless little sister had tried to bleed her dry at the hot dog stand, which made Ronan step up to pay and left Audrey feeling embarrassed and…grateful. She didn’t like feeling grateful, because that felt a whole lot like she owed someone something, and Audrey didn’t like being in anyone’s debt.

  “I like the pink passion mochas at Kisspresso,” Deanna said, her face brightening. “But Audrey says I can’t have them too often.”

  “Too much sugar. This”—Audrey gestured to the Coke that looked almost as big as Deanna’s head—“is a special treat.”

  Rolling her eyes, her sister took a long slurp from her drink, as if trying to prove a point. Audrey let it slide. She had bigger things to worry about—namely the fact that Ronan was probably wondering why
in the hell she’d prevented him from telling Deanna that he was her professor.

  Hers.

  The word circled in her head like a vulture.

  But her thoughts were cut off by the raucous cheer from the hometown fans. The Flames mascot, a guy dressed in an unfortunate skintight red suit with a wig made to look like flames, was leading Lily around the field to signal that the game would be underway soon.

  “That’s a brave man right there,” Ronan said with a shudder. “You could not pay me enough.”

  “Because of the suit or the llama?” Audrey bit into her hot dog and chewed, happy for the distraction from more dangerous topics of conversation.

  “Both. One, there’s no way I’m getting near that creature again unless absolutely necessary. Two, it would take a lot of money for me to put my junk on display.” He cleared his throat. “Not that I’m ashamed of what God gave me.”

  Oh lord. Audrey did not need to be thinking about anything that God gave Ronan Walsh below the belt. Trying to combat the sudden rise in her body temperature, she pressed the Coke cup to her cheek.

  Ice cubes, work your magic. Now, please.

  But Ronan was clearly determined to backtrack, his cheeks suddenly as red as hers.

  “I mean, any man would feel uncomfortable having it all hang out in front of an audience, regardless of size.” He cleared his throat. “I’m going to stop now.”

  “Please,” Audrey said, half mortified and half trying not to choke on the laugh she was holding back.

  “I usually have better social skills than this,” he muttered. “I swear there’s something about you that turns me into a babbling fool.”

  Her heart skipped a beat. She made him turn into a babbling fool? Surely it was the other way around. There was no way Ronan could be attracted to her the way she was attracted to him. And it wasn’t because Audrey didn’t think she was attractive. She had confident days and those where she avoided the mirror, like any other woman.

  But this didn’t have anything to do with looks. It was everything else. Why would a professor with his pedigree be interested in a worker bee with no future?

  “So, what’s the story with the Flames?”

  Thank God, a change of topic. “They’re good. They made it to the College World Series a couple years ago, and they’re hoping to have a shot at it again this season. Last season, they had a few unfortunate injuries that let them down. But they’ve got an amazing pitcher they think could make the majors and a promising first baseman from a prospect camp a few years ago. We’ve been waiting for him to start.”

  “Oh, that Jackson guy?” Deanna let out a big sigh. “All the girls at school totally stan him.”

  Ronan’s brow wrinkled, and he leaned closer to Audrey. “Stan?”

  She laughed. “It means he has lots of fans.”

  “Apparently his Instagram is almost at ten thousand.” Deanna munched on her hot dog. “That’s a lot.”

  There was more action on the field as the players started filing out, an announcer calling names from both teams and inviting the crowd to cheer. The stands were getting fuller, and someone squished themselves down next to Ronan with a friendly “’scuse me,” forcing him to move closer to Audrey.

  “Your sister makes me feel old,” Ronan joked. “And apparently I’m supposed to be a millennial.”

  “How old are you?”

  “Thirty-four.”

  “That’s young for a professor, especially one who taught at Cambridge.” Like she needed to be any more impressed by Ronan.

  “So young I occasionally get mistaken for a student.” He winked. “Yeah, it’s young. Sometimes that works against me.”

  “People don’t respect your opinion?”

  “Being an outstanding professor requires life experience as well as a good academic record,” he said in a mock-stuffy voice before shaking his head. “I’ve got what it takes, without a doubt. That’s why writing my book and furthering my research for the next year will be really important. It’s a pivotal moment in my career that could mean the difference between getting a tenured position at an Ivy League school and being stuck…”

  He trailed and shifted in his seat. The message was clear enough. “Being stuck here?” she said.

  “That’s not what I meant.”

  “Yeah, it is.” Audrey swirled her Coke around in the plastic cup, half-melted ice cubes swishing on foamy brown waves. “Kissing Creek doesn’t provide the kind of life some people aspire to. It’s a slower pace, here. Everybody knows your business.”

  “No joke. My first meeting with the senior faculty members proved they’d searched every inch of my history, right down to my favorite beer.”

  “I believe it. And besides, you’ve seen what the world has to offer. You’ve been overseas and experienced exciting things. Why would you want to stay here after all that?” She said it as though reminding herself.

  People with prospects who came into this town didn’t often stay. Sometimes they’d collect a spouse on the way out, whisking some lucky person off to greener pastures. Heck, Audrey had even had such an offer herself. A hunky Canadian named James had chatted her up at work, and they’d gone on a few dates, shared a few nights together, and then he’d packed his bags. He’d asked her to go to Vancouver with him, said he thought they might have a future.

  She’d been younger then—twenty-two—and the possibility of exploring a new country and making her own life had tasted like candy on the tip of her tongue. But when she’d explained to him that she couldn’t leave her siblings, that maybe he could stay here with her for now—long enough for her to get her siblings out—he’d laughed and said he couldn’t afford to “waste” the best years of his life in Kissing Creek.

  For a town that loved all things romance, it was a great irony.

  “Do you like living here?” he asked.

  “My family is here, and I love my family, so…yeah, I like living here.” She nodded. “The people here are kind for the most part, and I have steady work.”

  “Ah, that’s right. Cappuccinos and crystals.” When he smiled, it went all the way to his eyes, setting off a flutter in Audrey’s tummy. “You’re a very interesting woman.”

  “Because of the cappuccinos and crystals?”

  “Because of all of it—the random facts, the mystery…everything.”

  Around them, the crowd got to their feet as the home team trotted out to their positions on the field. But Audrey and Ronan were stuck, asses glued to the bleachers as they looked at each other. Nobody had ever called Audrey interesting before. Nobody had ever looked at her like that—with intensity. With curiosity. In a way that told her she mattered.

  Her head blocked out all the noise around her, and her gaze dropped to Ronan’s mouth. It was perfect—full lips made for kissing and straight white teeth that needed a ping sound effect when he smiled. Sandy-brown hair covered his jaw, though it was neatly trimmed, in keeping with the rest of him. Would it feel good scratching against her skin if they kissed? Would he taste sweet like Coke and earthy like man? Would his hands fist in her hair and—

  “Did you see him? Did you see him?” Deanna grabbed her arm, ripping Audrey from the intimate moment. Her little sister shook her drink so violently the lid popped off and some of the sticky liquid sloshed over the edge. “Oh my God, there he is!”

  “You’re literally a bag of hormones,” Audrey grumbled as she stood. She could still feel the heat of Ronan’s gaze on her as he got to his feet beside her.

  “Go Flames!” Deanna bounced up and down on the spot.

  “I should never have given you so much sugar.”

  The crowd settled, and out of the corner of her eye, Audrey noticed a man with salt and pepper hair approaching them.

  “Ronan! I didn’t know you were coming to the game.” The man grinned. “We’ve got a spot for staff o
n the other side. You should come sit with us; I’ll introduce you around.”

  Ronan looked at Audrey, but she shooed him, letting him know he should go and network.

  “I’ll see you around,” he said to Audrey, getting to his feet.

  “Thanks for…” She trailed off as the words stuck in her throat. Thanks for what? Paying for the drinks and dogs? For keeping her company? For looking at her in a way that stirred up things she wanted to ignore? “Just thanks.”

  “You’re welcome.” He smiled his crooked smile and then left her sitting there, her body grieving the warmth of his thigh pressed against hers.

  After the game was over—where Audrey and Deanna almost lost their voices screaming as the score remained neck and neck until the bottom of the ninth—they followed the crowd away from the diamond and toward the parking lot.

  “You like that guy,” Deanna said, a delighted smile on her lips.

  “The first baseman? Yeah, I thought he played a good game. He’s got good reach, considering he’s not as tall as Thomas from last year.”

  “No, silly.” Deanna giggled. “The professor.”

  “Ronan?” She tried not to react. Her little sister was like a sponge for information, and she picked up on subtle emotions and feelings that most adults totally missed. “Sure. He’s nice.”

  “You like like him.”

  Audrey rolled her eyes. “That’s a lot of likes for one sentence.”

  “But you do, don’t you? I can’t blame you. He’s cute.”

  “He’s twenty years older than you.”

  Deanna shrugged. “Sure, I mean, he’s old. But that doesn’t mean he’s not cute.”

  Audrey couldn’t deal with this right now. “Well, it doesn’t matter, anyway. We have rules against dating…customers.”

  “Why?”

  “It would be inappropriate.”

  “Why?”

  Lord give her strength right now. “That’s the rules, okay? It’s not allowed. I don’t like it, either.”

  The words tumbled out of her so fast and so strong it almost stopped her in her tracks. Of course, she wasn’t talking about the rules of dating a customer. It was his job that was the concern. Which seemed stupid to her—sure, she was his student. But she wasn’t studying for a degree or even career development, which meant him giving her better grades—or penalizing her if things went south—didn’t mean a damn thing. The grades were inconsequential.