Free Real Men Don't Break Hearts by Coleen Kwan Page B

wearing so much lipstick. Her lower lip was full and lush. He felt like wiping the lipstick off with a swipe of his thumb, and a tingle ran through his veins. He glanced over her shoulder but couldn’t see Mr. Average. “So how’s the date going?”
    Her shoulders stiffened and the gauzy dress tightened around her breasts, drawing his attention to the shadowed cleft revealed by the low-cut neckline. His fingers cramped around the cold beer glass. Wasn’t that a lot of cleavage to be flashing on a first date?
    “It’s fine.” Her voice was about as warm as the polar ice caps.
    “First dates can be a bit awkward.”
    “How do you know it’s a first date?”
    He lifted a quizzical eyebrow. Who was she trying to kid? “It’s not?”
    She lowered her gaze, her eyelashes spreading dense fans across her creamy skin. “Okay, you got me there.”
    “So what’s his name?”
    Her chin went up. “What’s it to you?”
    Still so prickly. But it didn’t irritate him. “Just making conversation here.”
    She sucked in her lips, suspicion still lurking. “His name’s Paul.”
    A group of people brushed past, making her shuffle closer. He didn’t mind one bit. It occurred to him that for a woman who hated his guts she didn’t seem in a tearing hurry to get away from him. He leaned toward her and lowered his voice conspiratorially. “Dud date, huh? Is that why you’re making a run for it?”
    “I—I’m not making a run for it,” she spluttered. “I’m just on my way to the ladies’.” She waved in the direction past him.
    “Ri-ight, so it is a dud date then, and you’re just soldiering on bravely instead of cutting and running.” He grinned at her indignant expression. When he’d arrived at this pub he’d been seething with frustration, but now he wasn’t. It was kind of fun sparring with Ally, and he didn’t want her to go. “Don’t you girls have a backup plan for a first date? You know, you get your friend to ring you halfway through the evening, and if the date’s a disaster you pretend there’s some big emergency you have to attend to. Right?”
    She rested a hand on her hip, her eyes flashing. “I suppose that’s the kind of stunt you pull on your dud dates?”
    He smiled. “I make it a policy of mine never to have dud dates.”
    “Oh, so where’s tonight’s bimbo?” She made a show of peering around her, pretending to search the crowd. “Ditched her already?”
    He felt his smile fading. He didn’t know why her sarcasm nicked him. Maybe it was because of her assumption that he was only interested in bimbos.
    “No bimbo tonight,” he said. “I came on my own.”
    “Oh.”
    The music started again, and Ally stepped backward. “Okay, then. See you,” she mouthed at him. He nodded, and a moment later she disappeared.
    Nate swallowed the last dregs of his beer. The alcohol was sour on his tongue, the blaring music starting to hammer at the insides of his temples. He pushed his way out of the bar and headed for the pool room in the back. He’d been meaning to go home, but he couldn’t stop thinking about Ally and Mr. Average, and he needed a distraction. He played pool for an hour, drank Coke instead of beer, and focused on winning his games. Eventually he called it a night and left the Duck Inn.
    Turning up his collar against the crisp night air, he almost bumped into a woman standing in the shadows of the building.
    “Ally?” She had on a thin black coat over her skimpy dress, and her arms were wrapped around herself. He looked about for Mr. Average but couldn’t see him. “Where’s your date?”
    She flicked back her hair, her brows drawn into a deep V. “I don’t know and I don’t care.”
    “He’s gone? And left you here?”
    “I couldn’t take his company anymore, so I told him I’d get a taxi home. He left in a huff.”
    “What did he do? Get too hands-on for you?”
    She scowled down at her stilettos. “Something like that.” Rubbing her upper arms, she peered