There was no way she would approve of him.
I shoved that thought away. I was restless, so after I parked the car I headed to the moon garden and plopped down on a bench, replaying the Almost Kiss over and over in my mind until my phone buzzed. A jolt of electricity shot through my veins as I read his message.
I’m an idiot for not kissing you.
My fingers moved faster than my brain and I typed out
That’s what I was just thinking.
Allow me to rectify my terrible lapse in judgement?
My only response was to send him my location.
It only took him ten minutes to find me, though it should have taken fifteen for the drive alone. Had he already been on his way when he’d texted me?
Shyness crept over me as he walked toward me, my heart pounding in my chest in anticipation, but he didn’t leave one second for awkwardness. The moment he reached me, he cupped my face in his hands and kissed me. Soundly. His bare hands were warm despite the chill of the night, and his lips were even warmer as they moved against mine.
I opened my senses all the way and let the smell and feel and taste of him wash over me. I’d imagined this, imagined kissing Ernesto Garcia many times before I met him in real life. I’dimagined kissing Neto all the time since meeting him, but my imagination paled in comparison to the reality of it.
He pulled back. “Anne, I’m so sorry for not kissing you in front of my family. I would never want you to feel like I was ashamed of you. And it’s not that I didn’t want them to know how I feel about you, I’ve been telling them since I first saw you at that rehearsal. I just didn’t want to share this moment.”
I stilled. Before today, I hadn’t dared hope that this could be anything more than a temporary diversion. But now? I didn’t know what I wanted my life to look like going forward, only that I wanted him in it.
I leaned forward and brought my lips to his again. I probably would have kept kissing him forever but with my senses turned up I heard the approach of footsteps.
“Somebody’s coming,” I said against his lips.
He groaned softly. “Does that mean I have to stop kissing you?”
I considered just ignoring whoever had the audacity to interrupt my wildest dreams coming true, but then—
“Elizabeth, wait!” Darcy called.
A sharp inhale, then faltering footsteps followed his shout.
Elizabeth Bennet had come again?
I peeked around the gazebo and glimpsed Darcy pacing in front of Elizabeth, one hand holding tight to an old baseball cap he sometimes used when he was out in disguise.
A brief but awkward pause followed, and Neto raised an eyebrow at me. I held a finger to my lips and shook my head slightly.
“How are you?” Darcy asked Elizabeth.
“I’m fine,” she said. Even if her cool tone and lack of reciprocating didn’t give it away, in the language of women, that meant Elizabeth was definitelynotfine.
Darcy paced again, and his own nerves transferred to me as I realized just how much my cousin cared for her. But before he had any chance of winning her heart, he’d have to figure out why she was so upset and—
“These last few months have been torture, Elizabeth,” he said. “Ever since I met you at Club Meryton, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you.”
Her sharp inhale was all I could hear before Darcy forged ahead. My brave, stupid cousin.
“Our families are so different that any relationship between us is almost laughable. I know that, but knowing it doesn’t seem to have any effect on how I feel. I’ve fought against my better judgment, my family’s expectations as the crown prince, your family’s wild impropriety, and even against your status as a half-witch, half-fae, but none of that matters. Please put me out of my misery and say you’ll be mine.”
If I’d thought the last silence was awkward, it was nothing compared to the one that settled between them now.
Neto leaned closer and whispered in my ear, “Is your cousin always so terrible with women?”
I held back a sigh and nodded. Seriously,whatwas Darcy thinking? What sort of idiot insults the girl he’s trying to woo?
