Page 37 of Some Like It Royal

If nothing else, the explosion the night before drove that point home. Maybe if she repeated that to herself as a mantra, she’d make it clear to her out-of-whack emotions that they weren’t personally invested in this. She was still Alyx Dagmar, aspiring actress, and this was the opportunity of a lifetime.

Why were her nerves tingling and her stomach upset? He couldn’t possibly be a bad kisser and she’d already thought about what it would be like to?—

Disaster lay down that track.

“That’s a fair question.” Oh, thank God. Daniel was on her side in this. He stared at Victor. “We don’t really need you to walk us through the kissing. I’m pretty sure we both understand how that works.”

“Well, then by all means, demonstrate.” Victor stared at them expectantly and her hopes dashed against the cold practicality of the situation. They couldn’t hope to sell a romance without passion.

Why did I agree to this?

She looked up at Daniel, half expecting to see her worried emotions reflected in his gaze, but what she found startled her more. Interest gleamed in his eyes. Intrigue and maybe a note of longing. All the moisture fled her mouth. He lifted his free hand and brushed a tendril of hair back from her face.

Every muscle in her body seized. Electricity skated across her cheek at the casual touch of his fingers. Her heart squeezed, pulsing in little beats as though afraid to interrupt. His head tilted and all she could see were his blue eyes staring into hers as he swooped in. At the last moment, her lashes fluttered closed and his breath tickled her lips, a promise of the moment when they would touch.

“No.” That single word interrupted the moment and Daniel jerked against her. Eyes flying open, she swung a look at Victor. “Your body language is wrong.”

“I thought we were kissing.” Frustration cracked a note in her voice and she grimaced at Daniel’s low chuckle.

“We were almost kissing, but apparently we needed to have some cut scenes for the blooper reel.” Daniel squeezed her lightly.

The wildly inappropriate remark sent a titter of amusement through her and she snickered. Victor frowned and the deeper his frown went, the more humor escaped. She turned her face toward Daniel’s shoulder and leaned into him—shaking with suppressed laughter.

He rubbed her back, his own chest reverberating with the hilarity of the situation. Glancing up, her nose bumped his and he kissed her.

Victor be damned on whether they were doing it right, but her smile faded as his lips caressed hers, the barest hint of contact—completely ruined when she leaned into it and their noses bumped.

Laughter erupted again.

Daniel caught her as she sagged against him, both fumbling until they ended up sitting on the sofa.

“Again.”

She barely had time to process the word when Daniel’s open mouth met hers and their teeth clacked. It was her turn to withdraw and she covered her mouth with a hand, embarrassment flooding through her. “I really do know how to do this,” she said from behind her fingers.

“I’ve got some experience myself, not that you can tell at the moment.” His self-deprecating humor set her free and the giggles spilled out. She leaned away, but her leg still rested against his. She couldn’t stop the silly sounds from escaping. Tears gathered in the corners of her eyes and she spared a look at Victor.

That was a mistake. His disapproving scowl sent another wave of humor through her and she collapsed back against the sofa and drew her knees to her chest. Daniel stared down at her, his own grin widening. “Okay, maybe we do need lessons.”

“Maybe.” She rubbed at the corners of her eyes, trying to get a grip.

He winked at her, then canted a look at Victor. “Want to tell us what we’re doing wrong?”

“In general or specifically?” The arid tone tickled her further and she hiccupped a choked laugh. “The humor is good. You’re both relaxing. The second kiss was better than the first but the third was just dreadful.”

“What was wrong with the first kiss?” Alyx sat up abruptly. She’d actually been looking forward to that one. Daniel caught her hand and she curled her fingers around his.

“He pursued you, but you just stood there, waiting for it to happen—terrified.” As quiet as his voice was, Victor’s tone rang with judgment.

“I wasn’t terrified.” Not exactly. “I was nervous. We’ve never kissed before.”

“Precisely my point.” Victor rose and held out a hand to her imperiously. She sneaked a look at Daniel and he shook his head slightly. He didn’t know what the coach planned to throw at them next.

Accepting Victor’s hand, she let him pull her to her feet and away from the sofa. Unfortunately, that meant letting go of Daniel. Victor led her into the center of the room and set a hand on her hip. If he hadn’t been correcting her posture and stance for the past several days, she might have slapped his hand—as it was, she obeyed his directions. He slid an arm around her.

“When Mr. Voldakov went to kiss you earlier, this is how you stood—he had the control and the lead, but you were neither inviting nor seeking. You merely stood.” Victor lowered his face toward hers and unlike with Daniel her lashes didn’t flutter nor did her heart pick up speed. “Not even when you could feel his breath on your lips did you reach out to touch him. He caressed your face, he sought an invitation andstillyou didn’t move.”

As if to illustrate his point, he touched her cheek and closed the final gap to touch his lips to hers. It was a cool, almost impersonal peck and felt about fifty shades of wrong. She caught her lower lip in her teeth as he drew back. From the corner of her eye, she caught sight of the look on Daniel’s face—a scowl that could have mirrored Victor’s earlier frown.

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