Playing the Role
(Liam)
This is not how I expected the evening to turn out. But sitting down to dinner at the Fat Kok with Timothy Knight and his gorgeous daughter seems like a fun way to spend an evening.
Huh, she never did say what her name is. I need to find it out.
While Timothy enthusiastically studies his menu and his daughter is pretending to study her menu, I quickly Google their company website on my phone. I scroll through the page of their executives until I see her. Darcy Knight, Chief Strategy Officer. Cute picture but very corporate. She’s far better looking in person. And sexier.
I felt something the first time our eyes met, and wonder if she felt it too. When I look up from my phone, I notice her still looking at me and I smile at her.
“So, Darcy, what are we ordering? For ourselves or sharing some dishes?”
Darcy jumps when I say her name, her bright blue eyes sparkling.
“I… um.” She clears her throat. “We usually get a bunch of dishes for the table.”
“Great idea. Timothy, is there anything in particular you want?”
“I don’t care anymore. We had to wait so long that I’m so hungry I’ll eat anything.” He doesn’t even look up from his menu when he says it.
Darcy rolls her eyes. I wonder what happened while they were waiting that led her to claiming a stranger is her boyfriend. I mean, that could’ve really backfired for her. It most definitely would’ve backfired for her in ninety-nine percent of cases. She’s lucky it was me. I’m lucky it was me, and that I didn’t have any other immediate plans for the next hour to take advantage of her… offer.
“What about you, Darcy? Is there anything you’d like? Chicken balls?” I put a heavy emphasis on the word balls and her eyes widen when I say it. I feel a little guilty for toying with her but know I’d do it again.
“I’ll have the lik mein,” she says after a moment, not moving her eyes from me.
“The lik mein? Is that chicken or pork?” Timothy asks, oblivious.
“Pork, it’s definitely pork,” I say and she jiggles with silent laughter. I stifle a laugh but Timothy is still oblivious.
“I’ll also have the Fat Kok Special,” she says. Taken by surprise, I look back at her. She’s leaning forward in her chair, staring straight at me.
“You like the Fat Kok Special?” I ask, leaning forward in my own seat.
“I love the Fat Kok Special.” The way Kok forms on her tongue makes me know exactly where I want to put mine.
“We never get the Fat Kok Special,” Timothy says, flipping over the menu, searching in vain.
“Today’s a good day to start,” Darcy says without pause, still looking at me.
The waiter rushes by our table and I raise my hand to flag him down. He doesn’t even look our way.
“Bastard,” Timothy says, scowling after him.
“He’ll come back,” I say.
“I’m not waiting any longer. I’m going after him.” The menu clenched in his hand, Timothy stands up and gives chase. Glad I’m not the waiter.
With Timothy gone, Darcy’s fixes her eyes on me. I want to tell her I’m more than just a big chest and that my eyes are up here, but am not sure how she’d react, given how much I’ve been staring at her tits.
Instead I study the soft lines of her face. I didn’t get much of a chance in the entrance to truly look at her. She’s beautiful, exactly my type with big blue eyes and shoulder-length chestnut hair. I love the way a stray piece falls across her forehead and the way her curves fill out her clothing.
Slowly, her eyes move up. When they meet mine, I feel the same shudder I felt when our eyes met in the entranceway. Judging from the widening of her eyes, I’m sure she felt something too.
She opens her mouth to say something but Timothy comes back and she closes it again.
“I told them to bring us the set menu for four,” he says as he flops into his chair.
“Thanks, Dad,” she says without taking her eyes from mine.
My breathing is heavy and the loud restaurant fades into the background. Why is she doing this to me? I’m acting completely out of character, and I don’t like it. I need to be in control.
I take a deep breath to regain my composure and tear my eyes away from hers to look at Timothy. He seems oblivious to all that is going on between Darcy and me, instead he is studying the waiters as they shuttle food between the kitchen and the tables. Is Timothy always like this? So focused on one thing at a time. It’s the attitude that no doubt made his business a success. An attitude I myself am well acquainted with.
In no time, our food is unceremoniously plunked in the center of our table without any comment by the waiters.
“About time,” Timothy says as he spoons a heap of rice on his plate.
I load my plate, keeping an eye on Darcy as she picks large chunks of chicken out of the black bean sauce. Normally, that sort of thing would irk me, either you like the sauce or you don’t, but when she does it, it’s natural. Hot, even.
Everything about her is hot.
“Liam, what do you do?” Timothy asks me. I’m not really comfortable enough to answer that. I like to keep my cards close to my chest. I do the same for everyone. Very few people know the full extent of my identity. Few enough that I can count them on one hand.
“Business. Sort of a consulting role with some mergers and acquisitions.”
“I don’t suppose you have any great insight on the events industry, do you?”
“Dad,” Darcy blurts.
“No, it’s okay. I know a bit about it. People’s reluctance to travel with all the stuff going on in the world is hitting it hard. Smart money is on diversifying to online-based events.”
Darcy opens her eyes wide and leans forward with a half-smile.
“See, Dad, it’s what I keep telling you.”
Fuck, what landmine field did I just walk into?
“He’s your boyfriend, what does he know? You probably told him to say that.” Jeez, there’s no pleasing this man. It’s interesting to see the head of Knight Global Events is so resistant to change. Especially when his head of strategy is telling him otherwise. I don’t like the way he dismissed her so quickly. Or me. I almost want to tell him who I am. Almost.
Instead I decide to duck out of this family feud and shovel chopsticks loaded with chow mein into my mouth.
Darcy fights her corner, and I’m impressed. She’s definitely not just a pretty face. She knows her business and knows it well, better than her father I’d say. I’m liking her more by the minute.
The topic shifts away from the event business, and I’m surprised at how easily conversation flows between Darcy and me, almost as if Timothy isn’t even here.
“So how long have you two kids been together?” Timothy finally says. Kids? I’m thirty-six-years old but suddenly transported to high school.
“Three w—” Darcy starts.
“Months, three months,” I interrupt. Months seems like a better story. A three-week relationship wouldn’t be at the stage of having a restaurant meal to meet a parent. Not that I care.
“Three months, huh? And I’m just finding out.”
“Well, Dad, I didn’t want to tell you until I knew it was serious.” Her left eye twitches a little when she lies.
“That’s great news. I take it this means I can expect to see you both at your cousin Collette’s wedding in a couple of weeks.”
I choke a little on my beer. Tonight’s been great, and I’d like to see Darcy again, but in my bed, not at a family event like a wedding. No thanks. I’d rather see her without one of her family members present.
“We’ll see, Dad. I’m supposed to be going to Texas to see about an acquisition that weekend.”
“Oh?” I ask. “Where in Texas?”
“It’s Austin. A chocolate exposition.”
”Chocolate doesn’t sound like big money to me,” Timothy says.
“Maybe not, but it’s fully integrated online and even though it’s in Austin, chocolate lovers from all over the world pay to follow the event online. Believe it or not, they’re groundbreakers. For whatever reason, they’re knocking down boundaries and leading the online revolution in events.”
“Huh. I never would’ve guessed.”
“Bah, online chocolate is pointless. You’re better off going to your cousin’s wedding. It looks bad on me if you don’t.”
Darcy purses her lips, looks at me and shrugs. It strikes me as an intimate gesture someone would make to a real boyfriend. Even though I just met her, I feel her pain.
Part of me wants to drag her away from this dinner, so I can take her back to my place and fuck her senseless. But I have to control myself.
They descend into a bickering match, and once again I sit back, watching her. I’m transfixed by the way she moves while she fights her corner, no matter how resistant her father is to listening.
I start to see red at the way he is treating her, which is ridiculous because I don’t know either of them.
Timothy may have been oblivious over the names of Chinese dishes, but this is different. This is his business and he doesn’t even seem to want to know where his industry is headed, despite his incredibly smart and beautiful daughter trying to show him the way.
Darcy knows what she’s talking about, but even if she’s wrong, he should treat her with more respect than he is.
Especially since he thinks I’m her boyfriend. You’d think he’d want to make her look good. Or at very least be on his best behavior for her sake. Or maybe this is his best behavior. I’m starting to see why she claimed a random stranger was her boyfriend. She probably couldn’t bear the idea of eating alone with him.
Maybe she does have a boyfriend and he stood her up. Maybe it’d been planned that the three of them would have dinner to introduce the boyfriend to the father, and he chickened out. I don’t blame him. She probably gave him all sorts of warnings, and no doubt vents to him about her father on a daily basis.
My phone rings.
“I have to take this,” I say, standing and walking to the entrance. I put the phone to my ear but still can’t hear anything, so step outside into the relative quiet of the street.
“Liam, you’re late for the meeting. What’s going on? We need to discuss this before the news goes live in the morning. Tomorrow’s papers are being printed in a few hours.” Victor must be freaked, I’m never late for meetings. I’m always the first one there. Dinner’s been so enjoyable, I lost track of time. Which is completely unlike me.
“Sorry, man. I got held up. I’m on my way now.”
I stick my hand out to flag a cab. One screeches to a stop and I hop in the back.