CONTROL #1: Unmasking Mr. Darcy [PREVIEW ONLY]

Chapter 6.1 : Collin

Lizzy's eyes grew wide. Collin was feeling her up in full view of anyone passing through the hallway. "Maybe we should eat first," she said, her hands weakly pushing against the solid wall of his chest.

He sighed in disappointment and let her go. "Yes, ma'am."

She could feel the heat from the closeness of his long, well-muscled body as he walked with her across the room, and wished she could calm the throbbing between her thighs. As much as she ached for him to ram his cock inside her so hard she could forget her shitty day at work, it would have to wait until after dinner. After two weeks of nothing but sporadic, spontaneous sex and half-hearted conversations, she finally got their relationship —if you could call it that — to achieve some semblance of normalcy. Starting on foreplay even before he'd gotten through the front door was not part of the plan. "You still wanna cook? I think we still have some tamarind paste and a bunch of other ingredients from last time."

"You got any fish?" He took off his leather jacket and tossed it on the back of the couch.

"I picked up some salmon on my way home."

"I'll make it work."

Lizzy sat on a tall stool by the kitchen island, watching him go through the cupboards for ingredients. "So how was the shoot today?" Maybe if she could get him talking about something other than sex, they could get through dinner like adults.

"Oh that." Collin's face lit up. "It was incredible." He shut the refrigerator door and set a pack of tomatoes on the counter top in front of her. Leaning forward with his palms on the edge of the white and grey marble top, he grinned. "Guess whom I did the shoot with?"

His enthusiasm was infectious. She rested her chin on one palm, her elbow on the counter. "Who?" she said, narrowing her eyes and smiling.

"Brix. Fucking. Sand."

"The Marie Claire spread?" She gasped. "You auditioned for that, didn't you? I thought Carlos got that job."

"Got a really bad allergy attack in the last minute. The other two backup models in the list couldn't be found in time. Crazy, huh?"

"That is huge." She shook her head in disbelief. "Brix Sand, princess of pop. What's she like?"

"She's really nice." He started chopping tomatoes.

Lizzy laughed. "She's horrible, isn't she?"

"I'd call her a narcissistic nutcase but that applies to practically everyone in show business. I mean –" He waved the knife in the air. "Not everyone is but..."

She rolled her eyes. "I know."

"–I'm sure your sister is sweet."

"Of course." She shrugged.

"Anyway, she's not that attractive up close. Brix, I mean. Sure she's got those legs–"

"They're insured for sixty million dollars, I hear."

He frowned. "But her eyes are a little bit too close together. "

"Really." She eyed him suspiciously. "I'm not jealous, you know. There's no need to play down her looks. It's not like you two are fucking." She paused. "Are you? Not that it matters," she added quickly. They'd both agreed they weren't going to be exclusive. Not yet, at least.

"Nah. Too high maintenance, and probably not even worth it." He had finished chopping the vegetables and was now preparing the fish. She always enjoyed watching the way his arm muscles rippled when he worked with a kitchen knife.

"How would you know?"

"I dunno. Maybe it's the way she moved through her poses. Too stiff."

"And that means ..."

He replied with a smirk.

Rolling her eyes, she got up. "Ah. Of course. Wine?"

"Sure. How was your day?"

Lizzy took out two wine goblets and a bottle of rosé from a cabinet. "I don't wanna talk about it." She set the glasses down on the counter and uncorked the wine.

"Why not? I told you about mine." He drizzled oil into a pot on the stove.

She sighed. "We have a new publisher. Some bored billionaire who doesn't know the first thing about the magazine business."

"Lemme guess." Collin threw a handful of garlic, shallots and lemongrass into the pot and stirred. The kitchen filled with the fragrance of the herbs. "You two don't get along."

She shook her head before taking a drink of wine. It was perfectly dry, and God help her, it was exactly what she needed right now. "I think he wants to turn us into Buzzfeed or something." She gulped down the rest of the glass.

"You sure you don't want something stronger?"

"No. This wine goes with the fish."

He cocked his head. "How about we go crazy and have beer with dinner?" He laughed, seeing her look of disgust. "Come on. Loosen up, Liz."

"Well, I'm going to be writing listicles for work soon." She got up and headed for the fridge. "I might as well complete my descent into cultural hell."

Dinner and four beers later, Lizzy stuffed the last bite of the spring roll in her mouth. "That damn dilettante couldn't even remember my name," she said. "Liddy? What the hell. No one below the age of fifty is named Liddy."

Collin chuckled. "Oh I don't know," he said. "I think I knew someone named Liddy in middle school."

She snorted. "The principal, probably."

"Maybe." He glanced over her plate. "How did you like your dinner?"

"I think I may have eaten all the spring rolls. Sorry." She had a sheepish look on her face.

"It's fine. Do you want another beer?"

"No, I'm good." She shook her beer bottle to check its contents and finished it in one swig. She swallowed and frowned. "What?"

He grinned. "Nothing," he said, standing up and walking over to her side of the table.

"Hey," she said, when he put his arms around her shoulders from behind. "What are you doing?"

"Exactly how drunk are you, babe?" he said, his mouth close to her ear.

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Thanks to everyone who liked this chapter!

If you'd like to read more, chapters 1-7 are on the Radish app. Info here: http://anselacorsino.com/radish