Chapter 1: Wren Ferres

Izzy shook his head at my ridiculousness. “I’ll never comprehend how your mind works.”
“Wow, Monsieur Know-it-all admitting he doesn’t understand something?” I gasped in mock astonishment. “Why, I never!”
“Très cute, Wren.”
“Yes, I am. How kind of you to notice.” I laughed at my joke as he snorted in amusement. “You’d think it would help me land more second dates. Considering how many first dates I go on, I should statistically do better than this. Of course, knowing you, I’m sure you have a list of reasons why I keep striking out.”
Izzy didn’t disappoint me. “For starters, you have a tendency to come on too strong.” He gestured at me, sitting on his lap in a loose embrace as evidence.
Instead of being offended by his accuracy, it inspired me. “That just gave me an idea!”
“Oh no,” he groaned.
I shoved at his shoulder. “No, this one is good!”
He didn’t look convinced. “Define ‘good.’”
“I’ve come up with a genius plan to use your brilliance to help me!”
“Your definition of ‘good’ and mine are very different.”
My plan excited me the more I thought about it. “No, this is perfect. You should be my dating tutor!”
“Your what?”
“Since you always have an answer for everything and love telling me what I’m doing wrong, this is genius! You can coach me on how to get better at it!”
It was a surprise not to receive a flat-out rejection. “Are you saying that you want me to go on practice dates with you and critique you?”
“Yeah!”
“And what’s in it for moi?”
I tried to come up with something that would sway him. “The pleasure of my company?”
“I get enough of that as your roommate.”
“Come on, is telling me I’m wrong not enough of a draw for you? If you help me practice, I’ll get better. Then, I’ll have a boyfriend to give me all the sex I want without ending up in your lap, unsuccessfully begging to be fucked.”
He scoffed. “I find that hard to believe when being with Joon didn’t prevent you from flirting with me.”
“I’ll never quit doing that because it’s too much fun. If we stopped flirting, I’d think you weren’t my friend anymore.” The mere thought of it hurt my heart.
“Nothing would ever make me stop being your friend.”
It was hard not to coo at the rare showing of Izzy’s softer side. “There’s only one reason I can come up with that would make you refuse to be my dating teacher.”
“And what’s that?”
“You’re scared of falling in love with me for real.”
His sexy haughtiness was on full display as he tilted his head. “Don’t be absurd.”
“So you’ll do it?”
“Would you listen to my advice if I did?”
It seemed like I was making some progress. “As long as it isn’t something impossible like ‘don’t be you,’ then yeah.”
He continued mulling it over. “And we would go on fake dates so you could practice being better at them in the future?”
I shifted in his lap as I leaned closer. “I’ll even be a gentleman and buy you dinner as a thank-you.”
He was silent for a long pause, making me wonder if he would turn me down. To my great relief, he caved. “Fine. I’m willing to try your little experiment for at least one date.”
“Thank you!” I hugged him tight, melting into his hold when he returned the embrace.
Izzy sighed like I annoyed him, but I could hear the amusement in his voice as he asked, “You’re not going to move, are you?”
I clung to him tighter. “Not until you make me or I’m in danger of getting a boner.”
He laughed, which gratified my ego. “You are hopeless, mon ami.”
“The word you’re looking for is ‘incorrigible,’ actually.”
“That, too.”