The Bookworm's Guide to Dating (The Bookworm's Guide 1)

“Good evening and welcome to Moti Mahal.” Priya Laghari grinned as soon as she laid eyes on us. “Well, well, well. Does Colton know about this?”

I shook my head at my former English study partner. “It’s not what it looks like.”

“It never is,” she sang, whipping two menus up. “Follow me.”

I glared at Josh.

“It really isn’t,” he asserted. “I’m teaching her how to date.”

Priya’s laugh tinkled. “Would you like me to see how many times I can book you in this week? I remember the high school attempts.”

Groaning, I sat down at the table she led us to. “Please don’t remind me.”

Another laugh as she set the menus in front of me. It was a miracle we’d been friends at all in high school—Priya was a full-blown extrovert who was entirely comfortable in her skin. It helped that she was tall and beautiful, with long, straight hair that was almost jet black, and her amber eyes complemented her gorgeous dark skin perfectly.

If I looked like her, I’d probably have been a lot more confident back then, too.

“That bad, huh?” Josh’s eyes danced with laughter.

I buried my face in my hands. Yes, my high school dating record was bad. Terrible. Embarrassing. So much so that one day, it would be used to teach people what not to do.

No joke.

She took our drink order without another comment about my dreadful dating life and disappeared off to pass it to a waitress for it to be filled.

I hid my face behind my menu.

“You can’t hide, Kins,” Josh said, perusing his own menu much more casually than I was. “People in town know you. They won’t know most of the guys you’re considering going out with, so you’re gonna have to deal with a little ribbing here and there.”

“No, I don’t.” I dropped the menu. I already knew I was ordering the kufta special. “I know my dating life is dismal. I know I’m awkward and introverted and bookish and all those other things that can make doing normal people stuff hard because people are just exhausting, but—”

Josh dropped his menu on the table with a ‘thwack’ and met my eyes. A fierceness shone in his eyes, one I hadn’t seen before, and I swallowed the thick lump in my throat.

“Stop it,” he said in a low voice, his gaze never wavering. “All of those things—your introverted nature, your awkwardness, your endless love of books—make you who you are, Kinsley. And if you go out with a guy who can’t appreciate that those things are what make you a great person, then he doesn’t deserve to go out with you. Got it?”

“Then why are you here, helping me hide those things? Isn’t that a waste of your time?”

He dropped his eyes back to the menu that was now flat on the table. “I’m not helping you hide anything. They’re clearly things that make you feel uncomfortable, and if I can give you tools that help you feel more comfortable when you’re dating, then so be it. But don’t discard them as flaws. They’re not your flaws. They’re your strengths. They’re what make you, you.”

I stared at him for a moment, but when it became obvious he wasn’t going to meet my gaze, I snorted. “Thanks for that, Dr. Phil.”

“Anytime, ma’am. That’ll be one hundred dollars, please.”

“Would you like me to shove it up your behind or choke you on it?”

“Direct deposit is preferred.”

“Sorry, I don’t do banks.”

He glanced up, a smile playing on his lips. “That makes two of us. Are you ready to order?”

“I’ve been ready since you mentioned that special. Bring it on.”CHAPTER SEVEN – JOSHrule seven: nobody cares that you’ve been waiting a year for that sequel.“This is the point in the night where I’d ask a date questions about her life.”

Kinsley peered at me over the rim of her wine glass. “Are we doing that deep into it?”

“Yes. Jamie will do the same, and you need to have your answers prepared. And I need to know that you’re not going to go off on a tangent.”

“I don’t go off on tangents.”

“You’re almost always off on a tangent,” I corrected her, picking up my beer to take a sip.

She muttered something under her breath.

I grinned and excused myself to the bathroom while she complained to herself. We’d finished our starters not long ago and had at least another twenty minutes until our mains were brought out, so this was the perfect time to go over some basic questions and get her awkwardness in check.

I just needed a minute to get my own brain focused.

Being at dinner with Kinsley was wreaking havoc with my mind. She was fucking gorgeous anyway, but seeing her all dressed up like this… Jesus, it was messing with me.

And I was the idiot essentially training her to be the perfect date.