They Kiss: Lo-Fi Love Stories, #4

By Erika Dusk

The first rule of rivalry: never kiss the enemy.

Unless it's in the script.

As rival stage actors, Daisy and Nate have been competing for the spotlight for years. But when their feud threatens to ruin a new adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing, their director books them an intimate dinner in a hotel room, forcing them to get to know each other away from the limelight's glow.

Soon, a clandestine rehearsal leads to Daisy's first fiery kiss with her sworn enemy, and she finds her rivalry with charming, sexy, infuriating Nate igniting into something different altogether. Now Daisy must decide if she's willing to risk her heart and career for a chance at a real-life happily ever after.

Lo-Fi Love Stories are sweet and spicy romance shorts perfect for neon nights, chill playlists, and cozy aesthetics. They contain adult language and adult situations.

Reading Length: 45 minutes-1 hour

Pairing: Female/Male

Spice level: Low-Mid-High-Highest

POV: Third person, past tense

Tropes: Enemies to Lovers & Forced Proximity with shades of Fake Dating and Workplace Romance

Ending: HEA (this story is a standalone)

• Language: English
• Publisher: Erika Dusk
• Release date: Jun 26, 2023
• ISBN: 9781738912728

Book preview

They Kiss

Contents

Before You Begin …

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Copyright © 2023 Erika Dusk

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews.

This publication is a work of fiction. The names, characters, and events in this work are the products of the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons living or dead is coincidental.

ISBN: 978-1-7389127-2-8 (Electronic Book)

First edition, 2023

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Before You Begin …

Thank you so much for picking up They Kiss.

They Kiss is part of Lo-Fi Love Stories, a collection of sweet and spicy romance shorts perfect for neon nights, chill playlists, and cozy aesthetics.

Daisy & Nate’s story is a standalone with a Happy Ever After (HEA) ending.

PLEASE BE ADVISED: They Kiss contains discussions of body image, a brief reference to body modification, and larger themes of healing from abusive relationships.

If you’d like to see the full list of content warnings, visit Erika’s blog here.

xo, Erika

One

Daisy sat next to Nathan in their director’s office, drumming her fingers on her crossed arms and pointedly staring at the chipping paint on the wall. Under her red-and-white striped pinafore, her legs were tense with impatience. 

How long did Alvin expect them to sit here twiddling their thumbs? At this rate, she and Nate would grow old and grey right here in these metal chairs. Someday, a stray actor would stumble upon their skeletal remains still waiting for a meeting that never began.

Alvin’s office was cramped, its concrete walls lined with posters from Wisteria City Players’ previous productions, the scent of theater basement and stale coffee lingering in the air. A vent hummed in the ceiling. Daisy uncrossed her arms and fidgeted with the hem of her costume, counting seconds as they passed.

One, two, three.

To her right, Nate was sitting quietly in his chair and somehow not fidgeting at all. Daisy had a feeling he might be watching her, but she wouldn’t look at him to find out. She wouldn’t. She would not.

Four, five, six.

He cleared his throat, shifting like he was about to say something.

Don’t, Daisy told him in her head. Seven, eight. Don’t even try, dickhead. Nine.

You know— Nate started, but he was interrupted by the office door flying open.

Sorry I’m late, said another voice. It was Alvin, appearing at long last. He sidestepped past folders of scripts and piles of old props, thumping a stack of programs onto a tiny clear space at the corner of his desk. There was a lighting crisis. Marissa was ready to eat her color gels, but I think we got it worked out.

Oh, man, Nate said. Here we were thinking the Scottish Play was the cursed one. 

Daisy shut her eyes, suppressing a groan. It was a terrible joke, but to Nate’s credit, terrible jokes were the number one way to lighten the mood with Alvin. He loved them. Even when they interrupted rehearsals and made Daisy want to take an axe to her script.

That was usually how it was, anyway. There was no laugh from their director this time, not even the promise of a smile. Yikes. They must really be in trouble. Daisy squirmed in her seat as Alvin settled behind his desk, fussing with a dusting of crumbs on the front of his t-shirt.

Here’s the rub, he said finally, leveling his gaze at the two of them. You two have about as much romantic chemistry as a fly and a swatter.

The silence came rushing back, that vent still complaining somewhere above them. Daisy was certain Nate’s steely grey eyes had slid over to her, now. His gaze might as well have been a physical touch. The creak of his chair, the sound of his ankle coming up to rest on the opposite knee, his fingers scratching his stubble; her senses were honed to every little thing her co-star did. Damn him for getting under her skin.

Uh … which one of us is which? Nate asked. The fly and the swatter?

You think that matters? Alvin said sharply. "You two go out there like this next week, and we’ll need a whole box of swatters for the flies infesting this playhouse. On account of the audience’s corpses. Because they’ll be dead. You’ll have killed them."

That’s a little morbid, Daisy said.

Alvin’s eyebrows did a furious ripple. This is the theater, Daisy. Morbidity should be second nature to you.

"But we’re doing Much Ado About Nothing, Nate said. He leaned forward in his seat, his head of swoopy dark hair intruding on the periphery of Daisy’s vision. It’s a comedy."

Do I look like I’m laughing?