Page 16 of False Assumptions

Chapter Eight

The little wrinkle that appeared on the bridge of Layla’s nose was too cute for words. He’d never seen her make that expression before. And the unforced smile she gave him. Man. Had they given her some pain meds while she’d gotten X-rayed?

No. She’d said her ankle still hurt. She must be relaxing around him. That was new and different for her. He could enjoy spending time with this side of her.

He nodded, agreeing with her last statement. “Yeah. Dr. Rankin’s pretty funny. I especially like when she goes off on rants about English being the trash heap of world languages.”

Layla laughed, that nose wrinkle there again. “Oh, I know. She announced a few weeks ago that it was the most bastardized language on the planet.”

“Yup. I remember that day.” He basked for a moment in the warmth of her smile, staring at her.

After a moment her smile dimmed a little. “What? Do I have something on my face?”

He chuckled, shaking his head. “No. It’s just that it’s nice to see that you can actually smile. I’ve wondered.You know, you look really pretty when you smile. You should do it more often.”

Her face soured, and the smile fell away. “Oh, thank you. That’s what my life has been missing until now. You’ve cleared it all up for me.”

“Whoa. That was a compliment. What’s with the attitude?”

She cocked an eyebrow. “Telling someone how to arrange their face so it pleases you isn’t exactly complimentary. A compliment is, ‘I like your smile,’ or, ‘Your smile is pretty.’ Not, ‘You look pretty when you smile.’ That makes it sound like I’m ugly the rest of the time.”

“What? No. That’s not what I meant.”

She shrugged. “Yeah, well, that’s how it comes across. Don’t tell a girl to smile. That’ll just piss her off. If you want to see her smile, give her something to smile about.” She pointed at him. "And backhanded compliments don’t do it for anyone I know."

He held up his hands in surrender. “Sorry. You have a pretty smile. Better?”

One corner of her mouth tugged up, even though she fought to keep a straight face. “Yeah. You have a nice smile too.”

His lips pulled into a wide grin. “You think so?”

She rolled her eyes. “I wouldn’t have said it if I didn’t think so.”

“Huh.”

“What?”

“I didn’t think you liked me that much.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “Don’t let it go to your head. It’s not like you don’t know you’re attractive. You’ve said yourself that girls usually respond to your smile.”

Crossing his arms over his chest, he adjusted in the chair, slouching down a little again and looking her over. “So you admit that my smile has an effect on you. That must mean you deliberately fight it.”

She gave him that annoyed, sour look again. “Don’t flatter yourself.”

He let his grin grow wider. “Why would I need to do that when I have a beautiful, exotic girl here paying me compliments.”

This time when she wrinkled her nose, it wasn’t with amusement. She looked down, picking at the blanket covering her lap, not meeting his eyes. Was she upset? Offended? He thought back over what he’d said and couldn’t figure out what was responsible for this reaction. “What? Why are you upset? Because I called you beautiful?”

She shook her head, her lips compressed in her all-too-familiar look of irritation with him. “It’s not the beautiful part. It’s exotic.”

“What’s wrong with exotic?”

“It’s not a compliment.”

“What are you talking about?”

She met his eyes, giving him a pointed look. “People pretend like exotic and beautiful are synonyms. They’re not. Exotic doesn’t mean beautiful. Exotic means other. You wouldn’t call a blonde girl exotic. You’d just say she’s beautiful.” Her gaze dropped to her lap again. “Always being different gets old after a while.”

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