His Fair Lady Read Online Free

sleep on the couch. Didn’t you tell me you had a pullout couch?”
    Kyle shook his head so hard a lock of hair flopped over his eyes. Not me , the gesture said.
    “Mom, I really have to get going, or I’ll be late,” Josie said.
    Once I-love-yous and phone kisses were exchanged all around, Josie tapped the End button and slipped the phone into her pocket.
    They glared at each other.
    “You talk too damn much, Kyle Edward DiStefano.”
    “What? She worries about you. I just wanted her to know you were doing good.”
    “I didn’t want her to know about the show. You know how she is about the theater stuff.”
    “She doesn’t want you to get hurt. That’s all.”
    “She doesn’t want me to call attention to myself. And whatever possessed you to tell her about Mark? You want her to have a stroke?”
    “I think it’s great you met somebody, and your mom will too once she gets used to the idea.”
    Her mother would never get used to that idea, but Josie didn’t say so.
    “It won’t go anywhere anyway, so it doesn’t really matter.”
    “You said he flirted with you all during class.”
    “He flirted with some girl he thought was hot. Listen, Kyle, you and I both know that straight boys don’t go for transgirls, especially ones who still have their dangly bits.”
    “Look, if you like him and he likes you, then it’ll all be good. You’ll work it out.”
    “Until he finds out I’m a chick with a dick, and he runs screaming into the night.”
    “Mark might be different, Joes.”
    Yeah, right. Not that dating Mark, or any guy, made her the woman she was; she had always been Josie, at least in her own head and heart. But she suspected being desired would somehow validate her femaleness in a way she didn’t think Kyle, or any man, could truly comprehend.
    “I don’t believe that,” she whispered. To her horror, her eyes filled, and a lump of emotion clogged her throat. She shook her head as if to deny her own beliefs.
    “I know you don’t, and it hurts me more than anything. C’mon now, don’t cry.”
    “I’m not crying.” Josie turned away, wiping furiously at her eyes and smearing her makeup all to hell. She wouldn’t spare a tear for something she didn’t have and would probably never have. Who cared anyway? She had a good life, the life she’d always wanted, and she was going to her first audition. She was not going to show up with a blotchy face and puffy eyes.
    Pulling a tissue from the box on the dresser, Josie wiped her eyes then blew her nose.
    “Go fix your makeup; then I’ll drive you over to campus for your audition.”

Chapter Two
    Though it was the first time he’d heard her sing, Mark knew the voice before he ever saw the singer. Low and rough and a little bluesy, her voice flowed around and through him like warm honey and had his juices running high.
    Mark lingered in the lobby of the theater, a miniscule anteroom that resembled a lobby only by the greatest stretch of imagination. The interior doors stood open, and he had no trouble listening while remaining out of sight.
    “…The skies above are blue. My heart was wrapped up in clover, the night I looked at you.”
    God, he could listen to her all night.
    Mark edged closer to the open door and peered cautiously around the jamb. He had no business being there, but the need to see her on stage was irresistible.
    Alone on the stage, Josie stood, eyes closed, head thrown back, voice lifted and filling the theater.
    “…And here we are in heaven, for you are mine at last.”
    As the song ended and the last piano notes faded, Josie opened her eyes and seemed to look directly at him, though from the stage there was no way she could see him.
    Mark felt his heart give a little stutter before settling back into its normal beat. Butterflies spun and fluttered in his belly, which was totally girly and ridiculous. Still, he took a careful step back into the shadows.
    The words of the director were nothing more than a buzzing in his