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She’s not a snooper.
It’s true that she’s a bit overbearing and wildly overprotective of her younger sister, but she does try to respect her privacy. Edwina doesn’t hide much from her anyway – she’s mostly an open book, for better or worse.
She sees the text entirely by accident, after Edwina leaves her phone in the living room while she goes to take a shower and Kate hears a chime and she picks it up thinking it’s hers and-
Viscount Richerton: Tulips, right?
Kate frowns, working that out in her head a bit, like it’s a code word of some sort. She’s surprised, even, to discover that Anthony is texting her sister. Maybe that’s not so shocking. They’ve been friends with the Bridgertons for the better part of a year, and since that family throws social gatherings like nobody’s business, she and Edwina see them a lot.
Anthony is…the bane of her existence. Possibly also the object of some very inconvenient desires, though she’ll never tell him as much.
And Edwina is beautiful and sweet, easy to love, everything Kate doesn’t know how to be.
But Anthony and Edwina is a thing she’s never put together in her head, except it’s definitely him texting, unless Edwina knows multiple Viscounts somehow. Kate nearly drops the phone when a follow up comes through.
Viscount Richerton: I booked the restaurant.
Viscount Richerton: I’ll be honest, I’m really nervous.
Kate’s not sure what to make of the heaviness in her stomach, the weird sensation that creeps up her spine. She doesn’t know what any of this could possibly add up to, except that Anthony is taking her sister out to dinner and confirming what kind of flowers she likes. Edwina’s favorite flowers are roses, actually, though Kate has always preferred tulips herself.
The texts stop after that. Followed shortly after by the water in the bathroom. Kate puts the phone back on the table, carefully, like she found it. Her hands are strangely numb.
Kate picks up her book, pretending to read when Edwina pops back into the living room in a towel, searching around for her phone and making a triumphant noise when she finds it. She swipes up on the screen and…
She smiles. A small, private thing, and then she’s tapping away as she disappears back into her bedroom.
Kate has entirely no idea how to feel. Anthony has a bit of a reputation: perhaps not an out-and-out womanizer, but busy nonetheless. Hell, he has flirted with her on occasion. Just to get a rise out of her, she’s sure, which is why she doesn’t let on how her skin heats and her spine tingles at the little smirk he throws her way. He doesn’t need the ego boost. And Edwina is fresh out of uni, a couple of semi-serious boyfriends under her belt, still inclined to see the best in people and still quite in love with the idea of falling in love.
And yet, she knows Anthony is more than his reputation. She has watched him comfort Daphne when she cries and help Greg with his homework and rake leaves at his mum’s house. She has watched him give away little pieces of himself to anyone and everyone who asks, and demand nothing in return. It pains her to see it, sometimes, a little too reflective of her own virtues and flaws.
Anthony is nervous about the date. It means something to him. Enough for him to confess his anxiety, to drop the mask of the slick playboy for two seconds and be painfully honest. He could be good to Edwina. The way she deserves.
That’s all that matters, ultimately. Far more than anything she may or may not feel.
Edwina is strange all week. Secretive in a way she usually isn’t. It hurts Kate a bit, that Edwina doesn’t feel like she can tell her about this date-or-whatever-it-is with Anthony. Kate’s worst impulses urge her to sneak another peek at her sister’s phone, but she fights them off.
It’s none of her business. Not really.
Even if it becomes, irritatingly, all she can think about. Just little mental images of Anthony moving out Edwina’s chair at dinner, holding her hand over the table, making her laugh with his stupid dad jokes. She forces herself to cut off her imaginings as they leave the restaurant. Kate absolutely does not want to think about whatever comes next.
It’s unbearably petty, how much it rubs at her. The way Edwina asks her to buy more coffee next time she goes to the store and Kate snaps you’re just as capable of getting it, apropos of nothing, causing Edwina to raise an eyebrow at her.
Offhandedly, her sister says she’s probably going to stay at Eloise’s over the weekend. The weekend. This is not one night. Edwina plans to spend at least two days with Anthony.
Kate feels something awful curl up her spine as the obvious realization finally descends on her. This isn’t a first date, or not just a first date, anyway. It’s the continuation of something that has already happened. Kate wracks her brain, trying to figure out when this something might have occurred, before deciding that she really really really doesn’t want to dig too deeply into it. Any thought of Anthony’s hands on Edwina makes her feel nauseated, and the worst part is that she can’t feign ignorance over why she hates it so much.
She and Anthony are too similar, always have been. They bicker and they push and they sting each other. It’s why he called her a thorn that one time they were arguing over Pall Mall and she told him to get some insults from this century.
If she’s the thorn, then Edwina is the rose. The woman with enough grace and charm to fit into his posh life, to stand on his arm and look like she belongs there. No one has ever looked at Kate for more than five seconds and thought: this is a woman who can smile in the face of bullshit.
It makes sense. She can’t even argue with Anthony’s logic, even if she wishes he had chosen anyone else. Just so she wouldn’t have to see it all the damn time.
But Kate will do what she has always done. Put on a brave face and pretend that everything is alright, for her sister’s sake. One day she might actually figure out how to be happy about it.
Edwina leaves on Friday evening, duffel bag in hand. “Have fun,” Kate says, smiling, and her sister gives her the okay, weirdo face.
Kate collapses onto the sofa. She’s got no earthly idea how to occupy herself for the weekend and avoid thinking about the much better weekend her sister will be having. She makes a list. She’ll watch a bunch of non-romantic films – perhaps some gory slashers. She’ll go for a run or two and do a bit of writing at a coffee shop and if, all else fails, just blast music in her headphones loud enough that she can’t think.
It's not even thirty minutes before her doorbell rings, and Kate frowns. Edwina might have forgotten something, but she has no reason not to waltz right in.
Nothing quite connects in her brain when she opens the door to find Anthony, standing on her front step in a grey button-down and black trousers, a bouquet of pink tulips in his hand. “Hi,” he says, trying to subtly take her in, in all the immeasurable glory of her baggy sweatpants and cropped tank.
Her skin prickles under his appraisal, and she crosses her arms over her chest, trying to remember how substantial of a bra she’s wearing. “Edwina’s not here,” she says, a little confused as to why he doesn’t already know that. A miscommunication, perhaps?
“I know,” Anthony frowns, obviously caught off guard by her clipped tone. “She’s at Eloise’s.”
Kate just stares at him, exceedingly lost as they seem to be having two different conversations. “I thought she was with you.”
“I…” He’s at a loss for words, that little dimple forming on his forehead. The consternation dimple. “Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why would you think she was with me?” he clarifies, holding the flowers in one hand so he can use the other to gesture a little randomly. “Didn’t she tell you she would be at Eloise’s?”
“Um.” Kate swallows, wondering if she’s ever been so mixed up in all her life. If Edwina had been telling her the truth, and Anthony knew where she would be, then what the hell was he doing there? “I kind of thought she was lying?”
Anthony bursts into sudden laughter, blinking at her. “I have no idea what’s going on.”
“Neither do I!” she huffs, throwing her hands in the air. “You and Edwina were supposed to have dinner! I thought she said she was going to Eloise’s so you could have some kind of sex weekend! But you’re here with tulips and Edwina doesn’t even like tulips, and she’s not here, and you already know that, so what is happening?”
He gapes at her for a moment, and then a realization seems to dawn on him. “A sex weekend? Really, Kate?”
She shrugs, opens her mouth and then discovers she doesn’t have anything to say, so she closes it.
Anthony blows out a breath, squaring his shoulders. “I think we might need to start over,” he says. “These are for you.”
He holds out the bouquet, and Kate is too shell-shocked to do anything but accept it. They really are beautiful. “Thank you,” she says, a little stupidly. “Tulips are my favorite.”
“I know. I thought, um, you’d mentioned that before. But I wanted to be sure, so I asked Edwina.” Anthony looks up at her through long, dark lashes, his gaze so entrancing that she feels like she could drown in it. Or maybe she already is. Drowning, that is. Her feet are certainly not on solid ground right now. “She helped me plan a whole date for tomorrow. I wanted it to be perfect. If you said yes, anyway. I wasn’t sure you would, but she seemed pretty certain. The only thing I hadn't actually done was ask you, and I kept psyching myself out from calling you and finally I just decided to- to come here and ask you in person, I guess. I don’t know why I thought that would be easier, but I’m here now, so I'm sort of forced to commit.”
He stops rambling, and Kate can’t even start to process everything he’s just said.
It's her. Her. Kate. Kathani Sharma. The flowers are for her, the date is for her, and Edwina was simply giving him advice. She probably vacated their flat with hopes for what Kate and Anthony might do after their date.
She’s an absolute bloody idiot.
“I saw your texts. About the- the flowers, and the restaurant?” Kate explains uncertainly. “I’ve spent this whole week imagining that you and my sister were in some sort of secret relationship.”
“Oh,” Anthony says, his eyes going wide. “That is not really how I saw this going, and it doesn’t segue super well into the whole spiel I had planned.”
To her surprise, she chuckles. A strange sort of relief sweeps through her, that all the sordid scenarios in her head were thoroughly, categorically wrong. “I wasn’t happy about it,” she admits.
“Because you don’t think I’m good enough?” he questions, sounding genuinely nervous about her answer. “Or for some other reason?”
“For a lot of reasons. A lot of embarrassing, jealousy-related reasons.”
Anthony smiles at that, wide and brilliant, and Kate’s heart flutters at his obvious joy, even it is tinged with his trademark smugness. “Would any of those embarrassing, jealousy-related reasons motivate you to say yes?”
“Yes,” she says softly, her cheeks growing warm. Kate’s not sure she’s ever seen him look so happy, and it’s sort of off-putting, and she would sort of like to see it a whole lot more. “I’d like that.”
“Good,” he says, almost an exhale, like he’s been holding his breath for weeks on end. “I could pick you up at five tomorrow? I have dinner reservations, and, um, tickets to this outdoor concert that Edwina said you would like, and-.”
“Anthony,” she laughs, placing a hand on his shoulder. He stops abruptly. “I appreciate all the effort you put into planning this, but you don’t have to be so nervous. Believe it or not, I’m pretty thrilled just to know that this date isn’t to woo my sister.”
His face relaxes, the consternation dimple smoothing out. “It is absolutely for the sole purpose of wooing you, Kate.”
They stare at each other for a second, and Kate suddenly feels very much like she doesn’t want to wait until tomorrow to spend time with him. And maybe do a little more than that. Her hand slides to the right, until it’s curled around his neck, and she can feel his pulse racing under her palm.
“Since Edwina did us the kindness of leaving for the entire weekend,” she starts, feeling like she should be nervous to even suggest this but she’s not, not when Anthony is looking at her like his world is spinning off its axis. And that’s great, really. They can both spin off their axes together. She actually wonders if her sister suspected this very thing might happen. “It only seems right that you come in.”
Anthony swallows, leaning into her touch just enough for her to notice it, a move that makes her melt quite a bit. His suaveness and overconfidence does it for her, undoubtedly, but she thinks she likes him best like this. Slightly unsure, slightly overwhelmed by the enormity of this thing between them. This thing she had tried so very hard for so very long to pretend was small and insignificant, and is now unfolding quickly and pressing very insistently up against her ribs.
“I don’t have anything planned for tonight,” he jokes, a goofy smile on his annoyingly handsome face.
She thinks the same dumb smile might be mirrored on her face. “I’m sure we could figure that part out,” Kate says, her fingers brushing over his thick, silky hair. God, she’s thought about doing that for a while. His shampoo probably costs more than her grocery bill. She looks forward to stealing it.
He fixes her with a look that’s honestly more earnest than she can handle, adorably eager though he’s trying to play it cool. And if he knew how very eager she was, as well – to enjoy his presence, to finally taste him, to feel his hands on every bare inch of her body – he definitely wouldn’t be nervous over impressing her on this elaborate date that she is suddenly not even certain they’ll get to.
Her flat has food and music, doesn’t it? And, best of all, a bed. Also, condoms. Maybe Kate will get her sex weekend after all.
Anthony grins as he steps inside.