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He set his glass down. “Challenge accepted.”
“Oh, hold up.” She shook her head, looking more alive than he’d ever seen her. “I didn’t lay down a challenge. I would never challenge a man like you.”
“Sure you did. I heard it, loud and clear.” The waiter came up behind her, carrying a frothy green concoction of a drink. “Ah. Here’s your appletini, darling.”
“My—? I didn’t order one yet.”
He lifted a shoulder. “Nope, but I did.”
“But—” She glanced over her shoulder and then slowly turned back to him. “You remembered I said I wanted one?”
“I did.” He reached out and covered her hand. It trembled beneath his, and she shifted her legs under the table, her knee brushing his. “From now on, I’ll always remember what you tell me. I’ll be waiting, planning, and finding your weaknesses, until you finally accept what I accepted the second you kissed me and called me yours—that we belong together, naked, in a bed.”
She eyed him with a mixture of excitement, desire, and wariness. It was a feeling he was all too familiar with, because it was exactly how she made him feel. After the drink was placed in front of her, she considered it with a small smile. “I underestimated you, Benjamin.”
“That’s okay. I did the same thing to you.”
She tipped her head to the side. “But not anymore?”
“You bet your pretty little ass I won’t do it again. Like I said, I plan on using every weapon I can against you, till I win.” He casually entwined his fingers with hers as the waiter laid down their menus. It was absurd how fucking right it felt to hold her hand. After they were alone again, he waited until she lifted the glass to her lips and took a sip before he added, “Including my magical knee.”
She snorted, which was unfortunate since she was in the process of swallowing. She inhaled the liquid, her face reddening as she set the drink down, coughing and cursing him in between breaths. “I. Will. Kill. You.”
He laughed, pressing a hand to his stomach as she glowered at him and wiped her mouth. He killed the laugh off quickly, but he couldn’t bring himself to regret the rare show of emotion. She stared at him as if he was a ghost, but he didn’t care.
That had been way too much fun.
“Keep trying, if you wish, but no one else has succeeded yet.”
“Oh, but I know things.” She gripped the table with her free hand and waggled her brows. It didn’t escape his notice that she hadn’t pulled free of his touch yet. “Lots of things.”
He cocked a brow and ran his thumb over the backs of her knuckles. “So do I.”
She laughed and lifted her glass again, and he realized he’d smiled more in this short timespan with Maggie than he had all the rest of the night, while he tried to be what he thought she’d want him to be. Now that he was relaxing, and being himself instead of a shallow copy of his father…
It was actually fun. Imagine that.
“To winning?” she asked, holding up her glass.
“To you losing,” he countered, clinking his to hers. “And us both being completely satisfied afterward.”
“Careful, you might blow your load a little too early with all that false confidence.”
He cocked a brow. “It’s adorable that you think it’s false. It really is.”
“You keep chasing, I’ll keep running.” She lifted a shoulder. “You’ll see who wins eventually.”
Yeah. Him. But since he wanted her more than he’d wanted anything in his entire life, and she was determined to keep him at arm’s length…
He probably should’ve let her keep running.
A few hours later, Benjamin had his driver stop the car in front of Maggie’s home. He opened the car door and got out, offering her his hand. She held on tight as she slid out, steadying herself on her heels.
Once she was good to go, she let go of him quickly.
He let her.
“Thank you,” he said, glancing down and adjusting his tie, “for giving me a second chance tonight.”
