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A door to the stairwell banged shut above us, echoing through the cement shaft. “Maybe we should take this elsewhere.” I looked at the door. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been sent to the principal’s office.”
“Sadie’s working, and my place is only ten minutes away.”
Tonight had been a catastrophe. Probably the most humiliating experience of my life. And I had been drunk in a lot of places acting like an idiot. Two minutes in a stairwell with Grace and I had managed to completely forget about it. All right, maybe her cleavage and the promise of sex had made me forget all about it.
Grace had proven that she was someone I could count on. And I didn’t want to ruin that by making this relationship more than it was supposed to be. But my cock was a demanding douchebag and my willpower was weak in battle.
“Lead the way.”
Chapter 14
Grace
“So this is where you live?”
Ben walked into my private space, turning his head from one side to the next, taking in the scenery. Not that there was much to see.
I held my hand out in front of us. “It’s a little small.”
I had moved in with Stella a few weeks ago. I’d had no problem giving Everly her space. She deserved happiness and I knew the next step in her relationship with Max was moving in together, and there was no way my best friend would move out of the house that her grandmother had left her when she’d passed away to live with Max in a hotel.
“It’s perfect for just you and Sadie. Why would you need anything more?”
Ben was modest. Despite having a lot of money in the bank, and his own four bedroom home with a pool that was also on the lake, he never rubbed it in. In fact, with the way he lived, you’d never guess it. It was one of the things I liked most about him.
“The bathroom is the first door on the left and the bedrooms are just past that. Kitchen is to the…” My words trailed off when I noticed the massive flower arrangement on the kitchen counter. “What is that?”
I walked four steps to the kitchen, leaning over and taking in the sweet scent of mums and…were those green roses? I spotted a small envelope and pulled it out, surprised when I opened it to find only three words scribbled across the white space.
Thank you. Ben.
I could tell by the handwriting he’d written it himself. I sucked in a breath and my entire body tingled. I hadn’t expected this. I hadn’t expected such a sweet gesture, not from Ben Lockwood.
I collected myself before I turned around, not wanting him to notice I had to will away the tears pooling in my eyes.
“You did…this?” My words caught in my throat.
He just shrugged, his hands thrust inside the pockets of his dress pants. “They reminded me of your eyes.”
I could tell he was out of his depth. He refused to make eye contact, and when he did, he peeked up at me from under his blond lashes then looked away just as quickly. His uneasiness was charming, and if it was possible, I would have liquefied into a puddle of goo from romantic overload.
Instead of taking a cab to my apartment, we had walked the ten minutes from the college. Thinking back, I now realized the walk had cooled things down. We had left the college with every intention of getting it on, but somewhere along the way we had stalled. Actually, I hadn’t even given it a second thought, because for the short time it took us to get here, I was in the moment. I wasn’t thinking about work, my past, or my future. Instead, I held Ben’s hand, learning about his favorite movies and foods. I’d even become privy to some of the antics Ben and Max had gotten up to as teenagers.
Ben had just made the most romantic gesture of my life and I wanted nothing more than to stay in this moment, to get us back on track…and in bed.
As if knowing the exchange had become lascivious, the newest foster cat I had taken in jumped up on the back of the couch and shamelessly flirted with Ben. My jaw dropped. The cat hadn’t come out of hiding since I’d brought him home.
“What is this?” Ben didn’t look too pleased. As if it was a rat rubbing itself on his arm.
I choked out a laugh. “A cat.”
The previously standoffish animal butt his furry head against Ben’s arm and purred, rubbing back and forth until he was content and curled up in the space between the cushion and back of the couch.
Two distinct meows sounded from the hallway and Ben whipped around, taking in the scene. “You have three cats?”
“Technically, they aren’t mine. I’m fostering them until they get a permanent home.”
I realized that fostering three cats and not having a significant other put me in cat lady territory, but they kept me company and I was giving them a home when they needed it most.
