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Curious now, she hastened down the rest of the steps and found Ben sprawled on the sofa, fast asleep. Fifi was curled up on his chest, her head up, ears alert as she stared at Lilah, with a curled lip.
She was a nasty piece of work, but looked so damned cute in her little sweater, Lilah had to grin. Poor thing, she was trying so hard to be a badass while dressed up like the canine version of a Barbie doll.
Lilah’s eyes tracked to Ben’s face and her smile faded. He looked like an exhausted little boy, with his habitual frown smoothed away, jaw slack, a soft snore soughing out on every third or fourth exhalation. His lips looked soft, kissable, and she longed to run her fingers through the rumpled mess of hair and over his dark, bristled jawline.
Her fingers curled into her palms and she straightened her shoulders determinedly. This constant need to touch him was a lingering after effect of the feelings she’d once had—still had, really—for him. It would pass. She just had to retrain her brain. And that would take time.
She moved toward the kitchen and checked the pantry. Happy to discover she had all the ingredients for a quick pasta aglio e olio and salad.
She quietly went about cooking the dish, and she was soon joined by Fifi who jumped off the sofa and sat on the floor a couple of meters away, probably hoping that scraps of whatever Lilah was cooking would find its way to the floor.
Lilah lured her over with the occasional dog treat, which Fifi took with unflattering wariness, before darting away to consume it a safe distance away from Lilah. She always made her way back though, her inherent gluttony winning out over her caution.
“That smells great,” Ben’s voice, sleep roughened and sexy came from the direction of the slightly sunken living room, where he’d sat up on the sofa without her noticing.
“It’ll be ready in five minutes, if you want to join me?”
He yawned and stretched extravagantly before getting up. He looked lithe and athletic in those gray sweatpants and Lilah’s throat went dry with lust.
Yes, she found him sexy. She was going to have to give herself some slack over that. The man was hotness personified. Didn’t mean she was going to act on her attraction to him… ever again. But she could admire the way those pants clung to his taut butt.
He came over to join her in the kitchen, watching her from the other side of the island, while Fifi danced around his feet, shamelessly flirting for his attention. He gave her an affectionate smile and a quiet “good girl, Feef. You’re a great dancer, aren’t you?”. And then refocused on Lilah.
“You need me to do anything?”
“Where do you want to eat?” she asked, and he shrugged.
“The covered terrace? It’s turned into a nice enough evening now that the rain has stopped and the furniture out there is likely still dry since it’s not windy.”
She nodded. “Want to set a couple of places on the table out there?”
He grabbed a couple of placemats, plates and utensils and immediately got to work. Lilah transferred the pasta into a serving dish, took the garlic bread from the oven and the fresh salad she’d prepared out of the fridge, putting them all on the counter for him to transport next. She carried a decanter of cold water and a couple of glasses out onto the terrace and joined him a minute later.
He was waiting for her and pulled out one of the wrought iron chairs from beneath the glass topped round table and took her hand to seat her. Lilah, accustomed to these little considerations from him, thought nothing of it, until her hand settled in his and the contact sent a buzz of adrenalin and electricity sizzling through her body. She snatched her hand back immediately and sat down self-consciously, hoping he hadn’t noticed her reaction.
He said nothing, but sat down across from her. Fifi settled beneath the table, staring up at them with sad, hungry eyes, through the glass.
“Ignore her,” Ben told Lilah. “She’s a little con artist. I swear, she’d do anything for a snack.”
“Oh, I definitely noticed that. She even pretended to be my friend just to wheedle a couple of treats from me.”
Ben smiled fondly down at the dog, before bringing his eyes back up to hers.
“You were right when you implied that I may have gotten her as an excuse to see you again.”
Lilah scoffed at his words. “I didn’t imply anything, Ben. I full on said it.”
His lips twitched and he nodded, conceding the point. “Well, you were right. I did do that… and I didn’t give any consideration to what I would do with the dog afterward. I can be selfish when it comes to shit like that in my personal life. I never consider the bigger picture. I’m always more focused on what it would take to achieve my goal right now. In business I think months ahead, years ahead. But I don’t apply that same ethic and patience to my personal relationships.”
