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He'd already moved out of the house by then but Lilah had literally trailed after him like a lost little puppy. First, because she’d had a ridiculous schoolgirl crush on him, and later because she’d never been more at peace, or more focused, than when she was around him. Instead of seeking out those hidden corners, she’d been happy to sit with Ben.
Initially he’d tried to deter her but she had persisted, until one day—when she was about fifteen—she’d ventured into his small office to find a tiny desk set up in the corner. He had glowered at her when she’d paused in the doorway and pointed to the desk with a curt sit there and shut up. I have work to do.
Lilah had been even more smitten. After that, for the next seven years until she finished college, as his star rose and he shot up the corporate ladder, he’d always had a desk set up for her in every new—bigger—office he was moved to.
“What did you just say?” Lilah now asked after controlling the coughing with water, quite certain she’d misheard his previous remark.
His only attempt at helping her during her coughing fit had been to hand her the glass of water, after which he’d sat back to wait.
“We should be exclusive. We’ve fucked around with this pretense long enough, don’t you think?”
“What pretense?”
“This play dating. It’s time for us to just get to the point. We’re running out of time. I want this, you want this… so let’s just get it over and done with, okay?”
“Ben, we’ve been on roughly ten dates… and I’m being generous in calling them dates. We eat and exchange very little meaningful conversation. We haven’t even kissed…” It embarrassed her to bring that up. Ben shied away from her every attempt to be close to him. In fact, she’d intended to tell him tonight that she wouldn’t be seeing him anymore. A girl could only take so much rejection. She had her pride and she was sick of constantly trying to make the first move with barely any encouragement from him. He must think she was thirsty as hell and gagging for his attention. Okay, maybe he’d be mostly right, but long-standing crush or not, she was over it, and ready to finally give up.
She glared at him, happy to be airing this. “So what exactly do you want from me?”
“I’m trying to treat you with respect, Lilah. I want you to know that this will be different from my past relationships and that I’m serious about making it work.”
“Where is this leading?”
“We’re getting married.”
She gaped at him, her mouth opening and closing without a sound emerging. Eventually, she managed to squeak out the briefest of questions, “We are?”
“You know we are. What the fuck do you think this has all been about?”
Lilah had no words. None at all. How did marriage fit into this? If anything, these dates had proved how totally incompatible they were. She’d known it for a while now. But she’d still jumped at the chance to go out with him. She’d felt like she owed it to herself—after so many years of one-sided mooning over the man—to see if maybe there could be something there. Some spark between them that could bloom into something deeper. And while Lilah had felt that tug of attraction, she was almost certain it was one-sided.
It had always been one-sided.
So this was unexpected.
And confusing.
“Ben, do you have feelings for me?”
He stared at her, eyes burning with frustration that didn’t make it to his annoyingly expressionless face.
His mouth thinned. Those beautiful, sensuous lips pressed close together, while his nostrils flared.
Finally some emotion. Even if it was only exasperation.
He flagged their waitress, and the young woman—who’d been swooning over him all evening—came tripping over with a bright smile.
“I’d like the bill.”
“Please,” Lilah tacked on weakly, with a conciliatory smile at the woman to make up for his rudeness.
“I don’t fucking need you to speak for me,” Ben growled at her after the woman had left.
“Well, maybe if you weren’t such a rude prick to the poor girl, I wouldn’t have to,” Lilah retorted, keeping her voice mild, even while her heart raced in her chest. She wasn’t sure what was happening here. But Ben had certainly been triggered by her quiet question.
They didn’t exchange another word until he stopped his sleek metallic gray Jaguar F-Type in front of Lilah’s private entrance to the family home in Constantia. Once there, he turned in his seat to stare at her.
Well… no. He wasn’t staring, he was glaring. And Lilah threw her eyes heavenward. Sometimes, Ben could be so needlessly dramatic. She’d asked him a fair question and he—
Oh.
He hooked his palm around the back of her neck and tugged her toward him without a word, and within seconds his lips were on hers. She made a muffled sound of surprise, but it faded into a quiet sigh when Ben’s mouth tasted hers in soft, nibbling kisses that made her knees turn to mush and her stomach melt into a pool of hot liquid. The kiss intensified, heated, and that liquid warmth seeped into her bones, her blood, and finally pooled heavily at the juncture of her thighs. She opened her mouth and he didn’t wait for a second invitation, his tongue boldly swooping in to lick, explore, taste, and tantalize…
