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enjamin opened his eyes slowly. It was morning but still dark outside.So why am I awake?He sat up, yawning. In the middle of his final yawn, his arms stretched, he spotted the guest room furniture theme that matched all the guest rooms in the house. Golden, castle-like silk furniture his mother and grandmother had picked out for this place years ago. As he let out an annoyed sigh, he remembered why he’d woken up early and he was in the guest room.
“Ava,” he muttered through his teeth.
Last night he’d come into his large master bedroom and seen her sleeping in his bed. He’d frozen.You got this wrong, there are other rooms in this house, you know,he wanted to say, but instead he just stood there and stared at her, cursing under his breath. At first, he turned around to leave and sleep in one of the countless guest rooms, but then he froze again.What if she did this on purpose? Did she take his room to show him that she was in control of this situation from here on in?So, he decided to stay. He didn’t want her to think that he would give in so easily, leave like a beaten dog with its tail between its legs, hand her the first victory.
With a cheeky smile on his face, he folded out a blanket on the floor and lay down right there and then.Let her find me here when she wakes up. It was dark and quiet, and he was about to doze off when he first started noticing her calm, steady breathing. Then her scent started to make its way to him. She smelled of fresh shampoo. It drove him crazy. From there on, he could think of nothing else but her body only a few feet away from his.
“Probably because it is some dollar store shampoo,” he mumbled to himself as he tossed and turned. But after he had endured this for another ten minutes and resigned himself that he was wide awake, he finally given up and grabbed his blanket of the floor and left—almost slamming the door behind himself.
His angry footsteps led him to the guest room, cussing all the way. “If you keep this up, you’ll be out of an inheritance before thesix months are up,” he scolded himself.
That was hours ago, and the reason why he woke up early in a guest room. Benjamin straightened his hair with his fingers and got up, ready to battle Ava over his room.
“If I am awake at this hour, you can be as well,” he said out loud as he strode down the hallway to his room. He would pull the blanket off his bed, wake her rudely. He stopped in front of his door, his hand tightly on the gleaming gilded handle, feeling the coldness of its touch, when he froze once more.
What if she was not dressed?His head shook wildly. Her problem, my room.
“You are the grandson of Elijah Radcliff and you are scared of a naked woman?”
He pushed down an inch on the handle and froze in motion again.
For a brief second he pictured himself slowly opening the door and going even slower as he would walk over to the bed and press himself down next to her. A hot tingle rushed through his stomach as he pictured her clam breath on his skin.
What if you scare her, come off as a perv?
He squeezed the handle so tight that it hurt. But instead of sneaking in to sleep next to her or bolting in to claim what was rightfully his, he let out a loud breath and stepped back.
“What the hell am I doing?”
Long forgotten memories started flooding the opened gates of his mind. He was acting like they were still children and Ava had the magical power to push him around, tell him what to do. He had almost completely forgotten about that. No other person would ever dare do that again. They fought as kids, all the time, which was probably the reason why she stopped coming over at some point.
With a grunt, he turned and walked into the kitchen to get coffee.I’ll let her have the room a little longer, then claim it back, full steam ahead, he thought.
He almost stumbled backwards when he saw that the culprit behind his night of agony was already up, sitting at the kitchen island, sipping coffee from a cup, playing with her phone. He bit his lower lip. After the whole drama at his room’s door…and there she was... Wide awake. Dressed for work in some jeans, Converses, and a sweater that had a small church logo on it. His wife Ava. Wife.
“Normal people are still in bed at this hour,” he growled at her.
“Working class people work and stuff… you know,” she said. “But then again…maybe you don’t…”
Ben flinched.Already throwing daggers, huh?
“Too funny. The homeless are lucky people if you are as dedicated at the shelter as you are with your sarcasm.”
They both fake laughed at one another and Benjamin grabbed his coffee to sit down. Not with her, no. Instead, he took a seat at the table on the other side of the kitchen.
Feet away and ignoring each other, both were sipping coffee and, in Benjamin’s case, devising plans. Ava finally stood but as Ben had turned his back on her, he didn’t notice.
“Now where is the darn sugar kept in this house?” He got up and as soon as he turned, he saw Ava inches away from him. Too late; they clashed. She gasped, clearly startled, and tried to move out of the way but clipped her foot against one of the chairs, losing balance. Acting on instinct, Benjamin reached out and grabbed her. He felt the warmth of her body as it pressed against his arms. She gasped again, sharp and short, as he pulled her up, inadvertently pulling her close to his chest, their faces inches away. Both of their cheeks flashed instantly hot and red. His hand was firmly tucked under her arm, the other resting on her waist. He could feel her chest rising and falling as she breathed deeply, and he could smell that delicious scent again. Benjamin’s heart thumped faster, hammering against his chest as he looked down at her.
“Careful now,” he said in a soft voice.
Ava tried to speak. She opened her mouth, but the words seemed lost. The more he stared into her eyes, the more everything seemed to fizzle out and blurry, placing his mind in overdrive.
His gaze wandered to her lips. Just a few inches. That was all it would take for his lips to brush against hers. The thought made him shiver.Are you crazy?he heard the voice in his head say.Let her go, now!
But Ava did him the favor first. She pulled away, leaning over next to his feet.
