AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Tune in, Ben. You’re spacing out again. I want to read your kiss.”
Read his kiss? How aboutgettinghis kiss instead?
There was a bed right there.
Just her, him. He could turn on the electric fireplace right there in the corner. They could love each other and cuddle each other for the rest of the night. Maybe. She might beworkingright now, after all. “Are you off the clock for the night?”
“Yes. Let me read it. Who does Harry kiss anyway?”
Ben felt the heat in his cheeks at her look. “Well, Rikkie’s best friend actually. It just sort of happened.”
“Really? I so have to read this.”
Ben sat in the chair, and opened up the laptop. He’d just show her then. “Come here, woman. Let me show you what romance really is about. Doubting Dustina.”
“It’s not doubting. It’s being realistic. Practical. Real romance…is almost nonexistent. Except for women like Nik and Sage anyway.”
But didn’t she get it? She was a woman, just like Nikki and Sage. A woman who deserved to beloved.No matter what. Well, almostallwomen deserved to be love. Just like almost all men did. ButDusty? She deserved to be loved most of all.
21
Ben Tyler hadno business writing kissing scenes without some serious training.
Dusty knew that after she’d read the first two pages. Oh, the man was clueless. And Harry could do so much better. She looked at Ben—he had a wary look on his beautiful face now.Vulnerable.
“Ben...”
“You hate it, don’t you?”
“Not at all. It’s very well written. Like everything you write is, honestly. It’s just...not that realistic of a kiss. At least, not Sasha’s point of view. I don’t really remember her from any of the other books. I’ll have to reread them.”
“Why not? I thought I did a great job of showing Sasha’s feelings. He totally blindsided her by kissing her.” He shot her a wicked look. That man didwickedvery well. “He didn’t know he was going to do it either. He’s giving her fits now. She deserves it for how she’s been tormenting him in previous chapters. And she doesn’t even know she’s turning him on. Well, until now.”
“True. But…I can guarantee she isn’t thinkingthatquite that quickly. A woman does not think like that before she gets involved with a man. At least not… a practical one. And I have definitely never been kissed like that.” Dusty smirked at him after she said it. For a man to have that kind of reputation with the opposite sex, was Ben seriously that clueless? Kisses were not all hearts and flowers and bright colors at all.
The man—oh, he was adorable sometimes.
“No? Well, how have you been kissed then? What goes through your head before a man kisses you for the first time?” He shot her a grumpy look of real challenge. It had her wanting to laugh even more. He just looked so adorably grumpy. A far cry from how he’d looked a moment ago. “And just who have you been kissing lately anyway?”
“Not very many men lately. Every time I’ve tried since I was eighteen, it seems like a baboon—or two or three, for that matter—shows up to get in the way.” Okay, maybe that was a slight exaggeration. But…Well, maybe it wasn’t, really. Fletcher and Gil and Ben—it seemed they were always interrupting her dates. And had been for years. Hers and Nikki’s. Well, until Hunter had moved right in to Nikki’s spare apartment anyway. “Honestly? The first time a man kisses me, I can’t help but wonder if all he is after is sex. What he’s really after.”
“What in the hell?” Now he was fully turned toward her. “That’s bull.”
“No. It’s experience talking. I’ve been there before. Two guys—and all they wanted was sex. They thought that I would give it to them, too. Unfortunately, those were the last two guys I’ve kissed. So…experience has taught me.”
“You’re conditioned to doubt a guy’s intentions now?”
“Yes. So tell me, Benjamin. What is the first thing you think of when you kiss a woman?” She leveled a look at him. He was one of the most honest men she knew—even if he could be a bossy butthead about it. “It’s definitely going to have something to do with…sex.”
“Hell, yes, it is. If there’s no sexual attraction I wouldn’t be kissing a woman to begin with. I only ever kiss a woman I think is incredibly hot, Destiny Marie.”
“Well, no. I suppose not. But tell me the truth: Have you ever kissed a woman like you just wrote? Because she was everything, and you couldn’t resist? And told her that? As you were kissing her. Come on. Truth, Ben. Put your money where your mouth is. What is the first thing you think about when you lean in to kiss a woman? How hot she is? How you hope she’ll let you do even more than just kiss? How easy she is? How easy you hope she is?”
“Well, how hot she is, probably. But I tend to not kiss women unless I feel an emotional connection first. I don’t do random. Nor do I think about women as beingeasyor not.” His expression darkened. “Did some guy do that to you? Tell me who, and I’ll—”
She covered his mouth with one finger. She knew where that train of thought would lead. Ben could go all caveman in an instant, after all. Especially where Dusty or Nikki or now Sage were concerned. “That doesn’t matter now.”
His blue eyes flared. He stilled.
