The Billionaire's Fake Fiancee - Lauren Wood Page 0,28
have a good recommendation. Just be prepared for me to be brutally honest with my opinion,” he warned.
Suddenly, I had to stop myself. What the hell was I doing? Snuggling up with him on the couch watching something romantic while I cried my eyes out and ached for true love … How was that going to help anything? That was way worse than sleeping with him again, and even worse than spending another night together.
“On second thought, I’m not in a super rom-com mood. I’m sure we can flip through and find something.” I considered suggesting a horror movie, but quickly realized that posed its own problems … like me shooting into his big, strong arms for safety. “A comedy would be great,” I decided. “In fact, I think that’s exactly what I’m in the mood for.”
“A comedy it is then,” he nodded, climbing out of bed.
Even after sex had deflated him, he was still half-stiff and painfully sexy. He almost looked more irresistible like that, and I quickly had to look away. “I’ll find a towel or maybe I have a big enough robe for you to put on while you wait,” I said, frantically retreating into my closet.
“I’m fine like this,” he argued. “I don’t mind lounging around in the nude. It’s nice actually. You should try it.”
I tossed out a big fuzzy white robe, smacking him in the face before he could say another word. There would be no romantic movies, no snuggling, and definitely no more nakedness. In fact, as soon as his clothes were dry, there would be no more Ben. I was sure of it.
But after he had slid into the robe and secured the tie around his waist, he caught me coming out of my closet. He pulled me into his arms, and I had no choice but to melt into his touch.
“You look sexy as hell right now, by the way.”
“Like this?” I puzzled, looking down at my baggy t-shirt.
“Oh yeah. Even more so than in your regular clothes.” His deep voice lulled me into submitting to him further as he pressed his lips to mine. “And listen. I can see you’re worried about me hanging out here for a while, but …”
“But we’re adults, right?” I shot back.
His lips parted, as if something else was on his mind. But he answered, “Yes. Because of that.”
“And after tonight, we’ll go our separate ways. Only this time, there shouldn’t be a reason for us to see each other again,” I nodded affirmatively.
His arms dropped from around my waist, and I quickly realized I had completely destroyed the moment. But wasn’t that for the best? No moments needed to be had. Not with him. I refused.
He looked away, scratching the back of his head. “You know, come to think of it … I have a change of clothes in my gym bag in the car. If you wouldn’t mind grabbing them for me, I could go ahead and change and be on my way.”
“Oh …” I did my best to ignore my disappointment. I had brought this on myself, and it was for the best. “Sure. Let me just throw some pants and shoes on and I’ll go grab them for you.”
Leave it to me to make everything more awkward than it needed to be. Ben barely said a word as he handed me his keys, beyond explaining where to find his things. I felt more confused than ever as I walked out to his car and hunted for his clothes.
You could still fix this, Kate. You could go back inside and stop being such a jerk and just hangout with the man for a while. He was just inside of you for Christ's sake. Watching a movie with him isn’t going to make things any worse.
But instead, I marched back in there and handed over his things. He snatched them up, changed, and hurried out the door with his wet clothes balled up in his arms.
“I’ll see you around,” he mumbled on his way out.
I felt like crap the moment the door shut behind him. I was still thinking of yelling out to him down the hall as I reached for the locks. But I stayed strong and locked them anyway.
I took some over-the-counter stuff to help me sleep, which I kept on hand for when I was working on a big project and my brain was sparking with ideas. But that night, its purpose was to make me forget all about Ben and whatever the hell had just happened between