Charmed by the Billionaire (Blue Collar Billionaires #2) - Lemmon, Jessica Page 0,41
up dinner if you tell me what you want. Or we can go out.”
“I have chicken thawing in the refrigerator at home, pre-chopped green peppers and onions at the ready. I’m making fajitas.” I lick my lips, feeling as if I’m breaking a rule that didn’t exist until now. “Do you…want to come over?”
“Yeah. Hell yeah.” He gives me a quick kiss, one he didn’t have to think about. I return it and I don’t think about it either. It’s natural. Easy. Just as easy and natural as us enjoying dinner together at my house.
After we eat, he announces he has to go home. When I ask if he wants to watch TV instead, he gives me the most inviting, wicked smile.
“No,” he says, hovering over my lips for a lengthy kiss. “If I stay another minute, you’ll lose your virginity tonight. And that’s not the plan.”
I’ve never been so flattered and sad at the same time as when I stand in my doorway and watch him walk to his car. He sends me a knowing smile before turning over the engine and driving down my street.
Chapter Fourteen
Cris
I’m packing my suitcase and feeling frazzled thanks to my late start this morning. The past week has been gloriously distracting, but each time I resurface from touching Benji or remembering touching Benji, I’m greeted by a glob of to-dos I worry I might’ve forgotten. Currently, I’m trying to decide on a decent dress to wear to the fundraiser dinner tomorrow night, and also trying to locate my charger for my laptop, which I’ve never ever lost.
Mid-cramming clothing, along with a few options for shoes, into my suitcase, I realize I’ll probably need a swimsuit in Florida. I sift through a dresser drawer and shove aside the sexy string bikini I bought when I purchased a tanning bed package (like, three years ago) and then hold up the scraps of material and consider taking them with me on my trip. Benji would like it.
“I borrowed your charger, by the way.” My brother Manuel appears in my bedroom doorway, cord in hand. He stopped by, having no idea I was here. It’s Friday at ten a.m.—a workday—so I normally wouldn’t be. Once he learned I was here, he decided to hang out.
“I was wondering where that was.” I swipe the cord from his hand and he, in turn, catches one of the strings of my bikini top and tugs it from my grip.
“What the hell is this?” Miniscule strips of flame-orange fabric dangle from his fingers.
I snatch the top from him and cram it, along with my cord, into a corner of my suitcase. “I’m flying to Florida.”
“For a work trip.” He’s frowning. At age twelve, Manuel always wanted to know what was going on, so the fact that he’s just as nosy at age twenty-four isn’t surprising in the least.
“What else?” I answer. Before he can comment, I go on to say, “I’m putting together a care package for Timothy. I won’t have a chance to drop by the post office. Can you go for me?” I zip my suitcase but before I can haul it off the bed, my brother has it in hand and is walking down the stairs.
“Where is the package?” he asks.
“It’s not done yet. I have to add a few more snacks and tape the box closed.”
A knock at the door startles me. I’m more startled when I see it’s Benji. I glance at the wall clock. He’s early, which is good, because I am so not early.
“Hi.” I open the door.
He moves in like he might kiss me, then notices Manuel. “Oh, hey, man.”
My brother smiles. “What’s up, Benji?”
Manuel worked very briefly with Benji for a college assignment a few years ago. Some job shadow thing. Benji in my house, picking me up for a trip to Florida, doesn’t look remotely out of the norm to my brother. Nor should it. I’ve gone on trips with Benji before and have attended this fundraiser in particular for years. Though it’s usually in Ohio, not the Sunshine State.
“You might want to review the dress code with her,” my brother says as he sets my bag by the door. “She packed a bathing suit I’m not even sure you can consider a bathing suit. It’s scandalous.”
One of Benji’s eyebrows wings upward. The look he gives me says everything but “dress code.” I wonder if he’s picturing me wearing a scandalous bathing suit. We smile at each other before Manuel interrupts.