Big Ben (See No Evil Trilogy #1) - Nana Malone Page 0,65
out where everything had gone wrong with Dex, and the other half crying about how badly I’d messed up with Ben.
Neither one of those scenarios meant a bright eyed and bushy-tailed morning. But I was at work, and I would just go about my day and pretend that my boss hadn’t made my body hum. Hadn’t made me want—things. Hadn’t had me ready to beg.
I could pretend, right?
But before I could get on with my pretending and my delusions of everything being great, there was a knock at my door. I looked up to find Ben with several paper bags in tow. “Good morning. How are you feeling?”
I tried to give him a brave smile. “I feel fine.”
“You recognize you’re going to have to stop saying fine to me, right?”
“That’s how I feel. Fine.”
He laughed. “Fair enough. If that’s what you’re going with. I brought you a couple of things.”
“What’s all this?”
“You know, just a few things. Some eyedrops. An energy shot. I figured you didn’t sleep much. And, some beignets.”
I grinned at him. “Beignets? Where did you find beignets in London?”
“Well, a friend of mine used to have a restaurant in New Orleans, they were famous for them. I called him at his café and asked if he’d make some up this morning. So, here you go, beignets.”
He felt bad for me clearly. Crazy woman who had thrown him in a trough of water, then moaned at his kisses while I had a, though absentee and rubbish, boyfriend. “You don’t have to be this nice to me. I know I’m a disaster.”
“You’re not a disaster. Yesterday was a…long day.”
“Yeah, tell me about.”
He shoved his hands in his pockets, the motion highlighting his thick, toned forearms. He’d worn a gray vest today, making his eyes look stormier than usual. “And I know I should apologize. If I made you uncomfortable yesterday…” His mouth said the right things, but his eyes were focused on my lips. And that kind of direct scrutiny by him made heat pool in my core.
That was the thing. I hadn’t been uncomfortable. I’d been a little too comfortable.
“I just, I could have sworn I was feeling something between us, and then I acted on it. I shouldn’t have.”
What did I say here? There was no handbook for I really enjoyed my boss kissing me. “You’re my boss.”
He nodded slowly. “I am your boss. Technically your boss’s boss.”
“I have no intention of being one of many women going through his revolving door. I’d rather not get sheet burns on my ass.”
He huffed at that. “I do not have a revolving door. And I would take very good care of your arse.”
An image flashed in my mind of just what he could do to my ass, and I flushed.
He muttered a curse. “Jesus, I didn’t mean that how it sounded.”
“I know. We have an unconventional working arrangement.”
“You can say that again,” he muttered. “The point is I don’t do relationships. And as a result, I don’t generally shag anyone I’m required to see the next day.”
It was so easy to slide into the usual banter with him. “Performance that disappointing, is it? Are you embarrassed? I promise. I wouldn’t laugh at you.”
He opened his mouth to speak, then closed it. He tried it again, and a crack of laughter spilled out. “You’re such a pain in the arse.”
“I know.” I snagged the bag of beignets from him. They really were best eaten hot. “Did you try one yet?”
“A beignet? I may have had one or two.”
“Split one with me?”
He looked like he wanted to say no, but he nodded instead. Again, the focus of his gaze was on my lips. But he seemed to right himself and pulled out the little boxes inside then set them out on napkins.
I picked one, dipped it in the jam and took a bite. Christ, I moaned. “That’s almost better than sex.” I spoke around a mouthful of dough, sugar and jam.
“Then you have not been having sex with the right person. I mean these are good. These are excellent. But still, sex is sex. Even bad, it’s good.”
I laughed. “Sex is only always good if you’re a guy. Not the same for us of the fairer sex.” I took another bite. “I don’t know. I feel like I could eat beignets every day for the rest of my life and be very happy.”