Big Ben (See No Evil Trilogy #1) - Nana Malone Page 0,75
the first time in a long time, I’m thinking clearly. I haven’t had a drink or any pills in a few days. I’m lucid and steady. I want to be better for you.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a blue velvet box.
Oh God, no. My head swam. “Dex—”
“I love you. I want to be by your side. Always. Will you marry me?”
This wasn’t happening. Couldn’t be happening. Everything about this was all wrong. “Dexter, stand up.”
“You have to give me an answer.”
I blinked in surprise. “You’re doing it again, Dexter, trying to force my hand. And now you expect me to believe you really want to marry me?”
“I need you.”
And that was the crux of the problem. “You want me to look after you?”
“Yes. No one does it better.” My brows drew into a tight line, and he rushed to add, “I want to look after you too. I’m a selfish prick, but I’m serious about changing.”
“Christ, I have to go, Dex. This is not the time to do this.” I managed to finally tug my hands free.
“Okay, think about it. Take the weekend. I’ll wait for your answer.”
“What? Just the weekend? You’ve sprung this on me.”
He ran a hand through his hair and started to pace. “I know. I just miss you so much and can’t live without you.”
I could feel myself caving. Feel myself wanting to do what I’d done since the accident. Trying to fix him. Trying to fix us. But I stopped myself. “I told you I’d think about it, and I will. But you will not pressure or guilt me. This is still my decision, isn’t it?”
He blinked at me rapidly. “Of course. You know I love you.”
My watch vibrated, letting me know I had five minutes.
I left Dexter sulking in the bedroom and rolled my bag downstairs and into the hallway where I did the final passport check in time to hear the doorbell.
When I opened the door, instead of the driver, Ben stood on the doorstep. “I was just coming out.”
“Let me get the bags.”
I hadn’t put my sunglasses on yet, and I was sure he could tell that I’d been crying. “I’ve got it.”
“Nonsense. I might force you to work over the course of a three-day bank holiday, but chivalry is not dead.” Brushing past me, he stepped inside to the living room and grabbed hold of my weekend bag. “You are the only woman I know who packs light for Paris.”
I tried for levity. “I mean, you said there was shopping to be done, right?”
He rolled his eyes as he chuckled. “Leave it to you—” Dexter’s appearance at the top of the stairs cut him off.
Ben glanced up, and his shoulders tensed. Dexter froze then went pale. I could feel the slow-motion train wreck before it happened.
Dexter recovered first with a flash of a smile that reminded me of the old him. “You must be the famous Ben Covington. Dexter Ford. I swear Olivia spends more time with you than she does with me.”
Ben’s demeanor was cool and professional, but I knew him well enough to pick up on the gaze that narrowed imperceptibly. “Olivia,” he said deliberately, not using Livy like he did at work, “works very hard. I’m lucky to have her.”
Dexter gave him another smile that somehow felt like he was visually marking his territory. Then he sauntered over to me to mark his territory. “Were you leaving without a kiss?”
What the hell was I supposed to say to that? “I—uh—”
What I didn’t expect was Dexter wrapping an arm around me and pulling me into him. I hadn’t prepared for Dexter’s lips swooping in to capture mine and refusing to let them go. He didn’t give me the kind of sweet kiss I’d have expected from the old Dexter. This was all possession and branding, bruising my lips.
When I gasped in surprise, he shoved his tongue in, sliding it along the roof of my mouth. I couldn’t help the claustrophobic need to flee, to escape. I fought his hold a little and pulled back, my eyes wide.
Dexter set his jaw. “I love you. I’ll see you when you get back.” He then very deliberately placed the ring box on the table that sat under the mirror where Ben couldn’t help but see it.
I stumbled backward and stared at him. In the end, it was Ben who saved me by breaking the not-at-all-sexual tension by clearing his throat.