Big Ben (See No Evil Trilogy #1) - Nana Malone Page 0,84
this up.’ You’re not.”
“Why are you so amazing?”
“Tell that to my mates, would you? They’re not always sure I’m amazing.”
“Why do you do that?”
I frowned. “What?”
“Diminish the good qualities about yourself. You act like all you are is a facade, but you’re so much more. Why don’t you want anyone to see that?”
The woman saw me too well, and that was dangerous. But despite the danger and my pounding heartbeat, I met her gaze. “Because sometimes it’s easier to pretend than to let them see the real you.”
Livy
I had been dreading this moment all night. All day really. I had known there would be a moment when it was time to say goodnight. Put an end to the day. Put an end to pretending that I was carefree and happy and had not a care in the world. “I should probably get to bed.”
He nodded and took the wine glass from my hand and sat it on the coffee table along with his. Then he stood and reached out a hand to me. I glanced up at him. He was so tall and broad, and sex appeal oozed off of him in waves.
The connection to him was ever-present. From the moment I’d shared a closet with him, it had been like the gears of a clock clicking into place. Like every moment of my life had led me to him. He was more than familiar. He was home.
He’d spent his whole day showing me everything I wanted to see in this glorious city. I hadn’t even asked, and he’d done it. I didn’t even know what to say to that.
“Thank you for everything. I wish I had the words to say thank you properly, but I’ve never in my life dreamed of a day like this. I won’t forget it.”
He flushed slightly and ducked his head. “I’m glad you had a good day. It was my pleasure to show it to you.”
“And thank you for letting me spread more of my mother’s ashes. You’re probably sick of that process by now. I get weepy and all that sad shit.”
His smile was soft as he spoke. “No, actually.” He dug his hands into his jeans, tugging them lower on his hips and showing just a hint of hip bone, making me swallow around the saw dust in my mouth. When I lifted my gaze, he was watching me closely. When he spoke, his voice was thick. “I feel like I know her. I feel like she and I might have been great friends.”
“You know, you’re probably right. She always said she liked a man who was a bit of a rogue.”
He grinned then. “Well then, resident rogue at your service.”
“You really didn’t have to do all this, and I don’t just mean a day in Paris. What you’ve given me in the last few weeks, a new job, a roof over my head… I don’t have any way to say thank you properly.”
“I didn’t do any of those things for you. I did it for me. I like being near you. I like your obsession with Batman. I like your teasing. I love your smile. Being with you reminds me that I have been living in a shell of myself for too long. I haven’t had a woman I trusted in a long time. Everything about this is completely crazy, and every single day you make me want to keep up. So spending the day exploring with you was my pleasure.”
“Goodnight, Ben.”
He frowned, his voice hoarse when he whispered my name. “Livy—”
He reached for me, and I automatically stepped back. “I should go to bed.”
“I just wanted you to have the perfect day.”
“And it was perfect.”
He opened his mouth to say something and then shut it again. I shouldn’t have been desperate to know what he wanted to say, but I was.
He wasn’t the kind of man for lazy Sunday lie-ins. He wasn’t the relationship type. Hadn’t I already learned my lesson?
I turned, and he reached out for me. His touch a light graze on my skin. A caress of two fingers sliding over me like satin, making me forget a simple thing like breathing. When I turned, the muscle in his jaw ticked.
“This is a bad idea for a lot of reasons.”
I blinked up at him. “What?”
“This.” He pointed his finger between us. “It feels like you’re mine.”
When he said it like that, with that low growl, I believed everything he said. And my body was being pulled to him