Dirty Sexy Alphas (Twenty Book Box Set) - Hannah Ford Page 0,92

T-shirt—no bra—and Landon’s boxers. “I didn’t realize you were his number one fan.”

“Our bonding moment is over I see,” I said, standing up. “Back to being enemies.”

But Matt didn’t stand, he just looked up at me, pity in his expression. “I’m not your enemy, Taryn. I’m watching out for you.”

“Right, because you’re so superior? You have so much life experience that you can teach me how to act and what to do?”

“Maybe I am superior, Taryn. You and Landon behave like children. You ignore all the warning signs that he’s going to leave you. And he only thinks of himself.”

“For the love of god, just get off your high horse already.” I stomped away, and he called after me.

“Where are you going?”

I whirled around and stared him down. “Back to Texas. Happy now? Me and Landon are over. But you can take your I-told-you-so and shove it up your ass.”

Chapter 5

My eyes were gritty, and my neck was stiff. I should’ve headed out hours ago, but I was trying to catch up—again—with the rest of the interns. A mountain of paperwork towered in front of me, but none of the data made sense. There were inconsistencies with the results, but I couldn’t figure out what was driving it.

I sat back, rubbing my face. I was going to have to start over from the beginning, but I wasn’t sure I had the energy to do it tonight. I’d taken a sleepless red-eye back to Dallas, and showed up at the lab without even stopping at my shabby apartment. What I wanted most was to curl up in a dark room and sleep for days.

“Penny for your thoughts?” A voice called out.

I looked up to find Ben standing in the doorway, grinning. While my life had totally derailed in one ugly weekend, he was a beaming source of light. “You look like you have the weight of the world on your shoulders.”

“Just confused,” I said, pushing the notebook away and reaching for the paper. I couldn’t tell him about Landon, about my fight with Matt, about any of it. Ben’s world spun perfectly on axis, while mine was constantly destined for asteroid showers.

“About?”

“Either someone recorded the results incorrectly, or the results themselves are inconsistent.” I tossed my pencil back down on the table. “I’m not sure which one is worse.”

“I’m sure we can figure it out tomorrow. Sleep on it, maybe something will look different in the light of day.”

In Ben’s world, that’s probably how things worked. Step back, take a night off, and things would simply click into place.

“I don’t know,” I said, hesitating. “I think I should go over these again. I need to make up for the days I missed last week.”

He crossed his arms, leaning against the door frame. “It’s seven o’clock and everyone else has gone home.”

“Everyone else was here since the beginning. And everyone else didn’t fly home for a funeral.”

“Come on,” he said, giving me a playfully pleading look. “I can help you figure out these results tomorrow. I’m ahead on my trials. So call it a day and let me take you out.”

I wanted my heart to leap at the thought. I wanted to get the butterflies and blush at the idea of going out with Ben tonight. Instead, I felt…

Nothing. I was too hung up on Landon to even think of going out with anyone else. And that was the problem, really. I had to move on and forget him.

“Okay,” I said, knowing it was the right thing to do. My heart wasn’t in it, but my brain told me it would be good for me.

I clicked off the lamp on my borrowed desk, pushing the paperwork into a neat pile at the corner to wait for me tomorrow.

In the halls, Ben grabbed my hand, slipping his fingers between mine and giving me a squeeze. “Italian okay?”

“Sounds great,” I said, as earnestly as I could manage.

Ben held the car door open for me, then the front door to the Italian restaurant down the street. I wasn’t surprised when he pulled my chair out for me. I didn’t have to ask if this was a date—the low candle lighting and the bottle of wine he ordered told me all I needed to know.

He was utterly perfect, and utterly wrong for me. Sweet and sincere and attractive, yet I felt nothing.

“How did the funeral go?” Ben asked, after a long beat of silence.

I sighed. “It was a mess.”

“Oh?”

I twisted my cloth napkin in my lap,