“Yes.” Chloe laughed at the shocked look on his face. “Ben, come on. You’re a playboy. There’s nothing wrong with that. But any girl who tries to take you seriously in the love department is kidding herself. I mean, I never would.”
Ben took a drink of sparkling water and let his eyes scan the restaurant. For some reason, he seemed a little angry.
Chloe was surprised. “Why does that make you mad?”
Setting his glass of water on the table with a thwunk, he leaned in close. “Chloe, we’ve known each other for years.” His voice was earnest. “I’m a good guy.”
Chloe was totally confused. Of course Ben was a good guy. “I didn’t say that you weren’t.”
“Yeah, you did.” He shook his head. “You just said—”
“I said that I don’t think of you like that,” she said. “I know better.”
“Do you seriously mean to tell me . . .” He leaned across the table. “That in all this time you’ve never once thought of you and me, trying to be more than friends?”
Chloe blushed. Of course she had.
Right after the incident with the cider, she had entered into a massive Ben-crush. Even though she was furious with him for reasons she didn’t quite understand, a secret part of her kept hoping that he’d try the same thing again. But this time, she wanted him to profess his love or, at the very least, ask her to go with him.
Instead, after he’d apologized, Ben started dating Lindsey Walker. A perky blonde cheerleader, Lindsey was all of the things that Chloe could never be. Yes, the whole thing had broken her heart a little but she’d never said a word. What was the point? It was silly junior high stuff.
“You’ve never thought of me like that,” Ben said. “Not once. That just seems so—”
“Okay, fine,” Chloe blurted out. “Yes, I did.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she didn’t know why she’d said them.
Ben brightened. “Really?” He put his elbows on the table and leaned forward. “When?”
“Once,” she mumbled. “For a little while. In junior high.”
Ben let out a huge breath. “Thank God,” he said, giving his gorgeous grin. “You had me seriously worried there for a second.”
“Sorry. That must have really set you back.”
“Take this as dating lesson number four,” Ben said, once again cheerful. “Never, ever tell the guy you’re on a date with that you’ve never thought of him as a romantic prospect. It’s just bad business.” He took another bite of his porcini mushroom risotto. “So. Let’s talk about it. Why did you have a crush on me?”
“I’m not telling you that,” Chloe groaned, already regretting the confession. “I’m not going to build up your gigantic ego even more than it already is.”
Once again, Ben looked hurt. “I don’t have a gigantic ego.”
“Come on,” she scoffed. “Women parade in and out of your apartment like a women’s health clinic. Do you seriously expect me to believe you don’t get off on that?”
“Oh, give me a break,” Ben said. “I was picked on as a kid. That stays with you, you know.”
Chloe nodded. “Textbook psychology. You’re salving your bruised ego by getting all the girls.”
“I don’t get all the girls.” Ben’s blue eyes were bright in the light from the votive candle. “I never got you.”
The restaurant seemed to go quiet around them.
“What . . . What do you mean?” Chloe asked, her heart pounding in her ears.
“What do you mean, what do I mean?” Ben demanded. “I had a crush on you for years. You never noticed.”
Chloe’s heart started to beat faster. He did?
“Yeah, right.” She forced her voice to sound natural. “I was as skinny as a string bean, wore the same pair of jeans every day and spent all my time at the library. If you liked anything, it was the fact that I did your trig homework for you.”
The mood at the table was too tense. Desperate to bring it back to normal, Chloe reached her fork across the table and stabbed one of the mushrooms in his risotto. She wanted to show him that the conversation was not affecting her, and that they were good friends who could talk about all this without getting weird.
“Hey!” Laughing, Ben seized her hand and guided the fork to his mouth. He ate the mushroom.
“You are such a bully,” she said, sitting back in her chair.
“Oh, you wanted some of this?” Ben scooped up another forkful and waved it in her direction.