you.” Ayla hesitated. “Do you want to attend any of the after-parties with her? She’s been invited to them all.”
“Not really my thing,” Ben said.
“That’s what Silver thought. She’s going to have to go to at least one. Shareem and Bree are standing by with a new outfit for her to change into, so she doesn’t have to come back to the suite.”
“So she’ll be okay without me?” Ben clarified, not yet sure how he felt about how things were moving along.
“She’ll have the whole cast with her, and her agent. She says she’d love you to come, but if you want to go back to the suite and hang out, she’ll see you there.”
Ben considered his options as his fears raised their heads to shout down his common sense.
“Tell her I’ll meet her back at the hotel, and that I’ll be fine, and not to rush back on my account.”
* * *
When Silver let herself into the suite, it was eerily quiet. Most of her team and the film crew had stayed out partying, but she’d had enough, and had gotten her two bodyguards to take her back.
She took off her second new pair of shoes for the night and winced. Adrenaline had carried her through the rest of the evening, and now all she wanted was to see Ben and go to sleep. The low murmur of a TV caught her attention and, picking up her shoes, she made her way into the bedroom.
Ben was sitting on the bed watching some baseball spring training thing. He’d taken off his jacket and tie, rolled up the sleeves of his white shirt, and removed his shoes. On the side table there was an empty bottle of beer, three full ones and the remains of a hamburger and fries. Silver swallowed hard. She couldn’t remember when she’d last eaten.
“Hey,” she said softly.
He turned to look at her, his expression slightly more wary than she’d expected.
“Hi.” He set his beer down and muted the volume. “Congratulations.”
“Thank you.” She limped toward the bed. “My feet hurt, and I’m starving.”
“I got you some food.” He swung his legs over the side of the bed. “Do you want it in here, or shall I set it out on the table?”
“Here’s fine.”
She hobbled into the bathroom, fought her way out of her Spanx and spent a few minutes in the shower getting the makeup off her face. One of Ben’s T-shirts was draped over a chair so she put it on and took the bathrobe off the back of the door.
“Ayla told me what to get for you,” Ben said. “It’s a protein-rich salad with kale and quinoa.”
“Great.” She eyed his plate. “Can I have your fries?”
He stopped and looked at her properly for the first time. “Sure. I’ll heat them up for you.”
“Can I also have one of your beers?”
“Seeing as you’re the big winner tonight, help yourself.” He picked up his plate. “I’ll be right back.”
She climbed onto the bed, took the lid off the nutritionally correct salad, and just stared at it. The appetizing smell of hot fries preceded Ben’s reentrance into the room.
“Something wrong with your food?” Ben asked.
“I want a hamburger with double fries and ice cream with brownies and fudge sauce.”
He nodded, picked up the phone, and was connected directly to the hotel’s premium chef.
“It’ll be here in fifteen minutes.” Ben handed her the fries and a beer. “Start with this.”
“Thanks.” She drank the whole bottle and he immediately gave her another. She also ate the fries and almost purred as the fatty, salty carbs hit her empty stomach.
He put his arm around her shoulders and continued watching baseball even though the volume was off. She was so tired of talking that the lack of noise was wonderful, and the weight of his arm so comforting that she wanted to stay there forever.
The food was delivered, and Ben went to deal with the waitstaff. He returned with the tray and a grin on his face.
“The guy says this is on the hotel to celebrate your win.”
“Nice.”
He brought the food around, and she set the tray on the bed between them. “Help yourself.”
“I’m pretty stuffed,” he admitted. “But I’ll have some of the brownie when you get to it.”
Silver bit into the burger, aware that the mayo might be running down her chin, and not caring at all.
“Not as good as our beef,” she commented thickly, and finished the first half in three more bites.
“What is?” He handed her a napkin. “I suppose what with you winning and everything, you’ll have to put off coming home for a while.”
Despite his deliberately casual tone, she wasn’t fooled. She should’ve known that if she left him alone, he’d get worried and work out all the worst-case scenarios.
“Why would you think that?” She wiped her chin and drank more beer. “There’s this thing called a phone, you know. I can talk to people. And, let’s be honest here. There might be a lot of people wanting to talk to me right now, so being elusive and hard to get hold of can only enhance my value.”
She’d had a pointed discussion about this very thing earlier with her agent, and managed to convince him that her way was the best way. By the end of the night, he’d reluctantly concluded she might be right.
“Unless you want to stay here, Ben.” She hid a smile. “I mean I’m totally okay about going back by myself and leaving you here.”
He went quiet long enough for her to finish her burger, fries, and her second beer. She handed him a spoon.
“Help yourself to the brownie.”
“I don’t want to stay here without you.” He met her gaze. “You know that.”
“I’m just making sure. I mean, you are getting pretty popular in your own right. You should have seen the fashion bloggers oohing and aahing about how you looked in a tux.” She paused just to check if she had one hundred percent of his attention. “With your face and hot bod, you could get into acting.”
He removed the tray that was between them and gently took away her spoon.
“What?” Silver fluttered her eyelashes at him. “What did I say?”
“You’re”—he framed her face with his hands—“a complete pain in the ass.” He hesitated. “Look, if you need to stay here, I understand, okay? I’ll—”
“I don’t want to stay. I want to go home, decompress, and consider my options.”
He eased back a little and picked up her left hand. “Would one of those options you’re considering be marrying me?”
Silver gulped in some air. “Really?”
“Yeah, really. My dad doesn’t like us living in sin.”
“Your dad can take a hike,” she said severely. “I’ve seen what he gets up to with your mother! A woman who divorced him twenty years ago.”
“But you will think about it?” Ben asked, his gaze never leaving her face.
“I don’t need to think about it,” Silver said loftily. “I’m saying yes right now.” She pointed a finger at him. “So don’t think you can get out of it.”
He lunged for her, wrapped her in his arms, and kissed her until she forgot her tiredness and even her own name.
“I love you so much, Silver, and I’m so damned proud of you,” he murmured against her lips.
“And I love you, too,” she replied, and struggled to sit up.
“What?’ he asked, his shirt now deliciously rumpled, and the worried look banished from his face, hopefully forever.
She reclaimed her spoon. “I’ve got a brownie to eat, a wedding to plan, and then I’m going to go home and sleep for a week.”
His slow smile made her heart turn over in the best way. He picked up his own spoon and dug into the melting ice cream.
“I’m not going to argue with any of that.”
Ruth’s Frosted Animal Cookies for Ben
4 oz. softened butter (1 stick)
8 oz. self-rising flour
1 tsp. vanilla extract
4 oz. sugar
1 large egg, beaten
1 Tbsp. milk
Frosting
4 oz. sifted powdered sugar
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
food coloring (various)
Preheat oven to 375° F/190° C.
In a medium-size bowl, rub butter into flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add vanilla, sugar, beaten egg, and milk and mix to form a fairly stiff dough. Roll out thinly and cut into animal shapes using cutters. Place shapes on cookie tray, then bake in oven for 10–15 minutes until golden brown. Remove tray, and let cool completely.
To make the icing, put powdered sugar in a bowl and add enough lemon juice to create a spreading consistency. Split between bowls and color accordingly. Use the back of a teaspoon to spread the frosting, or pipe it on if preferred.