I glare at him as I lean forward, annoyed at my life.
He whispers, “Less rage, more seduction. Have you ever actually dated? I’m beginning to think you lied about your past. Though, maybe an Ebenezer can’t really be sexy if she’s so grumpy that—” I shut him up by lowering my lashes and taking a large, slow bite while maintaining eye contact. I make sure to suck his fingers a little as I pull away. Then I make a show of leaning back, extending my neck and groaning at how good Harper’s cupcakes are.
I open my eyes and see the man across from me frozen, hand still out, mouth hanging open. I relax back into reality. “Ebenezer can be sexy as hell when she wants to be.”
Benedict coughs and shifts in his seat, “Damn it all to hell, she absolutely can. I need an ice bath now. How’m I supposed to walk out of here?”
“Oh, stop,” I look out the window at the photographers and townspeople gawking across the street. Two people I recognize from high school. Jack’s old baseball coach. Another guy whose name I can’t place but I think he owns the main gas station.Classic. They all look away suddenly. I almost chuckle at their audacity. My gaze pans back to my billionaire to see him chugging water, face red. “Will you quit? You’re overselling it. It’s not like you’ve never fed a woman a dessert.”
“Not only that, I probably shouldn’t look so shaken at my own wife eye-fucking my brains out, yet, here we are,” he goes back to chugging. I laugh and he eyes me at the sound, finally putting his drink down. “Don’t do that again. I’ve yet to start my kickboxing.”
I laugh again and again, he beams at me, all smug and handsome.
No, not handsome this time.
I can admit it, this time the beam is smug and hot.
_____
“So, back to Mellman’s?”
“Yup, my lunch break is over,” I answer.
Benedict grunts, “It’s only been an hour and a half.”
“What! I’m only supposed to take an hour!”
He shifts to face me in the back of the car’s plush leather seat. “When will you relax? You’re a Clark now. You can take a whole day for lunch. Take a bloody week for lunch. Ellie would.”
“I’m not Ellie,” I say, suddenly irritated.
“I’m glad for it, she’s somehow both boring and annoying. Where’s the fire, darling? Because billionaire’s wives don’t rush, you know?”
I cock my head, “Maybe, but I care about my team. I…I joined in a time of crisis,” I explain. I start to talk fast, thinking out loud. “The stupid CFO is asking us to fix his mistakes, find missing money, save a whole product line, it’s just an equation I need to solve and I was made to solve problems. Seriously. Anynumbers problem, I can freaking solve it. I just need more time. A couple people might get fired if we don’t figure it all out. So, I’m not going to ditch them,” I sound a little panicked. I feel panicked as I keep talking, “I can help. I can fix it. I know I can.”
“All right, Janelle, all right,” he says, softly putting a hand over mine on the seat.
I pull my hand away, “Don’t call me that.”
“All right.”
“Stop saying all right!” I yell, my eyes burning at his comforting tone.
“All right!” he yells back, smirking.
I smirk too, then stifle it. This is embarrassing.
“Sorry. I’m being intense, I know. Couldn’t solve my brother’s problem…all that. Again, pretty textbook. Misplaced guilt, duty, projecting, and so on.” I explain, but I say it for me. He didn’t need an explanation. He doesn’t seem confused or even concerned that I just came a tiny bit unglued.
“Sure. Just don’t snot all over the leather, please,” he says, handing me a tissue from the sideboard.
I smile, grateful for the comic relief.
We pull up to the office park side of Mellman’s huge factory.
“So, I’ll see you next week for some horrible, adorable fall activity?” I ask as the car stops.
Benedict frowns, “The house closes Friday, so…”
