“Oh, this is Eve. She’s my—”
“Friend,” I cut in, giving her a saccharine smile.
I had to say that word before he did. How could I have been so stupid? Why had I believed for even a second that things could be different?
She nodded politely, eyes flitting to Ben. “It was nice to meet you, Eve. Ben, I’ll give you a call so we can set something up.”
My cheeks burned, and I considered the perks of bolting out of the restaurant and never speaking to Ben again. But then I wouldn’t be able to slap the stupid cocky grin off his face.
“Sure,” he said. “Whenever you have time.”
She gave his arm a squeeze and returned to the table with her friends.
Oh, yeah. I definitely wanted to slap him.
Some Grade A Bullshit
Ben
“Eve!Waitup!It’snot what you think.”
I had a perfectly good explanation for the woman at the restaurant. Eve hadn’t given me a chance to explain when she’d stormed out. If her legs had been longer, she might have been able to beat me back to her apartment. But since I had almost a whole foot on her, my legs ate up the distance between us in a few strides.
I heard her snort ahead of me before she swung back around to skewer me with a glare. “Don’t try to explain yourself to me right now. I don’t need to hear it.”
I kept my mouth shut on the short walk back to Eve’s, trying to give her space to work through whatever was going on in her head.But not saying anything was killing me.As far as I was concerned, she was mine, and I was hers. I’d admitted it to myself and my best friends, but I hadn’t toldheryet. And now she thought I was sneaking around behind her back.
Discussions about my emotions weren’t really my thing, but it was way past time to own up to my feelings. I didn’t want her to doubt that I cared. She never needed to worry about another woman.Shewas the one I wanted. It was her. It would always be her. She’d absolutely ruined me for anyone else.
Eve tossed her keys on the table by the door and stomped off into the kitchen.
“Hold up, princess.” I followed at her heels as cupboards banged shut. She was going to pull one of those things off the hinges if she didn’t calm down.
She turned towards me, crossing her arms in front of her, her brows pulled down in frustration. “What?” she snipped.
I stated the obvious. “You’re mad.”
I eyed her warily. She was a time bomb about to explode. And this time, I wasn’t happy about getting her all riled, wasn’t eager to see her anger directed in my direction.
“I’m not mad.”
If looks could kill, I’d be a dead man.
“Sure,” I said doubtfully. “Look, I called Rachel because—.”
“I don’t need your explanations, Ben. You don’t owe me anything.”
I growled low in my throat, my patience wavering.Why did I have to fall for such a fucking hardheaded woman?
“Fine, then maybe we should talk about this,” I said, motioning between us. “About what we’re doing. What this is.”
“I know what this is,” she said, waving me off. “It’s just sex.”
I reared back like she’d slapped me.
Was that really all this was to her?
I studied her, noting the flush on her skin and the stubborn set of her jaw, anger flaring behind her eyes.
