He took Benji’s hands, trailing his thumb over the ring.
“Maybe hide it until we want to do an official announcement,” Noah said. “We’ll tell her at the end.”
“Got it.” Benji leaned in and pressed their foreheads together. Then the door clicked, and Benji reeled back as if Noah had headbutted him.
“Katee,” Noah said politely. “Good to see you.”
Katee Robson beamed at them. She looked just like she did in the photos Benji had looked up last night: short, shiny hair, perfect smile, a strange air of trustworthiness that he didn’t typically find with people in her line of work.
“Good to see you,” she replied. “And this must be your boyfriend! Lovely to meet you, Benjamin.”
“Benji,” Benji replied. He shook her hand with his ringless hand, thankful that Noah had given him handshaking lessons this morning.
“Benji,” Katee said. “I’ll remember that. Do you want me to refer to you by that in the article?”
Benji nodded and sat down in the chair next to Noah. An assistant had dragged in three chairs and arranged them in a semicircle, a small table laden with lemon water stuffed between them. Noah and Benji on one side, Katee on the other.
A united front,Benji thought. His chair was so close to Noah’s that the arms were touching. The first thing Noah did after sitting down was reach out and take Benji’s hand—a silent reminder of his promise to take over if Benji needed.
“So,” Katee began, clicking on her recording device. “Benji! Tell me about yourself.”
Benji suddenly forgot everything he’d ever done.
“Uhhhhh,” he said. “I’m… Benji. I’m a student. I go to community college. For art. I have a little brother who I take care of. Max. He’s in middle school, and he’s really into robots.”
Benji paused. They had agreed to mention Max; it was kind of impossible not to with all the dad crap that had come up.But he didn’t want the public to know much about him. Max deserved a private life.
“And how did you two meet?”
Benji blew out a breath. Here came the lies.
“I worked at a diner,” Benji said. “I spilled coffee on him. He said I could make it up to him by letting him take me out on a date.”
Katee beamed, turning to Noah. “You were instantly smitten?”
“I was,” Noah said quietly. “He had this way about him. Very honest and straightforward. He doesn’t sugarcoat things. And he has a beautiful heart.”
Benji scoffed, cheeks heating. “Jesus, Noah. We’re thirty seconds in, leave some for the end.”
“I can’t help it,” Noah said. “I’m stupidly in love with you.”
Benji scoffed louder, a ridiculous grin twisting his mouth. He felt like a schoolgirl, and it was made infinitely worse since Katee was right there, probably making mental notes to include a “at this comment, Benji blushed and squirmed like a teenage girl.”
“Wow,” Katee said. “The L-word! That’s wonderful. Benji, I assume it’s mutual?”
“He’s alright,” Benji muttered, chewing on his smile so it would go down. Then he sighed. They hadn’t come here so Benji could lookaloof; they came here so people could see he was a good guy. A good guy who was genuinely in love with Noah and not his money.
“I’m… yeah,” Benji said awkwardly. He dragged in a deep breath and braced himself. “Son of a bitch swept me off my feet. I was suspicious at first, obviously. Like, a guy like this wants to go out with a guy who works at adiner? Fuck off, right?”
He turned to Noah. “Am I allowed to swear?”
“We’ll bleep it,” Katee said.
“They’ll bleep it,” Noah repeated, still rubbing Benji’s hand, keeping the engagement ring hidden.
“Okay. Good.” Benji swallowed hard. This was more difficult than he thought. Talking to Daph about this stuff was hard enough, let alone a reporter who was going to spread his words everywhere.
Katee asked, “Do you still work there? At the diner?”
