Her head on his shoulder felt right. “We can lose ourselves so easily.”
“We don’t have to be in Scotland for a few days. Can we take some time to be you and me for a while? Can I feel out how we’re going to be together while we’re also working together?”
Her head came up. “We should have a contract. I think that would help. I can have someone from The Hideout send over a basic contract and we can add what we need.”
He liked a contract. “Is it going to include me getting to spank your ass red when you scare the fuck out of me?”
Those lips curled up ever so slightly, and he knew he had her. “Don’t threaten me with a good time.” She sobered a bit. “You should understand that withdrawing affection is a hard limit for me. If you go cold again and won’t talk to me, I will walk.”
“You didn’t ask me to talk,” he pointed out.
“Would you have?”
In this he would be completely honest with her. “Yes. If I had known how much it hurt you, I would have put aside my discomfortand talked to you. I’ve been alone for a long time. I don’t turn to other people when I’m down because I can’t trust them.”
“No, you can trust some of us. You haven’t figured out how to manage the trauma you’ve been through. Right now the only way you handle it is to put up walls, but that’s not a life, Ben.”
She wasn’t wrong, but he also wasn’t sure what else to do except take these days with her. “Did you sleep on the plane?”
“Not well.”
At least he could start proving to her that he could take care of her. He leaned over and scooped her up. “Then we’re taking a nap and we’ll talk about a contract and tonight we’re going to play. And you’re coming with me. I’m not going to be able to think straight if you’re not with me on this. I’m sure as fuck not letting you run around Scotland with that massive ass.”
She didn’t fight him at all, simply let him carry her. “He’s a childhood friend.”
“I don’t care,” he admitted as he managed to get the door open. “I don’t like the way he looks at you. You might see him as a childhood friend, but he doesn’t feel the same.”
She yawned and rubbed her head against his shoulder. “He does, but he’s got a whole lot of baggage. It’s all right. I shall keep him at arm’s length. Ben, I don’t want anyone else. I haven’t for a long time, which is why I’m asking you not to break my heart.”
The soft voice, the vulnerability…it threatened to break his heart, and he’d been so sure he no longer had one. He’d been certain he’d cut it out and tossed it away. She was supposed to be safe. She was beautiful and sexy and had this part of herself he could never accept, so it was okay to lust after her.
This woman in his arms had none of her twin’s darkness. She was all light, a light that could lead him somewhere.
She could break him utterly.
“I won’t.” He hoped it wasn’t a lie.
He hoped when whatever happened, she wouldn’t break his, too.
* * * *
“Okay, I now understand.” Sosa looked around the luxurious dressing room. She was wearing a T-shirt that was too big for her and sweatsKenzie was certain were tied a couple of times around her too-thin waist. “You are all the perverts. I expect this of the Bratz doll, but you seem so normal.”
She was going to have to deal with Sosa.
Was there any way Ben was right? Was Sosa a snake Huisman had sent in to bite them all? Or a victim who thought she might have found a way out?
She could be the woman who brought Sosa to justice. Or take on a big sister role. Either way the comments were going to stop.
She kind of wished Kala hadn’t destroyed all those spray bottles.
Kenzie walked into the dressing room and saw who she was talking to.
Both whos. Sophy Weston and Vivian McKay were seated at adjoining mirrors. Sophy was straightening her dark hair while Vivi finished polishing her makeup.
“I am happy with my pervertedness,” Sophy explained with a shrug. “Though it does make my dad go green, and he doesn’t do that often. You would think the amount of times the poor man’s had to clean me up that he wouldn’t care anymore, but no, the sight of me in a corset makes him ill.”
“I’m not a pervert.” Vivi put a hand to her chest like she was delicate and might faint. “I’m hurt.”
