“No.” I turned around and came face-to-face with him.
“Well, the clients usually give us a very generous per diem for these kinds of shoots, so if you shared breakfast, lunch and dinner with me and let me buy you drinks every day, you could save all that money and I bet it would be more than you could make at the restaurant.”
“Really?” I asked and immediately wanted to kick myself.Why was I even considering this?“I’ll only go if you take Becks too and some other creatives that have worked on this account for years.”
He started putting his jacket on now. “I was planning on taking more people anyway. The client loves it when we have a million people on these shoots. Makes him feel big and important. Sometimes this job is all about stroking egos.” With his jacket now on the look was complete and he looked hot, so damn hot. He straightened his cuffs and then grabbed the tie. I wanted to look away, but couldn’t. Instead I watched his fingers moving expertly as he did up his tie and tried not to imagine his fingers all over my body again.
“O-o-okay then. I’ll think about it,” I said and turned as quickly as I could. I unlocked the door and was just about to step out when his words froze me to the spot.
“So . . . you want to have a baby with me?”
My heart thumped in my chest and my stomach dropped. I locked the door again quickly and turned around. “I swear, that was a total joke. It was just JJ being idiotic and telling me what a cliché I was because I’d had sex with my boss and we were joking about it and I said it would be more clichéd if you were a prince and I fell pregnant with your secret illegitimate baby and we fell in love and got married and I became a princess of some imaginary country and all that crap from the romance novels he loves to read.”
Ben smiled. “So you want to marry me too now? This is getting more and more interesting by the second.”
“No! I didn’t say that.” My face was suddenly on fire and my forehead felt clammy. “Well, I did say it. But I said it as a joke.”
“Don’t they say many a true word is spoken in jest?”
“Yes. But don’t they also say stuff like the proof is in the pudding and two birds in the bush is like one in the hand or something. Those make no sense.”
Ben laughed. “Beauty, brains and a sense of humor. It’s a deadly combination.” Then Ben’s smile was gone and he was suddenly looking at me very earnestly. “Well, I’m sorry to let you know, but marriage and a baby are definitely off the cards—”
“I know! I know.” I nodded my head furiously. “Of course! I totally know that!”
“Call me mad, but I usually prefer to do that kind of stuffafterthe women has agreed to go on a date with me first.”
“U-u-u- h . . .” My mouth opened to say something, but I had no thoughts. None! I closed my mouth and his eyes drifted down to my lips, stunning me into a silent stupor.
“You are still thinking about it, aren’t you?” he took a step closer. My eyes drifted down to his mouth and stayed there. He had the sexiest mouth, especially when it was all over my body.
I gave the tiniest head nod and then followed that up with a little shake. Nod again. Shake. Nod. Shake. It was as if my subconscious was controlling my head and the internal battle it was waging was coming out.
“That’s okay, Sera. Take your time,” he said as I started inching my way for the door. “But I do expect to see you on the plane when we leave for the shoot though.”
I nodded at this and then launched myself at the door handle.
“Max, by the way,” Ben called out as I was just about to exit, “I’ve always fancied a son called Max.”
29. Dirty and Devilish And Delicious . . .
I could barely think about anything else that night at work . . . Ben, our imaginary son Max, our upcoming royal nuptials, that sexy black suit he’d worn. But when I saw that same black suit enter the restaurant later that night, a flutter of panic gripped me. I watched from the sidelines as he slid into a seat. His table was in my section, he probably knew that already. I walked over to him as calmly and professionally as I could.
“Hi.” I placed the menu down on his table.
“Hi, Sera.” He looked up at me. “I’m not here to eat anything, just to have a celebratory drink with you. The client loved your idea.”
“It wasn’t really my idea,” I quickly said.
“Of course it was. So how about two Vodka Cranberries?” He winked at me.
“I’m working, so I can’t really drink on the job.”
Ben raised an eyebrow and looked around the room. “Please, this hardly seems like the kind of establishment that cares about that shit.”
I stifled a smile. He was right. Having a friendly drink here and there with the patrons was almost a prerequisite. I left him and came back with one Vodka Cranberry.
“So you’re going to leave me to celebrate alone?” he put on a sad puppy dog look.
