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Jewell smiled and shook her head. "I'm sorry, I didn't know Mama was going to put you to work."
Her mother smiled wider and shrugged her shoulders. "If Benjamin is going to spend the holiday here, he has to work for his meal." She turned away and went back to her pie filling.
Benjamin looked to Jewell. "My meal?"
Jewell squeezed his hand. "I think you were just invited to Thanksgiving dinner."
CHAPTER TWELVE
Jewell nearly choked on her eggs foo yung, and reached for her pinot grigio to wash down the last bite she hadn't quite managed to chew before Dillon finished his story. Dillon and Victoria laughed, and Benjamin chuckled, rubbing his hand across her back. She managed to swallow and waved her hand, trying to say without speaking that she'd live.
Draining the last of the wine, she set the glass down with a thunk. "That was not fair," she scolded. "You could have warned me before I put the food in my mouth."
"What's the fun in that?"
Benjamin picked up the wine bottle and poured more in her glass. He leaned over and kissed her cheek, grinning, and went back to his plate of food. She barely had her breath when Dillon launched into another story. This time she learned to make sure and wait until he'd landed the punch line before she took a bite. This was the fifth time the four of them had shared an evening like this in the last three weeks, and she enjoyed each one more than the last. With each day, she'd watched some of the stiffness, some of the edge around Benjamin crumble until his smiles were easy, and he'd even laughed once or twice. It was a wonderful sound, uninhibited and robust.
And each day, she fell more in love with him.
They finished eating, and Jewell helped Benjamin gather the dishes and takeout containers to take into the kitchen. He scraped out the remaining food into the garbage disposal and tossed the containers while she rinsed the dishes and loaded the dishwasher. As she set the last dish inside the washer, Benjamin stepped behind her and set his hands on her hips. Jewell turned within his hold and wrapped her arms around his neck for a kiss that tasted of pinot grigio and chow mein.
"I need to go," she said, breaking the kiss and leaning back enough so he could see her lips.
He wrapped his arms tighter around her waist and pulled her closer. "Why?"
She smiled because it was an old argument. One they had each time she spent the evening at his townhouse, or he spent the evening at the apartment with her and Ruby. "You know why. We both have work in the morning."
He kissed her again, lingering longer than with the first, but still restrained. Every place they were together provided its own form of forced control. Bulwark in itself was an argument for self-restraint, Ruby was at her apartment, and Victoria and Dillon were almost always at the townhouse. She supposed it all could be seen as a blessing or a curse.
The sound of arguing voices carried from the living room and Jewell glanced past Benjamin in the direction of the fight. Benjamin turned his head and looked over his shoulder, following the line of her sight. "They're fighting again."
Jewell nodded when he looked back at her. "What do they fight over? They love each other so much, it's easy to see."
Benjamin stepped away from her, walking around the center island to the other side. He made a show of being busy as he gathered up the remaining packets of soy sauce and disposable chopsticks. Jewell waited until he pulled out his trash drawer and tossed it in the garbage. He closed the drawer with a solid thud and set his hand on the edge of the counter. She leaned her hip against the same edge and crossed her arms over her body. The voices ratcheted up for a moment, then faded again. Benjamin raised his hands.
"I know Victoria loves Dillon. But, I wonder sometimes if she didn't fall in love with him simply to spite our father."
"I don't think I understand."
"Dillon grew up with Victoria. They played together in the yard. They even studied together when they started school. He was always a part of her life, so it's only natural that they love each other."
"That sounds nice. So, how does loving him spite your father?"
"Dillon's grandfather is our butler."
Jewell hesitated mentally when Benjamin said "butler," comprehending perhaps for the first time that his background and childhood were vastly different than her own in more ways than she first understood. She thought she might know what he implied. He must have seen the comprehension on her face, and nodded, tapping his nose.
"No one is good enough for his daughter, especially not the grandson of a servant," Benjamin clarified.
The front door slammed, sending a reverberation through the house that made Benjamin turn. Victoria paused in the doorway to the kitchen as she passed, looked at them both with tears streaking her cheeks, offered a weak and apologetic smile, and disappeared down the hall toward the stairs. With a sad sigh, Jewell turned to Benjamin and took the step needed to kiss his cheek.
"I'm going to head home. You go talk to your sister. She needs you."
He nodded and walked with her to the hall. Jewell turned right and headed for the door, and Benjamin turned left to follow his sister up the stairs.
* * *
Benjamin stared up at the ceiling, his hands folded behind his head, as he watched the slow rotation of the ceiling fan. The silver light of the setting moon came through his window and created an eerie semi-illuminated glow in the room. A cool autumn breeze caught the drapes of his french doors and they billowed slowly. The crisp bite of the gentle wind brushed across his exposed torso like the soft touch of a woman.
