AllFreeNovel
Share Us
His phone buzzes, and he jerks his head toward the door. “We’ll play it by ear.” We head back out into the lobby and he stops me. He heads straight for a display of umbrellas at the entrance of the gift shop and picks out one with my favorite painting on it. “There. For mygirlfriend.”
“It’s touristy,” I say, but I can’t resist the smile tugging at mylips.
His eyes dance. “How can having your favorite thing to look at betouristy?”
He’s right. The more I look at it, the more I likeit.
"You can be really sweet when no one's looking,” Iaccuse.
He cocks his head as he pays for the umbrella. "That's the time to do it. Can’t have women indiscriminately falling in love withme.”
I shake my head as we wind our way through the lobby toward the doors. “So in private, we’re still us, but inpublic…”
“We’ll act,” he concludes. “Convincingly enough they believe we’re falling for eachother.”
He follows me out to the front steps. The rain has lightened, but I raise the umbrella anyway, stretching to hold it over both ourheads.
His baby blue shirt pulls across his toned chest and shoulders and makes his hair and eyes look evendarker.
“PDA,” I say before he turns to go. “We should agree on how much. A lot of couples keep their exchanges to their private lives. We don’t need to touch at all. In fact," I rush on, thinking of how his closeness affects me, "it’s probably better that wedon’t.”
I expect him to concede the point, on account of him needing to leave, if nothingelse.
He surprises me by stilling, shoving his hands in his pockets and looking at me with new appraisal. “Is there a reason you don’t want me to touchyou?”
Because I might likeit.
“It’s nothingpersonal.”
It’s totallypersonal.
With an unreadable look, Ben catches my umbrella and uses it to tug me towardhim.
We’re near enough I can smell his aftershave. I’m trapped in that warm gaze that’s familiar and unsettling atonce.
“What are you doing?” Imanage.
“Making astatement.”
I’m not sure where to look, his dark eyes or his mouth. “I don’t hearanything."
“But theydo.”
I glance past him, searching the crowds of people, some with umbrellas and some ignoring the lightsprinkling.
He doesn't move an inch. “The way we’re standing, every person in New York knows you’remine.”
The words send a shiver through me. The way his voice drops, the confidence he must exude over a boardroom table, it's all here and it’s mesmerizing. I’m seeing Ben as they must see him—confident, undeniable, in control of himself and everything bold or foolish enough to enter hisorbit.
I lift my chin. “Well, if it’s that easy, you don’t even needme.”
His answer is a smirk that’s hot asfuck.
“That’s where you’re wrong.” His breath is light on my face. "You’re my girl, which means even if you don’t touch me—especiallyif you don’t touch me—you’d act as if you want my mouth on you. As if it’s all you can think about. As if all you really want is to get me alone so I’ll do that thing with my tongue that makes youscream.”
From the expression on his face, I swear he knows how he’s affectingme.
Someone bumps me from behind and I stumble forward a step, my free hand landing on Ben’s strong chest to keep myself fromfalling.
