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“I would have thought Amber would understand that.”
He looks at me as though I’m crazy. “You’ve been to her folks’ place. You know they’re well off. Amber doesn’t know what it’s like to go without. I do and I’m not real keen on repeating the experience.”
I nod. It’s practical and sound thinking, and I wonder how much he hated the fact his income wasn’t in the same bracket as her parents’ so he could treat her a bit more. I also remember the diamond and gold bracelet he bought her for her birthday last year. How long did he have to save to afford that? Did she stop to think about what he’d gone without to give her something like that?
“Here,” he says, taking out two large bags of potato chips and a bag of Nobby’s nuts. “Man snacks, but they’re all I have to offer.”
“I love nuts,” I tell him.
He smirks and drops a kiss on the tip of my nose. “I love the way you love mine.”
“Where are the bowls?” I ask, desperate to hide my red face.
“That cupboard over there.”
I pull out two large blue ceramic bowls and place them on the bench before ripping one of the chip bags open and emptying the contents into one bowl. I pour the nuts into the second bowl.
“Meal fit for a king,” I tell him.
“Do you want to see what’s on the box?” he asks.
“We could watch a movie. What streaming services do you have?”
“None.”
My jaw nearly hits the floor. “What do you watch?”
He shrugs. “I’m old school. I have a DVD and Blu-ray collection, but I don’t have any movies you’d enjoy.”
“That’s a bit of an assumption, isn’t it?”
“Lainey, you’re a romance writer and I’ve seen the kind of movies you and Cass watch. I think television is a safer option.”
“Hmmph,” I say, walking into the lounge with the bowls in my hand before placing them on the coffee table.
“Where are the movies?” I ask.
“Over there. Feel free to look through them, but I bet you won’t find anything you like.”
“Bet you I will.”
Determined to prove Ben wrong, I walk over to the light brown bookcase that holds his DVDs and Blu-rays and start looking through his small collection.
“Aha!” I declare loudly.
Admittedly, I don’t like a lot of the movies he owns. They’re too gory and violent for me. I remember looking through Lucas’s collection when we first started going out, and even though he liked a lot of the same movies as Ben, I told him I loved violent action movies. Then I had to sit there and watch them all with him. Tonight, I don’t do that. I don’t need to. It won’t win me any points and Ben knows me well enough to see through the lie.
“Kill Bill?” he asks sceptically when I pull out the Blu-ray of my choice.
I love it. It’s pretty bloody, but it still kicks butt. “Told you I’d find something.”
He shakes his head, but he’s smiling. “Pass it to me and I’ll put it on then.”
After he slides the disk into the player, he sits down beside me on the small two-seater couch and lifts his arm, indicating he wants to put his arm around me. With a smile, I move over and lean against him, feeling contentment flutter through me as his arm comes around me.
Don’t get used to this, Lainey. All you have is tonight.
It’s true, which is why I’m going to relax and allow myself to enjoy it fully.
