Page 146 of Just for the Plot

“Why not?”

“Because it’s about you.”

“So, it’s open communication. That’s how it should be between us, open. No secrets, no boundaries, nothing held back.”

“I don’t know what that’s like,” she says softly.

“Would you be willing to try with me?”

“I shouldn’t be trying anything with you.” She shifts her head, growing even closer.

“And yet, you are, aren’t you?”

“I don’t know,” she says. “I’m so confused, Bennett. Torn. And I should leave right now. I should go, but I don’t want to. I want to stay here, with you and just…just forget about everything else.”

“Then let’s forget. Let’s forget together.” I rub her back, wanting to soothe this nagging ache she’s living with, that I’ve brought on her.

She wraps her arm around me and plasters her body against mine, and that’s how we spend the night.

Together.

Forgetting the rest of the world.

CHAPTER 26

BOWER

Bennett’s alarm sounds off, startlingme awake from where I’m comfortably sleeping on his chest.

“Shit,” he grumbles as he picks up his phone and turns off the alarm. “Fuck, I’m sorry. Early plane this morning.”

“It’s fine,” I mumble into his chest as his hand rubs up and down my side. “I get it.” I slowly lift, the ache of staying in the same position all night hitting me in the back.

“You can stay,” he says, tugging on my hand.

“No, I should get back to my place, take a shower, and get started with my day.”

“Bower, it’s five thirty.”

“It’s fine.” I slide out of bed and look around the bedroom, unsure what I’m trying to find. I didn’t bring anything here with me besides my phone and keys, so I pick them up from the nightstand and turn to leave just as Bennett comes right up to me.

“Bower, please don’t pull away.”

I look up at him, into those sultry eyes, and feel the pull toward him that I’ve felt the last few weeks. The one that I was attempting to mask as friendship but have realized is not friendship at all.

It’s lust.

Yearning.

The need for so much more from him.

Wetting my lips, I say, “Even if I tried, I know I couldn’t pull away. I’m drawn to you.”

A sense of relief seems to wash through him as he tugs me into a hug and kisses the top of my head.

“We’ll work through this,” he says. “Promise, okay? Just trust me.”

I nod, even though I feel so unsure.