Page 30 of Just for the Plot

Because maybe I am.

He shows me a set of abs and I have a wonderful time with him, and all of a sudden I’m afraid to be around him?

This is Bennett, for crying out loud.

I walk to “my side” of the bed and slip under the covers, immediately sinking into the softness of them.

“Oh my God, Bennett, this bedding is incredible.” He switches off his nightstand light and turns toward me, the glow of the moon the only thing shining light down upon us.

“I spent far too long picking out the best bedding.”

“Because you never had good bedding growing up?”

“Correct,” he says.

“But look at you now. You have money, a home, a comfortable bed. You have it all.”

“I don’t have it all,” he says, his eyes intent on me. “But I intend to have it all.”

“And what does ‘having it all’ mean to you?”

“The girl I want,” he says. “The life I’ve dreamed of.”

My eyes drift shut for a moment before I open them again. “Does that include kids?”

“Yeah, at least two.”

“Respectable,” I say on a sigh. “I want kids too.”

“How many?”

I shrug and shut my eyes again. “Don’t really care, but I need to make something of myself first.”

“What do you mean by that?” he asks as the booze in my body slowly starts to shut me down for slumber. “Bower?”

“Hmmm?”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know,” I say, and then I move in close to him for warmth andrest my head in the crook of his arm and chest and wrap my leg around his, finding so much comfort in his body.

There.

That’s perfect.

Just what I need.

And when his arm wraps around me, holding me close, I feel myself finally drift off to sleep.

The smell of coffee is the first thing that wakes me up.

The sound of Bennett cursing to high heaven is the second thing.

I sit up, trying to gather my surroundings.

White walls, light gray curtains, matching light gray blankets, and a comfortable-as-hell bed.

I’m in Bennett’s room.