Page 68 of Just for the Plot

As we walk toward our apartment building, he says, “There is something I want to ask you about.”

“Oh? Is it did I kiss Cougar?”

“No.”

I glance up at him. “Because I didn’t. I want to take things really slow with him because he seems like a bit of a player, at least from what Gabby informed me, and I don’t want to be that girl. If he’s interested, then he’s interested and we will be slow about it.”

He lets out a deep breath and nods. “Yeah, that sounds like a really clever idea. Smart, actually. I’d take it as slow as you can with him.”

I chuckle. “The way you say that almost seems like you don’t want me to be intimate with him at all.”

“Just trying to protect you,” he says as we reach our apartment building and the doorman opens the door for us.

“I appreciate it, but that clearly wasn’t what you were going to ask me.”

He pushes the button for the elevator and it opens right away. I press the button for his level and his level only, figuring there is more for us to talk about, and he doesn’t seem to mind.

“No, that wasn’t what I was going to ask you.”

“Okay, so what is it?”

He tugs on the back of his neck and says, “Well, you mentioned something that one night that you slept in my bed about wanting to do things you can’t do. I can’t really remember the specifics, and then today, with Gretchen, you said something about a book truck but it never happening.”

“Oh.” I nod and look away, feeling slightly embarrassed that I got so excited I let that slip.

“Yeah, ‘oh.’ What were you talking about?”

The doors part when we reach his floor and I follow him to his apartment, where he lets us both in and I head for his couch.

He follows right behind, sitting next to me.

I scooch in close and face him while he turns slightly on the couch to look at me. “So…what were you talking about?”

“You’re going to think it’s stupid.”

He slips a finger under my chin and says, “I’d never think anything you dream or wish about is stupid, unless it’s becoming one of Cougar’s groupies.”

I chuckle. “You’re the one who set me up with him.”

“Yeah, and I might be regretting that now.”

“Oh?” I snuggle into the side of his couch, feeling so much comfort in his place. I haven’t made my apartment feel like home just yet. It’s just a place to sleep, not a place to live. “Why are you regretting setting me up?”

“You could do better.”

“Is that so? With whom?”

He shakes his head. “Stop changing the subject. Tell me what you were talking about.”

Sighing, I say, “It’s just something I’ve been thinking about for a while.Gabby knows all about it and has encouraged me to do it and to move to Almond Bay to see through my plans.”

Bennett rolls his eyes. “Of course she told you to do it in Almond Bay. But how come you told her and not me?”

I shrug. “I don’t know. Sometimes I feel like I bother you. You’re so busy and everything, and even right now, you should probably be going to bed, but here I am, inviting myself into your apartment—”

“I brought you in here, and I’m never too busy for you, Bower.”

I smile softly and press my hand to his. “You’re such a good friend, Bennett.”