Page 56 of Resisting the Fall

My mouth parted in offense. “We watched it together. It’s the one where the oldest of seven brothers gets married without telling his new bride she’s going to have all those brothers⁠—”

“I guess I vaguely remember. But, if I’m being honest”—Ben’s gaze flicked to me, then dropped to my body so briefly I almost missed it—“I’m guessing my mind was elsewhere that night.”

My cheeks grew hot at his insinuation, which had probably been his intention. “Well, I know what our next weekly activity is going to be. And, lucky for you, I won’t be such a distraction this time.”

“Man, I’m so lucky,” he deadpanned.

Dominic was waiting near his truck when we pulled in front of the old sawmill, and in the light of day, I nearly did a double take to make certain it was him. He’d always been a handsome kid, but Dominic 2.0 was hard to wrap my mind around. This was Dom. The boy that I used to beat at foot races and had once eaten an entire unpeeled banana when I’d dared him to.

Ben stepped out of the truck. “I hope you weren’t waiting long.”

Dominic walked toward us. “Not at all. I just got here.”

As I slid across the seat, my gaze caught on Ben’s phone still on the dash. I couldn’t resist the opportunity and quickly slipped it into my sweatshirt pocket right before Ben lifted a hand toward me. I froze, thinking he’d caught me mid thievery, but realized he was just mindlessly offering to assist me out of the truck.

Not wanting to draw attention to myself, I took hold of his hand and stepped down. “Thanks.”

Dominic gave a nod in my direction. “I didn’t realize you were tagging along today, Maven.”

“I’ve lost the privilege of being left in Ben’s trailer on my own because of a few harmless pranks.”

Dominic’s gaze shifted between us expectantly, but Ben shook his head.

I smiled, far more willing to share than Ben apparently was. “If you notice a delightful smell, it’s Ben.”

Dom was doing his best to resist smiling, but when he couldn’t, he dropped his gaze, allowing his hat to block his amusement from view.

“We’d better go in,” Ben said, retrieving a clipboard full of papers from the compartment on his door before looking back into the cab like he’d forgotten something. Shoot. He must have realized he didn’t have his phone because he climbed back into his truck and reached across to the glove box. The moment he opened it, almost a dozen individually packaged tampons came tumbling out. He picked one up, looking slightly confused before his gaze shifted to me.

I shrugged. “In case of an emergency.”

He glanced around the floor of his truck, now littered with feminine hygiene products. “Twelve emergencies?”

Dom’s muted laughter behind me nearly did me in.

Ben grabbed a pen from the glove box, then quickly gathered the tampons and shoved them back inside.

Apparently, he hadn’t remembered his phone.

The three of us, along with Finn, started across the parking lot.

“What about Finn?” I asked, thinking how I could get myself a few minutes alone with Ben’s phone. “Is he allowed inside?”

Ben shook his head. “He knows to wait by the door.”

I squatted down, petting Finn and concealing my boxy sweatshirt pocket from view. “I’ll stay outside with him.”

Ben eyed me suspiciously.

“What mischief could I possibly get up to? We’re literally in the middle of nowhere.”

Dom glanced between us, then headed inside, clearly disinclined to get in the middle of our negotiations.

“Don’t make me regret this.” Ben pointed at me before also disappearing through the door.

Oh, he was very much going to regret it.

To make sure Ben didn’t glimpse what I was up to, I led Finn to the side of the building and took a seat with my back against the wall. “Let’s see if we can figure out Ben’s password,” I said, pulling the phone out of my pocket. Typing in the code he’d had when we were married, I was hardly surprised when it opened.