Page 52 of A Stealthy Situation

Benny:

Where are you going to take me after you’ve erotically kidnapped me?

Me:

I guess you’ll have to wait and see.

An idea is already forming though. I’m going to take someone who’s quickly becoming my favorite person to my favorite spot on campus. We’ll wait until it’s dark. No one else will be around. We’ll take in the view and walk through the greenhouse, and I’ll talk plants to him and let him snark about them to me, and, fuck. Maybe I’ll kiss him again. Whether I do or I don’t, I can’t shake how obsessive I’m getting about not knowing whether he wants that again.

After classes, I get through as much work as I can, and then I cook us up some food. Sure, most people would view a packed dinner and a scenic location as a date, but can it really be a date when one person isn’t aware it is?

Do I even want to date him?

He said no to wanting a boyfriend, but what about a hookup buddy? A fling?

The one and only person I was interested in dating since starting college began this way too. Kind of. We slept together a few times, hung out a lot, and then I took her on a date and asked her to be my girlfriend. It crashed and burned not long after.

I definitely didn’t have the kind of nerves I do now. Whether that was because we were already sleeping together or because this is all Benny, I don’t know.

It’s almost dark by the time I leave.

Benny’s been messaging me progressively more the later it gets, and I haven’t responded to any of them. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s in bed by the time I show up, but he said he wanted to be surprised. Maybe I should climb in through his bedroom window and kidnap him that way? I laugh to myself as I picture his gorgeous face jumping with shock at a random guy climbing into his room.

But if the window’s locked, my surprise will be gone, and I’ll look like an idiot instead.

Front door, it is.

Sunset is well and truly over by the time I arrive, and while I would have loved to catch that with him, I also know campus is still reasonably full at that time, and I want to make sure there’s no one in the greenhouse when we arrive.

I jog up to the front door and knock, holding my breath, crossing my fingers that Benny’s been waiting and that he’s the one to open the door.

He isn’t, but it’s one of his brothers I recognize, and before I can ask where he is, Benny shows up behind him.

I smile wide, and then, without saying a word, I scoop down and sling Benny over my shoulder.

“What the fuck?” He almost knocks my hat off in his struggle, but I hold it down with one hand and pin him to me with the other. Benny’s heavier than I thought he’d be, and I regret carrying him after only a few steps, but I’m going to make it to the goddamn truck if it’s the last thing I bloody do.

“You all right, Dalton?” his brother asks, not making a move to help.

Benny sighs. “Just being kidnapped. Nothing to see here. Carry on.”

The front door closes behind us, and I laugh as I set him down by the passenger door, holding off the temptation to rub my shoulder.

“Lucky you weren’t actually being kidnapped,” I say, tucking his hair back behind his ear.

He startles at the touch, suspicious glare aimed my way. “I doubt a kidnapper would have the guts to walk up and take me like that. Besides, I’m strong enough to save myself.”

“Sure you are.” I resist patting him on the head because I want to tease him, not have my hand bitten off. Instead, I tug open the door for him and slap him on the ass. “Get in.”

His glare softens. “Couldn’t have written back to a single text? Nothing to let me know you were still coming?”

I close the door behind him and round the truck to get in. “I told you I was coming, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, but people usually say shit they don’t mean.”

While I think his cynicism is cute most of the time, I also wonder if there’s something deeper that’s made him so jaded.

“Talking about anyone in particular?”

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