Page 28 of Wine, Whiskey, & Lipstick 2

“If I don’t want them trailing me, what makes you think I would want them to play ride-along?”

Their earlier banter was replaced with a gruff seriousness, “It’s necessary.” There was no way Ben would allow Dillyn to travel anywhere without the necessary protection.

“I know.” She was resigned to the fact that they did indeed need security. “I’ll take Cat or Palmer’s car.”

Ben released a frustrated breath, “it won’t be forever.”

Somberness was starting to creep into her body.Nope. Please do not allow it.Focus.“That’s not why I called.”

“You mean this isn’t about hooking up?” Ben joked.

Dillyn beamed, “This is a late-morning call, not a late-night one.”

“I’m ready morning, noon, and night.”

“I bet!” She laughed.

“We wouldn’t be talking about hook-ups or booty calls if you didn’t have that early morning meeting.”

Dillyn sucked her lower lip into her mouth as she thought about the tricks Ben had used to make her forget about the nightmares. She had been so close to canceling that meeting.

Her face heated, “I’m my own boss, but I still have a business to run.”

“When it’s your business, you can be late every now and again. If you had listened to me, we would be exhausted from making love and maybe gearing up for another round. Instead, I’m here taking my sexual frustrations out on this bench press.” Ben was only half kidding.

Lucas made a face like he was going to vomit. He stood and mouthed, “I’m out,” before leaving their gym.

Dillyn’s voice went from playful to saucy, “Can I get a raincheck for later tonight?”

“Maybe. I’ll think about it.” Ben knew damn well no thought was needed.

“There has to besomethingI can do to convince you,” Dillyn got out of the car and held up a single finger to her security. “Hold on . . .” She put Ben on hold to speak to one of them. “Hey guys. Sorry, I will need to take another one of the cars. Running inside to grab the keys.”

Dillyn was quick. She ran inside and grabbed the keys to Cat’s car. The Mustang didn’t come out on days like today.

Dillyn came running back out. “Okay. Sorry about that,” she said to Ben.

“Back to me. How do you plan to convince me?”

Dillyn giggled as she got inside the car. “I have my ways.” She pushed the ignition button, and the car started right up without any problems. She put it in drive and pulled off.

No more stalling. It was time to ask the big question. “Um . . . not to change the subject, but I wanted to ask you something.”

“What’s up?”

Here goes nothing.“Well, we’re having a little movie night tonight. I was hoping you would come over and,” Dillyn rushed her words, “bring Selah, Wyatt, and Lucas.”

Ben glanced heavenward. “That’s not exactly what I had in mind.”

Dillyn turned out onto the main road. “C’mon. It’ll be fun.”

“I can think of a million fun things, but that ain’t one of ‘em.” Ben was silent momentarily before he spoke again, “Palmer’s okay with inviting Lucas, or are you going rogue?”

As Dillyn drove down an incline, the car started accelerating, “What exactly do you mean by rogue?”

“Shit. You’re meddling.”

“Listen . . . she’ll be fine once we can get the two of them in the same room for longer than five minutes!”

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