Page 70 of Boss Me

Maybe Dr. Pradhi had been right for all those years.

What I felt about Ben was different. I didn’t know all his secrets. I’d known him for only six months. Yet when I was with him, I felt whole.

I called the catering department and asked them to double the size of the floral arrangement.

Back at the bungalow, I showered and spent extra time getting the wave in my hair just right. Ben fixated on my hair. He loved touching it. I’d never been nervous about my appearance before, certainly not on the island where everyone accepted me. But tonight, everything had to be perfect. For Ben.

When he walked into the living room, I sprang up from where I’d been sitting on the couch, an untouched glass of sparkling water on the coffee table in front of me. I consumed him with my eyes. He looked like he did in the office, with a gray-check button-down shirt and dark-rinse jeans looser than the ones he’d worn to the club. His feet were bare, and his hair was still damp from his shower.

I inhaled the honey of his lip balm and the warm scent of freshly ironed cotton. He’d primped for me, too.

“Hungry?” I kissed him, just a nervous press of my lips to his.

“Famished. I didn’t think I’d sleep that long.” He gripped my hand to hold me where I was and returned my kiss, longer and with a slide of his tongue that made my toes curl into the rug.

When we broke apart, I leaned my forehead on his. I hoped I’d done enough to ensure we had dinners on the beach together for a long time. That I could have his kisses every night.

“Dinner’s ready. Al fresco.” I led him by the hand through the patio and out the back gate that led directly onto the beach. My feet sank into the warm sand, and I paused to roll up my pants legs.

Ben did the same, and when he straightened, he spotted the table. Or what he could see of it beneath the enormous arrangement of tropical flowers. He gasped.

“You like it?” Maybe it was too much. The champagne. The flowers. The waiter standing by a prep table with chafing dishes.

“Are you kidding? A romantic dinner on the beach at sunset? I didn’t think you had it in you, Cooper. I love it.”

My stomach swooped, and I wanted to pump my fist the way I had in high school when I’d aced an exam. But I played it cool and helped him cross the uneven sand to the table and pulled out his chair. I trailed my hand over his shoulders as I walked behind him to the chair beside his, and he shivered.

“You’re not cold, are you?” A light breeze blew from the water.

“No, just…just happy.” He grinned, and something clicked into place inside me. I grasped his hand and lifted it to my lips. I was happy, too.

“Señores, are you ready for the first course?” The waiter stepped up silently behind me.

“Sí, por favor.”

He set our appetizers in front of us. Ben’s eyes widened when he took in the food. “It’s gorgeous. Too pretty to eat.”

My gaze didn’t leave his face. “No, it isn’t.”

Ben’s cheeks went pink. “Why, Mr. Fallon. I believe that was sexual innuendo. Whatever am I going to do with you?”

I could think of a lot of things I’d let him do to me. But we had to talk first. And I wanted him to be in a good mood when we did. I let one side of my mouth kick up. “Dinner first. And then we can talk about what you’ll do with me.”

His eyes sparkled golden in the sunset. He looked over his shoulder at the waiter, who’d busied himself with the contents of the chafing dish. Then I felt a slide of skin along my instep. His feet were sandy, and so were mine, but it made me imagine what our bodies might feel like, sliding against each other. The rough curls on his chest. My stubble scratching his inner thigh. I shivered. “Eat.”

Ben went to work on the appetizer. My stomach was a hard lump, nerves wrapped with lust, so I offered my plate to him when he finished his.

“You aren’t eating?”

I quirked my mouth again. “I’m hungry for something else.”

He raised his eyebrows. “We’re still on the first course.”

“Maybe I’m waiting for dessert.”

He raised his voice. “Señor, I think we’re ready for the main course.”

The waiter removed our appetizer plates and plated the main course. He set one in front of Ben and the other before me.

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