Page 65 of Dearest Protector

I’d just never seen the rest of them for any period of time.

Or maybe I just didn’t care because I knew the real Ben Blackwood, and the rich, powerful billionaire that he had to portray at times was merely a façade.

Oh, I knew he could play that game, but I’d never really seen him in action when he had to play the part of a badass business tycoon.

“Eat,” Ben grumbled as he dropped his own plate in front of him and sat down beside me.

Okay, so maybe his bossinesswasreal, but it was far from intimidating.

Not to me.

Underneath his gruff attitude was a guy who had an amazing heart.

As I began to eat, it made me a little sad when I realized that probably very few people could see the man that I saw every time he walked into the room.

Then again, women already fell over all over him because of his wealth and his hotness.

Did they really need other reasons to pursue him?

Ben sent me a shit-eating grin that nearly made my heart stop as he saw me tear into my food because I was starving.

Nope.Nobody needed to see the same Ben I saw and adored.

Especially not the females who wanted nothing from Ben except his money, his gorgeous body, and his handsome face.

They could all just suck it.

They’d had their chance and they’d blown it.

I was always going to appreciate every asset Ben had, and I’d keep those more endearing qualities of his all to myself.

Chapter 16

Ben

“I’ve been thinking a lot about what happened right after my accident lately,” Ariel shared as we sat in the loungers on the patio after all of our company had gone. “I’ve told you before that I don’t remember what happened right after I was hit by that taxi, but I dream about it. Maybe I blocked it all out, but I wish I knew what really happened.”

My body tensed, and I threw back a large swallow of the whiskey I’d been sipping slowly just a few minutes ago.

I didn’t really want to pursue this subject, but I couldn’t just cut her off, either. Not when it was something she probably needed to talk about.

“Why now?” I asked carefully. “And what’s the dream about?”

Ariel set her empty wine glass on the side table as she replied, “Someone was there right after the accident. He helped me, but I don’t even know his name, and I have no idea if what I’m dreaming is even remotely based in reality. For a long time, I didn’t even want to recall what happened, but I have to admit that I’m curious. It’s a time period that’s totally blank for me. I guess it’s starting to bother me now that I’m not afraid to think about it anymore. Counseling has really taken away a lot of the anxiety I had about the accident.”

“What’s the last thing you remember?” I asked, my concern outweighing my apprehension.

“I was standing at a light, waiting for it to change so that I could walk across a busy street safely. I was happy and flying high because I’d done my first performance as a principal dancer. I was on my way to some boring but necessary afterparty that I had to attend because the gentleman hosting the event was a big supporter of the ballet. All I really wanted to do was go home and soak my aching feet, and I was late, which I hated. After that…I don’t know what happened. I was in an induced coma for several days in the ICU after my initial surgeries. The next thing I remember is days after the accident, after they started waking me up again in the ICU. I have a huge hole in my memories. The only data I can fill in is whatever the police could tell me way after the fact, which is really kind of vague.”

That wasn’t at all surprising because she’d sustained so many injuries.

Maybe she was better offnotremembering any of it.

“Who was there when you finally woke up?” I asked curiously.

“By that time, Katie was there. She’d heard about it on social media,” she said slowly, like she had to force her memory to catch up the information. “And my dance partner, Erik, the guy who played the prince in Swan Lake. He was the only dancer I was close to at the time, but he could rarely stay long, and he didn’t drop by that often. The Swan Lake show had to go on without me. He was busy practicing and performing with my understudy, which I completely understood.”

Fuck!I hated thinking about how Ariel must have felt about that back then.

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