Chapter 10 Benson
Benson
Benson
It had been much too long since Benson dated someone who made him excited to get off work and simply…
chat. Of course, he greatly liked the other activities, too, but he and Eden could not always be in the same room together.
Sometimes, what he had to look forward to was texting while he ate dinner alone in his apartment or talking on the phone while he lounged in the bath.
More than once, that bathtime chat turned into something hot enough for a shower.
But they met up over the next couple of weeks, too.
Over the course of three more in-person dates, they went out for dinner and drinks, took in a stage play from the community theater, and spent an evening holed up in homebody Benson’s place, where he relived some of his greatest memories of having someone to cuddle on his couch before they went into his bedroom to revel in each other for hours.
As much as he loved sex – let alone with Eden, who was seemingly built for his body – he loved the chats and the silent cuddling just as much.
He loved warming a bath for her and cooking her breakfast at nine the following morning on a sleepy Sunday.
And he loved taking her to restaurants that had long been out of her price range, but she had always wanted to try.
Getting to know about Eden Hailstone, a woman from Northern California, was as rewarding as making her scream his name as he made love to her for the umpteenth time.
Benson wanted to know everything about her, from what her family was like, how college treated her, and what kind of business she would open if money weren’t an object.
For while she had gone to a competitor for her financial advice, that didn’t stop Benson from giving her off-the-record advice based on what he knew about her.
She’s good with money. To a fault. Young and na?ve about investments, but willing to learn.
She was a dream client for his firm, but their relationship meant it could never be on the books.
Because, yes, it was hard to hide that they were dating from his business partners.
Oliver Perkins and Desmond Lark were both older than Benson, but that didn’t stop them from being intrigued by the beautiful young brunette gracing their lobby while she waited for her boyfriend to get off the clock.
Desmond teased him while Oliver warned him not to get in over his head with a young “thing” like Eden.
He assured the latter that he wasn’t looking to get hitched in Atlantic City anytime soon.
Although marriage was always on the mind of a man who liked the idea of settling down with someone. He had always been that kind of man.
He had to be careful, though. No, he had no intention of eloping anytime in the next couple of years, let alone with a woman twenty years his junior, but he wanted to know how serious he and Eden might get before he got his hopes up.
For one thing, how set was she on having more children?
Because Benson was not interested in raising more kids.
(As it turned out, Eden was on the fence, leaning toward no.) Where did she see herself living in about fifteen years, when Benson might retire and leave the city?
Might even leave the country at this rate.
But there were other compatibility issues to consider.
For one thing, he was very aware of the other man she dated.
Eden made it clear that she didn’t expect monogamy from either of them for now, but Benson was only interested in her.
His kinks and being too tired to court jealousy meant he didn’t think much about his girlfriend being out with another man a couple of times a week – and, indeed, he had a feeling that the one time she turned him down for a last-minute date was because she was out with the other guy – but there would come a time when he’d want to close their circuit.
At first, Benson considered waiting for her to lose interest in the other guy. But if that moment didn’t come…
“He wants to meet you,” she said on his couch one night.
Benson glanced away from the late-night show playing on his TV.
It was a sleepy Friday night, with him changed into his pajamas while Eden had stripped down to her long-sleeved shirt and leggings.
That late, there was an unspoken implication that she’d be staying the night and they’d go out and do something the next day. Then she dropped that bomb.
“Who?”
She pursed her lips. The hand that had been on his chest curled into a tentative fist. “The other man I’ve been seeing. You know, from…”
She let her voice trail off, because he damn well knew by now that it was the other man from La Mariposa.
After the two of them finished discussing “the odds” of such a thing, Benson started thinking about his ex-wife’s psychic and his daughter’s penchant for “manifesting,” and other forms of making impossible things come true.
Besides, it was one thing for them to roleplay about the other guy in the bedroom, where Benson was completely in charge, and Eden was all his for a weekend. It was another to actively discuss the other guy.
“He wants to meet.” Benson spoke of it as a plain fact.
“Yes. He’s really into the idea. You two… are not that unalike.”
Benson turned down the volume on the TV. “For what? A threesome?”
She blushed – and it took a lot to make her blush now. “I don’t know. He’s younger than you, and a lot more blasé about these things. He likes the stories I tell him about you, that’s for sure. Maybe he’s got a crush on you?”
Eden was joking, but Benson wasn’t laughing. “What are you telling him?”
Now her cheeks were cherry red. “Just the truth. If he asks me if I’ve been out with you, I tell him yes. If he asks if we’ve had sex, I say yes. I mean, I’m not telling him personal info about you… I haven’t even told you two each other’s names…”
“You don’t tell me much about him.”
She uncomfortably settled against him, legs crossed next to his knee, and a hand uselessly in her lap. “He’s a lot easier to talk to about these things. He’s just a more casual guy than you, Ben. With you… I love being with you, Ben, but our dynamic is a lot more… structured.”
“Because I’m so much older than you?”
“I guess. That and you’re just a lot more intense.”
“In a good way, I hope. I mean, I’m not even trying.”
“That’s what I mean. It comes so naturally to you.”
“Yet I’m the one who likes to stay at home, has an adult daughter, and dreams of retirement on an isolated beach.”
“Like I said. Intense.”
“If you say so, angel.”
Benson wouldn’t outright say no to meeting the other guy who had an all-access pass to Eden.
After all, everything about the situation settled well with him, all the way down to watching his beloved girlfriend getting her back blown out by a younger stud while she begged him to join in.
I hate thinking about my ex right now, but… Sydney would have never.
“I’ll think about it,” he told her.
“Are you upset?” Her hand curled atop his shoulder. “That I’m seeing someone else.”
He sighed, reassuring her with his arm curled around her. “No. You were upfront with me from the beginning. I knew what I was getting into.”
“I promise I’m careful, Ben.”
“Be careful with your heart, too, angel.”
“Don’t tell me you’re saying that because it’s what you would say to your daughter…”
They went back to watching TV for thirty more minutes. When it was over, Benson turned it off but didn’t get up to go to bed. Nor did he pull Eden into a kiss, as much as he wanted to.
Something burned inside of her. He could sense it.
“Can I ask you something?” she spat so suddenly that he almost jumped out of his skin. “Something personal. Really personal.”
He slightly winced. “If not now, then never, right?”
Eden nodded. “Why did your marriage end?”
That’s it? That’s what she wants to ask? “Because we weren’t compatible. It’s why most marriages end.”
“Surely, there was an inciting incident.”
Another sigh threatened Benson’s evening. “Sydney and I got married too young. We were still getting to know each other, and I was still getting to know myself. Had she not gotten pregnant with our daughter, I doubt we would have lasted another year or two.”
“Did she… did you two…?”
“Eden,” he said. “Don’t be shy. Just say what you’re thinking.”
She inhaled deeply, as if she drew all the confidence she needed just from that. “Did you two share that kink?”
“No.”
“I see…”
Great. Time to have this awkward discussion with his new girlfriend. How much could he divulge without going too far? How much could he reveal about himself, especially that one thing that drove a wedge between himself and more than one love?
“I learned a lot about myself while we were married,” he said.
“To her credit, my ex-wife tried. She tried to understand my attraction to sharing her with other men, but in the end, it just wasn’t for her.
Even when I thought she was having a good time, she later told me that she wasn’t.
It made us both feel guilty. Add on other issues we were having, and it was clear that we just weren’t meant for each other.
Despite us both trying to make it work for our daughter.
Honestly, that was probably the only reason she went along with my fantasies. ”
“Didn’t she have any of her own?”
“My ex-wife is very… vanilla. It’s not that she doesn’t have an imagination in the bedroom.
She just doesn’t care about doing anything beyond the fundamentals.
” I’m guessing. For all Benson knew, Sydney had turned into a certified freak as soon as they were divorced.
None of my business now. “I was the one bringing up most of the ideas, and I think she felt compelled to make them happen because she was afraid of displeasing me. Instead, it just showed the rift between us. That and when I…”
He stopped, hoping that Eden wouldn’t notice him faltering.
“What?”