Chapter 18
Benson
Despite his judgment telling him otherwise, Benson agreed to meet Liam at the restaurant fifteen minutes early so they could determine what was on – and off – the table once Eden arrived.
There shouldn’t be any hard feelings between them.
They should know what they were willing to bargain and what was a hard boundary.
And let’s just keep it casual. Benson had come straight from work, but had thrown his fellow partners into a tizzy when he wore a scarlet turtleneck beneath his jacket, no tie.
Sharon asked to take my temperature. When Desmond Lark asked about it, Benson barked at him that the dry cleaners were holding his suits hostage. Nobody believed him.
I want to show Eden that I can be just as laid back as this guy. Liam, ironically enough, wore a collared shirt as if he were trying to emulate Benson.
“You always looked good in red,” Liam said when he realized what they had done.
“Don’t.”
“Just saying. I can’t pull it off as well. I’ve got a really pale undertone, and reds and pinks wash me out. It’s the Irish in me. Bunch of gingers in my extended family.”
“I said don’t.”
Their lead-up to Eden’s arrival did not go much better.
“I mean, we could go full custody split,” the man joked, as he always did. “Swap her every other weekend. I get Tuesdays and Thursdays, you get Mondays and Wednesdays…”
“I’m sure she’ll love being treated like my daughter when she was in school.”
“Would you ease up a bit, man?”
Benson, who had already ordered himself a beer and a round of appetizers to settle his stomach, sighed the moment the waiter entered with their drinks.
“I’d say I’m sorry, but I’m not. Well, that’s not true.
” He thanked the waiter before he left. “I’m sorry for doing this to Eden.
When I thought the other guy was someone I had never met… ”
Liam filled in the blanks when Benson’s voice trailed off.
“I know what you mean. Even though there were many times I thought about you while with her. And not just because of the similarities.” He leaned in, bridging the gap between them at the circular table.
“I thought about you that night. You know the one. Went back to my room and almost called you. Had the phone in my hand and everything.”
“Don’t.”
Benson said that one more softly, his gaze cast away, and his cheeks coated in blush he hated to feel in front of Liam.
“We need to tell her.”
“Not tonight.”
“Let’s see how it goes. You might be in a better mood later.”
“What do you think is happening later?”
“Well, it’s been a week. I fully intend on taking my girlfriend somewhere for a good time.” Liam was still a little too close for comfort. “With or without you, amigo.”
Benson was about to bite Liam’s nose when the host showed Eden to the room. She was five minutes early, but not a moment too soon.
He managed to keep it together for most of the dinner.
He even laughed at one of Liam’s stupid jokes about a lobster and a blind fisherman.
It helped that Eden was so mellow and giggly that Benson wondered if she had an edible before leaving her apartment.
I wouldn’t mind one right now. Best he could do was a second beer.
But it didn’t help that she showed up wearing a sexy sweaterdress, her breasts on full display despite being covered up.
Her dark hair was loose around her shoulders, framing her beautiful face, including those pink, pursed lips she wrapped around her straw and the vegetable pakoras she asked to order when she sat down and perused the menu.
Every time she bit her lip while concentrating, she played with the part in her hair, moving it this way and that…
She’s so gorgeous. Benson clasped his hand around his glass for lack of anywhere else to put his sexual energy.
Of course, Liam kept glancing at him as if he knew.
Keeping it together wasn’t easy. Benson wanted Eden for himself.
Before, a stranger was fine. He could fuck Benson’s girlfriend all he wanted for the time being.
Doesn’t bother me as long as I know about it.
But going steady was in his future. He wanted to lock Eden down and be her one and only.
She can rely on me for anything… Including rent and food.
Let her lease run out before they broach her moving in with him.
She’ll never have to work. Just like with Sydney.
Benson’s partners didn’t work unless they wanted to.
Part of being so successful was sharing that with his loved ones.
Because he loved her. He knew that beyond doubt when Liam said something self-deprecating – the bastard – and Eden leaned over to reassure him with a touch to his arm and laughter on her lips.
Don’t touch him. Touch me. Don’t laugh at his jokes. Laugh at mine. His aren’t even any good. Benson had heard them all a hundred times before… including the god-awful lobster and blind fisherman one. Absolutely killed Drew with that one. Damn the man.
Yet he also couldn’t stop thinking about how much they would absolutely rock her world. Much like they had once rocked the worlds of other women who couldn’t get enough of what they could do together in the bedroom.
While Eden told a story from her childhood, Benson glanced at Liam, who happened to look back at him. They quickly looked away again, as if they had the same idea.
No. It’s a terrible idea. They had a falling out for a reason, and it had everything to do with love and sex.
We just don’t work out like that.
“So…” Eden waited until they had their entrees before asking the big question that must have been burning her tongue. “Tell me everything, boys. What number woman am I in your long list of baddies you’ve tag-teamed?”
Liam choked on his first bite of rice; Benson almost dropped his beer.
Well, wasn’t one of the reasons he loved her so much was because she just came out and said what she was thinking?
Hadn’t he always wanted a woman who would be honest and forthright with him?
Who would tell him no when he needed to hear it, and who would say FUCK YEAH to some of his crazy sex club schemes?
Benson glanced at Liam. You’re not a woman. Because he did, in fact, check both of those boxes.
Liam was about to answer, but Benson jumped in. You don’t get to be the honest one here all the time.
“Four women.” He held up the appropriate number of fingers. “We both dated the same woman four times.”
“He means four different women.”
Eden nodded, her eyes wide in delight. “Interesting. And by dated, you mean…?”
“We were throuples, you might say.” Liam mixed his food as if this were a regular conversation with a regular girlfriend.
Meanwhile, Benson’s heart dropped into his stomach.
God, I hate that word. “Simultaneously dating the same woman, but like, going out on group dates and all that entails. Sharing some domestic life.” He cleared his throat, not that it made him sound more confident. “Supposedly being happy,” he muttered.
“Wow.” Eden sat back in her chair, both hands in her lap, as her food remained untouched on her plate.
“Lots of threesomes, I’m assuming.” One finger appeared over the edge of the table.
It first pointed at Liam… then at Benson.
“Because I know both of your naughtiest fantasies, and they line up very well, you pervs.”
Benson had no appetite. In fact, he was pretty sure his stomach had evacuated the premises and had scuttled out of the room.
Liam buried his face in his hands. “We should tell her,” he said just loudly enough for Benson to hear.
“No.”
“No, what?” Eden asked.
Benson lightly kicked Liam under the table. I swear to God…
“So, you guys have seen each other naked, right?”
Liam got in before Benson could tell him anything. “Yup. I know all about his stupid mole on his ass.”
“Fuck off!” Benson said.
Eden giggled again, shaking her head. “These girlfriends of yours… what would they have said was the best part of dating you two? The money and attention? Or the…?”
“The sex,” they both said at the same time.
“Uh-huh.”
“We met on La Mariposa,” Liam said. “Which you know,” he reminded Benson. “We hit it off because, in that kind of place, you feel much more comfortable being open about what you like. Men can feel a lot more comfortable discussing what they want in domestic life.”
“Including with other men.”
“Especially with other men,” Liam agreed. “Half of my best guy friends come from the resort. This last visit was probably the first time I didn’t meet anyone new. I mean… not counting you…”
Benson had a few questions of his own for Liam, but there was no chance – and no confidence – to bring it up.
How did we never run into each other? Just because we stayed in different accommodations?
Benson preferred working out and eating by himself, but Liam could still have been at the pool at the same time.
It was a damn small island! It had already been wiped clean once by a strong hurricane!
How the hell didn’t I know he was there?
Let alone fucking the same woman as him!
Sheesh. They really had the same taste in women…
“So, you boys came back to the mainland and decided to date women together? I’m sorry. Just trying to piece this crazy story together so I know what’s going on.”
“Long story short,” Benson grunted, his turtleneck choking him, “we started with only the sex with women being our main thing. We went to clubs together and offered ourselves as packaged deals. That was how we met our first co-girlfriend.”
“Anna,” Liam supplemented.
“Yes. Anna. We dated her for a couple of months before she decided to move on for a job opportunity on another continent.”
“Great time before that, though.”
Benson glared at him.
“What? It was. She had a tongue from God.”
“Then there was Chloe. We dated her for a few months.”
“Exactly how long did you guys do this together?”