26. Ben
26
Ben
T ime flies when you’re having fun, and as much as I want time to slow down, the rest of the week’s dates rush by at an alarming speed.
One night, I ordered Carlisle’s favorite dishes from all her favorite restaurants, and we feasted while enjoying an early evening picnic in the backyard as the sun set.
The next morning, a pickleball pro from the country club came over to teach us how to play the sport on my tennis courts. It’s harder than it looks. I assumed it would be easier than tennis since the court is half the size, but I assumed incorrectly. Carlisle trounced me.
Another evening, we made homemade pasta and sang karaoke in the living room. Carlisle is gifted in many ways; however, singing is not one of them, but she made up for her lack of talent with sheer enthusiasm. I laughed until I cried listening to her rendition of Taylor Swift’s Wildest Dreams .
But goddamn, if Carlisle isn’t my wildest dream come true.
Earlier today, my private chef came to the house and taught us a couple of Spanish tapas recipes. We drank sangria and learned how to prepare octopus salad, Spanish tortilla with garlic aioli, ham croquettes, and paella. Carlisle loved experimenting in the kitchen and learning more about Spanish cuisine. And I loved watching her in her element.
When it’s just us, holed up together in my house, our relationship feels amazing, and it’s easy to forget that I’m about to leave on a whirlwind, worldwide press tour. Unfortunately, it’s not as easy to forget that I’m fake dating my famous co-star, so when I sense that Carlisle is worried or upset, I build her up and show her how much she means to me.
Through it all, I feel myself falling more and more for Carlisle. I only hope she feels as strongly for me as I do for her. I think she does.
Tonight, we’re parked on the couch playfully arguing about which movie to watch. I put my foot down. I can only take so many romantic comedies in one week, and I’ve officially hit my threshold.
“Babe, we’re watching an action movie tonight.” I shoot her my most earnest, endearing smile, imploring her with my puppy dog eyes to agree with me.
Her mouth quirks from side to side, and I can tell she’s this close to succumbing to my charms and relenting, so I go in for the kill shot. Sliding off the couch, I kneel in front of her and bury my head in her lap. “Please. I can literally feel my testosterone levels dropping with each rom com you make me watch. You don’t want my dick to shrivel up, do you?”
Carlisle throws back her head, laughing at my shameless shenanigans. “You’re so dramatic!”
I jump onto the couch, straddling her, and trapping her body beneath mine as I tickle her sides. “C’mon Carlisle. Say we can watch an action movie.” Shrieking and laughing, she tries unsuccessfully to dislodge me. Grabbing both her wrists with one hand, I hold them up above her head so that I have free-range to tickle her.
“Yes! Yes! Yes!” she squeals breathlessly. "Ben, yes! "
Now that I’ve won the battle, I withdraw my fingers from her stomach so she can catch her breath.
“Damn! When we heard a lady’s voice yelling yes over and over, we weren’t sure what we were walking into.”
I swivel around at the sound of Jordan’s voice to see him and Trevor strolling into the living room. “And yet, you still walked in. What the hell?” I grumble. “Give me back the gate clicker, Jordan. You’ve lost house privileges. You cannot just waltz into my fucking house whenever you like.”
“Agree to disagree, shall we? I’m just relieved to see you have a girl here. I assumed you were probably watching porn.” Jordan shoots me a wicked grin as he sits down on the side of the sectional perpendicular to where Carlisle and I sit. I slide off her lap and plop down next to her. “Aren’t you going to introduce us?”
“Carlisle, these douchebags are my two former best friends, Trevor and Jordan,” I motion to them with my hand. “Dumb and Dumber, this is Carlisle, my girlfriend.”
Jordan blanches before clasping his hands together and bowing his head. “Lord, let us pray.”
Mildly alarmed, Carlisle looks at me as if I can somehow read Jordan’s mind. I shrug, confused because I have no fucking clue what’s happening. “Why are you praying?” I ask slowly, almost scared to hear what asinine reason or comment will surely come out of Jordan’s mouth.
Then Jordan looks up with a smirk. “Because hell has obviously frozen over if Benny Boy has found himself a girlfriend!”
I bark out a laugh. “You’re an ass.”
Trevor chuckles and hits Jordan on the arm before turning toward Carlisle. “It’s nice to meet you, Carlisle. Sorry to barge in, but your boyfriend hasn’t been returning our texts. We had to drop in for a welfare check.”
“I just saw you yesterday at our training session,” I reply defensively. I've been seeing Trevor nearly daily to combat all the extra calories I've been consuming.
“Dude, we’re not here for you, douche nozzle. We want to meet Carlisle.”
“Great, you’ve done that, so now you can leave.” I stand to walk them out, hoping they’ll take the hint. There’s plenty of time to spend with my friends later, but right now, all I want to do is spend time with Carlisle and not these fucktwits.
“No can do. Jo said you didn’t have any plans tonight, so we thought we’d bring pizza.” Jordan rubs his hands together hungrily. The guy is six feet tall and built like a rail, but he can pack away the food like a teenager about to hit a growth spurt. “It should be here soon.” Jordan shifts on the couch, placing his left ankle over his right knee and leans against the back cushions, getting comfortable. “Don’t worry, B. Trev picked out some healthy cauliflower crust, no cheese pizza for you.”
I groan, dropping back onto my seat on the couch. “Let me guess. You used my credit card.”
“Totes,” he smirks. Glancing in Carlisle’s direction, Jordan offers her a cocky smile, “When you get bored of this loser, you can come hang out with me.”
I feel my right eye narrow as jealousy rears its ugly head. Since Carlisle and I are confined to the privacy of my house, I haven’t encountered a situation where I could become jealous. Although I know Jordan’s kidding, I can’t stand the idea of him, or any other guy, hitting on Carlisle .
Trevor laughs and slaps Jordan across the chest. “Stop provoking Ben, man. His eye is doing that weird twitching thing.”
“Boundaries, Jordan, boundaries. They exist for a reason, dickhead,” I add.
“Yeah, to keep people out, but we’re your inner circle. No need to keep us out, so I’m not giving you back your credit card or your gate opener.” Jordan hops up from the couch and strolls into the kitchen, returning quickly with a six-pack of beer under his arm and a bottle of wine. “I wasn’t sure what you’d like, Carlisle, so I grabbed both.” Placing the beverages on the coffee table, he grabs the remote control and asks, “So, what are we watching, Carlisle?”
Her eyes sparkle as her grin expands in victory. “ Love Actually .”
“No, we’re not, babe!” I bellow with faux outrage. Pointing at Carlisle, I insist, “I won fair and square. You can’t renege. C’mon, babe.”
“Don’t be a prick. Let your girl pick,” Trevor chides me.
“Oh, nice rhyme.” Jordan chuckles and lifts his fist to Trevor’s for a fist bump. “Yeah, man. Love Actually is the best Christmas movie. I’m totally down to watch it.”
I roll my eyes because, of course, Jordan loves it. “It’s not even a Christmas movie,” I grouse. I may have thought that I won the battle against Carlisle, but with the three of them teaming up against me, it’s obvious that I’ve lost the war. “If we’re going to watch a Christmas movie that isn’t really a Christmas movie, let’s at least watch Die Hard .”
“Pfft. Those are both Christmas movies. Takes place at Christmastime; ergo, it is a Christmas movie,” Carlisle argues playfully.
“I like Love Actually because of the porn storyline. It’s hot,” Jordan adds unhelpfully. “That actress has good tits. Small, but a perfect handful. ”
Carlisle scrunches up her nose at Jordan and lets out a grunt of outrage. “Jordan, don’t ruin this movie for me!”
Hmmm, based on the look of disgust on Carlisle’s face maybe there’s still a chance I haven’t lost the war yet.
Brushing her forehead with a kiss, I apologize. “Sorry, babe. Jordan has the emotional maturity of a twelve-year-old boy, but we can totally find a different, non-porn movie to watch.”
“Hey, I will not apologize for openly appreciating the beauty of a woman’s body.”
We’re saved by the gate buzzer alerting us that our food delivery has arrived. Jordan and Trevor run down the driveway to meet the driver, which gives me a minute alone with Carlisle. I grimace. “Sorry about them. Trevor’s great, but Jordan is more an acquired taste.”
“It’s okay. I like them. They’re fun. Plus, I like meeting your friends and getting to know your inner circle,” she jokes, a huge smile lighting up her face. Then she whispers playfully, “But we’re totally watching Love Actually tonight.”
Game, set, match.
The following evening, I’m hosting a small Captain Commander party for the cast and crew at my house to let loose and relax before we begin the promotional tour tomorrow. I hired a catering company to make the food and serve drinks because otherwise, I know Carlisle would have cooked everything herself, which she would have loved. I, however, had other ideas of how I wanted to spend our day, and it involved a lot of sex, not a lot of cooking .
I sit on a chaise lounge next to the pool sipping a beer and chatting with Thad, one of my co-stars, while Carlisle is hanging out with Joanna. I like that she and Jo get along so well, but I hate having Carlisle out of arm’s reach. Even as I make small talk with Thad, my attention keeps straying back toward my girlfriend.
My girlfriend who I am pretending is not my girlfriend tonight because of the stupid showmance.
Following my gaze, Thad looks over his shoulder and whistles quietly. “I can see why she has your attention.” Taking a drink from his Mexican martini, he openly gawks at Carlisle. His eyes rove over her body. “She’s fucking hot. I don’t mind sloppy seconds.”
“Thad, watch yourself,” I warn, my face hardening at his comments. “She’s one of my employees.”
He laughs. “Sure, she is.” Holding up his hands in surrender, Thad smirks. “I’m just glad that the rumor going around the studio is true—that you and Willa aren’t together for any other reason than publicity.”
I’m not surprised that our co-stars doubt the legitimacy of my relationship with Willa. They were present during filming, so they know firsthand that we weren’t dating back then despite what the press is saying now. I’m not putting in much effort to pretend to be Willa’s boyfriend tonight, but to cover my own ass, Carlisle and I aren’t acting like we’re together either. It sucks and it’s selfish, but it’s just the way we have to behave right now.
Obviously, I’m not doing a good job of hiding my feelings for her though since Thad has already figured it out.
I can’t wait for this showmance to be over, and it’s barely even begun.
“You know who else is hot? Willa fucking Radford,” Thad replies, leering at Willa over the top of his glass .
Well, shit. I don’t want Thad anywhere near Willa either.
In his mid-twenties, Thad is a hothead and a favorite Hollywood wild child. This is the first film that Thad and I have worked on together, and while he was professional enough on set, his after-hours antics have been well-documented in the press. Lots of drinking, lots of drugs, and even more women. Knowing that Willa is still reeling from her breakup with Baron and questioning her future, I don’t want her to rush into anything with Thad. She’s looking for a boyfriend while he’s only looking to get laid.
“Stay away from Willa, Thad. Don’t go there.”
A look of disdain flashes across his face. He isn't used to being told no. “You can’t have your cake and eat it too, Sutton. Fuck that.”
“Thad,” I thunder, grabbing his arm as he turns to leave. Standing, I hiss in his ear, “Think about it, dipshit. The studio will crucify you if you get tangled up with Willa now and ruin the publicity plan.” I couldn’t give two shits about screwing up the publicity plan, but I don’t want Willa to get caught in Thad’s crosshairs.
He wrenches out of my grip and stalks off like an overgrown man-child who just got his toy taken away.
Of course, he makes a beeline for Willa. That asshole. He’s clearly pulling out his charm for her because Willa throws back her head and laughs loudly at whatever he’s saying. Tossing an arm casually over her shoulder, Thad pulls Willa to the bar for another drink. Knowing my eyes are on them, Thad sneers my way.
Pissed, I crush my empty beer can and toss it into the trash, watching them as they flirt.
Carlisle appears at my side looking uneasy. “Everything okay, Ben? You seem mad.”
The last thing I want to do is upset Carlisle. I scrub a hand over my face and shake off my anger and worry. “Totally fine," I lie. "Just work stress.”