Chapter 9 #3
“I was never one of those people who dreamed about their wedding day, but for some reason, I love helping other people plan theirs. I also love working for myself—being the big boss, I mean. Not having to answer to someone over me or some kind of board I’m forced to listen to.
Just people I need to work with to make sure a plan all comes together.
” Excitement widened his eyes. He bounced a little as he readjusted to speak with his hands.
“You know, I've spent the last few years building contacts and relationships in Nashville that will help me eventually start my own event planning business. One where I have the freedom to do what I love and with the people who love it too. I know it’s not the most important job in the world but—” He shrugged.
“It’s just what I love doing. Which is what I’ve been telling my brother and best friend who don’t understand why I’ve been killing myself over a billion little odd jobs for the last few years.
Why I don’t do something easier or more stable.
But, honestly, I can’t imagine giving up on this. ”
He shrugged.
“Sometimes people just don't understand when you love something they don't, especially when it's a job. So, I get it.”
Jack had gone slightly slack-jawed.
He had known a bit about Benny’s job back in Nashville, but he’d never heard the love attached to it.
He’d also never had someone other than Dixon say they understood his choice. Not when it came to Cassidy’s.
Benny, however, didn’t stop there.
He circled back to the origin of the conversation.
“Okay, so this picture—that you had hanging next to your bed, I might point out—doesn't mean anything. Fine. I'd still like to know what drew you to her in the first place? Other than her ability to smile next to an explosion.”
Jack shook himself out of his temporary appreciation stupor.
“You mean what drew your boy Marcus to her.”
Benny didn't meet his gaze. He also didn’t say no.
Jack thought he deserved another honest answer.
“She's pointed. Focused. She knows what she wants and goes at it hard until it’s hers.”
“She’s confident.”
“Yeah, but with super strength attached. Confidence like that can be confusing. Sometimes when someone wants something so badly, you end up wanting it too by default. You get invested in it.”
“And I'm sure the long legs and killer ass didn’t hurt either,” Benny quipped. A grin pulled up the corner of his lips.
They might have been talking about Felicity’s good points, but Jack couldn’t help but see the contrast.
Dark eyes, dark hair, and always seemingly on the verge of blushing, Benny De Carlo wasn't anything like Felicity. Looks or otherwise.
He was quiet, but only in a crowd.
He was curious, even at risk to his comfort zone.
He didn’t like attention, yet had published his innermost secret thoughts for the entire internet to read.
He was his own contradiction.
He was also sexy, if Jack was being honest.
Benny wasn't like Felicity or Calvin or anyone he'd dated before.
He was a weird little mystery of fun, awkwardness, and surprises. A guy who blushed faster than he breathed and who, despite him dragging Jack into chores, gossip, and southern small talk, Jack couldn’t bring himself to dislike.
And they were only on Day Three.
Jack wondered when they needed to kiss again just as he realized Benny was waiting for a response to the legs and ass comment.
He gave a short laugh.
“A good ass and pair of legs never hurt.”
“Well, that just depends how you use them.”
Benny the Wildcard De Carlo threw a wink out just as his grin became a smirk.
Jack forgot about anyone’s legs, picturing Benny’s ass from before, and nearly said as much when Benny got off the bed with a start.
“Speaking of pictures, though, we need to post one of us together tonight at the bar,” he said.
“I figured I’d post one of the Cassidy’s Special drinks with some kind of moody filter and clever caption about my boyfriend being a bartender.
We’ll see how that works for patrons coming in.
At the very least it should pull some of the more gossipy residents of Arbor Bay to us. ”
Jack was acutely aware of their height difference.
And the tightening in his jeans.
“We need to talk about better ways to fake things between us when Carol and them come around too,” he said, trying to ignore his body’s reaction. “A picture or two might not cut it.”
His gaze dropped to Benny’s lips.
Benny, however, waved the concern off.
Maybe he wasn’t as observant has Jack had originally thought.
“Plan or no plan, some things I’m going to panic through and we won’t be able to stop me from blurting something out or doing something I probably shouldn’t,” he said. “You’re just going to have to try and help manage me when and if that happens. Everything else we can talk about after Roger’s.”
Benny was clearly done discussing strategy.
He walked into the other room, already yapping about what favor Never Uses His Boat Roger might ask in return from them.
Which was good.
If he had looked back, for even a second, Benny would have seen that his fake boyfriend?
Well, he was having a very real reaction.