Chapter 20 - Ben
BEN
‘You sure you’re up for doing this?’ I sat in front of Sarah.
We were in Love & Lattes, about to start filming another social media video.
The in-house coffee shop had a similar colour scheme as the rest of the library, with pink-and-white-painted wooden tables and light grey chairs which were surprisingly comfortable.
A selection of romance books lined the shelves, and the walls were decorated with framed quotes about love and romance.
The coffee was top-notch, and I admit, I was rather fond of the sweet treats here too.
Maddie, the owner, was very creative. She made cupcakes with mini open books on top with different messages like ‘Romance Rocks’, which obviously were created for the members and not people like me.
I also gave the biscuits with slogans like ‘Book Boyfriends Are the Best’ a wide berth (there were plenty of good men in the real world, so I resented the suggestion that only fictional men were decent). So I generally opted for the red heart-shaped cookies instead.
‘Definitely,’ Sarah said. ‘I’m feeling better today. As soon as I’ve had my coffee and breakfast, I’ll be good to go.’
‘Hi!’ Maddie came over clutching two coffees and a plate of biscuits. ‘Great to see you both. I’m on my own this morning, so I’ll come and chat later once it’s calmer.’ She dashed off back behind the counter.
I looked down at the plate of biscuits on the table and laughed.
Well, these were new.
‘Interesting…’ I said.
‘What is?’ Sarah frowned.
‘I had no idea that you liked to eat cock for breakfast.’ I grinned. I knew I was supposed to be professional, but the joke opportunity was too good to miss and I was confident that Sarah would be fine with it.
She frowned, looked down at the penis-shaped cookies Maddie had arranged on the plate, then burst out laughing.
‘Oh God.’ She winced, burying her face in her hands.
‘First you ruin my innocence by playing me an audiobook clip of a man being sucked off, and now you order a plate of cock cookies for breakfast. Is there a hint I should be picking up on here? I’m getting mixed messages.’ My lips twitched mischievously.
‘Just an unfortunate coincidence.’ She stifled a smile. ‘I’d forgotten Maddie had asked me to try these. She’s just started making them.’
‘Yeah, yeah,’ I said sarcastically. ‘If you want me, Jeffries, all you have to do is ask,’ I teased.
Her gaze dropped to her coffee mug, then she took a large gulp.
‘We should… we should go over the script. Jane said she can film us doing more videos too if it’s quiet in the library later.’
Interesting…
Normally if I’d made a comment about Sarah wanting me, she would’ve had some kind of scathing comeback, like ‘in your dreams, Benjamin Buttface’ or ‘jog on, wanker’, but today, there was nothing.
And she’d swiftly changed the subject.
Hmmm.
Then again, given the hundreds of times she’d said thank you for helping her yesterday, maybe she thought it’d be rude to give me any shit today. I was sure she’d be back to being scowly Sarah by tomorrow, though.
I was just glad to see that she was much better.
After that hilarious audiobook moment, I’d left Sarah in the bath for half an hour, then came back to pass her phone through the door.
I’d tried to slide it across the floor as forcefully as I could, but she said it was still too far from the bath to reach, so had given me permission to come in to hand it to her.
Once she told me she was covered under the bubbles, I’d gone into the bathroom, swearing blind I would look at the phone and nothing else, but then she’d asked me a question and instinctively my head had turned to reply.
And when I saw her, my breath caught in my throat.
Yes, her body was covered by the bubbles and water, but peeking above it were the tops of her shoulders, her neck, and of course her beautiful face. As insane as it sounded, it was one of the sexiest sights I’d ever seen.
Her shoulders glistened and somehow, even though she wasn’t feeling well, her skin looked radiant. And when I watched a bead of water travel from her neck downwards before sliding into the water, I swallowed hard.
Until that moment, I hadn’t even known it was possible to be jealous of a drop of water, but I was. That little droplet had the opportunity to glide down her body. Across her breasts, along her stomach and between her legs and…
That was the point I knew I had to leave the room.
I couldn’t be having those kinds of thoughts about Sarah.
Especially not when she was ill. That wasn’t gentlemanly.
So after putting the phone on the bath’s ledge, I’d told her to call me when she was done and I’d help her out (once she was wrapped in a towel, of course).
But although I wanted to give her a hand, part of me hoped that she’d feel well enough to make her own way out of the bath, because trying to keep my cool when I’d carried her up the stairs to the room had already been a challenge.
So the idea of holding her when she was just in a flimsy towel was straying onto very dangerous ground.
Thankfully, my prayers had been answered when she’d messaged to say that she was out of the bath and had made it back to her room.
I’d gone to check on her later and was relieved to see that she was sat up in bed and had more energy.
Glenda had already offered to make Sarah dinner, so once Sarah had reassured me that there was nothing else she needed, I’d left. She’d probably had enough of me for one day, so I didn’t want to overstay my welcome.
When I’d got back to the house, it was still empty and I felt kind of… I didn’t know how to describe it. Lonely? Bored? It was confusing, though, because when an old friend from London called to ask if I wanted to venture into town and hit a few bars, I didn’t feel like it.
My first thought was that I needed to be close by, in case Sarah needed me, which was pathetic.
She was a colleague. We weren’t even really friends, so the fact that I felt some kind of need to make sure she was okay was ludicrous.
And the second thought was that we had to do the videos today and I didn’t want to let Sarah, Theo or Jess down by turning up to work hungover. So I’d declined the invitation, cooked dinner, then gone to bed and finished the book Sarah had given me.
This one was a better read. Still didn’t blow me away, but it was decent. I was intrigued to know what book I’d get for homework this week.
‘I’ve got meetings with Theo later,’ I said.
‘The only time I can film is this morning.’ I could also do it after work, but given the frequency of the inappropriate thoughts I’d been having about Sarah recently, it was better if we just stuck to filming during working hours and when other people were around.
‘Oh, okay. Sure. No problem. I appreciate your help. I’ll just finish this coffee. I got you one too.’ She handed the mug to me. ‘Maddie told me how you took it. I also got you some biscuits, but I’m not sure if you’d like any…’
‘Thanks for the coffee. I’ll let you have the biscuits. I wouldn’t want to deprive you of your favourite meal.’ I grinned.
‘I…’ She opened her mouth, then closed it again.
‘I’m winding you up, Jeffries,’ I said. ‘And anyway, it’s nothing to be ashamed of.
I’ll have to speak to Maddie about creating some pussy cookies too.
Seems unfair to have only these.’ I pointed to the plate.
‘I’m sure I’m not the only one who enjoys pearl diving.
’ I smiled, wondering if I’d gone too far.
‘Pearl diving, eh?’ She raised an eyebrow. ‘Is that another one of your ancient sayings? I’ll have to look it up.’
‘Be careful. You might see some images that are not safe for work.’
My phone buzzed and I groaned internally. This conversation was just getting interesting.
I pulled my mobile out of my pocket and saw that Theo was calling.
‘Big T,’ I said. ‘What’s up?’
‘Do you have a sec? I wanted to show you the flat. It’s almost ready.’
‘Um, I’m just about to film a social media video with Sarah.’
Sarah started pointing to her coffee and then the biscuits and miming the action of gobbling them all up and choking, which was hilarious if she was trying to imply what I thought she was.
‘Actually, I might have five…’ She held up both palms. ‘I have ten minutes if you think that’ll be enough?’
‘Perfect,’ Theo said.
‘I’ll be right there.’ I hung up. ‘You sure you don’t need me?’ I checked with Sarah again.
‘Nope. I’m going to have my hands and mouth full, so I’ll be fine.’ Her lips twitched.
‘Enjoy,’ I said, wishing not for the first time that it was my cock that would be filling her up and not those biscuits.
And as I walked out of the coffee shop, the realisation hit me like a truck.
I liked Sarah.
More than I should.
Shit.