CHAPTER 29 BEN
I drain the rest of my Bud. The truth is that even though I say she’ll agree to this with all the confidence in the world, I have no idea if she actually will. I still don’t even know if I want her to…but I do want to be inside her again, and I guess this is one way to gain some access.
“If you don’t want to do it, I can ask Shannon,” Kate says to Kaylee.
Fuck.
Shannon with the crazy eyes? No thanks.
I have enough women just like her in my contact list, and not a single one of them would be a good candidate for this position.
Besides, I heard her say something about going through a divorce.
The last thing I’d want is to take this thing public and for some chick—uh, woman—to be torn apart by the media because she’s suddenly dating a football player while she’s going through a divorce.
Or worse, what if she wants to go back to the husband and then this whole plan fails?
I see cheating scandals and worse with Crazy Eyes.
Hey, that sounds like a country song, too.
I really need Kaylee to step up. There’s nobody else who I could do this with. Nobody else I’d want to do this with. If I’m going to be subjected to taking the same woman to multiple events, at least let it be someone I’m semi-interested in.
Even though the relationship part of it is fake. The benefits won’t be fake, though, and I’ll make damn sure Kaylee never has to fake anything when it comes to naked time.
“She’s a teacher, too, and she’s got the same kind of wholesome look we’re going for,” Ellie says.
I shake my head. “Jack told me what she did and that’s a hard no. I don’t trust her.”
Kate nods. “Fair enough. I don’t, either, for the record, so that’s probably a good choice.” She turns to look at Kaylee, and Ellie and I do, too.
“Look, Kaylee,” I begin, and I use that raspy voice I sometimes use when we’re in the heat of the moment.
It seems to turn her legs to jelly, and her eyes heat over just a little as I look at her.
“Let me list out all the things you stand to gain from this. Number one, a paycheck.” I hold up a finger like Ellie did as she ticked off my reasons earlier.
“Number two, a job that isn’t teaching. Number three, unlimited access to Ben Fuckin’ Olson. ”
She rolls her eyes as the three of us stare her down. “Fine,” she says. She glances at me. “But that paycheck better be fat. I want a bonus for every event I attend. And gorgeous clothes to wear.”
I wiggle my eyebrows. “The benefits will be good, too. Promise.”
She laughs it off like I’m joking, but we both know I’m not.
Ellie claps her hands together in excitement.
Kate grins. “So does this mean you’re moving out?”
Kaylee’s brows crinkle, and I’m sure a look of horror crosses my own face.
“What?” Kaylee and I say at the same time.
“Well, if you want it to look believable, you should probably live together. You have a guest room she can stay in, right, Ben?” Ellie asks.
“Reason number four,” Kate says. “Moving out of your brother’s place. Oh, and Kaylee, you haven’t been to Ben’s place, but it’s pretty minimalist when it comes to furniture so we can just move all that stuff Jack put in storage for your apartment over to his place.”
She has in fact been to my place and she deep throated my cock while she was there just before I fucked her nice and slow in my bed…but I can’t exactly tell Kate or Ellie that, who, by the way, are both talking a mile a minute and my head is buzzing.
Fuck. I need another drink. I make eye contact with the waitress from across the room (who, let’s face it, has been eye fucking me since I walked in this joint), and I hold up my empty glass.
She hurries over with a fresh beer a minute later, and by the time I get to the bottom of it, it’s all been decided by two people who aren’t even part of the center of the action.
Kaylee Dalton is my new girlfriend…and she’s moving in with me in one month.
It gives her time to finish out the school year and figure out what she wants to do going forward, and it gives us time to start being seen in public together so it looks like we’re moving our relationship along at a reasonable rate.
Jesus Christ, what have I gotten myself into?
It was bad enough when I was secretly porking my best friend’s little sister. Now we’re going to be on display for the entire world.
And Jack is going to kill me.
At least it was his wife’s idea. That should help my cause. He of all people must know how convincing she is.
“I’m not telling Jack,” I say as I look at Kate. I glance at Ellie. “Or Luke, for that matter.”
“I’ll take care of Jack,” Kate says. She turns toward Ellie. “You got Luke?” Ellie nods.
Kaylee shakes her head. “A new dynamic duo is in town, folks. Watch your backs.”
I laugh at her nickname for them. She’s not wrong.
“When are you taking me out on our first date?” Kaylee asks me, and it feels like a reference to our conversation back when I told her I couldn’t exactly take her out to dinner.
I bump her shoulder with mine again. “What do you think this is?”
She narrows her eyes across the table at her sisters-in-law. “An ambush?”
I laugh. “Feels like it, doesn’t it?”
“We’ll leave you two lovebirds alone,” Ellie says, and she stands. “I’ll stop at the bar and pick up the tab. Feel free to have another one or two.”
Kate scoots out of the booth next and wiggles her fingers in a little wave. “I have to go tell my husband that his best friend and his little sister are the hottest new couple heating up Vegas.” She glances at Kaylee. “See you at home.”
Once they’re gone, I blow out a breath at the same time Kaylee does, and then our eyes lock.
“You sure you’re okay with this?” I ask.
She shrugs. “What’s the worst that could happen?”
I don’t even want to consider the actual answer to that question.
“At least we won’t have to hide anymore,” she says.
“In public,” I point out. “Do you still want to keep what’s really going on a secret from your family?”
She squints off into the distance for a second like she’s thinking it through, and then she nods.
“Yeah. It’ll only complicate things if they know the truth, and since we’re just keeping this casual, nobody really needs to know.
With knowledge comes expectations, and neither of us needs that pressure. ”
“So let me get this straight. We’re faking in public, we’re fucking behind closed doors, and everyone who knows we’re faking in public will never know that we’re fucking behind closed doors and will forever believe we’re just friends.”
She presses her lips together and nods. “That about sums it up.”
I laugh. “I think I’m gonna need another beer.”
“I might need a whole bottle of vodka.”
“Go with tequila. It’ll get your panties off faster.”
She turns and looks at me with lust in her eyes. “I don’t need tequila to drop my panties for you.”
Fuck. All the blood rushes right to the monster, and I’m tempted to take her right here in this booth. If she wasn’t wearing jeans, I’d have my hand up her skirt in a second here in this private corner booth.
But, alas, she wore jeans.
“We need to lay some ground rules,” I say by way of trying to tame the beast in my pants.
She nods. “Are you going to be seeing anyone else in private for the duration of this arrangement?”
I shake my head. “Too risky given social media. You?”
She shakes her head.
“Sleeping arrangements?” I ask.
“Ellie mentioned a guest room,” she says.
I nod. “A great place to keep your shit while you keep the other side of my bed warm.”
A smile lifts her lips. “You want me in bed beside you?”
I shrug as I feign nonchalance. “Then we can just fall asleep after we fuck.” The truth of the matter is that I can’t stop thinking about her in my bed the night she fell asleep after we boned. She was so soft and sweet and smelled like sunshine, and my bed still smells that way.
I can’t get enough of it.
It’s more dangerous territory I try not to dwell on too much.
“You’re so romantic,” she says, not hiding her sarcasm as she brings her hand to her chest as if she’s swooning over my words.
“You ain’t seen nothin’ yet, baby.” I give her an exaggerated wink before I drain another beer.
She laughs. “So what about Montana?”
My brows dip. “What about it?”
“Will we have to sleep in separate bedrooms there?”
I twist my lips as I think about it. “If we’re keeping it from your family, then probably. But I can put you up in the guest room closest to mine and we can sneak into each other’s room at night.”
“Ooh, I like it. Doesn’t doing this in secret just make it even hotter?”
“Fuck yeah it does,” I say, and she giggles. I lean in and brush her ear with my lips. “You’re my sexy, forbidden little secret.”
She shivers a little as she looks up at me again.
“Well, since you’ve never been to my place before,” I say, referring to what Kate believed when she mentioned that a few minutes ago, “should we head over there now? Ellie drew up a basic contract for us so we both know what to expect, and while we’re there we can look it over and I can give you the grand tour. ”
“Only if you mean the grand tour of your body,” she murmurs.
Fuck yeah that’s what I mean, and it’s times like these I feel like one lucky son of a bitch. I start to move out of the booth, and she grabs my arm.
I turn back to look at her, and her eyes are full of worry. “Just no Nickelback, okay?”
I laugh and hold out a hand to help her out of the booth. She slides her hand into mine, and it feels like the perfect fit. “None tonight, but I can’t make any promises beyond that.”
She laughs. “Deal.”