Page 26 of Home to Me

"Oh…I don't know. That’s not the point—" Lauren started to say dismissively.

Karina interrupted this dismissal, saying, "No, stop. Actually think about it. How did it make you feel?"

Lauren sighed and looked off to the side, trying to remember exactly how she had felt in the moment. She really tried to place herself back in that place and time.

As the realization dawned on her, she started to slowly shake her head and finally brought her hands up to her face, covering it and moaning.

"Oh, my God. I can't believe it. It can't be true." She looked up, stricken. "I actually want to sleep with Ben Stevens!"

Karina started a slow clap. "Give this girl a prize!" she exclaimed, and everyone laughed.

Everyone but Lauren. She still felt nothing but shock.

Amanda looked at Lauren sympathetically and said, "Oh, Lauren. I feel for you, sweetie. It's a terrible position to be in when you're really physically attracted to someone you don't even like on a personal level.”

Lauren nodded, dropping her face back into her hands.

Now that she fully, consciously realized her attraction to Ben, she was seeing all of the little moments, all of the unconscious physical reactions that had happened over the last two weeks that should’ve clued her in to this fairly obvious reality. She didn't know how she could’ve been so blind.

Her personality clash with the man had influenced her perception of him to the point that she didn’t even recognize the basic physiological reactions of attraction.

Lauren sighed, looking up. "Oh, Lord," she said. "What am I gonna do now?"

The girls were silent, waiting, and watching her as the realization truly sunk in.

As if in answer to her question—her phone rang. She looked down at it.

"It's Bernie."

"Better answer it," Karina said.

Lauren swiped her finger across the face of her phone and held it to her ear. "Hello?" she said with trepidation.

"Bubeleh! You got the gig!" came Bernie's ebullient voice. "Did I not tell you that you were perfect?"

"You did. You did tell me," Lauren said, dropping her forehead into her palm.

"You don't sound excited!"

"I'm thrilled," she said flatly—although she couldn't, in actuality, feel much beyond the rolling of her stomach.

8

In the twelve hours since Bernie's call the night before, Lauren had been trying to wrap her mind around the fact that she and Ben would be working together for the next three weeks on pretty much a daily basis...and who knew how much longer after that if the series got picked up. In fact, since the phone call, she’d been doing nothing but trying to get used to the idea—not even sleeping.

However, as she headed to the first production meeting, she felt confident. She knew that no one would be able to see her sleepless night when they looked at her. She was dressed impeccably, as always, every hair in place, makeup subtle and perfect. The picture of professionalism.

She pulled up to Mountain Ridge, where the production team was temporarily renting Justin and Amanda's conference room, and walked in, taking her seat. The director was already there, as were a couple of producers and a PA in front of a laptop, poised to take notes.

About thirty seconds after Lauren took her seat, as she was still saying her hellos and accepting her congratulations, Ben walked in. In contrast to her supremely professional attire, he was decked out in jeans and a sweatshirt.

Lauren did a double take. On one level, she was shocked and appalled that he would come dressed so casually to a professional meeting. In her mind, it reflected poorly not only on him, but on the real estate profession as a whole.

On a completely different level, she couldn't stop thinking about how damn hot he looked in those jeans.

Lauren covered her reaction as quickly as she could and pasted on a smile. She stood and extended her hand cordially, wanting to start things off between them on the correct professional footing, but he smiled broadly and pulled her in for a hug. This caused her to flush—and not only in her cheeks.

They both took their seats as the meeting began.

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