Page 18 of Home to Me

As the three of them moved forward, clearly headed for Lauren's car, they caught sight of Ben and the cameras across the street. The woman's face lit up while Lauren's did the opposite.

Lauren's tight expression lasted only an instant; replaced with a countenance of benign professionalism the moment the woman started talking with her. One would have to work very hard to be able to tell that Lauren's placid exterior was completely false, but Ben knew. He had seen that expression enough times by now. It was the same cool, rehearsed, professional smile she wore pretty much any time he was around.

Ben smiled to himself. He couldn't make himself care that she didn't light up with genuine happiness whenever he was around. Rather, just like a mischievous elementary schoolboy who’d just pulled the pigtails of a pretty classmate on whom he had a crush, he was just happy every time she noticed him at all.

Lauren and the couple started to make their way across the street towards him, and he smiled broadly, raising his hand in greeting.

As they reached him, Lauren said with a warmth that would be difficult to tell was false, “Ben. So nice to see you again. I would like to introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Carter. They're big fans of Home Sweet Home.”

Ben glowed from within. This was his element. Fans. He could charm the socks off of them. And maybe, he mused, this would even be a chance for him to ingratiate himself with Lauren. After all, if he could make her look good in front of her clients, then she would have to be a little grateful, right?

Ben shook hands with the couple, wearing his highest wattage smile, chatting with them as if he were the one who was lucky to be meeting them rather than the other way around. That was the key to charming fans; always turn the tables, always make them feel like they are the ones who are the most important part of the interaction.

Ben was very appreciative for the position he was in, and fans were the ones who put him there. He was more than happy to take time with them. Their support of the show was what kept him employed.

The Carters then asked, almost shyly, if he wouldn’t mind taking a picture with them. Again, just like that mischievous schoolboy, Ben felt a little thrill of perverse glee at the hard glint of annoyance he saw spark in Lauren's eyes when they made this request.

Ben stood in between Mr. and Mrs. Carter, an arm slung companionably over the shoulders of each of them, smiling widely as Lauren snapped the picture and held the camera out so they could survey the results, with which they were quite pleased.

Then, just to stir things up, Ben decided to kick the situation up a notch and make things memorable. He smiled and said, “Lauren, would you like to take a picture with me?”

Lauren gave her best imitation of a gracious smile and, with faux warmth, said, “No, thank you, Ben. That’s so generous but I wouldn't want to take any more of your time.”

“Oh stop. I don’t mind,” he dismissed cheerfully, gesturing expansively for her to come stand next to him. “It’ll take two seconds.”

Her calm exterior was not ruffled—it never was—but in her eyes, he could see that she was quickly growing livid. God, he just couldn't help it. He found her so cute when she got mad.

“Here,” he said, pulling his smartphone from his back pocket. “We can even take it with my phone.” Ben tapped a few buttons on the screen of his phone, bringing up the camera application. He handed the phone to Mr. Carter, saying, “Do you mind, sir? Just press this button here.”

“Oh no, not at all,” boomed Mr. Carter gregariously. “Happy to, happy to. That’s so nice of you Mr. Stevens, isn’t it Lauren?”

Lauren smiled tightly. “Oh yes. So nice,” she agreed.

Lauren crossed to him in two steps and turned to face the couple, standing next to Ben. As Mr. Carter held the phone up in front of him, his face crinkling in concentration, Ben slid his hand intimately around Lauren's waist and leaned his mouth down close to her ear, inhaling the intoxicating scent of her. Then he whispered intensely, just low enough so that Mr. and Mrs. Carter couldn’t hear him, “Damn, you smell good enough to eat.”

He heard the phone's camera click as it took the photo at the exact instant that Lauren pulled away and turned a shocked expression towards him.

Stepping quickly back over to her clients, Lauren didn’t respond to his remark. Mr. Carter handed the phone back to him and Ben glanced down at it, looking at the photo. Yup, just as he suspected, he was looking down at her with a wide grin spread across his face and she was looking up at him in shock.

He chuckled, “It's perfect,” and then winked at Lauren.

Her only response was her trademark tight smile.

Ben nodded at her and said, “I'll e-mail you a copy of this, Lauren.”

Lauren said with a warm tone in her voice for the benefit of her clients, “I'll look forward to that. Thank you.”

Ben knew how much it must be costing her to maintain that calm and pleasant tone. As he watched them climb into her Mercedes and zoom off, he shook his head.

Damn. What was it about that woman that made it so much fun to get her goat?

He stopped short, realizing that he could’ve actually cut off that sentence right in the middle and it would have been an equally valid question.

Just plain...damn, what was it about this woman?

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After two weeks of walking around town constantly on edge, wondering if she was going to have a run-in with Ben—a fear that was not unfounded, as she had had several extremely uncomfortable encounters with him—Lauren couldn’t have been happier that production was at an end and the entire crew, including their infuriating host, was getting ready to pack up and leave town.

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