Page 44 of Home to Me

As they swayed together out on the floor, Eric grinned and asked a little shyly if she ever thought about that night up at The Top of the World.

Lauren smiled back and said matter-of-factly, "Of course I do. I could never forget that. It was my first time."

Eric took a step backwards, his eyes widening in shock. "It was what?" he exclaimed.

"You didn't realize that?" Lauren asked. "I thought it would’ve been obvious, in hindsight."

Eric shook his head, moving back towards her and resuming their swaying motion. "No," he said, his voice a little shaky, "I had no idea. I never would’ve done it if I’d known that! At least not without you being my girlfriend."

"Well, yeah, of course I knew that, silly," Lauren replied. "You're too noble for your own good. That's why I didn't tell you before we got started. I was leaving for college the next day and I’d made up my mind that I was not going to start college as a virgin and so...there you were!"

Eric threw his head back and laughed. "I think I should feel used?" he said uncertainly. "But I actually feel sort of honored in a way. And, I mean, hey...if I'm going to get used, there are worse ways, right?"

They both laughed and Eric took the opportunity to lean down and kiss her. Lauren was surprised, but she didn't pull away.

This should be exactly what I want, she told herself. On paper, Eric's perfect for me—he's handsome, he's nice, he’s got a stable job, he lives where I live. This. Should. Be. What. I. Want.

Eric pulled away and looked at her thoughtfully. "That was..." he began, obviously struggling for the right words.

Lauren filled in the silence with, "Nice?"

He chuckled a bit and said, "I was going to say something like kissing a relative...but sure, 'nice' works. Let's go with nice."

Lauren smiled kindly and said, "So I guess we're better off as friends, then."

Eric looked at her happily. "Friends works for me."

Suddenly, Lauren felt her blood run cold. It occurred to her that Ben might already be here and could have seen her and Eric kissing. She quickly looked around to see if she could catch a glimpse of him and did.

He was standing in the corner of the room, attention laser focused on Kelly King as she regaled him with some seemingly scintillating story—but, more importantly, positioned herself with shoulders back and chest out so that he was getting a full view of all of the cleavage her low-cut dress was putting on display.

Lauren shook her head. She should’ve known. She couldn't believe she'd been worried about what he might think about her sharing an innocent kiss with an old friend.

It's fine, she told herself. I don't need to worry about what Ben thinks of me. I don't need to worry about that at all.

But all night, as she danced and talked with Eric, she found that that was all she worried about.

14

Lauren sat in her office, trying as hard as she could to concentrate on getting some work done. It was the first day off from filming that she’d had, and if she didn't get this work done now, who knew when she would have another chance. Things were already getting out of control at her small, one-person real estate agency—and she'd only been doing this job for a week.

The problem was, Lauren didn't like entrusting important things to other people. She did have a receptionist, but it wasn’t that receptionist's job to deal with anything real estate related. She was a nice girl who worked part time answering the phone, filing, and getting coffee for clients while they waited. Certainly not someone Lauren could fully depend on when she was out of the office for long stretches of time.

So it was really important that Lauren use any blocks of time that she had free from filming to her best advantage. Already, she’d received a call from an appraiser letting her know that she’d missed an appointment that they’d set up. It was so unlike Lauren to miss an appointment that the man actually assumed that it was his mistake.

Lauren did feel that she could get past these growing pains in her business—both her real estate business and the television business—and learn to manage them both equally successfully if she could only focus. Focus was the key.

However, focus was the one thing she couldn't seem to maintain. Focus on her work, that is. The issue was that she was highly focused on something besides work—namely Ben.

If she was honest with herself, the truth was she’d been distracted by Ben from pretty much the moment she met him. That distraction had taken the form of annoyance, but now she realized that the irritation she felt had merely been her brain's way of directing her attention towards Ben.

Now, the distraction was taking a new and more painful turn. All she could think about was the ball last night, how handsome he looked, how sexy, how she wished that she had been there with him—and how he completely ignored her the entire night.

Questions plagued her.

Where did he go after the ball?

Did he leave with Kelly?

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