Page 28 of If Only In Our Dreams

The truth was, I hadn’t told Ben what hadreallyhappened before I’d visited him at his office.

Figured he didn’t need to know that I’d seen black spots. That the world had swum and swum. That my knees had buckled while I was admiring what was left of Matilda’s aged Halloween decor, and I’d woken up covered in dust with a plastic skull staring at me.

I’d picked myself right up off the ground as quickly as I could before someone could see—I had no doubt the rumor mill would eat that shit up here. Maybe for different reasons than the paparazzi would back home, but still. Last thing I wanted was to bepitiedwhile I was here. I wanted this to be the best Christmas ever.

Neededit to be the best Christmas ever.

Unlike any Christmas I’d ever had before.

Besides, my doctor had told me that getting away from the stress of my life in the city would more than likely help. Which made sense. Stress-induced insomnia was apparently a thing? And his theory made sense.

Except…I’d been here three days now, andstill…couldn’t fucking sleep.

Unless I was in Ben’s personal space, that was.

Sure…smacking Ben’s ass was a detour from my “Best Christmas Ever” plan, but it was a good one—good enough I figured I might even add it to my official itinerary. “Robin’s Perfect Christmas To-Do List” had officially gotten one item longer. Besides, I was still whole-heartedly on the path to the nice-list, despite my dalliance with those thick-ass glutes. Andthiswas still working toward my goal.

I definitely wasn’t trying to distract myself from my feelings. Nope. Totally not. Nooope.

Thwack,I slammed the bone into Ben’s ass again.

Just to see what he’d do.

Because he’d threatened me. And I kinda wanted him to follow through.

Maybe he’d get up and chase me around or something. I dunno. Grab the bone back and smack my ass till it was red? That sounded fun too.

But he…didn’t.

Instead, he made good on his promise—and did something I definitely didn’t like.

Heignoredme.

“Ben,” I tried after a solid minute of silence and four more booty smacks. “Ben.”Smack, smack. “Ben.”Goddammit. Goddammit. Fuck. How did he already know me so well?It didn’t make sense. He was a fucking stranger. I hated this. “Ben?” I tried again.

This time I did not smack his ass.

This felt mean.

I hated it.

The bone fell to the ground with a hollow thump and I shivered, the cold feeling colder all of a sudden.

“Are you going to behave now?” Ben asked, finally breaking the silence. I knew realistically it hadn’t beenthatlong. Maybetwo minutes at most. But my skin felt like it was crawling, and my chest felt too tight, and my hands were shaking.

Sick and unhappy, I nodded, curling my arms tightly around myself. I didn’t look down at Ben, figuring it didn’t matter if he saw my nod or not.

This wasn’t fun anymore.

“Oh,” Ben’s voice flooded with warmth, low and rumbling and soft. “I’msosorry.”

I couldn’t look at him.

Or I’d probably do something stupid like cry.

I was too tired for this shit.

“Robin,” Ben rose from his spot on the ground with a quiet groan. He stretched his back out, grimacing as I peeked at him through my lashes. “Come here.” He didn’t even brush the dirt off his knees as he held a hand out to me.

---