Page 15 of An Indecent Longing

Better not get your hopes up. Probably won’t ever happen.

Her gaze dropped away from his to look at her drink, as if she’d been able to read his mind. Or at least correctly guess that he was thinking about sex. She’d probably never consider the threesome a viable option.

Too bad.

“At my office,” she finally responded. “I’m growing my practice and it’s not easy to do that on your own.”

Waving her toward the huge sectional couch in front of the equally huge television, he waited until she sank into one of the sections before sitting next to her. Just not too close. Probably a good idea to keep a few feet between them.

Which probably wouldn’t matter a damn bit because he still had a hard-on that wouldn’t quit.

“So why aren’t you working at some fancy office with twenty other doctors?”

She blinked, the only outward sign that he’d hit a nerve. Then her back stiffened as if she were about to defend herself.

“I’ve never been much of a team player. I work better on my own.”

Now why didn’t that ring true?

Still, he didn’t press her. Everyone was entitled to their secrets. He had his. Ian had a shit-ton, which, apparently, included this woman.

“What about you?” She turned the tables. “Do you enjoy working with Ian?”

Laughing, he saluted her with his glass of rum and Coke. “I guess ‘enjoy’ is one possible word I could use. You know him. Is that a word you’d use to describe working with Ian?”

A blush colored her cheeks bright red. “I don’t really know him that well.”

“Then why did he send me to watch your back tonight?”

The stunned expression on her face told him more about her feelings for Ian than he would’ve thought possible. Up until now, she’d been able to hide behind that impassive mask. But now…

“I honestly have no idea. Shouldn’t you be able to tell me?”

“Sorry to disappoint, but I don’t have a clue.”

Which was both true and false. He had no idea why Ian had sent Ben to her tonight, but he knew Ian had feelings for her. And Ben was banking on that to make his evolving plan work.

She arched a brow at him, making his smile grow. “Then I guess we’re both in the dark.”

“So how do you know Ian?”

Her gaze skittered away again, though she covered it by waving her empty glass in his direction.

“I seem to be empty.”

With a nod, he stood and headed back to the bar, returning with the bottle. After he’d refilled her glass, he set the bottle on the table in front of her.

“So…how did you meet Ian?”

She drained half of her glass before answering. “At a hospital fund-raiser. I was mingling. He was… Well, I guess he was working. I don’t really know. We talked.” She shrugged. “I may have made an assumption about his interest that proved untrue. And that’s all there is to the story.”

Ben was pretty sure there was so much more to the story, but he didn’t push her. He was good at ferreting out information people didn’t want to be discovered. He just needed to be patient.

“So what were you doing at the hotel tonight?” He veered away from that line of conversation, planning to return to it when the alcohol had loosened her tongue some more.

Her relief couldn’t have been more obvious. “Having dinner with a friend.”

“A male friend?”

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