Page 69 of An Indecent Longing

Stepping between them before Ian managed to say something else to piss her off, Ben leveled a smile at her, one that rarely missed its mark.

To her credit, Dorrie looked at him and barely registered it. But she did suck in a breath and keep quiet.

Then she shook her head, but he didn’t think she knew she’d done it. “I’m sorry. That was… Sure. Ben, if you don’t mind, could you take me back to my office? I really do need to check on Blank.”

“Absolutely. Do you want something to drink before you leave? Ian could—”

“No.” Her abrupt response made Ian’s gaze narrow. “I don’t need a drink. I just—”

Need to leavewere probably about to be the next words out of her mouth, but she shook her head and looked away. “I just really need to check on Blank. I’ll just…wait downstairs.”

Then she slipped out of the room and Ben turned to Ian. They stared at each other for several seconds until Ben was sure she’d gone downstairs.

“What the fuck?”

Ben kept his voice low so Dorrie wouldn’t hear, but he made sure Ian could. When Ian didn’t respond right away, Ben was about to repeat himself until Ian just shook his head.

“Don’t start in on me. Christ, I only asked her if she wanted to spend the night.”

Ben couldn’t help himself. He rolled his eyes. “Jesus, Ian. How are you so fucking clueless about women?”

Ben swore he heard Ian grinding his teeth.

“I’m not.” Ian shoved one hand through his hair. “Usually.”

“So it’s just this one?”

Ian looked like he wanted to strangle Ben. “Take her to the office and offer to wait to take her home.”

“You don’t think I know that?”

“Ben. Just don’t. Not now.”

“You’re right. Not now. But we’re having this conversation when I get back.”

Ian paused for a second before he nodded. “Fine. When you get back. There’s something you’re gonna need to know.”

Fuck, fuck, and fuck.Ian’s expression told Ben whatever it was Ian had to say, he wasn’t going to like it.

“Fine. Just…don’t fucking implode by the time I get back.”

Two minutes later, Ben was dressed and taking the stairs two at a time to get back to Dorrie. He was almost afraid he’d find her out the door and halfway down the street.

Instead, she sat on the very edge of the couch, dressed, purse in hand. She must’ve brushed her hair, but he wanted to tell her he actually loved to see her look like she’d just climbed out of their bed. Which she had.

But Ian had already stuck his foot in his mouth and Ben didn’t want her to withdraw any more. He was beginning to realize Dorrie was going to take a little more work on his part. But damn, if he didn’t think she’d be worth the effort.

“Hey, you ready to go?”

She popped off the couch as if he’d startled her but she nodded quickly. And when he reached for her hand, she took his as he led her back through the house.

“You really don’t have to shuttle me around. I can—”

“You know that’s against the guy code, right?”

Ben had had a few minutes while he was dressing to figure out how to handle this situation, and he’d realized she responded better when you made her think.

Emotions seemed to knock her off kilter. But curiosity…that made her engage.

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