Page 70 of An Indecent Longing

For all her natural reserve—and she had a moat’s worth of it—she was intensely curious. And she didn’t have a lot of experience with men. That was pure intuition on his part, but he was pretty damn sure he was right about that.

For some reason, Ian had snuck under that gate she kept on her feelings. And Ben had managed to shove it up a little higher.

If he and Ian worked together, they might actually manage to get her to open up to them completely.

And Ben wanted that. Wanted her to continue to open up to them. But that could mean slowing his normal pace of seduction. Which, he had to admit, was usually breakneck.

He usually didn’t see a need to take things slow but with Dorrie… Yeah, he was going to have to rethink that.

“What code is that?”

“Not sure exactly what number the actual rule is but when you pick a girl up at her home, you drop her off there again at the end of the night.”

“But you’re not taking me home.”

“True. But I am taking you where you want to go so basically it’s the same thing.”

“Oh.”

She didn’t say anything else as he got them on the road again.

There was still a decent amount of traffic on the streets at one a.m. and it seemed like all the lights were against them. But that didn’t bother him. He wanted to spend more time with her.

His plans for the night had been derailed. Not that he was complaining, but he had a feeling she was going to need some petting if he wanted her to say yes when he asked her out again.

He didn’t think, if he asked her right now, that she’d agree.

“So how long has Blank been with you?”

“Two years.”

“And you need him…why?”

He wondered if she’d answer. The last time he’d touched on this subject she’d shut him down faster than a politician being questioned about his campaign finances.

“My family thinks I need Blank to be safe.”

“And your family are…?”

“Overprotective.”

He thought about letting the subject drop, knew she might shut him down and shut him out completely. But he also knew she was a little more vulnerable right now. And he was enough of a tactician to realize he needed answers and now was the time to get them.

“Is there a reason for that?”

He felt her gaze on him and knew she’d turned to stare at him.

“Why do you want to know?” she finally asked.

“Because you fascinate me and I want to know more about you.”

He shot her a glance and found her shaking her head. “I don’t understand your reasoning.”

“Sometimes there’s no rhyme or reason to chemistry, babe. Sometimes, it just is.”

He heard her take a deep breath.

“And that’s what’s happening between us. Chemistry.” She paused. “And where does that leave Ian?”

---