Page 14 of Planning on Happily Ever After

Ben was already deep into a fantasy where he was the one helping her undress when she sat down once again, crossed her legs on the chair, and picked up her plate. The moan that fell from Holly’s mouth as she ate her meal had Ben adjusting his position on the couch to hide the rapid tenting in his sweats. Between her undressing and the noises she was making, he was getting uncomfortably aroused and his favorite appendage had decided to give her a standing ovation. Throat thick with arousal, he coughed to clear it. At the gruff sound, Holly finally looked up to acknowledge the other two occupants of the room, her eyes landing on Ben and widening to the size of the plate she was holding.

She swallowed the lump of pizza in her mouth and half smiled. “Hello.” Her voice sounded full of insecurity. Undressing and making herself comfortable in her own home was likely a regular occurrence, but she probably wasn’t used to having an audience while she did it.

“Hello, Holly.” Ben’s mouth twitched in amusement, not at her distress, but at how it made him feel connected to her. Holly always seemed so confident in herself and her ability to spread joy, that it was nice to feel somewhat equal footing with her for once. “How are you this evening?”

“Good, good. I’m all good.” She ended her babbling by humming as her eyes darted between him and her brother. “What are you doing here?” Ben gestured toward the television and she nodded, grabbing the throw blanket behind her and pulling it into her lap, all of the delicious looking exposed skin of her legs disappearing from sight. It was a damned shame because he was enjoying the view, but it did help with the situation in his sweats.Marginally.“Cool. Cool, cool, cool.”

Ben glanced over at Henry who had a perplexed expression on his face. “You guys have met in person before?”

“Holly is planning my mother’s wedding.” Holly simply nodded, clearly still shell shocked from his unexpected appearance, and Ben smiled once again at her slight discombobulation.

Henry shrugged and gestured to his sister with the controller. “You want in on the game? We can take turns if you really want to play.”

Ben snorted at the thought, but instantly regretted the action when Holly glared at him, straightening in her chair and putting down her plate as if readying herself for a battle. “What was all that about?” She wiggled her finger in the direction of his face and he wiped at his mouth, wondering if he had chocolate or pizza sauce on his face. “You don’t think I can play because I’m a girl or something?”

Ben held up his hands in supplication. He was no sexist, but Holly was sunshine and rainbows, not blood baths and fatalities like the game called for. “Of course not. It has nothing to do with the fact that you’re a girl. You just don’t seem like the Mortal Kombat type.”

She propped an elbow on her leg and rested her hand on one fist, lookingveryinterested in his response. “What type am I?”

Henry shook his head in warning, but Ben barreled ahead. Apparently now that the social floodgates were open, there was no stopping him. “I don’t know. You’re happy all the time, and you plan weddings, so you must love all that romantic stuff.” He lifted a shoulder, unsure of how else to describe it without giving away just how much time he’d spent thinking about her. “I guess I just don’t see you playing a violent video game.”

Holly shot him a look as she dusted her hands off and glanced over at her brother. “Toss me your controller.”

“Holls,” Henry started, but she cut him off with a raised hand and a sharp look.

“Hen. Toss me your controller, please.” The forced smile on her face made Ben’s gut churn, but he’d made his bed, so he supposed he would have to lie in it.

Henry did as he was asked and tossed his controller to his sister, glancing over at Ben with an apologetic look. “Sorry, man, but you asked for it.”

“Ready?” Holly asked Ben politely.

“Um, sure.” Ben hit pause to resume the game unaware of just how badly he’d messed up. Holly proceeded to kick his ass all over the screen, using moves he hadn’t known existed before. Even using his favorite character couldn’t stop her from wiping the floor with him. Ben concentrated as hard as he could and while he landed a punch or two, the fight was basically over before it began, ending with his character broken and bloody and hers without so much as a scratch.

He stared slack jawed at Holly as she tossed the controller back to her brother, her expression one of sweet victory as she smiled at Ben. “That was fun, thanks.”

“That was fun?” He huffed in disbelief at the ass-whopping he’d just received by the merriest woman he had ever met. Her gaming prowess scared him and turned him on in equal measure, another shift on the couch necessary after their little battle on the screen. “I barely landed a single punch.”

“I know.” Holly leaned over and gently patted his head, the patronizing move welcome because it meant he got to feel her fingers slide through his hair, even for just a moment. They were soft and gentle, exactly how he imagined they would be. “It was cute how hard you were trying, though.” She sat back and grabbed her plate of food again, sending another smirk his way.

Ben watched as she took a bite of her pizza, perfectly content to just sit there and mock him. Normally this kind of teasing from someone would have him looking for the nearest exit, but this was so comfortable and familiar, all he could do was chuckle. “Well, wow. I guess I was wrong.”

Holly swallowed her bite, her shoulder bouncing lightly. “You were, but that’s okay. We all see people a certain way until we really get to know them.”

Ben nodded in agreement, realizing he had made so many assumptions about Holly based off their brief interactions, but he didn’t really know her that well. The fact that she was able to completely own him in the game was an illustration of that, and he found himself wondering what else he didn’t know about her. The interest he had in her hadn’t waned in the slightest, only grown with each passing moment until now, he was ravenous for any scrap of information he could get.

“I tried to warn you.” Henry’s words cut into his thoughts, though Ben knew he would be revisiting them a lot in the coming hours, days, and weeks.

“You did,” Ben agreed before turning back to Holly. “How did you get so freakishly good at that game, anyway?” He really wanted to know how and why someone who spent all of their time being sunshine personified while helping people plan weddings would be interested in playing a fighting game.

Holly tilted her head in thought. “Well, I have bad days just like everyone else, and I find that fighting games can be a good stress reliever.” She nodded at the television, a smirk playing at the corner of her kissable mouth. “Like just now, that was fantastic. I had a rough afternoon and whaling on you just now really helped.”

“Fair enough.” Ben could hardly disagree with her assessment since he had just thought the same thing earlier, and as he reviewed what she had just told him, he realized she had given him yet another opportunity to practice his people skills while getting to know her better. “Why was your afternoon so rough?”

She sighed and leaned back in the chair, the smile gone and her eyes suddenly tired as she pulled a hair tie off of her wrist and whipped her hair into a sloppy bun. Her cocoa brown waves had looked good down, but he also loved seeing her like this, a little less put together and a little more relaxed. “I had to go help one of my higher maintenance clients shop for her wedding dress, and we were there for hours before she finally settled on one.” She leaned forward and rested her head on her hands, and Ben suddenly longed to be the one to help her carry her burdens. “I get it. You want the day to be perfect and you want the dress to be perfect. It’s just that this particular client is like that with every teeny, tiny detail, and she keeps changing her mind all the time. It was just a lot.”

“I get it. Sometimes I’ll be working on a game design and the developer keeps altering their demands. It can be tough.” Sometimes Ben hated having to reprogram things multiple times because of the whims of the lead developer, and it was nice to discover that they had another thing in common.

“Yes, definitely.” She blew a raspberry, drawing Ben’s attention once again to her full and shiny lips. Ben wanted to sink his teeth into the bottom one, nibbling on the tender flesh until she forgot all her worries and sank into the pleasure he wanted to give her. He coughed and adjusted on the couch again, Holly’s bright smile stirring feelings in his chest that were as warm and comforting as she was. “I guess that’s what makes the games so awesome. I can’t take out my frustrations on my client, but I can take it out on your character.”

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