Page 37 of The Truth in My Lies (Secrets of Suburbi 1)

And with those tantalizing words, he restarted the movie.

I tried to pay attention, but I had a million questions running through my head. Was I spending the night here? Would I spend it in his bed? With his arms wrapped around me? And when was the last time he had someone to spend the night with?

Chapter 18

“Addy you have to watch it to fully experience all its glory.” He pointed to the TV.

“Thank you for coming after me.” The wine had given me courage to say what I had been meaning to all night. No one had ever come after me before. He made me feel like I was in a fairytale. “When I stormed out,” I added when he didn’t say anything.

“You’re worth chasing.”

The way he said it made my whole body feel warm. It had been a long time since I had felt anything but worthless.

He lifted his feet onto the coffee table beside mine. “I’ll keep on chasing you if you make me. But I’m hoping you’ll like tonight so much that you stop running.” He winked at me before turning his attention back to the screen.

I’m sure the acting was good in Rocky. And it probably was a great movie. How could I not stare at Ben instead, though? I ran his words through my head on repeat. He wanted me to stay still. To stop resisting him. He wanted…me.

He pointed to the TV again.

I reluctantly turned back to the screen and took another sip of the wine. It truly felt like we were having a classic first date of dinner and a movie. Except for all the ice packs. But tonight, I was actually grateful for them. My body would have been overheated if not for the ice packs on my ankle and shoulder. Whenever I was near him, my heart always raced. The mix of alcohol and ice packs somehow managed to calm me down.

Maybe it made me bold too. When I set down my wine glass, I repositioned myself so that I could rest my head on Ben’s shoulder. I held my breath as I waited to see what he’d do. But I didn’t have to hold it long.

His arm looped lazily around my back, his hand resting on my hip.

For this one second in time, life was good.

It got better when he started tracing circles around my hipbone with his thumb.

I closed my eyes, completely forgetting about the movie. I never wanted to leave Ben’s side. I never wanted tonight to end.

The last thing I remembered was Rocky yelling for Adrian. And how similar it sounded to Adeline.

***

Apparently the combination of wine and ice packs was so relaxing that it put me right to sleep. I woke up alone on the leather couch, a blanket draped over my body.

I immediately pulled the blanket up to my chin. Without Ben beside me, the room was cold. Ben. My eyes flew open. Had I spent the night at his house? The birds were chirping outside. There was light flooding into the room through the blinds. It was definitely daytime.

Jesus. I must have been out cold. I cringed at the thought. Had he heard me snore? Had I mumbled something embarrassing in my sleep?

None of that mattered. What mattered was that I had spent the night on the couch, not in his bed. How had I managed to squander away that opportunity? I reached for my purse to check my phone, but it wasn’t where I had left it. My eyes wandered to my watch.

11:25. I blinked. The watch still read the same time. I pushed myself up into a seated position. 11:25! How had I slept so long? I pinched the bridge of my nose, trying to erase my headache. I barely had two sips of wine. How did I have such a bad hangover?

I looked around for my purse again and cringed. My whole body felt sore, like I had just run a half marathon. I swallowed down the groan in my throat. I was too old to sleep on couches.

“Did you enjoy watching Sly last night?”

I ran my fingers through my hair and wiped the side of my face as Ben came into view. “Did I enjoy what?”

“Sly?”

I gave him a blank stare.

“Sylvester Stallone?”

“Oh. Yeah. He was good.”

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