Page 123 of Ghost Note

“I really am.”

He held my gaze, and I held his, waiting for him to ask a million questions about whether I was sure this was the right thing to do or to plant a hundred seeds of doubt in my mind, but this was Ben. I should have known he wasn’t that guy.

“All right then.” He tilted his head, nodded, and smirked. “You go out there and chase the dream.”

“And you accept my apology?”

“No.” He scoffed. “I reject it because it’s a stupid apology to make.”

“Ben…” I sighed, dropping my fork and leaning closer to him. “Please. For me. I need this.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t want anyone left behind without the answers to questions that they didn’t dare ask me. I’ve been there.”

“Newsflash, Dais: I’m not you. I’m not that deep and troubled.”

I raised a brow in warning, and Ben sighed in defeat.

“Fine. I accept your apology for using me for sex. It was such a hardship. I don’t know how I’ll ever get over all those amazing times in bed with you. My pride is wounded forever, and the memories of your legs being over my shoulder will donothing,not one thing to ease the pain of having been used by the most gorgeous woman this side of Devon.”

I stared at him, deadpan, while his smile grew and turned into a laugh that had him sitting back in his chair.

“Honestly, Dais, you’re a trip sometimes.”

The only response I had in my arsenal was to pick up my napkin and throw it at him. He caught it effortlessly and straightened it out to lay it next to his plate, with the remnants of his laughter still tickling his voice.

“Not everything needs an apology. The sex was great.” He shrugged. “You’re great. No harm, no foul.”

“Despite you being an obvious arsehole, I want only good things for you, Ben Atwood.”

“They’ll happen. When do you leave?”

I glanced at my watch. It was now the Wednesday after Danny had left. Since then, I’d had several conversations with his solicitor about the properties he’d left behind, which were going to take some time to transfer over into my name, thankfully. It gave me time to try and convince Danny that he didn’t need to do any of this.

I’d had so many chats with Gina about things, as well as one very drunken night curled up watching movies together at her place, while she got excited about what was about to happen, and I just nodded in all the right places, unable to ignore the butterflies in my tummy.

How will you feel the first time you walk down a red carpet?

I can’t wait to see your face in a magazine.

There’ll be hundreds of designers waiting to dress you in their finest dresses, Daisy.

I’d told her not to be ridiculous. Those things weren’t on my mind. I couldn’t let myself even imagine them, otherwise I got too scared.

“A car is picking me up in fifty minutes,” I told Ben, reaching over for my wine and taking a big glug, eyeing him over the rim of the glass.

“And Danny doesn’t know about any of it?”

“Nope.” I dropped my glass back on the table. “He thinks we’ll be apart for at least a month.”

“Poor guy.”

I huffed out a laugh. “Yeah, he wasn’t happy about it.”

“And you’re going to be okay flying out there on your own? You’ve never done it before.”

“Jules will be there for me. She held back when the band flew out to Paris. She had some things to sort out with her son, Corey. Apparently, she’s only flying in for the day before she heads back to England to be with Rhett again.”

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