“Hey, Sarah,” I interrupt the administrative assistant, who is currently chatting with two of the art department interns and Amy. “I’m awaiting a delivery from Quarter Moon. It’s the printed invitations for Best Of. When Dana Gallie arrives, can you send her back to my office?” Things are starting to feel more real about the party with the invitations arriving today. Of course, then I have the fun task of stuffing all the envelopes, but when I throw on some Pentatonix and get a system going, it usually goes pretty quickly. Maybe, I can even convince Ben to help.
“Sure thing.” She notes it down on the notepad in front of her.
One of the interns, Josie I think her name is, leans over the counter. “Why don’t you ask her.” She nods her head very obviously, meaning me. I rest my elbow on the countertop.
“Lexi, you seem to be around Ben a lot. What can you tell us about him? Is he seeing anyone?” Sarah props her head on her fists.
I am caught off guard by their questioning. What the hell do they want to know about Ben’s love life for?
“I spend time with Ben at the office, discussing work.” My tone is harsh. “I don’t believe it’s anyone’s business how or with whom Mr. Harrington spends his time with.” These women want nothing more than to gossip, and I refuse to give in to their demands. They can drool over Ben all they want, but he is mine.
A small chuckle draws our attention behind us to find Ben walking toward us with his hands in his pockets. A smug smile tips his lips upward. I swear, I am pretty sure cartoon hearts float above each of the ladies’ heads in front of me. I mean, Ben is swoony as hell.
“I’m sorry, ladies, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop,” he begins, leaning into the small space between Amy and myself. “To answer your question, yes I have a girlfriend, who I care about very much. Sorry to burst your bubble.”
Ben turns to me. “Lex, do you have a moment?” he asks and nods toward his office.
“Of course, sir.” I turn back around to Sarah. “Don’t forget.”
“Yep, send Dana back to your office,” she repeats.
Once my back is to her, I can’t help but roll my eyes at the snarkiness of her tone. I am sure once I’m out of range, she will go back to her gossiping. Maybe she would be more than just an admin assistant, if she focused more on her work instead of office gossip.
Ben bumps my shoulder with his, bringing my attention to his. “You know, Miss Baker, I have to admit that was rather sexy back there.”
“What was?” I narrow my eyes at him.
“You getting all territorial.”
Ben shuts the door of his office, and I spin around to face him. “What? I wasn’t getting territorial. I just didn’t like hearing them talk about you like that—like you’re a piece of meat or something.”
He takes a seat in his chair and pulls me into his lap. Ben begins playing with the ends of my hair, something I’ve noticed he likes to do when I’m in his arms. I relax into his touch. “I’m sorry, I just—”
Ben pinches my chin between his fingers and brings my gaze to his. “I know, baby. I would have loved to mess with them and see the shock on their faces when I tell them that you are the girl I was referring to.”
I love that he gets me. Nothing more would bring me more joy than telling the world that we’re together, but I remember how things got when Dominic and I were together—the looks, the whispers, the rumors, and that was only with the boss’s son. What would they think about me and Ben? Would they accept that love is love, or would they tear us apart?
“Is anyone else as excited as I am for this?” Hadley asks, leaning forward between the driver and passenger seat of Brynn’s car. In our latest fashion issue of the magazine, we had used photos from a photographer, Aubrey Daniels, who lives a few towns over in River Falls. There was something in her photographs that spoke to me and had me browsing her website. I found images from a few boudoir shots that she had done, and an idea struck. I immediately reached out to her and booked a session. It was a long shot for her having any openings, but luck was on my side since she had a last-minute cancellation. Of course, when I mentioned it to Hadley and Brynn, they decided to make a field trip out of it.
“To see me naked?” I have some of the weirdest friends. I just keep telling myself that I love them.
“No, it’s just you spent three years of your life with Dominic, and never once did you mention something like hey, I’m going to have sexy photos done to give to him for Valentine’s Day.”
“Ben is…” I search for the correct word I’m looking for. “Different. He makes me feel different. I never felt like this with Dominic.” Maybe it was because Dominic and I were both workaholics—not that Ben isn’t, it’s just that Ben convinces me that I need to take time for me as well before I lose my sanity, whereas Dominic was the opposite. He would convince me I needed to work longer hours and harder. Now, I understand it was most likely a reason to keep me occupied and not questioning his “working late hours” with his secretary or whoever else he saw on the side.
“Is it cheesy to say that we see a difference in you?”
“Well, one, it’s nice to have my roommate back—well, sort of,” Hadley jokes. It’s true—while I have been taking time off, not during work hours, but with my overtime, I’ve been splitting my time between Ben’s place and ours. When Hadley sees my smile fade, she places her arm over mine. “I don’t mean that in a bad way. It’s great to see you smile again.”
On instinct, I smile more prominently, and she gives me a look that says told you so before she sits back in the back seat with her arms crossed.
It only took us just under an hour to get to River Falls once we got out of the city. We park in an open spot in front of the building. When we knock on the door, it abruptly opens, revealing a tall man a little shorter than Ben, with dark blond hair cropped around his ears. He is wearing a formfitting T-shirt with RFPD on it.
He continues to stare at us, and I glance down at my phone. Umm, maybe we have the wrong address?
“I’m sorry, I’m looking for Aubrey Daniels.”
“And what makes you think you’re not looking at her?” His face is stone-cold. Oh my God, is this a scam, and we’re all about to get whacked.
“Are we being catfished?” I hear Brynn mumble softly beside me.
“I don’t know, but if he’s the photographer, I’m getting naked, too.” Seriously, Hadley? I roll my eyes at her before shooting her a knock it off look, which she just shrugs it off.
“Oh my God, Dean, stop it. It’s a client,” a cheerful voice calls out from behind him. “Please ignore my husband.” A short and slender blonde comes into view, carrying a toddler. She matches the photos I’d seen online of Aubrey. Phew. My heart rate begins to slow.
The gentleman smirks as she approaches and places his arm around her shoulders, pulling her and the child into his side. It’s rather endearing, as if he always had to touch her in some way. He places a gentle kiss on her temple.
“Are you Lexi?” Aubrey glances back and forth between the girls and me.
“Yes, hi.” I extend my hand and shake hers.
“Please come on in. I’m sorry, I was just messing with you.” The man—who we now know to be her husband, and also an extremely intimidating guy—moves them to the side, allowing us to enter. When the little girl reaches for him, he scoops her up, and holy shit, I think I need a new pair of underwear because I’m pretty sure my lady bits just exploded. “Daddy’s here,” he coos, rubbing circles on her.
“I hope it’s okay that I brought my two best friends.” I nod toward Hadley and Brynn, who are both still staring at Dean dreamily.
“Absolutely. I want all my clients to feel comfortable when I’m taking their picture. Oh and don’t worry, Dean was just leaving. He just got off duty and came here to grab Savannah.” Her smile widens as she takes in the scene in front of her.
“Yep, we’re out of here.” He kisses the top of his daughter’s forehead as she rests against his shoulder.
Will Ben look that sexy holding our child?
Woah, slow your roll, Lex. You guys haven’t even gone public with your relationship, and here you are thinking about kids?
“Say bye to Mommy. Bye, babe, I’ll see you at home.” He kisses Aubrey’s lips gently, before turning to us “You ladies have fun.” And with that, he is out the door, closing it gently behind him.
Aubrey claps her hands together. “Should we get started?”
Aubrey leads me over to the small area set up as the dressing room for me to change. Hadley sets her bag down there and does my hair in simple loose curls and light makeup.
I brought a few different outfit options, one being a dress shirt of Ben’s that I stole from his closet the other day that I’ll pair with a black-and-pink lace bra and matching cheeky lace panties. Hadley suggested a pose we found on Pinterest without the bra and the dress shirt covering my nipples but exposing the majority of my breasts. Another outfit is a purple-and-black lace satin slip dress with matching kimono, and last, at Hadley’s insistence, a sheer black mesh-and-lace baby doll with a red bow in the center, paired with my favorite heels that I was wearing the night of the Christmas party.
I stare at myself in the reflection of the small floor-length mirror in the dressing area, having picked the black-and-red baby doll first.
“Stop staring at yourself,” Hadley shouts, “and get your ass out here.” Her voice turns firm.
“You have a great mom voice,” Aubrey says, and Brynn lets out a loud laugh, the same time I snort.
“Thank you?” Hadley replies, unsure if that’s a good thing or not.
“Lex.” It’s Brynn this time who calls my name as I walk out of the dressing area.
“I’m here, okay? You guys can stop yelling.”
My eyes meet three sets staring directly back at me, and I start to feel self-conscious. I wrap my arms around the exposed waistline, second-guessing this whole experience.
“Oh no, you’re not going shy on me now.” Aubrey tugs on my hand as if she had known me for years. She leads me over to a bed in the center of the room. “Don’t worry, Dean and I haven’t had sex on this.” My eyes nearly bulge out of my head at her comment.
“Why not? If I were married to that, I’d be having sex with him all over the place.”
I whip my head around at Hadley’s comment. “Hadley Eloise Kincaid, you can’t say things like that to strangers,” I scold. I turn back to Aubrey, who is wiping tears of laughter away. “I am so sorry.”
She waves me off. “Oh no, it’s fine. I know he’s gorgeous, and so does he.”
“See?” Hadley exclaims before plopping down on the couch in front of us as if she owns the place.
“Okay, now let’s get you set up.” Aubrey adjusts me on the bed and takes a few test shots before finding the right lighting combination.
“Holy hell,” the girls both say at the same time, looking over Aubrey’s shoulder at the camera.
“You look fucking gorgeous, Lex. You’re going to blow Ben’s mind.” Brynn smiles before looking back down at the camera. “Damn, Aubrey, you’re amazing, I might need to book one of these shoots, too, but I don’t have anyone to show them to.”
“I’ve had clients just do this for themselves before; it’s not a crazy idea.”
Hadley has since returned to the couch and has popped the bottle of champagne Aubrey pulled out. She keeps it on hand to help loosen up the client if they feel nervous. “I think we all know that Cal would love those photos.” She tips her glass in her direction.
As Aubrey goes back to instructing me how to pose, she asks, “Is that your boyfriend?”
Hadley and I snicker while Brynn rolls her eyes.
“No, he’s just my best friend. We’ve been best friends since birth.”
“But they have amazing chemistry—just neither realizes it.”
“You’ve never even thought about it?” Aubrey asks in between the sound of the camera clicking.
“I don’t know. Yeah, he’s gorgeous, but it’s Callum,” Brynn says as if that explains it. “If things went south, I would lose my best friend.” Brynn shrugs before snagging Hadley’s champagne glass and taking a sip.
She is clearly uncomfortable talking about this. I guess I never really thought about what there is to lose. But am I any different? If things were to go south with Ben, would I have to get a new job? Would things be too awkward for us to find a working relationship? I wish I could say that it would be fine, but I might be in way too deep.
“Woah, where you’d go right there?” Aubrey asks as she swaps out the SIM cards on the camera.
“Thinking about Ben, I bet,” Hadley giggles.
“And that’s your boyfriend, right?” Aubrey confirms.
“Yes.” I can’t hide the smile from my face. I love hearing “Ben” and “boyfriend” close together. I would have loved the other day to shock the hell out of the girls, who clearly daydream about him in ways that I actually get to be with him, only behind closed doors.
“And her boss,” Brynn adds.
“They have a secret relationship,” Hadley joins in.
“Oh, I see” is Aubrey’s only response.
“It’s a long story,” I softly say. “I’ve been thinking about it a lot, and while it’s super complicated, I hate hiding what Ben means to me. While I love the bubble we’ve created, I want not to hide when we are in public or at work. I think I want to tell the world.”
“Hey.” Aubrey takes a seat on the bed next to me. “We all have a past, and every relationship brings complications—trust me, I get that.” I can see in her eyes that there is more to her statement, but I don’t push it. “If he makes you happy and he is worth it, the complications don’t matter. Is he worth it?”
I nod, nibbling on my bottom lip. Without a doubt, Ben is worth it. My eyes fill with unshed tears, but I refuse to let them fall, mainly because I don’t want Hadley to bitch about needing to redo my makeup and because she is right.
“So how about this? Let’s change up your outfit and make Ben lose his mind with the final results of these photos.”
Now that’s a plan I can get behind.
“Hey, are you home?” Brynn asks before even saying hello when I answer the phone.
“No, I just arrived at Ben’s house, about to walk in now,” I respond. Why is she acting so weird?
The phone goes quiet for a moment. “Brynn, you still there?”
“Yeah, sorry. I’m here.”
I take a seat on the step, and the cold stone through the fabric of my bottoms causes a shiver up my spine.
“Brynn, what’s going on? You’re making me nervous.”
“So Cal and I were out to dinner at Esta Noche, and we saw something—well, more like someone.”
Could she be any more cryptic right now?
“Okay,” I draw out, not knowing where she’s going with this.
She sighs heavily into the phone. “We saw Dominic, Lex.”
Well, that wasn’t the response I was expecting.
“And this is newsworthy why?” I do not understand why this was worthy of a phone call and why she’s acting so strange.
I can hear Cal talking in the background, and all I can make out from what he is saying is, “Yes, it’s definitely them.”
“Definitely who,” I repeat. “Is he with his secretary or something? Dominic and I have been over for a while and I’m happy with Ben. Dominic Jennings is free to do whatever the hell he pleases.” Just saying his name leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.
“He was with Asher.”
Wait. What? My stomach drops. If I wasn’t already sitting down, I am pretty sure my legs would have given out. Asher and Dominic?
“How does he know Dominic?”
Brynn snorts into the phone. “Well, I think you’re asking the wrong person.”
Cal mumbles something again. “I can’t hear what he was saying. Can you put me on speakerphone?”
“No, we’re kind of staking o
ut the bar where they’re sitting.”
Oh, for fuck’s sake.
“Well, get out of there. I don’t need him to see either of you. Asher wouldn’t know you two, but Dom would.”
“What are you going to do?” That’s the million-dollar question.
“I don’t know.” And I honestly don’t. It’s none of my business who Asher hangs out with or associates with; hell, I don’t even know him that well. But I do know Dominic, and I know now after my own experience that he is not good people to associate with. Of course, while we were dating, I was utterly blind to it. “Wait, how did you know it was Asher with him?”
“Internet stalking, of course.”
I bellow out a laugh. “Of course you would.”
The mood of the call changes drastically. “Well, how else am I supposed to know what he looks like since he’s always too busy to hang out with us. Now we know it’s because he hangs out with can’t-keep-it-in-his-pants Jennings. Lex, do you think he knows about you and Dom?”
Again, another million-dollar question. “I don’t know, but I guess I need to tell Ben about my past before Asher does.”
“Wait, hold up, you haven’t even told Ben?”
“Really, B,” I say, knowing that she hates that nickname. “It’s not like it’s a great bedside discussion. ‘Oh hey, babe, just so you know, before you and I started dating, I was kind of dating the boss’s son. We lived together.” Fuck, I believed I was going to marry him for God’s sake.
“Yeah, I guess that makes sense.”
My ass is going numb sitting out here. “Hey, I gotta go. Thanks for the heads-up.”
“Sorry it wasn’t better news.”
I shrug as if she could actually see me. “Love you.”
“Love you, too,” she says softly.
I hang up the phone and stare at the ground, trying to gather my thoughts. I am so focused on the pebbled stone that I don’t notice the front door to Ben’s town house open.
“Hey, what are you doing out here,” he asks from behind me, startling the shit out of me.
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