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“Sex is not a conversation,” he said with a laugh.“As much as I wish it were.”
“Okay.We’ll talk.”I lifted on my toes and kissed his cheek.He smacked my ass before heading out of the bedroom and toward the kitchen.
I slipped a long t-shirt over my head and snapped up my phone, a smile settling on my face, my body feeling at total peace.I tapped the screen, and my eyebrow lifted at the influx of notifications from Rose.
She probably did another impromptu photoshoot and wanted to get my opinion.I tapped into the messages, and confusion flooded through me.A picture of Ben stared back at me.He was younger, his hair longer, smile not nearly as bright, and he was standing next to a stout man with an unmistakable smirk, one that said he was wealthy and powerful.
“What the hell?”I mumbled as I stared at the photo of Ben with our biggest competition and the current thorn in Chardonnay’s side as well as the entire Vineyards.
I scrolled to the text.
Rose: I figured out who Ben is.Call me.
My breath hitched, and an uneasy feeling settled in my stomach.I scrolled to the next text.
Rose: Why aren’t you calling me?
And the next.
Rose: Are you with him?
And the next.
Rose: Please call me as soon as you get this.
The smell of coffee, the sound of bacon hitting the pan, and the sound of Ben in my kitchen drifted into the room.My body froze, unable to process what I was looking at.Why would Ben have a picture with that evil man?
A million scenarios ran through my mind, none of them good.This couldn’t be a coincidence.Maybe this was what he wanted to talk to me about last night… and I told him not to.But that didn’t mean he got a free pass to keep lying.Or to lie to me at all, for that matter.It had beenmonths.
I should call Rose back and hear what she found out.I was sick of secrets and lies.I wanted the fucking truth, and I was going to get it from the horse’s mouth.I stormed out of my room and into the kitchen.
Ben spun toward me, tongs in his hand, a smile stretched wide across his face.His eyes met mine, and his smile faltered.“What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know, Ben.Why don’t you tell me?”I held my phone out to him, trying to keep myself from throwing it at his stupid, handsome face.
He took it from me, and I hated that when his finger brushed mine, my thighs quivered.
“Why do you have a picture with that man?”
Ben’s eyes slipped shut.He inhaled, his chest rising and falling.“This is what I wanted to talk to you about.Why I came here last night.Looks like Rose beat me to it.”
“No, she hasn’t.I haven’t called her.I want to hear it from you.”I inhaled, trying to control all the emotions running through me.“Stop with the secrets and tell me the fucking truth.”
Ben flipped the dial of the burner off, placed the tongs down, and stepped toward me, but I didn’t want to be near him, so I sidestepped him.He had the nerve to look hurt.
He dropped his hands to his sides.His jaw tightened and ticked.His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed.I imagined he was swallowing down the lies and hopefully searching for the truth.“Sher, please.Just listen.”
“I’ve been trying.I’ve wanted to, but every time I get close, you shut me out.You gave me pieces just enough to keep me hooked, then you pulled away.And now I see this.”I held up my phone.“And it all makes sense.”
The boxes of financial records I had caught him going through, the way his body stiffened any time someone brought up Gold Crest…
His lips parted, but no words came out.He thrust his hand through his hair.If he was trying to build a lie, he was wasting his time.I could see through him now.
“You’re working for them, aren’t you?Sleeping with me to try to get some sort of intel.”I stepped toward him, thrusting my finger into his chest.“I bet you get some sort of sick pleasure out it.Get a good laugh as you tell them about how you manipulated me.”I poked again and again, wanting to inflict pain, wanting to keep myself from crying.
“No.”Ben grabbed my hand, pressing it to his chest.I blinked up, eyes burning with unshed tears as I met his.“You weren’t.I swear to God, that’s not what this is.”
Heartbreak and frustration slammed together in a lethal mix.“Then what is it, Ben?”My voice cracked at the fury rising inside me.