Page 5 of Possessed By You

“That’s not how things work in there, Ben.”

He scoots off the pillows to meet me eye-level, and I settle my temple into the crook of his shoulder and arm. His hand leaves my hip and drifts along the scar, now a dull pink color beside my ear.

“Is that why this happened?”

“I’m not sure.”

His gaze doesn’t falter, but those green eyes do soften, holding an unhealthy amount of misplaced guilt. My head shakes just enough for him to sigh and cover my hip again.

“Tell me about you,” I whisper, wishing to relieve some of the heaviness that has showed.

“What do you want to know?”

“Everything. Tell me about Dimitri and your family. Tell me about the mergers and crazy contracts.”

“You’re really interested in hearing about work? Really?”

“I’ve always enjoyed it, you know that.”

“I thought you were pretending because you liked me.”

“Is that so?”

He chuckles, offering the widest smile. He’s reaching.

“You know, if you hadn’t been so stubborn and impulsive, I wouldn’t even have to ask you about those mergers. I’d be helping you with them, you know, like when I was your assistant? Before you fired me—”

“Okay, okay, we don’t talk of that,” he muses, holding me tighter. “Besides, if you were still my assistant, you wouldn’t be the up and coming editor you are now.”

“True.”

He smiles at my lack of modesty, appearing to enjoy it. “Man, it seems so easy to fall back into this…but hard too.”

He doesn’t have to elaborate. “This” means our relationship which, at the time of the trial, was stronger than steel. We’d conquered the holidays and made it out with a glow that even newlyweds would envy. Over the course of a year apart, the love didn’t diminish but became draped in anger and distance. It’s both hard…and easy to drop that protective layer.

“I hoped it would have been easier…my way. I never set out to hurt you.”

“I know you didn’t.”

A piece of information he told me in his anger drifts into my brain and holds, so hard I can’t help but voice it.

“You told me that you didn’t work for a month.”

For the first time, his eyes leave mine, settling on my throat. They close when my fingers travel over the sharpness of his jaw onto freshly shaved skin. It feels good to hold him beneath my hand, powerful.

“Everything you’re thinking I felt, I did.”

“We’re together now,” I tell him.

“I know,” he says and looks at me, finally.

“What made you want to go back?”

“My sister. She showed up, kicked me into shape. My assistant voiced her concerns to Rebecca, who flew over and eased my wounded ego enough to put on a suit and leave the apartment.”

“I really like her.”

“She’s always liked you.”