Page 55 of Rebellious Hearts

It only made sense.

Why was I reluctant, then? Ben Blackwood wasn’t that special. He was nice, sure. And it was nice that it turned out he had a heart, which was surprising. But he wasn’t someone to give up such a big opportunity for.

I got up and showered, dressed in tailored pants, a flowing top, and comfortable flats. Ben and I had a date today to go out on the town.

Not a date, an appointment, I corrected myself. It was a business appointment, just like everything else here.

Except the sex.

And the dinner we’d had together.

And the fact that we were having to pretend that we were together.

Well, that part was business.

Sort of.

“Good morning,” Ben said brightly when I walked into the dining room. “Have a croissant.”

I sat down when Ben gestured to a seat. He stood, very gentlemanly of him, and only sat again when I did.

He’d ordered biscuits and gravy for us, a traditional southern breakfast.

“Try the coffee,” he said. “It’s AeroPress coffee.”

“What’s that?” I asked and reached for my cup.

“A rich coffee brew. There’s a lot of precision and control offered by the brewing method, so you can tailor the strength and flavor to your preference. Since you didn’t like how strong the French roast was, I got them to go a little easier on this one.”

I picked up the cup and sipped it.

“Yeah, this is good,” I said. “I like this one.”

Ben’s grin broadened and it was sweet that he’d wanted to make the kind of coffee that would impress me.

“So, where are we starting today?” I asked when we dug into our breakfast.

“Center of town and work our way out,” Ben said. “The town center is where all the businesses will be, so it will allow us to get an idea of how far Harborview has fallen.”

I nodded. That made sense.

“And then we’ll go where the wind takes us. We’ll ask the driver to—”

I glanced at him, and he hesitated.

“—to drop us off somewhere, and we can figure out which way we go.”

I smiled. He was getting the idea. There was no way we would ever understand the needs of the town and the people if we looked at it all from the comfort of a luxury car and stared through tinted windows. That just wasn’t how things worked. If you weren’t willing to get your hands dirty…

That made me think about my conversation with Elena this morning.

“Is everything okay?” Ben asked.

“Just fine.” I forced a smile. I wasn’t going to tell him that after this trip I was potentially going to take another job. I didn’t need him to become grumpy again, and it seemed to be Ben’s fallback, even if he was kind now.

But the different coffees always seemed to cheer him up.

After we had our breakfast and coffee, we walked through the hotel lobby and to the car that waited to take us downtown.