Chapter 1
Eden
She had barely collected herself in the lobby when it hit her.
That was him. Bryce.One of the two men from the island. One of the two men who had their way with her for three whole days.One of the two menshe had coupled with at least four or five times!
Here! Inhertown!
She found a corner shielded by a giant monstera plant. As she plopped onto an ottoman, she instantly thought of the one that had barely supported three people during the final party at La Mariposa.His name is actually Benson. Benson Smith.The man who had liked her so much that he requested her as his date on Saturday night. The man who tracked her down on Sunday and asked her to be his date to the party, where they hooked up with another guy and gave her the first – and wildest – threesome of her life.
Damnit!
Eden could barely control her breathing as she attempted to wipe those memories from her mind.Not here. Not like this.Not on such an auspicious day as the one on which she was getting her life together. After having over a hundred thousand dollars hit her bank account, she wanted to invest it. Smartly. Her friend Blair had recommended LPS because it was the one she used and had no complaints.This was the day I really became an adult, damnit!Whoever took her appointment was supposed to gently guide her through the logistics of investments. Maybe ask her a few questions about her goals and future money-making plans. Eden had practiced all morning. She was fine with sounding like a newb, but would at least beconfidentin sounding like one, damnit!
She never expected… not in a million years…
Benson.His name wasBenson.
Eden was dumbstruck. She sat there, behind the monstera plant, wondering what the hell she should do.I knew it.Deep down, she knew La Mariposa would catch up to her. It had been too much fun. Too freeing. Too everything she had fantasized about when psyching herself up to go. Every experience with both guys had beenamazing.Completely obliterating her experiences with anyone else.Especially the sugar daddies!Oh, God, especially the sugar daddies…
Something wet and warm touched her cheek.Am I crying?Why! And how quickly could she get a tissue out of her purse to wipe it away?
She lowered her hands to see someone sitting across from her. She almost died.
“I wanted to apologize,” Bryce – no,Benson –said, holding up his hand to keep her from running off. “For how I acted up there. You didn’t deserve that.”
Did he act a certain way?Eden already couldn’t remember. She only recalled losing her mind at the sight of Benson in asuit, his short beard delicately trimmed and aftershave killing her. It was bad enough that he was so damn handsome. To know that this was the man she had just been wrapped around all weekend? She wanted to weep. In embarrassment.
Now, here he was again! Still around! Still handsome!
And here I am… dressed like a frumpy secretary…She had put on her office best, which also doubled as interview clothes. The only new thing was the Jimmy Choo shoes, which she had splurged on the moment she got her pay and saw them in the shop window.Just a little treat to myself…
“Anyway, I’m…” His hands landed on his knees. Benson’s thighs were cocked open, but nothing about him screamedconfidentandready for anything.Not like he had been less than a week ago. “This isn’t as a partner in my firm, by the way. I’m down here as me. Personally.”
“O… kay…” She didn’t know what else to say. With a sniff, she shoved her used tissue back in her purse and brushed the hair out of her face.
“Eden Hailstone.” Benson said her name as if they had known each other for years.Just because you know every inch of me…She shuddered. No. It wasn’t about Benson. It was about…
Me. What I’ve done. What it means now.
“Pleasure to meet you. I’m Benson Smith.” He cleared his throat, attempting to draw sureness back into his body. “I wanted… I thought that… honestly, I don’t know what I’m doing. I just knew I couldn’t let you run out that door without explaining myself to you.”
She stood up; he stood up with her.
“Explain what?” she asked, looking up into his visage.My God. He looks just like him now.The man who had held her, kissed her, and made love to her in wildly primal ways. The man who had the kind of kink that had fired her up and turned Eden intosomeone she didn’t know she could be until that weekend.This man did that to me.The other one helped, but…
Benson had been at the center of the fun, from the moment he sat next to her at the Low Light party and said the magic passcode that let him have her right there. In ten minutes, he had barbarically made herhis.
And now she looked into those eyes again. She beheld that straight nose. The defined jaw with dark hair. And the slightly aged skin showed him to be considerably older than her. Yet that look on his face? Despite him having more life experience, he was just as winded as she right now. Some things… they didn’t matter how old you were when they happened. They justhappened,and you were left to deal with them on the spot.
“I ran down here because the thought of you leaving and never seeing you again, when I have this once-in-a-lifetime chance… I couldn’t. I couldn’t let you go. Br… I mean, Eden.”
Brim.He was going to say her codename from La Mariposa. Much like she couldn’t stop thinking of him as Bryce.Benson certainly suits him more.It was a name with much more gravitas and maturity. “Bryce” reminded her of frat boys looking to score.
“Couldn’t let me go?” She could barely keep eye contact with him. Yet she persisted, refusing to look like a deer caught in the proverbial headlights.I’d rather die.Just like the deer.
“You must know what I mean. After the island… I left, accepting that I would never see you again. Except you’re here. Nothing says that we can’t know more about each other. Unless… you already have someone else.”