The man looked at her as if she were joking.
“I’m serious. Quick. Before I change my mind.”
She fished her phone out of her purse and opened her notes app. Benson was right in front of her, his head slightly tilted and a grunt in his throat.
“404-555-1832.”
“Rhode Island, huh?”
His mouth slightly twitched as she punched those numbers into her app. “I went to Brown. Actually, my daughter goes there, too.”
He keeps bringing up his daughter now.Was that endearing? Or off-putting? “I might text you.” Eden put her phone away. “I might not. I’ll think about it.”
A curt nod was his official answer. “I know this is weird. Trust me, I feel it, too.”
“But?”
Despite them standing in the corner of a professional, corporate lobby, obscured only by one monstera plant, Benson leaned down and turned on some charm. “But I think we’d be stupid not to see where this goes.”
That was the note he left her on as he walked toward the elevators, not once looking back at her. A security guard said something chipper to him, but Benson ignored it with only a slight hand wave. Once he was in an elevator, Eden exhaled, her mouth open enough to expel every drop of air in her body.
She had to activelynotthink of him on her way home. The sooner she forgot about him, the better.
Chapter 2
Benson
“…There’s just something about the department heads who have, I dunno, really inspired me, Daddy.” Drew was still in the middle of her spiel as appetizers went cold on the table between them. “I never once saw myself as an Italian Studies major, but it just makes sense. I was already taking Italian as my language requirement, then I started filling in my other credits with whatever I could get with Prof. Leguizamo…” She cocked her head, aware that her father was staring off into the abyss. “Dad?”
Italian Studies.Italian. Studies. Of all the humanities… of all the liberal arts concentrations she could have picked…
Italian Studies.
“I’m…” He pushed himself upright, attempting to keep his elbows off the table like his mother – and Sydney – once taught him. “I’m happy for you, peach. It’s important to have somethingthat keeps you mentally engaged and focused on your studies right now.”
Her grin was the kind of million-watt smile that thawed his frozen fatherly heart. “Really? So, you’re not upset?”
“Upset?” He scoffed. “Why would I be upset?”
She snatched his wineglass instead of sipping on her mocktail. After helping herself to an underage sip – like he would stop her, as long as nobody was looking – she declared, “I dunno. I just had this whole scenario in my head that you would be freaked out that I was wasting my Brown education on Italian. I really did try to get into more ‘practical’ things, Daddy, but you know I’ve never been great at STEM stuff, and anything with numbers is beyond me. But I love languages. And cultural stuff. I might do an Art History minor to go with an Italian major. What do you think?”
“Honey, I think you have your whole life ahead of you. I just want you to be able to thrive even if I’m not around anymore.”
“I know. It’s about money.”
“Brown is as much about networking and the name as it is the actual education itself. The whole reason I got on my career path in finance is because of who I got buddy-buddy with while there. Believe it or not, my most powerful connection came from a rival frat to mine. That reminds me, are you rushing this semester?” It was her spring semester of sophomore year. While Sydney was more invested in which sorority their daughter might join, Benson was the one intimately familiar with Brown’s Greek life. He knew the reputations – yes, even among the sororities.There’s one I’d be dead over if she joins.When he was at Brown, that particular sisterhood was all about partying with frats like his.Most of my girlfriends came from there.He had learnedwaytoo much from them. All the wrong things.
“Maybe.” Drew fussed with her hair before stabbing one of their appetizers on a fork. “It’s kinda competitive. And I spend so much time off campus that I wonder if it’s worth it.”
“Peach,” he said, attempting to sound like a fatherly authority figure, “if you’re majoring in Italian, you should go for a sorority. You need those job connections.”
Her smile faltered. “Suppose you’re right.”
“I’m just being realistic. You know me. Always have a plan, in case everything blows up. That’s why your old man is in finance. But…” He reclaimed his wine, indulging in the fragrant flavor before continuing. “I did a minor in Sociology, so whatever. I still pursued some passions.”
“Really? Sociology?”
“Why do you think I’m so good at understanding why people do the things they do?”