Benson glanced away from the late-night show playing on his TV. It was a sleepy Friday night, with him changed into his pajamas while Eden had stripped down to her long-sleeved shirt and leggings. That late, there was an unspoken implication that she’d be staying the night and they’d go out and do something the next day. Then she dropped that bomb.
“Who?”
She pursed her lips. The hand that had been on his chest curled into a tentative fist. “The other man I’ve been seeing. You know, from…”
She let her voice trail off, because he damn well knew by now that it was the other man from La Mariposa. After the two of them finished discussing “the odds” of such athing, Benson started thinking about his ex-wife’s psychic and his daughter’s penchant for “manifesting,” and other forms of making impossible things come true.
Besides, it was one thing for them to roleplay about the other guy in the bedroom, where Benson was completely in charge, and Eden was all his for a weekend. It was another to actively discuss the other guy.
“He wants to meet.” Benson spoke of it as a plain fact.
“Yes. He’s really into the idea. You two… are not that unalike.”
Benson turned down the volume on the TV. “For what? A threesome?”
She blushed – and it took alotto make her blush now. “I don’t know. He’s younger than you, and a lot more blasé about these things. He likes the stories I tell him about you, that’s for sure. Maybe he’s got a crush on you?”
Eden was joking, but Benson wasn’t laughing. “What are you telling him?”
Now her cheeks were cherry red. “Just the truth. If he asks me if I’ve been out with you, I tell him yes. If he asks if we’ve had sex, I say yes. I mean, I’m not telling him personal info about you… I haven’t even told you two each other’s names…”
“You don’t tell me much about him.”
She uncomfortably settled against him, legs crossed next to his knee, and a hand uselessly in her lap. “He’s a lot easier to talk to about these things. He’s just a more casual guy than you, Ben. With you… I love being with you, Ben, but our dynamic is a lot more… structured.”
“Because I’m so much older than you?”
“I guess. That and you’re just a lot more intense.”
“In a good way, I hope. I mean, I’m not even trying.”
“That’s what I mean. It comes so naturally to you.”
“Yet I’m the one who likes to stay at home, has an adult daughter, and dreams of retirement on an isolated beach.”
“Like I said. Intense.”
“If you say so, angel.”
Benson wouldn’t outright saynoto meeting the other guy who had an all-access pass to Eden. After all, everything about the situation settled well with him, all the way down to watching his beloved girlfriend getting her back blown out by a younger stud while she begged him to join in.I hate thinking about my ex right now, but…Sydney would have never.
“I’ll think about it,” he told her.
“Are you upset?” Her hand curled atop his shoulder. “That I’m seeing someone else.”
He sighed, reassuring her with his arm curled around her. “No. You were upfront with me from the beginning. I knew what I was getting into.”
“I promise I’m careful, Ben.”
“Be careful with your heart, too, angel.”
“Don’t tell me you’re saying that because it’s what you would say to your daughter…”
They went back to watching TV for thirty more minutes. When it was over, Benson turned it off but didn’t get up to go to bed. Nor did he pull Eden into a kiss, as much as he wanted to.
Something burned inside of her. He could sense it.
“Can I ask you something?” she spat so suddenly that he almost jumped out of his skin. “Something personal. Really personal.”