Cory: I’m right here for you when you want something.

Ben: I solely want you.

Cory: I need to consider you, however…

Ben: You don’t should consider me. I plan on exhibiting you. Hope you’re prepared for it, discuss to you later.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Cory

Round six o’clock, my cellphone chimes with a textual content from Ben. He needs me to fulfill him on the roof of the bar. I breathe a sigh of reduction that he didn’t summon me all the best way to the person collapse San Francisco.

Don’t get me improper, the rooftop has been not solely a hangout spot for my brothers, but additionally a romantic rendezvous location for them and their wives over time. Tender lights and greenery rework the area into an city oasis. The glittering bay at sundown is a sight to behold.

Once I step out onto the rooftop, the delicate amber glow of the setting solar paints the sky with a fragile mix of orange and pink, casting a heat hue over the sprawling vineyards beneath. Paradise Bay could be one of the vital stunning locations on the planet. It’s a wide ranging sight from up right here, atop the bar’s roof, the place Ben has arrange a scene straight out of a rom-com.

Candlelight glints gently throughout the area. Ben turns from the place he’s leaning on the railing, the dancing flames accentuating his athletic body. He smiles softly, eyes crinkling on the corners, and my breath catches at how irresistible he appears. Down woman, I mentally chide my raging hormones. However the butterflies in my abdomen don’t appear to care. Part of me is able to leap him.

As I take all of it in, Ben watches me, his heat inexperienced eyes looking for mine.

“It’s enchanting,” Iadmit in a hushed voice, misplaced within the second and his eyes.

He steps barely nearer to me, the corners of his eyes crinkling along with his smile. “I needed tonight to be particular, the primary of many.”

I increase an eyebrow, aiming for a teasing tone to lighten the abruptly charged environment. “I didn’t know you had such a romantic aspect. So how did you pull this off?”

Ben winks. “I’ve my secrets and techniques.”

“Huxley?” I dare to ask.

He laughs, the wealthy sound sending a thrill via me. “Nope.”

I faucet my chin, making an attempt to determine who may’ve probably helped him pull this off. I doubt it was Atzi. She’s all the best way in Mexico. There’s Fern, who… is just too busy with the twins and the gala.

“I really employed an organization to deal with all this,” he solutions me as he gestures round us. “I don’t understand how they work their magic, however they set every little thing up. What do you assume?”

“It’s good,” I say actually.

Ben strikes even nearer, his spicy, masculine scent enveloping me. “I’m not trying to be good, simply to like you one of the simplest ways I can.”

My coronary heart melts at his phrases. Although a part of me needs to maintain making him work for my forgiveness, I do know I can’t maintain stringing him alongside indefinitely. I ought to inform him now that I really like him, and all I needed is for him to provide me his coronary heart. What would I accomplish if I stored my coronary heart locked till I made him undergo for every little thing he did?

I’d most likely be no totally different from his household, who by no means beloved him and at all times made him really feel like an outsider. Holding again now isn’t going to take us wherever, will it?

Earlier in the present day, Atzi known as me. She advised me in regards to the dialog Ben had with Heath. My brother isn’t completely satisfied, but when Benedict makes me completely satisfied, he’ll help this relationship. If not, he’ll kill him along with his personal fingers—Atzi’s phrases.

“We may make this work,” Ben abruptly whispers with the softest voice I’ve heard him utilizing in a very long time. “I promise we actually may.”

I smile at him as a result of I see it, the concern, and the vulnerability in his inexperienced eyes. The wall he’s put between us is gone, and now I can see the one factor he hid from me, his coronary heart. I ponder if hiding himself had been mandatory. For a second, I ponder what would’ve occurred if he had advised me how he felt all these years in the past.

“What are you pondering?” he asks with a trembling voice.

“What would’ve occurred when you had taken the leap earlier than in the present day—possibly once you kissed me?”

The nook of his lip lifts barely, and he shakes his head. “I don’t have a solution for you, although. It may’ve labored completely superb, or I might’ve fucked up like the remainder of my siblings. We weren’t taught the right way to love, solely to destroy.”

I lastly stroll nearer to him and put a hand on his chest. “Your coronary heart was made to like.”

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