Louise Bentley is a feisty, wild, 'let's-go-to-Capri-for-the-weekend-yeah?' kind of girl. She spends her days working at a party-planning company. Oh, and she never wants kids. Ever.
Ben Langford is a studious, quiet, 'I'm-busy-reading' sort of man...
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Logically, Ben knew that it shouldn't bother him.
But it did.
It really did.
He stared blankly at the computer screen. The cursor blinked back at him accusingly. Words floated off the page — acquisition, income, and joint venture — but his mind wasn't absorbing them. The office coffee machine hummed. Chairs scraped back. Life went on as usual, and Ben ought to crack on, too.
"What is it?" Aman asked.
His secretary was arranging a bouquet, chewing a wad of bubblegum. His top — a yellow mesh vest under a blazer — was ragingly inappropriate for the office, but nobody had commented. Everybody loved Aman; he could have worn a bin bag and gotten away with it.
"Nothing," Ben grunted.
"Mate," Aman said. "Do you think I was born yesterday?" He said the words 'do you' like d'ya, two lovers that couldn't bear to be separated. "You look terrible."
"Cheers," Ben muttered.
Aman popped his gum. "You'll feel better if you let it out."
"There's nothing to let out."
"Denial," Aman said sagely. "The refuge of the meek and frightened."
Ben turned back to his computer screen. He read the same paragraph. Re-read it. Across the room, Aman started humming something that sounded suspiciously like "Let It Go" from Frozen.
Ben sighed. "Can you stop that? I'm trying to work."
"Mmmhmmm."
There was another pause. Aman went back to fluffing the floral bouquet. Once again, Ben wondered why he'd become a tax lawyer; he'd much rather be buying flowers and watching Love Is Blind on corporate time.
He typed a word.
Deleted it.
"This," Aman said, "is painful to watch."
"Fine!" Ben leaned back, holding up his hands. "Fine. But it's stupid. I can't believe I'm about to admit this to you."
Aman laced his hands together. "Go on."
"So in bed last night, Louise said—"
"Hang on." Aman made a choking sound. "You're sharing a bed with her?"
Heat rushed to his face. "It's temporary."
"Right." Aman waved a ringed hand at him. "Continue."
"So Louise is having a dream last night." Ben had thought it was a nightmare at first, actually, given how heavily she was breathing. "And halfway through, she says the word Sebastian." He paused."Sebastian is the name of her boss."
"Ah," Aman said. "You're jealous."
Ben frowned. "I'm not jealous." Aman lifted an eyebrow, and a surge of irritation filled him. "I'm not! I'm concerned. That's her boss." He crossed his arms. "Aren't there laws against that sort of thing?"
