Your Alluring Love (The Bennett Family 6)

“I don’t always play dirty, but when I do, it’s for a good cause. Now make that plan.”

Frowning, I flip the calendar to a week sometime in the future. My mind freezes for a split second upon seeing the blank screen. Chewing the inside of my cheek, I try to visualize how a typical day would look.

My fingers almost fly over the keyboard as I fill in the calendar. My pulse quickens, and for the first time since last evening, my heart feels light. Maybe we can make this work. If he wants it to.

“This looks plausible,” I say once I’m done.

Pippa nods thoughtfully. “It wasn’t so hard. I knew once you had a plan you’d see things differently.”

“I can’t decide if it’s annoying or endearing that you know me so well.”

Pippa bats her eyelashes, kissing my cheek. It’s amazing how we change from grown-ass women to our ten-year-old selves when we’re alone together. “Just looking after my sister. Now how about calling Nate and telling him everything?”

Panic coils inside of me. “What if he doesn’t want me to go with him though? What if he pushes me away?” This is possibly my greatest fear, and why I haven’t called him until now.

“Ah, now we’re getting to the real crux of the issue. You were the one who pushed him away, right? Were you trying to beat him to the punch or something?”

“I think so,” I admit. “But maybe he agrees with me. He’s not exactly banging down my door, is he?”

Pippa snorts, pushing herself off the floor and stretching her legs. I have the feeling my sister is about to kick my ass again.

“Men’s egos sometimes stand in their way. You should know it—we have six brothers. That’s all the research we need. After what you told him, he’s probably trying to make sense of everything, licking his wounds and so on.”

“Right.”

“Call him.”

?

?What if he doesn’t want me to?”

“You’ll have to put yourself out there and see what happens.”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Nate

“This isn’t the quality it should be, Dylan,” I bark, analyzing the footage he brought me. I made him re-edit it twice, but it’s still not where it should be. “The last twenty seconds need more work. I want the new version in fifteen minutes.”

He walks out of my office muttering expletives but I don’t give a damn. I’ve been at the studio by myself the entire weekend working. Dylan should be grateful I didn’t call him in too. The least he can do is hand me a goddamn decent edit.

I need another coffee, or ten. I haven’t slept more than a handful of hours since Friday. I went through the motions after Alice left the party, but I couldn’t bolt since I was a guest of honor. Then I went home and spent hours staring at the ceiling, trying to make sense of everything. I need to talk to her, damn it, but I need to wrap my head around what happened first. On Saturday morning, I came to the studio, doing the one thing I knew would take my mind off Alice—work. I repeated the whole cycle on Sunday, but I just can’t sleep. The damn bed smells like her. It feels like her.

When the team showed up today at work at eight, I’d already been here since five.

“Mondays are usually shitty, but today takes the cake.” Clara steps inside, hands on her hips. “What’s with the barking? Half the staff looks like they’re gonna cry, the other half like they’re about to murder you. Should I have napkins on hand? Or a gun?”

“Jesus, Clara. Slow down.”

She crosses her arms over her chest, surveying me. “Have you had breakfast?”

“Just coffee.”

“Let’s get out of here and get some food into you. And more coffee.”

“I don’t—”

“Do it for the team. They need a break from you.”