Marguerite Kaye - The Chatsfield Short Romances 1-5

But best of all, Ben was steady. Reliable. Thinking. While he wasn’t unemotional, far from it, he wasn’t volatile and she loved that about him. Unlike her crazy, hot-blooded, impulsive blood and step-parents and half and step siblings, there was no drama with Ben. He didn’t upset apple carts, throw his toys, make quick decisions without talking it over with her. He was rational and he didn’t make rash decisions.

She felt safe with him. Loved. Treasured.

‘Hey, Doc.’

‘Hey you. Want to buy a girl a margarita? Tequila makes me easy…’

Ben grinned. ‘I make you easy.’

‘This is true but buy me a drink anyway.’

‘Sure.’ Ben tugged her head back by gently pulling her ponytail and smiled down at her from his six-two height. ‘Happy birthday, Jo. What is it, your thirty-fifth?’

Joely mock glared at him as he placed a broad hand on her back and guided her to the bar off the lobby. ‘It’s my twenty-ninth, you twit, as you well know.’

Chapter Two

In the downstairs trendy, classy bar, Ben snagged a free bar stool and Joely wiggled her bum onto it as Ben ordered a margarita and a beer from the barman. The place was full of suited men and smart woman, coming into the bar for a Friday night drink. Just next to them sat a glossy couple who were looking everywhere but at each other.

‘Trouble brewing.’ Joely tipped her head towards them and Ben slid his gaze to the left.

‘Maybe they are both tired.’

‘She’s wound tighter than a spring and he would rather be having a root canal,’ Joely scoffed. She’d witnessed far too many failed relationships—her parents treated love like ping pong—and she’d become a master at spotting relationship trouble at an early age. You had to if you didn’t want to get caught in the emotional fallout that their marriages always ended in.

‘Ignore them,’ Ben said, picking up her drink and handing it to her. ‘Sip…’

Joely took the drink from him and tasted salt, the tang of citrus and the hit of tequila. Yeah, this was what angels would drink on their hen’ nights. Joely took another sip just to make sure that the first wasn’t a fluke and closed her eyes. Yeah, it was sooooo good. ‘My evening is starting off with an awesome margarita and, hopefully, will end in spectacular sex.’

‘Oh, I don’t know…’ Ben’s eyes always sparkled when he teased her, ’’ ’you’re getting ugly as you get older. I’m not really finding you that attractive these days.’

Because they had a very active and exciting sex life and she knew that he absolutely adored her, Joely just wrinkled her nose at him.

‘We’ve been married for six months and you’re cheating on me!’

And there it was, trouble. Big trouble. Joely pulled a face at Ben who, strangely, looked annoyed at the woman’s outburst.

‘I was drunk…’

‘That’s a stupid excuse!’

It really was, Joely agreed. Joely saw the flicker of disgust on Ben’s face and half-smiled. Ben, unfailingly honest, wouldn’t cheat on her—he’d dump her first. There was a certain level of comfort in that.

‘You spend too much money,’ the man countered. ‘I make it, you spend it.’

Ah, money. And that, ladies and gentlemen, was why she was so anal about being independent, about paying her way, paying rent, her share of the utilities, picking up the grocery bill. She never wanted Ben to think, for one moment, that she was with him for his money, of which he apparently had quite a bit.

‘I’ll contact the lawyers but you need to move out.’

‘You move out,’ the man countered. ‘I’m paying for the house.’

‘Get real.’

And the lawyers were the only winners here, they’d end up with a fatter bank account.

‘And another happy marriage bites the dust,’ Joely said, her voice low. When Ben didn’t respond she looked at him and frowned when she saw him running his finger around the collar of his shirt, his eyes on his glass of beer. ‘Ben?’

‘Yeah?’

‘You’re miles away.’

Ben flicked the still fighting couple a look that suggested that they had crawled out from under a rock. They were stupid not contagious and Joely wondered why they bothered him so much. She was pretty and he looked successful, like a million other couples in London. Ok, they were slightly touched to get married and he was a slug but why would that rile the normally easy-going Ben?

‘Let’s go,’ he suggested.

Joely looked at her half-full glass. ‘Not a chance. This margarita is heaven and we just got here. And we have free entertainment.’

‘Could’ve done without that,’ Ben muttered.

Joely sipped her margarita. ‘I want another one.’

Ben finally smiled. ‘Finish that one first, babe, and see how you feel. I have plans for you tonight and carrying you up to our room, rat-arsed, is not part of it.’

Joely lowered her glass in surprise. ‘We’re spending the night here?’

‘Yep.’

‘Why?’ Joely asked, genuinely confused. Why would they want to spend a night in a lavish hotel when Ben had a luxurious flat she’d moved into in January? What was the point of spending a fortune to sleep in another bed? She liked her bed…

Ben looked at her, puzzled. ‘I thought it would be romantic.’

Romance…geez. Ok, she wasn’t very good at all the gooey stuff that went with relationships and her job made her practical and no-nonsense. Ben was the same…in the first few months he’d done the flowers and chocolates thing but soon realised that him making them supper and giving her foot rubs got a more enthusiastic response from her. She and Ben just were… They didn’t need this superfluous stuff.

Besides, when her parents weren’t wanting to kill each other, they spoiled each other with over the top romantic gestures and it still left a sour taste in her mouth. Instead of wasting money on the weekends in Barcelona or Rome, on the seventy two red roses, the midnight picnics, they should’ve just spent that energy on loving each other…trying to stay together.

Your past has nothing to do with Ben, she told herself, forcing herself to smile. It’s a night in a nice hotel, Bennett, not a prison sentence.

She slipped her hand into Ben’s broad one and squeezed. ‘It sounds amazing, Ben.’

It didn’t, not really, but a little white lie could be forgiven since he’d gone to so much trouble to organise this for her birthday. ‘Luggage?’ she asked, still looking for an excuse.

‘Waiting for us at the front desk. Clothes for the morning, an outfit for tonight, your make-up bag and toiletries.’

God bless Ben’s organisational skills, she thought.

She lifted a naughty eyebrow. ‘Pyjamas?’

‘Jo…’ Ben drawled. ‘In the six months we’ve been living together, how many times have you slept in pyjamas?’

Ah, good point. ‘Never,’ she admitted. ‘Mostly because you take them off as soon as I get into bed.’

Ben’s eyes darkened with passion. ‘Exactly. So, we’re going to go up to our room, get naked, play around and then we’re going to have dinner and then we’re going to play around some more.’

Yeah, dinner and stunning sex. Brilliant birthday present!

* * *

Ben and Joely walked into the lift and when the lift doors closed behind them, Joely stood in front of Ben, her hand behind her, resting on his thigh. Ben wound his arm around her waist and nuzzled that sensitive spot just under her ear. The other couple in the lift, huddled into opposite corners of the lift and looking middle-aged and tired, glanced their way.

‘We used to be like them,’ the woman hissed at her husband and in the reflection of the metal panels Ben saw her pursing her lips.

‘Like what?’ the husband asked in an equally low but easily distinguishable tone.