Dirty Little Lies (Dirty Little #2) by Cassie Cross Read Free Book Online

Building benefit, and actually caring enough to help us meet our goal, the very least I can do is invite him to sit down and have lunch with me.
    “Ben?”  
    He turns. “Yeah?” The disappointment I saw earlier has been replaced with an earnest hopefulness that was always the end of my willpower where this man was concerned.  
    “Have lunch with me,” I say, motioning to the chair across from me. “If you want to. Please.”
    His eyebrows raise in surprise, and it’s actually kind of cute. “Really?”
    I can’t help but let out a short laugh. “Yes, really.”  
    “I’d love to.” He doesn’t even finish his reply before he pulls out the chair, and unbuttons his blazer as he takes a seat.  
    When the waiter comes back around a minute or so later, I ask him for another menu, and request that he holds my order until Ben’s is ready.  
    After he takes a sip of water, Ben says, “You’re in a much better mood than you were the last time I saw you.”  
    I know I promised myself I’d keep things light with him, and that includes steering clear of these emotional minefields that the two of us always seem to have difficulty navigating, but I can’t help myself today. Not after learning about what he did.  
    “I am in a good mood,” I admit.  
    “I’m glad,” he replies. “It suits you.”  
    “Thank you.” I do my best to fight the blush that I can feel rushing to my cheeks.  
    “Is it okay if I ask what got you in this mood?”  
    I know he’s doing a little digging here, hoping he’ll get a personal piece of information along with my actual answer.  
    “I just had a meeting with Mitzi Vandergraff.”  
    He looks puzzled. “I don’t think I’ve ever met a person who was even remotely happy after spending time with that woman.”  
    I let out a loud, unexpected laugh.  
    Ben’s eyes widen, but he laughs along with me, even though he’s obviously confused by my outburst.  
    “I haven’t heard you laugh in a long time,” he says with a gentle smile.  
    There’s a good reason for that; I haven’t felt like laughing around him in years. But now is not the time for such admissions. That would only hurt him, and hurting him is the very last thing I want to do right now.  
    “It’s nice,” Ben adds, before I have a chance to reply.  
    “It’s because of you.”  
    His eyes are even wider than they were just a second before. “What? Why?”  
    Cat’s out of the bag at this point, no use in trying to walk around it. I reach down into my purse, pull out the piece of paper I was looking at right before he showed up, and slide it across the table.  
    “Ben.” His name comes out much more tenderly than I meant it to.  
    When he realizes what I’m showing him, he breathes a soft, “Oh.”  
    “Why did you do this?” I’m careful to keep my voice soft, because I don’t want him to think that I’m accusing him of anything. I really just want to know why, what the angle is, if there is one. “Was it some kind of grand gesture, or were you trying to-”
    “No,” he says vehemently. “It wasn’t a grand gesture. Well, it was a gesture, just not a grand one. I know how much that building means to you, Marisa. I would’ve done this regardless of whether you ever spoke to me again or not. Sorry I was late with it.” He clears his throat, and reaches up to adjust his tie. “I was…distracted before I got to go inside.”  
    I can’t help but smile at the way he explains his tardiness, but I’m still curious. “Why, then?”  
    He shrugs. “We went on our first date there. We made memories there. That place is special to me too, Marisa. I don’t like seeing it falling apart.”  
    Not really sure how to respond to that, I fiddle with the napkin that’s splayed out across my lap. “I didn’t think…”
“You didn’t think what?”  
    “I didn’t know that place meant anything to you. That those memories were special for you.”  
    Ben looks down, and