Deep by Kylie Scott Page B

For now. Instead, I got busy wriggling Ben’s shoes off his feet. No way were they making contact with my sheets.
    “I’m assuming you didn’t have to hold a gun to Ben’s head to get him to fuck you?” The guy watched me unblinking, face dead serious.
    “Um, no.”
    David shrugged. “There you go.”
    “Isn’t that taking a slightly overly simplistic view of the situation?”
    He smiled. “In my experience, shit usually is pretty simple when you get right down to it. When it comes to matters of the heart, you decide where you belong and you go be there. Simple. Ben wanted to be here. Don’t think I didn’t try to talk him out of it, either. The bastard insisted.”
    Maybe. “Wonder what his new girlfriend would make of your theory.”
    “Yeah.” He winced, his mouth widening in imagined pain. “I’ll leave that one up to you two to sort out. But try not to stress. Can’t be good for Ben junior.”
    “Right.” I rolled my eyes and dropped Ben’s shoe on the floor. “But how is this going to affect the band, the two of them fighting?”
    It took him a long time to answer. “I honestly don’t know.”
    Fuck.
    “Night. I’ll lock the door on my way out.” He raised a hand in salute. “Call Ev if you need anything.”
    “Thanks, David.”
    The front door clicked closed behind him, leaving me alone with Ben. He lay passed out sideways across my queen-size bed. Ben was in my actual bed. Holy hell. I didn’t quite know what to do with that information. A pity there was nothing but boxes and junk in the spare room. Not that I didn’t want him near. My heart wasn’t so sensible. It was just time for me to start taking the safer option when it came to him. Past time even.
    “Hey.” I leaned over the mattress, giving his leg a shake. “Roll over.”
    A moan.
    “Come on, big boy. Move it. You’re taking up all the bed.”
    Incoherent muttering.
    This was not working, and like hell I’d be sleeping on the love seat. I pulled off a sock and tugged on his big toe. “Ben. Wake up.”
    In slow motion, he stirred, lifting his shaggy head and looking around.
    “Roll over.”
    “Wha—” He turned, easing himself up and over, as requested. He blinked and grimaced and looked generally displeased with the world. A lumpy red line bisected his forehead. Whatever David said, that had to hurt. “Lizzy?”
    “Got it in one.”
    “How’d I get here?”
    “David just dropped you off, remember?”
    He scratched at his beard. “Uh. Okay.”
    “You need to move, you’re taking up all of the room.”
    Bewildered, he rose up on his elbows and took a look around. “This your bed?”
    “Yes.”
    “Did we…” He raised an eyebrow suggestively.
    “No, I already learned my lesson, thank you very much.”
    “You sure?” He gave me a wonky smile. “It could be fun.”
    “Yeah, you look like you’ve had enough fun for the both of us for one night, buddy.”
    “Maybe.” He contemplated the thin cotton of my shirt for a good long while, one corner of his mouth moving upward. “Hey, you’re not wearing a bra.”
    “Shut up and move, Ben.”
    A groan. “All right.”
    It took him about forever to wriggle and roll and finally get his big fat head up on the pillow. On my favored side, damn it. Whatever. I lie down on my back beside him, keeping a nice, fun, celibate distance between our two bodies just in case he decided to try and get some. More sleep would be so great. To grow the bean, I really needed rest. My limbs were weighed down with lethargy, my head full of blergh.
    “We could cuddle,” he suggested, the words slurred, blurring together into one dumb drunken idea. Man, if he’d been even one inch sober I’d be all over him. A hug right now, letting me know everything would be okay, sounded sublime. A silly, childish wish, I know. Things were complicated enough. “I wouldn’t try nothing, swear.”
    “Nice double negative. No, Ben.”
    A grunt of dismay.
    “Go to sleep.”
    The world seemed