Chapter 8

“He asked you to marry him?” Grace asks, befuddles. “Why would he do that?”

“It’s supposed to help him with business or something, but that’s not important. He does not want any sort of romantic strings attached, it’ll all be just on paper,” Eden replied and then explained what Bennett had told her. She walks back to the bathtub and submerges herself once again.

“Well, that worked out beautifully. Wasn’t that your goal all along?”

“Yes but….” Eden couldn’t think of a single reason why she should not do this.

“But?” Grace urged.

“I don’t know, Grace,” Eden says, tracing her finger around the outline of her knee peeking out of the water.

“Did he do something to you? Do you have any reason to think that he might hurt you?”

“No, in fact, he has been nice to me, except he thinks that I am stupid,” Eden replies.

“I don’t see that a problem. I mean it is perfectly valid why he would think that. What we did was pretty stupid,” Grace chuckled. “But it does not mean that he wants to harm you. He was very decent to us the time we met at your penthouse, I had no hope that he would just let us go without punishing us. I mean, yes there are those favors they want from us but at least we are free, and not their captives.”

Eden thinks about it for a while and grunts in defeat. “Speaking of favors, what did Theo want from you?”

Grace seemed to have forgotten why she was angry in the beginning. “Oh, that jerk, I can’t believe his audacity. If I could I would kill him with my bare hands. Oh, I would love to take that smart mouth of his and-”

“Okay we know you want to torture him, but why? What did he say to you?” Eden asks.

“He asked me to go clubbing with him every weekend for a month and he said I have to look ‘sexy’. I mean, what am I? An escort service? How dare he say that to me.” 

“Well, I don’t really see how that is a problem. You go out partying almost every weekend anyway,” Eden tries to make her anger lessen.

“Yes but not with someone like him, you know that. What if he tries to do something to me?”

“Then lay your rules to him, tell him any intimacy is off-limits. And if he tries something without your consent, you will have a ton of your bodyguards around you. Just get it over with,” Eden suggests. “I know it’s not something you would like. But you and I both do not have a say in this, we did mess up badly. I am really sorry Grace.”

Grace sighs. “I suppose there is no other option. And don’t you dare apologize, I would do it all over again if it meant saving you from that monster, Carter.” 

“Thank you for everything Grace, but I know better than to put you through this again. Sophia and Natalie are still MIA?” Eden asks sadly. 

“Yeah, but they’ll come around.” Grace replies. “Now about Bennett Mason. I did look him up on G****e and I cannot deny that he got one hell of a physique. I suppose this marriage can bring you some pleasure at least.”

Eden could hear Grace smirking through the phone. She was only teasing her, but a moment of images flashed in her mind. Bennett’s body over hers, and their lips once again attached to each other. She thought of the time he had walked over to her to help her open his apartment door. He was so tall and muscular, his body hovering over hers, his cologne spread in the air around her, and the tip of his fingers touching her hand as he handed her the key. 

“Eden? Hello? Are you there?” Grace’s voice broke her out of her trance.

“Huh? What?” Eden asks, trying to shake off the unholy images from her mind, mentally scolding herself.

“I asked what will be the, uh, bedding situation after you’re married?” Grace teased.

“Cut it out, idiot. It’ll be nothing like that. I don’t want him to touch me ever,” Eden replies nervously, not knowing if she really meant those words. 

“Well, whatever you say, It’s Saturday night, so I better go find something sexy to wear, ugh. See ya.”

“Bye,” Eden hangs up the call and gets out of the tub to dry off.

She walks over to her bed and lies down on it, wearing nothing but an untied bathrobe.

And yet, once again, thoughts of Bennett kissing her at the club came back to her mind. She didn’t want to think about it. She felt that it was wrong to think about him like that. But her imagination went out of control and she started thinking about what would have happened if they took things further than that. What if she never drugged him, what if he took her back to his apartment, what if he touched her more around her waist, her torso, her hips, and her thighs. Her hands started to wander around her thighs, sliding further up. 

Before she could go any further, she hears a knock on her door. She scuttles around to close the front of her bathrobe and sits straight, in a decent position.

“Come in.”

A housemaid walks in to inform her that her father is back home and wishes to see her in the living room.

“What does that old bat want now?”

The maid gave her a sorry smile, and said, “I don’t know Miss Brown, he just asked for you.”

“Tell him I will be right there,” says Eden.

She felt pathetic thinking about what she would have done if the housemaid hadn’t knocked. She made a mental promise to herself to never let her mind wander in that direction ever as she got up and started getting dressed for the meeting with her father.