“The ladies love Ben Barrett!”
Maggie yelped as Mary Hart’s cheerful voice broke through the dismal silence in the room. Shifting, she felt the remote control dig into her butt and realized she’d accidentally pressed un-mute when she moved her legs.
She yanked the remote from under her, but couldn’t bring herself to shut off the TV. Not when Ben’s ridiculously sexy face mocked her from the screen. It was like driving past a gory car crash. You just couldn’t look away.
“Bad boy Barrett might be stirring up some scandals recently, but the Heart of a Hero star still manages to stir up the ladies.”
No kidding.
“Shanika Thomas, our New York correspondent, spent the day in the Big Apple chatting with Barrett’s fans, who don’t seem to mind all the negative attention their favorite celeb is receiving. In fact, it’s unanimous—we all love him.”
“Oh my God, Ben is sooooo cute!” a fan giggled into Shanika Thomas’ microphone. “I don’t care if he, like, slept with a married woman. He’s still hot!”
“I’m a married woman and he can sure sleep with me,” another fan remarked with a laugh. She lowered her voice. “Just don’t tell my husband I said that.”
“I don’t know who his new girlfriend is, but I wish it were me,” someone else sighed. “I’d go to a hotel with Ben Barrett any night of the week!”
“Well, there you have it,” Shanika chirped into the mic. “Scandalous or not, it looks like Ben Barrett has still scandalized the hearts of his female fans.”
Scandalized the hearts? What did that even mean?
Sighing, Maggie turned off the television and then nearly fell off the couch when the door to the apartment swung open.
“Oh,” she blurted, eyes wide as Ben entered the room. “You’re still here?”
“Sure am.”
He strode toward her, dropping a set of keys—her keys—on the hall table before approaching the living area. He held a large brown paper bag in his hands, and from where she sat, she saw the splotches of grease at the bottom of the bag and the steam rising from the top.
“I went out and got us some Chinese food. I don’t like pizza all that much.”
“But…”
“You asked me to leave?” He cocked a brow. “That’s not going to happen, Mags.”
She bristled at his use of her nickname. “And why not?”
“Because you like me. And I happen to like you.”
“I also like Joe the hot dog vendor. Doesn’t mean I’m going to let him move in with me and turn my life upside down.”
“Who said anything about moving in with you?” He flopped down on the couch, set the bag down on the coffee table and shot her a look that said you don’t understand me at all.
Well, she didn’t understand him. He was Ben Barrett, for God’s sake. After watching that two-minute segment on him, she was pretty sure he could walk out of there and have five phone numbers in his pocket before he even left the building. So why was he sticking around?
“All I want to do is spend a little time with you,” he added. “And if you’re honest, you’ll admit you want to spend time with me.”
“Ben—”
He silenced her by raising his hand, and like an obedient third-grader, her mouth slammed shut.
“I have a proposition for you,” he announced.
Wariness circled her insides like a pack of turkey vultures. “What kind of proposition?”
“I’ll have sex with you if you let me stay here a while.” With a pleasant smile, he began removing items from the takeout bag. He carefully placed each cardboard container on the table, and then reached into the bag for the napkins and cutlery.
She just stared at him. Obviously she’d misheard him, because no way had he just offered to sleep with her in exchange for room and board. Deciding to chalk it up to hallucination, she focused instead on the food he was laying out on the table, wondering what the hell he was doing. She’d told him to check into a hotel, for God’s sake, and instead he’d come back with that cocky attitude and a bag of Chinese food that smelled too damn good and made her empty stomach growl in anticipation.
“Gimme that,” she sighed, grabbing the carton of egg rolls from his hands.
“That’s all you’ve got to say?” He watched as she munched on a roll, his eyes bewildered. “You’re not going to respond to my proposition?”
Damn. She hadn’t hallucinated it after all.
But that didn’t mean she wanted to discuss it either, so she spared him a withering glance and said, “No.”
“Why the fuck not?”
“Because it’s so ridiculous it doesn’t merit a response.”
“It’s not ridiculous and you know it.”
“What I know,” she said, swallowing before reaching for another egg roll, “is that you’re nuts. I’m not giving you a place to stay in exchange for sex.”