Moment of Weakness

Playing With Fire

A/N: I'm so excited to upload this chapter, it was one of my favorites to write. Enjoy!

"Did you finish the book?" Ben says a few minutes into the drive to the airport Thursday morning. It had snowed last night and was freezing so he had picked her up early to adjust to the delayed drive times due to the snow and ice. She had come downstairs with black leggings, an oversized white sweater, and a white knit hat on her head. Her casualness added another level of attractiveness he hadn't experienced towards her yet and he liked it.

"I did," She says while turning in the seat to look at him. Since they had talked Monday, the two of them had returned to a strained sense of normalcy. They were able to have conversations as coworkers and almost as friends even though there was still a little bit of tension still present. However, there were defined signs of their attraction that they had to try to keep hidden. Like yesterday, when they were eating lunch and the Aioli had dripped down her cheek a little. Before she had a chance to grab her napkin and wipe it off, Ben had done one of the most stereotypical moves in the book and wiped it off with his thumb. She had immediately felt the blood rush to her cheeks, turning her entire face red in response, and adverted her eyes. Nothing in her wanted to be strictly professional, but she knew that is was the best choice. "Actually, I read it a second time already," she admits.

"You did?" Ben asks genuinely shocked and angles his body to look at her as well.

"Yeah, I did. The first time was just for pleasure, but the second time, I really dissected it, made notes, highlighted sections, and added sticky tabs."

"Oh you're one of those," he laughs as Rey pulls the book out and hands it to him, the colored tabs sticking out the sides as he fans through the pages.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"You like to annotate for fun," He explains, overemphasizing the word 'fun.'

"Is that a problem?"

"No," he pauses on a page to read her notes before responding. "It's kind of cute, nerdy, but cute." He pauses again to read another set of notes and Rey hides her blushing cheeks. "Have you ever thought of becoming an editor?"

"No I haven't, my degree isn't in English so I don't think I would be very good at it or cut out for it at all."

"Your notes far exceed many of the Junior Editors on staff," He fans to another page. "It's impressive really."

"Thank you," Rey says quietly and watches his eyes panning her handwriting on the pages for a few minutes. "Do you know why the author chose to stay anonymous?"

Ben sighs and closes the book before handing it back to her. "It's a long story, but pretty much he exposes a lot in this book as you know, and he would prefer to not completely tarnish his and his family's reputation."

"But it's a story of overcoming all of those things and becoming better from it," Rey argues.

"Yes it is, but when many of those things being exposed could cause damage to those around him, I understand why he wants to stay anonymous."

"You don't want him to be recognized for his work?"

"I want to respect his privacy, and you should too," Ben says, his face becoming serious as his tone changes to that of warning.

"Okay," Rey concedes and turns to sit forward again, not wanting to push him on the subject anymore.

--

Rey waits behind Ben for the woman in the purple dress suit to scan the tickets Ben hands to her and she smiles at them, "Welcome, please enjoy your flight." He shifts his messenger bag before entering and Rey follows him down the ramp to the plane, trying not to focus on his butt in his dark jeans. She smirks as she watches him duck through the door of the plane and nod at the flight attendant as he passes. As he turns down the aisle, the attendant's face comes into view, revealing that Paige is in fact the flight attendant for this flight.