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- Herausgeber: December Drake
- Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
- Sprache: Englisch
A group of men subject to a gene-altering treatment go primal. They're ready to claim the right woman as their primal mate. Or sometimes, the wrong one.
The last three stories in the original Primal Regression series, in one volume:
- Claiming His Target: A mob thug claims the target he's shadowing.
- Claimed by Her Security Guard: A CEO is claimed by her security guard, who is not at all what he seems.
- Claiming His Professor: A college student in love with his professor fights a government organization for the right to claim her.
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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025
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Primal Regression: Volume Two
Claiming His Target
Claimed by Her Security Guard
Claiming His Professor
December Drake
Copyright © 2025 December Drake
All rights reserved.
No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher or author, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law.
This book is a work of fiction. The story, all names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this production are fictitious. No identification with actual persons (living or deceased), places, buildings, and products is intended or should be inferred.
Contents
Claiming His Target
December Drake
Contents
Adistantalarmclock blared in his earbuds, followed by the rustle of Ashley stirring in bed with a sleepy moan that had his blood rushing south.
Benjamin smiled, and opened his eyes. “Good morning, kitten,” he whispered.
He threw back his covers and sat up, waiting until he heard Ashley get to her feet next door before also rising. He quickly bound his makeshift bedding into a tight roll, and set it in the corner.
The walls between the condo units were ridiculously thin, both a blessing and a curse. He could easily hear her moving around her condo without the audio feed in his ear, especially with no furniture on his side to absorb the sound.
Ashley walked into her bathroom, and he softly followed suit to his own. He’d found it best to sync his footsteps to hers, to prevent any unnecessary sound that she might hear.
If she realized that someone was squatting in the empty condo next door, things could get messy.
He emptied his bladder and flushed his own toilet a half second after she did, and managed to turn the dial on his own shower head about the same time.
After months of learning her daily patterns, he knew what speed he needed to maintain while he soaped up. Music blared from her bedroom, and he smiled as she sang along in the shower.
She’d been on this album for a while now. It was starting to grow on him, too.
He didn’t have as much to do after his shower as she did, giving him a chance to relax. He chose one of the outfits he’d brought downstairs from his real condo: a pair of dark jeans, and another turtleneck.
The high neck of the shirt still made him squirm a bit. But after hearing Ashley on the phone with her friend one night, talking about how sexy turtlenecks looked on men, he’d ordered a whole box of them.
Her blow-dryer started up next door. Benjamin prepped a self-heating instant meal, then turned on his single-cup coffee maker.
There was no electricity in the vacant unit, and thus he’d wired a couple car batteries in parallel to an inverter for his simple needs. It was more than enough to keep his gear charged up, power a lamp, and occasionally run a hot plate for cooking food.
When Benjamin heard her move into her own kitchen to make breakfast, he tipped quietly toward the wall. He put his eye to the tiny peephole he’d installed, hidden from sight on her side by a bookshelf.
The fish-eye lens gave him a panoramic view into the front rooms of her home. Ashley stood at her kitchen counter, adding ingredients to a little toasted sandwich maker.
Benjamin hummed appreciatively at her outfit, a black satin blouse tucked into tight jeans. Ashley always wore high heels, and he couldn’t wait to see which ones she’d wear today. She had a whole closet full of heels in every possible color and height, and they all drove him fucking wild.
What mattered right now was that she was decently dressed. He pressed the button mounted next to the peephole, and the lens briefly flickered as it snapped a picture.
Benjamin checked his phone to make sure it had uploaded properly, then went to finish his own meal.
Photos of Ashley at home were Level 3 photos, as opposed to Levels 1 and 2 photos of her in public, or at work. He hadn’t yet been ordered to send over a Level 3 picture, but he still needed to collect them.
To prove that Ashley was always within his, and by extension, his employer’s grasp, at all times.
Still, Benjamin made sure that she was captured in those pictures fully clothed. Not only did the mere idea of anyone seeing her in a state of undress infuriate him, but he was determined to preserve her personal dignity, as much as possible.
He wasn’t here to humiliate her.
Theo, Benjamin’s boss, called their business asset management. Ashley was a Class B asset. They used Class B assets to keep higher-value, Class A assets in line.
Such as Ashley’s father, Judge Hamilton.
Benjamin had been assigned to manage Ashley seven months ago. To insert himself into her life overtly, as an acquaintance, and covertly shadow her at all times.
It was his job to be within thirty seconds’ reach of her, any time of day. If Judge Hamilton bucked their control, and refused to cave even after being shown Level 3 photos of his daughter, Theo would call in a Code Black.
Then, Benjamin would be on the move, tasked with grabbing Ashley, and quickly. Using his cloned key to let himself into her home, or worst case, taking the fire escape to her nearest window.
It didn’t matter when the call came, or where she was. Benjamin would be there, snatching her out of the hallway at work, or from a restaurant. Speeding up and running her car off the road, if necessary, to take her into his possession.
Taking her, and holding her as collateral.
During which, some intimidating people would be having a very thorough conversation with the judge. Explaining what he needed to do, if he wanted to see his beloved daughter again.
The call to release Ashley might come in three days, or three months.
When Benjamin heard the sound of Ashley washing her plate from breakfast, he put on his shoes and shrugged into his peacoat. He silently pushed up the bathroom window, and stepped out onto the narrow fire escape.
Benjamin had installed an exercise pull-up bar in one of the empty condo’s doorways for a good reason. With a small jump, he caught the metal edge of the steel grating above him, and pulled himself easily up to the next level.
He shoved up the window in his real condo, and jumped inside. Checking his watch, he quickly strode through his fully furnished, untouched condo to the door, and jogged down the hall to the elevator.
Benjamin didn’t have long to wait inside, before the elevator started moving down. He fixed his clothing, adjusted his wool coat and swiped at a bit of dust from the fire escape.
With a ding, the elevator’s doors slid open.
Ashley stepped inside, clutching a travel coffee mug, and smiled up at him. “Good morning.” The way her eyes lingered on him made every itchy second in his turtleneck worth it.
“Morning,” Benjamin murmured.
This was part of his job, too: becoming a regular fixture in her life. A person she could at least nominally trust, and let her guard down around.
If things went south, and he was forced to act fast, it would make grabbing her that much easier.
She cleared her throat and fidgeted with her mug. “You’re like my elevator buddy. We always leave for work at the same time.”
Benjamin inhaled, enjoying the combined scents of her body wash and perfume. Even the hint of coffee, and the lingering traces of toasted bagel with egg.
He gave a small shrug, and a bemused smile. “Well, you know… rush hour.”
Ashley cringed, then nodded. “Right. I guess a lot of people must be heading to work, now.”
He curled his hands into fists in his coat pockets. It wasn’t the first time she’d left him an opening as wide as a football field, and damn, if he didn’t want to take it.
To give her a real, warm smile, so she’d know how beautiful he thought she was. Then say something in return that would have her laughing, and leaning subtly toward him.
I could be your dinner buddy, too.
That’s what he wanted to say. It was corny as shit, but he had a feeling it might work, and let him ask her up to his place for dinner.
He was supposed to keep Ashley within thirty seconds’ reach, after all. Benjamin wouldn’t need that long, if he already held her hand in his, while they strolled down the street, as a couple. Or as she was snuggled up next to him on his couch, watching a movie.
Or when she moaned under him while he moved inside her, nice and deep. He’d heard her moans enough times through the wall already, while she rode her vibrator in bed. He knew exactly how she would sound.
The elevator dinged as the doors slid open on the parking garage, shocking him from his fantasy.
Benjamin managed to give her a slightly strained smile as she waved back at him and strode to her car. The red pumps she’d paired with her slim jeans had his dick rising.
“Nice choice, kitten,” he whispered.
He pretended to check his phone as she started up her Lexus and drove out of the underground garage. Then, he pulled his key fob from his pocket.
He took a different car every day, so Ashley wouldn’t catch on to the same car tailing her everywhere she went.
But today was car rotation day. Once a week, the three cars available to him were switched out by Theo’s team. Benjamin wouldn’t know what the hell he was driving, without checking first.
The fob had three buttons, and he pressed them each in order, watching as two different sedans and one SUV briefly flashed a red light from their dashboard.
He chose the gray Audi. Once he started it up, his phone paired automatically to the proprietary security system. The center display lit up with a map, showing Ashley’s car moving down the road on her usual route to the office.
Benjamin shoved his fantasies deep down, and back out of his thoughts. Shadowing Ashley had required him to learn everything about her. To find the pattern in her schedule, and memorize every minute of it.
But fuck, if it wasn’t getting a little harder each day, to pretend she hadn’t become his entire world.
Hekepthimselfthree cars behind Ashley’s Lexus on the freeway.
She’d queued up that same album on her car’s stereo, and he couldn’t help nodding along as she sang the lyrics.
An incoming call cut off the music, and he tapped the phone button on his steering wheel. “Mornin’, boss.”
Theo’s raspy voice filled his car. “How’s babysitting our little princess going?”
“Just another day in paradise,” Benjamin muttered, purposely infusing his voice with as much bored sarcasm as possible.
Theo didn’t need to know how much he’d come to enjoy sleeping one wall away from Ashley. How much he liked listening to her sing in the shower, and the car. Or how he looked forward to seeing which heels she’d chosen for the day.
This was a job. If Theo suspected his heart was involved, he’d pulled Benjamin from his post immediately. Theo wouldn’t tolerate compromised judgment.
Getting pulled would make Benjamin lose his mind. He knew he could never touch Ashley, but shadowing her had become his drug.
He just needed some time to ween himself off it, that was all.
“Before I forget,” Theo was saying. “You’re due for your career reassessment. It’s time to prepare for your offboarding, in six months.”
Benjamin grimaced. “Come on, boss. Don’t do this.”
“Those are the rules. Three years of working for me, then two years’ off. That’s the contract. Subcontracting is the way of the future.”
He knew his boss’s intentions were honorable. Once every three years, Theo forced his subordinates out into the cold. He sincerely wanted his subcontractors to find a life, outside of being mob lackeys.
Theo had been tangled up with organized crime since he was a teenager. There was no out for him; he was fond of saying the only way he’d be leaving was in a body bag.
He’d made it clear he didn’t want his own team similarly stuck, with no way out. Thus, he’d turned himself into a black box. His subordinates didn’t know who he worked for. In turn, Theo shielded his team’s identities from his own masters.
Benjamin may not know who Theo worked for, and whose pocket Judge Hamilton had climbed into, but he knew it had to be one of the local crime families.
It was in his best interest not to dig any further, lest he find something that would turn his stomach.
Freeway traffic slowed to a crawl. Benjamin scowled, leaning back in his seat. “I don’t have shit else to do.”
“That’s what the career reassessment is for. You know the routine. If you still can’t find anything to do with your life after a couple years, you can come on back. ”
“I’ve already come back twice. How many times do we have to do this, before you realize there’s jack shit out there, for me?” Benjamin muttered.
Every time he’d returned, he could feel Theo’s subtle disappointment. But Benjamin didn’t have a reason to start a life elsewhere. There had never been anything he wanted.
His eyes rose, staring at the back of Ashley’s Lexus, several cars up. At least, until now.
Theo gave a skeptical grunt. “After New Mexico, you should know exactly why this is necessary.”
Just like that, Benjamin’s mood took a nosedive into the shitter.
The job in New Mexico last year had gone bad. Real bad. It’d fucked with his head so hard Theo had put him on leave for three months, and threatened to rotate him out early.
Benjamin had clawed his way out of that black hole, and proved he was still one of Theo’s best. Enough for Theo to put him on the Hamilton job.
Even though Benjamin was operationally efficient at that point, his head had still been in a dark place.
In a way, Ashley had saved him.
“How’s the Audi?”
Benjamin shrugged. “Comfortable. I won’t know how it handles, without a real test.”
“Well, you may just get one. A few smaller groups have been sniffing around, looking for a way in. Keep your eyes open.”
He frowned. Theo was hardly the only shark in the water, and it wouldn’t be the first time another group had tried to elbow their way through to seize control of an asset.
“I’m gonna need a Level 3 photo from you, as well.”
Benjamin straightened as traffic began to move once more, shifting into third gear. “Wait, seriously?”
“An important trial is about to start, and Hamilton is acting squirrelly. We can’t risk it.”
He shook his head, tapping the console screen to send the photo he’d snapped of Ashley that morning.
He heard his boss’s phone ping, and Theo chuckled. “You know, you complain a lot, but there’s no way you’re not enjoying the sight of that, every day.”
Benjamin fought a grin, losing the battle as he glanced down at the photo of Ashley.
She looked absolutely smoking today. And the side profile shot he’d caught of her in the kitchen showed off her perfect ass in those jeans.
“I said I was bored, Theo. Not dead.”
His boss’s laughter filled the car as he followed Ashley off the freeway into downtown.
Notthisasshole,again.
Benjamin emptied the small trash can and set it back under the desk of one of Ashley’s coworkers, scowling from under his ballcap.
Ashley sat two rows away, trying her best to split her attention between her work, and the overbearing douchebag perched on the edge of her desk.
Mike worked one floor above, but frequently came downstairs on some pretense or another to hover near Ashley’s cubicle.
For her part, she treated him with strained politeness, obviously afraid of creating a worse situation by telling him to go to hell. Something she shouldn’t even have to worry about.
Benjamin ground his teeth. He wanted nothing more than to cross the office, and lay Mike out flat on the floor. But that wasn’t his job. His job was to shadow her, and otherwise remain invisible.
He pulled the ball cap a little lower over his eyes, and glanced down at his janitor’s uniform. It was a flimsy disguise. It worked because Ashley didn’t expect to see him in her office building, emptying trash cans and mopping floors.
It also worked because Benjamin maintained a strict distance. A distance he couldn’t violate, not even to put his fist through Mike’s deserving teeth.
Edwin was keeping an eye on the pair as well, from near the copy machine.
If Benjamin was Ashley’s shadow, then Edwin was his. The younger guy had been assigned as his protégé and fallback, ready to step in, if Benjamin needed backup.
Edwin had maneuvered himself into an intern position in the office. At only twenty-two, with a goofy, innocent smile, he played the role of a fumbling new grad convincingly.
Across the room, Mike laughed at something, probably his own joke. When Ashley didn’t respond, he cleared his throat, and sipped from his mug of fresh coffee.
Mike’s throat spasmed, and his face scrunched up in disgust. He barely managed to swallow the mouthful without spitting it out.
Benjamin heard Edwin’s muffled snort over his comms unit.
“Was that you, Ed?” he murmured.
Edwin put his cell phone to his ear, as though answering a call. He winked at Benjamin. “He was blocking your view, boss.”
Benjamin pointedly ignored that comment. Yet, with Edwin shadowing him all day, he knew it was impossible the kid hadn’t noticed.
Hadn’t noticed how bad Benjamin had it, for their asset.
He bent to grab another trash can. “What did you do? Swap the salt and sugar in the breakroom?”
“That’s too easy to spot.” Edwin purposely let the stack of stapled meeting packets slip from his arms, drawing the giggles of two nearby female employees.
He grinned back at them as he knelt to clean up his mess. “I salted the entire bottle of creamer. By the time he figures out what the hell is wrong with every cup of coffee he makes, there’ll be enough senna in his system to send him running to the shitter.”
“Senna…” Benjamin leaned against his rolling trash bin, drumming his fingers against the side. “Is that what’s in the little bottle you gave to me?”
“No, no. You have a bottle of lobelia. You know, puke weed. Crazy effective. A few drops, and… ” Edwin made a realistic gagging noise.
Benjamin nodded slowly. “Right, right.”
Edwin had apparently been raised in an off-grid commune, the only child of some herbalists. Benjamin had at first been a little skeptical, about the herbs his protégé swore by.
That is, until he’d seen Edwin drop a security guard in thirty seconds flat, just by spiking his can of soda. Now, Benjamin was a believer.
Mike excused himself and rose, walking quickly to the breakroom and frowning down into his mug of coffee.
“That’s it. Go make another one. Drink up,” Edwin muttered. He carried his pile of paperwork back to his cubicle, watching Mike cross the office. “That should clean some of the bullshit out of him.”
Benjamin fought a laugh, and pushed his trash bin along the edge of the room. Even as his smile faded, he could feel the familiar ache in his chest. The familiar panic.
A panic telling him not to get close to another protégé. To send Edwin home, and out of danger. Before it turned into another New Mexico.
But if he did that, Theo would pull him immediately. Maybe for good.
Half an hour later, Ashley rose as her computer shut down, packing her phone into her purse.
Edwin stretched at his computer. “Another day, another dollar. See you tomorrow, boss.”
Trafficwasblissfullylight while he trailed Ashley back home. Most of the commuters were headed in the other direction at this time of day, leaving the freeway clear.
Benjamin had picked up enough of the words of Ashley’s current favorite song to start singing along with her. He stopped as another call interrupted him, and he glanced at the console.
Call Routed from Spoofed SIM: Spectrum Institute.
Disoriented, Benjamin braked, slowing down while he struggled to cling to the present. But the darkness was already there, trying to drown out the light Ashley gave him.
If there was one number he didn’t want to see on the caller ID, it was the Spectrum Institute’s. Nothing else so clearly reminded him of just how screwed up he’d been, after New Mexico.
Haunted by the memory of his protégé’s lifeless eyes, Benjamin had shut down. Mentally, physically.
He didn’t sleep. Couldn’t eat. Couldn’t answer the calls of his few friends, in his necessarily tiny social circle.
Couldn’t fuck.
He also had a job he couldn’t share with a therapist. Joining an erectile dysfunction drug trial had given him the illusion he was moving forward, and starting to live, again.
In reality, it’d just been easier to sign a few forms and let some doctors inject him with fuck knows, while he remained mentally checked out.
Benjamin cleared his throat, and pressed the Answer button on his steering wheel.
“This is…” He floundered for a moment, trying to recall his cover name at the time. “This is Chris.”
“Ah, good afternoon, Chris,” an anxious-sounding man replied. “It’s Dr. Morris, from the Spectrum Institute. I was hoping you could drop by for a visit. We need to discuss some potential side effects, of the treatment you received last year.”
Side effects. Of course. He should have expected that. Maybe he should have read the fine print on his forms, instead of immediately tossing them in the fireplace.
“I can’t. I’ve actually moved across the country, since then.” That much was the truth, at least. “Can you tell me over the phone?”
“Ah, th-that’s—”
“Just give it to me straight, doc. How bad are we talking? Hair loss? Blindness? Cancer?”
Steeling himself, Benjamin focused on Ashley’s car ahead of him on the freeway.
Dr. Morris laughed, a nervous, twittering sound. “It’s nothing like you’re imagining.”
“Christ,” another man in the background muttered. “Stop pussyfooting around it and tell him, for fuck’s sake.”
Benjamin blinked, and frowned.
Dr. Morris twittered once more. “Right. So, the treatment may have altered the chemical profile of the pheromones you produce, among other genetic aspects.” He cleared his throat. “Permanently.”
“Okay,” Benjamin replied slowly. “What does that mean? Will it make me smell bad? Pheromones are something you can smell, right? Or is that a myth?”
“Well, the science behind human pheromones has been a bit gray, until our research. We’ve certainly confirmed a few theories, but that’s not our current focus area. Perhaps in the future, we could author a white paper to discuss—”
Benjamin heard a curse, and a rustle, as the other man grabbed the phone and began to speak.
“Your altered pheromones may potentially send an ovulating woman into heat,” he told Benjamin bluntly. “And her heat might drive you into a frenzy. To impregnate her.”
Benjamin’s mouth fell open, before a stunned laugh finally escaped. “I’m sorry, but, what the fuck?”
He watched in disbelief as Ashley’s Lexus suddenly changed lanes a few miles in front of him, heading for the next exit.
Seconds later, a blue sedan swerved across the lanes as well, following her.
“Shit,” Benjamin hissed.
He double-clutched from sixth gear to fourth, and the Audi’s engine growled as he shot down the highway, leaving the light traffic behind.
“Are you there, Chris?”
Benjamin muted the call on his wheel, and tapped the comm in his ear. “Ashley’s breaking her usual pattern. She’s got a tail. Condition Yellow.”
“I see you,” Edwin replied in his ear. “I’m three miles out, and headed your way.”
“Chris?” Dr. Morris prompted again.
“Fuck.” Benjamin unmuted the call. “I’m a bit tied up, right now. Can you call me back in a couple hours? We can video conference. Whatever works for you.”
“We can’t—”
“Yes, we can,” the other man cut in. “We’ll text you an invite. See you then.” The call disconnected.
Benjamin slowed, and dropped back while he followed the other two cars off the freeway exit.
“Where are you headed, kitten?” he muttered.
The other driver was doing a shit job of following Ashley. It wouldn’t take long for her to spot the blue car nearly tailgating her, if she checked her rearview mirror.
That meant whoever it was didn’t care. They weren’t here to shadow her, like Benjamin. They were here to take her.
Like hell, they would.
Ashley pulled into the small grocery store parking lot, and headed inside. A minivan cut off the blue sedan as it tried to park. By the time the sedan found a new spot, and its driver got out, Benjamin was inside the store, and waiting.
If the plan was to take Ashley, it would have made more sense to stay outside, and take her from the parking lot. Grabbing her in a store would be difficult, and risky.
Either the man was stupid, or he didn’t intend to take her, at all.
Benjamin’s pulse kicked up. Maybe he was here to make sure she never walked out of the store again.
He was pretending to browse the bin of apples near the front door when the man entered. Benjamin waited a few beats before falling into step behind him, syncing his footsteps to the other man’s.
He was heavyset, in a big puffer coat too warm for the day. Benjamin caught sight of his raw knuckles, and a telltale bulge at the back of his coat.
Definitely a bruiser, hired for some cold, brutal work. Benjamin scowled, tightening his hold on the stun gun in his pocket.
“I’m here, boss,” Edwin said in his ear. “Where are you?”
It didn’t take long for the man to glance up at the large convex mirror mounted near the ceiling, and spot Benjamin close behind him.
He swung as he turned. Benjamin ducked into his overextended reach, slamming his shoulder into the man’s stomach as he used the momentum to drive them both into the nearest wall.
The man grunted on impact, tipping over a nearby rack of discount goods. His meaty fists pummeled Benjamin’s kidneys as he tried to dislodge him. Benjamin grabbed a can of peaches, and swung it up into his face.
It wasn’t enough to knock the man out, but he stumbled. Benjamin pressed the stun gun to his ribs, then jumped to the side as he collapsed in a quivering heap.
“Boss?”
Benjamin looped his arms under the larger man’s armpits, and began dragging him toward the men’s bathroom. “I’m in the hall, near the restrooms,” Benjamin panted. “He’s on the ground, but he won’t be for long.”
“Got it. Ashley’s in the freezer section. Ice cream.”
“Huh.” Sudden snack cravings were always difficult to account for, even after watching her for months.
He kicked the man’s feet out of the path of the bathroom door and closed it, placing the cleaning sign in front. “Let’s switch.”
Benjamin spotted Ashley two aisles away, pondering the ice cream selections through the freezer glass. He and Edwin had almost reached each other when he realized there would be no way for Edwin to slip by Ashley, without her spotting him.
Unlike Benjamin, Edwin’s presence in her neighborhood would be out of place. He was just an intern, someone she shouldn’t make note of, or think twice about at all. And he needed to stay that way.
Benjamin straightened his coat and fixed his rumpled turtleneck. He sped up, turned into the next aisle, and purposely collided with Ashley.
“Oh!”
He caught her as she stumbled in her heels, and she looked up in surprise at him. Edwin slipped past behind her, nodding at Benjamin.
“Elevator buddy,” she greeted, furtively smoothing her hair. “It’s the second time I’ve run into you. It must be my lucky day.”
She looked away, a pained laugh escaping her, and she winced at her own words. “I mean…”
Christ, her awkwardness around him was so goddamned adorable.
“Feel free to call me Benjamin. That’s probably easier to say.”
Whatever cover name he’d planned to give her was forgotten, and he didn’t care. He knew she couldn’t be his. Yet, if there was even the slightest possibility of having her moan his name, he wanted it to be his real one.
“Benjamin. I’m Ashley.” She stuck out her hand, laughing as he shook it. “I can’t believe how many times we’ve spoken in the elevator, and I never introduced myself properly.”
He held her hand a second longer than necessary, before reluctantly dropping it. “You here to pick up dinner?”
“Ah, dinner.” She looked down at her handheld basket, empty save for a pint of ice cream. “It was a long day, and ice cream just sounded so good, right now.”
“I think that sounds like a great meal. I might do the same.”
He gave her a smile far warmer than any he’d ever allowed himself before, and let the heat seep into his voice. From the way her eyes widened, she noticed.
If he fucked up his cover as a distant, polite neighbor by coming on a little too strong, so be it. He didn’t want her thinking about her shit day, or that asshole Mike. Benjamin wanted her thinking about him.
