Cowboy Casanova - Lorelei James [104]
Command me to stop, Bennett. It’s always been your job to set the physical parameters between us.
When she finished buttoning, Ben pressed her hand against his chest. Right beneath his thundering heart. Was this side of him more dangerous than his Dom side? She had experience dealing with brash Bennett. This dateable Ben? Not so much.
But she wanted to see this side of him too. Maybe he just needed encouragement that she’d accept this side of him.
Their eyes met. Then their lips. The kiss wasn’t much more than a simple peck.
“So, call me tomorrow, friend,” she murmured.
“Ainsley, I don’t know if I can be—”
“That was not a request.” She kissed him again, then firmly shoved him out the door.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Ben rang Ainsley’s doorbell again. He’d tried calling her cell several times and she hadn’t picked up.
Maybe it was an excuse, showing up on her doorstep, but something felt…off. Something besides the bogus friendship she was trying to force on him.
Jesus. He didn’t want to be her fucking friend. In the last two days he’d already seen her pulling away. Not only from him, but from her submissive side. Trying to remake him into the type of guy he wasn’t, denying her nature and attempting to change their relationship into something it never had been and never would be: normal.
Ben was starting to lose her. That thought had driven him bat-shit crazy all day after she hadn’t returned any of his calls. Hopefully she hadn’t reverted to old habits, like that post-date game mind-fuck where the woman waited a certain amount of time before returning her date from the previous night’s calls, so as to not appear too eager.
Fuck that. They weren’t goddamn dating. She needed a reminder of what they were together. Of how right it was. And if he had to wait until the loan went through, to prove it to her, so be it. But he wouldn’t lie to her and he wouldn’t allow her to lie to herself.
So yeah, he was going all beastly Dom on her ass.
Frustrated, he turned the door handle. Locked. But the door snicked open because it hadn’t been fully latched. That wasn’t good. Ainsley was vigilant about locking the door.
Ben stepped inside.
The cats stared at him from the end of the hallway.
“Ainsley?”
No answer.
He scanned the living room. Her purse was on the chair, along with her coat. Her car keys and cell phone were on the side table.
He peeked in the kitchen, no sign of her. He headed down the short hallway. When he flipped on the lights in her bedroom, he noticed the sheets were twisted, the quilt thrown back, pillows scattered across the floor.
His heart damn near stopped at seeing her curled up on the bathroom floor. “Shit.” He crouched beside her body and found her pulse in her neck, thank God. “Ainsley?” Ben placed his hand on her forehead. “Baby. You’re burning up.”
“Ben?”
“I’m here, angel. Stay with me. I need to get you to the emergency room.”
“No doctors.”
“Tough shit.”
“I won’t go.” She tried to roll away.
He held her still and tamped down his fear. “Then what should I do?”
She mumbled, “Call Joely.”
Ben grabbed Ainsley’s cell and scrolled until he found Joely’s number. He dropped to his knees beside her on the tile as he hit Send.
The doc picked up on the second ring. “Doc? It’s Ben McKay.”
“Ben. Why are you on Ainsley’s phone?”
“I stopped to see her and found her layin’ on the floor in the bathroom. Her skin is on fire. She won’t go to the ER. It’s freaking me out because she was fine yesterday.” His words came out machine-gun fast.
“Calm down. Can you tell if she’s been throwing up?”
“There’s none on the floor or in her hair or anything.”
“Can you ask her?”
“She’s pretty out of it.”
“Put me on speaker.”
Ben poked the button and held the phone lower. “You’re on.”
“Ainsley, it’s Joely Monroe. Ben says you’re sick. Have you been vomiting?”
“No.” She shuddered and Ben’s stomach roiled. He smoothed her damp hair from her face.
“When did you first start getting sick?”
“Right after I went to work