Clean Slate (12 page)

“In my family, we tend to keep drama like this swept under
rugs.”

Trinity leaned over and picked up the television clicker.
She pushed the power button and flipped through the channels until she found
the ’90s rock music station. “I think that’s the case in most families,
including the Rouse-Thys bunch. Not too many people know about Clara beyond the
folks at N-by-N, and my family, and…now you. The fact that Ben would drag you
into this place in the midst of this is sort of unlike him, though.”

“How so?”

Trinity picked up a trio of fries and bit into them all at
once. She chewed thoughtfully and said, “One way he and Jerry are really
similar is in how methodical he is. He always has a plan, even if it doesn’t seem
like it at the moment. He thinks ahead.”

“So, what’s his plan?”

Trinity shrugged. “Obviously you’re involved somehow.
What’s going on between you two, anyway?”

Daisy set her plate on the coffee table and smoothed the
wrinkles from her lap before speaking. None of the responses she had in mind
sounded particularly intelligent. “I’m not exactly sure.”

“What do you
want
to be going on, then?”

Daisy blew out a ragged exhale. “I don’t know. I’m a bit
confused by it all.”

“Do you like him?”

She laughed. Well,
that
was a dumb question. “Who wouldn’t?”

Trinity giggled. “I didn’t know he was your type, or else
I would have formally introduced you months ago.”

“I don’t have a type. I…”

You what? He was
nice to you and so you fell head over heels? Best not tell her that.

Daisy looked at the television screen and watched animated
music notes scroll left to right. “Well, he’s nice to look at.”

“Don’t you give me that. I’m surprised that even came out
of your mouth.”

“Why? You don’t really know me that well.” And it was
true. Up until she started sleeping with Ben, she’d been in severe word
conservation mode with the folks at N-by-N.

“Don’t take this the wrong way, Daisy, but as far as
people go, you’re simple. Your face makes the best lie detector test I’ve ever
seen. Most of the time you shoot straight from the hip, but when you’re
struggling, I can your turmoil in your face.” She chewed some more and stared
at Daisy until Daisy’s cheeks burned.

“Yes, Ben is attractive. Lucky you. But what do you
want
from him?”

Daisy looked up at the ceiling and traced around the edges
of the skylight with her gaze. She was afraid to answer, partly because she
wasn’t exactly
sure
what she wanted,
and also because she couldn’t be sure he wanted the same thing. She’d never
make that mistake again.

She dropped her voice to a near whisper. “I don’t know.”

Trinity stared. If she were going to respond, she didn’t
have a chance. Clara leaned over the back of the sofa and looked from one to
the other of them. “Pie?”

Daisy struggled to breathe. She couldn’t get her head out
the water, and every time she thought she was close to the surface—close
to the point where she’d be able to put her face up to the sun and snatch some
air into her lungs—some force pushed her back down.

No, not a force—
hands
.

His
hands.

Barry’s.

She could see him through the murky water, lying
belly-down on the pier and laughing. Every time she got near the surface, he
laughed harder.

Now he grabbed her shoulders and yanked her up so his face
was an inch from hers. “Ha. Ha. You’re so stupid.”

He dunked her.

Daisy scratched and clawed, yelling wordlessly, but this
time, when she felt hands on her shoulders, they were more substantive. More
real.

“Daisy.
Liefje
.”

She opened her eyes and once they’d focused on the man
straddling her waist and holding her shoulders down against the mattress, she
realized he was blond and wore concern on his face. Blue eyes, not brown. A
man, not some childish monster.

She stopped squirming. “I’m sorry. I had a bad dream.”

He let go of her shoulders and eased onto the space on the
bed beside her, never taking his eyes from hers.

“I never have nightmares. I’m sorry I woke you.” She
rubbed her eyes and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. Two a.m. Maybe she
could get started on the men’s soap sample for Nikki. It’d be nice to get the
approval out of the way before everyone deserted the place Friday for the
wedding festivities.

“Stay,” he said. “Please.”

Oh, God, with the longing in his voice, she really wanted
to. No one had ever made her feel so wanted, even if just for a night.

“I need to get some work done. I should have left after
dinner, but—”

“But you would have rather been here.”

With you
,
I’d go anywhere.

He nudged her hair back from her eyes. “If you insist on
going, I’ll go with you. It’s late. I’d prefer you sleep in with me, though.”

“As nice as that sounds, I’ve got to meet with Nikki at
seven.”

He put his hand on her naked shoulder and glided it to the
crook of her neck, kneading until she laid her head to the side and let out a
little moan. He worked his hand down and across to her spine, tracing to the
small of her back.

The small hairs on her neck and arms stood on end at his
light touch and his close, lingering proximity to her buttocks.

He crawled over and put his lips on her neck where his
hand had been. “So what are you going to do? Work through the night? Burn
yourself out?”

Against her back, his cock stirred inside his boxer
briefs. She swallowed. “I don’t have a choice,” she said, not sounding
convincing even to herself. Of course she had a choice. Isn’t that what the
boys had been arguing with Clara about? Her not
exercising
her choices?

“Tell your mother what you’re doing. Will she be so hurt?”

Daisy breathed out a scoff, and immediately sucked in some
air as Ben slipped his hand down the collar of her T-shirt and palmed her
breast. “I can’t think with you doing that.”

“So stop thinking for a while.”

If only
.

“What’s this sudden compulsion of yours to be so
productive, hmm?” He pulled his hand free of her breast only to urge her shirt
over her head.

She didn’t stop him.

“Why now? Why are you suddenly so ambitious? Are you
dying?” He brushed her hair away from her back, laying it over her shoulder.
His lips pressed against the highest ridge of her spine, just beneath her neck.

She moaned. “No, I’m not dying. I…” His tongue tickled
down her back and she hardly noticed that she was leaning forward and a bit to
the side more and more as his hands eased her to a prone position. She
rearranged her legs so they were behind her, and pressed her cheek against the
cool sheets. “Can’t a woman just want to do something with her life?” she
finally managed, though barely as he was now kneading the tense muscles of her
back.

“It’s good to have ambitions. I have some of my own.” His
words tickled the skin over her spine, making the tiny hairs on her neck stand
on end with anticipation. Where were those hands—those
lips
—of his going next? He eased
her legs apart.

“What are they? You’ve never talked about them.”

“You’ve never asked.”

He pulled at her waist so she was on all fours with her breasts
flat against the bed.

“That’s fair. So what are they?”

He didn’t answer. Instead of words, there was only the
probing of his tongue against her slit, and the pressure of his hands parting
her cheeks.

She clenched.

“Relax.”

“I…” She started to make some retort—some
excuse
about why his tongue shouldn’t be
heading for a finish line several inches from the one established—but
then it was there, and his fingers were in her cunt, teasing her g-spot.

It wasn’t that bad.

He sank his teeth into the flesh of her ass, causing just
enough pain to make her aware he was doing it, but not enough she’d ask him to
stop.

She was very wet, so wet she could
feel
it on her thighs, and she felt unbelievably dirty because of
it.

What’s happening to
me?

He pulled away from her—teeth, lips, hands—and
his weight shifted. A pair of boxer briefs whizzed over the edge of the bed,
and he was against her again, this time probing her with the tip of his cock.

He teased it up and down her wet slit, building an
excruciating anticipation that had her wantonly thrusting back to meet him.

She’d never been so aroused, not even when she was an
undersexed sixteen year old so eager for her first time. This man worked her
over like magic, and at that moment she wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or
a bad thing.

“Do you want me?” he asked, still tickling more than
fucking.

She groaned.

“I don’t think I heard you,
liefje
.” He slapped a palm across her buttocks.

She opened her eyes wide and sucked in some air.

“Do you want me?” he repeated.

Decision time. She’d never been a stubborn sort, but for
once, she briefly considered not answering. Perhaps he’d warm her other cheek,
too. But, what would bring her pleasure sooner? She arched her back and pressed
her ass against his thighs. “Yes.”

“Why?”

Is he kidding me?
She suddenly felt very foolish, and tried to push herself upright, but his
other hand swatted her ass, and she got the clue.

Although he wasn’t the one in charge, not
really
, he was the one setting the pace.
The tone. Where they would end up that evening, she didn’t know, but she had an
itch to get there. She settled back onto hands and knees and responded.
“Because you’re good. So good.”

He slipped into her in one easy press, and then his lips
were at her ear. “What am I good at,
liefje
?”

She squirmed, wriggling her rear against him until his
grip of her waist made her stop. She didn’t know the answer to that. When she
was with him, whether she was naked and sharing his bed, in a car with him, or
watching him strut past her workstation at N-by-N, she felt alive. His presence
was so goddamned stimulating she didn’t know what to do with herself.

“
Vertel me
. Tell
me.” He eased out of her at a deliriously slow pace.

She tried pushing back once again, but his hands were too
strong and held her too still. Best she answer. “You…make me feel like you want
me.”

“Of course I do. Who wouldn’t?” His teeth met the
sensitive curve of her neck and pressed. Obviously, he didn’t really want an
answer. He wanted her compliance, and she was more than willing to give it. “
Je bent alles
.
Een perfecte vrouw
.”

“Hmm?”

“I want you.” He pushed back in almost to the hilt, and
she threw her head back with a gasp.

For some reason, it didn’t sound like a temporary sort of
want.

“Ben!” Nikki stood in the doorway of her office and made a
come here
gesture with her hand.

He’d only stepped into the barn to pick up some paperwork
for Jerry, who worked from home in advance of the evening’s rehearsal dinner.
When he raised an eyebrow at the tiny terror, she bobbed her head toward the
inside of her office and mouthed
help
.
He pressed the file folder he’d intended to deliver under his arm and made his
way up the aisle.

“What’s up?” he asked the obviously impromptu gathering at
her desk.

“Close the door.”

He did and looked to Daisy for explanation.

She shrugged and offered him a shy smile, so he eased
between her and Juan at the desk’s edge so their shoulders were touching.

He didn’t miss that little blush before she turned her
face.

“Francine had a doctor’s appointment this morning,” Nikki
said, “so I’m trying to approve one of these bars before she gets back. I want
to finalize it now because I want it in the catalogue that’s due to get set on
Monday.”

“What do you need?” Ben asked.

Charlie, who’d been leaning against the wall behind
Nikki’s desk chair, held out a cellophane covered object. “Sniff that. Me and Juan
already have our opinions. Tell Nikki what you think.”

“Is this the men’s soap?” Ben looked at Daisy.

“Yes. Only ten bars in this batch. This blend was harder
than I thought.”

As soon as he looked down at the thing, he understood why.
Where the soap wasn’t a solid white, it was swirled through with a translucent
ocean blue. The pattern sort of reminded him of finely-veined marble—the
rare stuff. The patterning was organic, but distinctly resembled waves.

“It’s called Sink or Swim,” Nikki said. “So, tell me if it
floats.”

Charlie groaned at the pun.

“Hmm.” Ben brought the bar to his nose and took a
tentative sniff. When the scent didn’t bowl him over, he deepened his inhale.
He closed his eyes and tried to identify the notes, but couldn’t. What did he
know about fragrances other than whether or not they smelled good? That one
did. “That’s quite nice,” he said.

“I thought so, too, but I’m a girl,” Nikki said. “I sent
Charlie home to use it. Sniff him.”

Charlie’s eyes went wide and he put up his hands. “Wait,
now—”

“
God
, just let
him sniff you. My opinion is skewed because I know your natural smell.”

Ben looked at Juan. “Did you sniff him?”

Juan nodded. “Yep. Twice more when he wasn’t looking.”

Charlie blew out a breath. “Well, come on and tell me if I
smell like a girl, then.”

Ben walked around the desk and slowly leaned in for a
whiff. He sniffed again. And again.

“Okay, now you’re just being funny,” Charlie said.

Ben laughed and retreated to one of the guest chairs. “Not
at all. It’s the layering. The first sniff there’s one smell, and then it hits
the back of your nose and you realize there’s something else beneath. It’s not
girly. At least, I don’t think it is. It’s fresh.
Clean
. It’s like the scent of the ocean on the breeze from a few
miles away.”

“That’s my goddamned catalogue copy,” Nikki said, smacking
her desk with the palm of her and pulling her red lips back in a grin.

“Wait,” Daisy said. “So that’s it? You’re going to approve
it just like that?”

“You want me to drag it out?”

“No, I just—”

Ben assessed the reddening of her cheeks and decided to
swoop in to her rescue. “If you’d known it would’ve been so easy, you would
have said something long ago?”

She lifted her baseball cap brim and casting him a
thankful gaze. “Yes.”

He winked at her.

“Why does everyone think I’m mean?” Nikki asked, studying
her cuticles.

Charlie opened his mouth, but before he could speak, Nikki
said, “Don’t answer that. Daisy, I want to put all the new soaps on preview at
the Edenton apothecary before they go live on the website. Give me…” She
clucked her tongue and stared at the ceiling. “…a gross of each.”

“By when?”

“I’m going to see Mickey on Wednesday about stock, so
Tuesday. That cool?”

Tuesday. I’m running
out of time.
Ben looked at Daisy and could see the wheels turning in her
head. He was so proud of her and wanted to be there to see how far she’d go,
but that was up to her.

“And then I need you to go into production on those
immediately so we have backstock before festival season starts. Do you need
some help? You need to tell me, because I don’t know shit about soap.”

That reddening of Daisy’s cheeks again. He knew she was
going to try to carry the world on her shoulders because she was so damned
afraid of inconveniencing anyone.

Daisy started, “Well, Momma—”

Nikki put up her hands to silence her. “Francine’s going
to have to do the traditional soaps on her own. So tell me, do you need another
pair of hands between the two of you?”

Say yes, Daisy.

She looked at her shoes and nodded.

“I’ll get you a temp and we can see if you need someone
long-term. Deal?”

“Thank you.”

“Super, back to work, please. Goodbye, Charlie. Ben, you
sit right there.”

Shit
.

The room cleared out, and Daisy gave him one last thankful
nod and a chuck of his chin before passing through the door.

“Yes, Nikki?” he said, when Daisy cleared the doorway.

“What’s the hold-up?”

“What do you mean?”

She leaned her elbows onto the desktop and narrowed her
eyes. “Are you going to take the job or not? Do I need to get Jerry to sit on
you and do the big brother thing?”

He laughed. “No, I just…” Suddenly, the cuticles of his
right hand seemed really interesting.

“Spit it out, blondie.”

“I’ve just got some things that need to fall into place
before I can commit.”

“Girlfriend back home?” Her expression was deathly serious.

“No. Nothing like that. I’d been planning to move, anyway.
I…”

He must have paused too long because Nikki’s eyes widened
a smidge. “I try not to get involved in my employees’ personal lives, but
you’re not an employee. Yet. If you don’t want to tell me, that’s fine. But,
Ben…” Her expression softened. “I probably have the biggest network of anyone
around here. If you need help, I can find you an expert, I’m betting.”

“My problem isn’t concerning the relocation logistics or
the job itself. I just…” He looked toward the door Daisy had just left through,
then at Nikki again. “I’m trying to make sure this doesn’t blow up on me.”

Her lips formed an O shape and she leaned back in her
chair. “Daisy.”

“Yes.”

“You asked her out and she said ‘no’?”

He shook his head.

“What, she doesn’t want anything serious?”

“I get that impression. Maybe I’m rushing her.”

She blew out a long breath.

“I don’t want to push her, but, at the same time, I don’t
want to make her feel more awkward than she already does. I’m fairly shameless,
but this seems to require some tact. I imagine this is one of those things your
network can’t do anything for.”

She bobbed her eyebrows in acknowledgement. “God, but I
can’t say I blame her. I know her ex-husband. Have no idea how those two even
ended up together. He’d make anyone go the way of the nun. Don’t worry, I’ll
figure something out.”

That made him laugh.

Her expression went flat. “I’m serious. Don’t
underestimate me, Ben. That’s a mistake you don’t want to make.”

He hoped she was right.