Hunger Moon Rising Read online

“'Plain old vanilla Ben' might surprise you with what he's in to,” I said dryly.

  “Maybe.” Tara grinned and sat down again, prying at the lid of the ice cream. “I know one thing he's into though—you.” She dug out a spoonful and popped it in her mouth.

  I looked down at my hands and traced an aimless pattern across the tabletop. “Not anymore,” I said. “I think…well, I think he just wants to forget anything ever happened between us.”

  “Oh.” Tara winced sympathetically. “It got weird, huh?”

  “You have no idea.” I grabbed my spoon and leaned across the table to dig into her ice cream.

  “Hey!” She pulled the new pint out of my reach. “Like you didn't just eat a whole gallon all by yourself.” She leaned forward and waved her spoon at me. “I know you, Dani. You don't eat like that unless you're really depressed. So come on, what gives?”

  “I don't know.” I sighed. “Except…you know how Mitch hurt me, and I was really afraid to have any kind of romantic relationship for a long time because of it?”

  Tara rolled her eyes. “Duh—that's the same analysis I've been giving you for ages. Of course I know. So what happened?”

  “So…” I shrugged. “So some things happened last weekend that helped me sort of get past that, and I realized…or thought I realized, anyway, that, well…Ben is the guy for me.” I looked up at my sister and put down my spoon to run my hands through my hair. “I mean, I really love him, Tara. And I thought that he loved me.”

  “He does love you,” she said with complete certainty, digging out another spoonful of ice cream.

  “Sure,” I scoffed. “That's why he didn't call me for four days in a row.”

  “Did you ever think that maybe he was waiting for you to call him?” she asked. “I mean, Ben is so laid back. Haven't you always been the aggressor in the relationship?'

  “Thank you, Doctor Phil,” I said dryly, but in fact, some of what she said made sense. “He was acting really weird today when I saw him, though,” I pointed out.

  “Weird how?”

  “I don't know.” I sighed. “Well, I was out today and I had Pete with me to help sort through some paperwork—he's one of our copyboys—completely harmless. And besides, he's more your age than mine.”

  “And?” Tara raised an eyebrow.

  “And Ben walked in and saw us working together and acted like a complete jerk.” I frowned. “I mean—I've never seen him act like that before. It was like he had ten times as much testosterone as usual. He scared poor Pete to death and accused me of all kinds of things. That's just…” I shook my head, “Just not like the Ben I know.”

  “Maybe he was jealous. Or maybe there's a different Ben—one you don't know so well,” Tara pointed out.

  “As a matter of fact, there is. You have no idea how different,” I told her, thinking of the weird double life my writing partner had been leading for so long. “But that's not the point. The point is that Ben practically admitted that he was interested in taking our relationship to the next level this weekend, but then he didn't call after we…”

  “Had sex,” Tara supplied.

  “Right.” I nodded. “And now he's acting so strange, and he practically told me he wanted to forget everything that happened between us and just go back to the way things were before.”

  Tara frowned. “Ben said that? Are you sure? Tell me exactly how he put it—what words did he use?”

  “Well…” I frowned. “No, I guess I sort of said that. Actually what he said was that he regretted what he'd, uh, done to me and he'd give anything in the world to take it back.”

  Tara frowned. “What exactly did he do to you?”

  I thought of the rough sex we had shared—the way Ben had thrust into me, like he was reaching for my heart with every stroke—and shivered. “Nothing I care to talk about,” I said primly. “The point is, it was consensual. But he seemed to think he'd, uh, hurt me in some way. I tried to tell him it wasn't true but that's when he said what he did about wishing he could take it all back.”

  Tara dropped her spoon on the tabletop with a clatter. “And you took that to mean that he doesn't want to move forward with the relationship? Dani—I really don't think that's how he meant it. Ben loves you—I know he does. I've known it from the first time you introduced me to him and I watched the way those big brown eyes of his followed you everywhere. Besides, I heard him say it.”

  “Shut up, you did not.” I leaned across the table, searching her face eagerly. “Did you? When? Recently?”

  Tara nodded solemnly and picked up her spoon again. “As recently as Sunday night when he brought you in. He tucked you in bed and kissed your forehead—it was so sweet.” She sighed and put the hand holding her dripping ice cream spoon to her heart, getting a smear of rocky road on her green sweater. “And he said—are you ready for this? He said, 'I love you, Dani. God, I love you so much.'”

  I sat back in my chair, my heart pumping hard. Could it be true? Could all of this be some big misunderstanding? Did Ben really still feel the way about me that I had only recently realized I felt about him? I was getting so confused I felt like a clueless character in a romance novel, not that I read many of those. Junk food for your brain—that's all they are.

  “I'm telling you.” Tara said around another bite of ice cream. “The man is stone-cold crazy in love with you, and you're an idiot if you can't see it.”

  I shook my head. “How can I be sure? I mean, I don't want to make him uncomfortable if you're wrong.”

  Tara made a disgusted face. “You mean you don't want to take the risk of getting hurt again. You know, you're the most fearless woman I know when it comes to your career, Dani. I've seen you go into situations that were ridiculously dangerous—like that time you agreed to interview that bank robber who was holding hostages with no police escort. Or the time you went out on a ledge seven stories up to talk the mayor's aide out of jumping and got all the dirt on the current administration and talked her out of committing suicide. Or what about the time—?”

  “Enough.” I held up a hand to stop her. “What's your point?”

  Tara sighed. “The point is—if you're willing to risk your life for work, why not be willing to risk your life for love? Maybe Ben is feeling rejected too. Maybe he needs you to be the one to make the first move.”

  I looked hard at my spoon, as though I could bend it with my mind. “I don't know if I can. I wouldn't even know where to start.”

  Tara gave a loud, huffy sigh. “Honestly, you two are pathetic—you're so in love with each other it's made both of you just plain stupid. You start by just being near him. Put on something sexy and get in his personal space—see how he reacts. You'll feel it if the chemistry is still there.” She shrugged. “Then just take it from there. Find an excuse to spend time together. I mean, aren't you two working on a big story right now?'

  “Sort of,” I said, thinking of our continued efforts to change McKinsey Cullen from the big, bad wolf back into little red riding hood. I frowned at her. “How did you know that, anyway?”

  Tara grinned. “Because you're always working on a big story. So invite him out for a working dinner. Or better yet, get him over here for a long night of purely professional work and research.” She leaned across the table and nudged me with her elbow. “I promise to make myself scarce.”

  “I don't know,” I said. It seemed wrong to have to manufacture reasons to get Ben over to my home. Before all this craziness had begun, all I'd had to do was mention that I was in the mood for a movie night or that I had too much Kung Pau chicken left over to ever finish by myself and he was there.

  “C'mon,” Tara urged. “I'm sure you can think of an excuse to get him over here if you try hard enough. Then just see what develops.”

  “I'll think about it,” I said. “I did have an idea I wanted to follow up…but I don't know if it would work.”

  “It'll work,” Tara assured me. “Whatever it is, it'll work. It better, anyway.”

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