Instead he was struck silent, stunned by the way the wispy blue dress patterned with bright red flowers settled so softly and enticingly around her curvy figure. The way the sexy red-heeled sandals enhanced her strong, shapely calves and legs, and the colors opened up her already pretty face, barely touched by makeup and a cranberry color to her lips. Her hair was down, the first time he’d seen it that way, and it was dark and thick and would make any man want to run his fingers through the wavy mass. Her eyes—framed so perfectly under the fringe of bangs—glowed as she watched his reaction, in equal parts excitement and nervousness.
He cleared his throat. “You’ve nailed it. Luke won’t be able to take his eyes off you.” Henry knew he couldn’t. Not with the shy, sexy appeal that Benny exuded.
She looked down, frowning as she did so. “You don’t think it’s a little too low cut? I don’t want to be shoving these things in his face.”
Luke would only be so lucky, but Henry managed a smile. There was only a delectable hint of cleavage, nothing Pamela Anderson-ish, but for Benny—who, now that he thought about it, preferred higher necklines and minimal cleavage—it might seem immodest. Even if it was far from it. He did a mental headshake as he stopped any further thoughts of Benny’s breasts. Which was harder than he expected.
She walked to the kitchen, the hem of the skirt flipping as she did, and uncorked a bottle of red. “Did you want a glass?”
He shook his head. Best to keep all his faculties about him. “I’m good.”
She nodded and filled her own and came over to sit on the couch next to him. From his angle, he was seeing a lot more of that cleavage than he’d first observed, and he realized that Luke Seeley was going to have the same view tomorrow night—something that irritated Henry.
“You think you might want to go change? Wouldn’t want you spill anything on it before you even make it to your date.”
“No. I think I need to get used to showing this much skin. It might make me less self-conscious tomorrow.”
Great. It took every ounce of his self-control to pull his gaze from Benny and back to the television. He unpaused it, hoping for any distraction. “I’m surprised you’re into legal dramas. I would think you’d be watching medical shows like Grey’s Anatomy.”
She grimaced. “Only if I want to end up slamming my head against a wall or yelling rabidly at the television screen before counting every medical error and calling Daisy to vent. She’s pretty much forbidden me from ever watching them again, or at least from calling her after.”
He chuckled. “I can’t blame you there. Television and movies never depict an ad agency correctly, either. Don’t even get me started on Bewitched. My head will spin.”
“I love that show.”
“I’m sure you do. Let’s just say their depiction of the guy’s job was as fictional as the wife who only twitches her nose to practice magic.”
She laughed, a nice, unabashed sound. “I’ll keep that in mind next time I catch an episode. Congratulations, by the way. I looked up your agency the other night.”
She had looked him up? He glanced back at her, keeping his attention on those blue eyes. Not trusting himself to look farther south. “Now who’s stalking me?”
“What that woman said in the elevator the other night, about your firm and the awards it’s received, made me curious. All your bragging about being able to sell anything, spin anything, wasn’t too far off the mark, I see. You’re…good. I can personally attest to that,” she said, making a sweeping motion toward herself.
“You didn’t need as much spin as you think. And thank you.”
His job and the work he did there was a source of great pride for him. At one point in his life, he hadn’t thought he’d ever be able to shake the family moniker and he’d go down as one of those spoiled rich kids who rested on their family laurels rather than ever accomplishing anything for themselves. He had been the Brighton heir for so long and it had taken him all of his adult life to finally gain recognition for anything outside that.
Getting that nomination was the consummation of that goal.
“She mentioned that your agency was nominated for best campaign?”
He nodded. “They announced the finalists a couple of weeks ago, the winners will be announced at the end of the annual conference at a big awards dinner. But even if we don’t take the number-one spot, just being nominated is a huge honor.”
“You’ve done well for yourself, Henry. And…I owe you an apology. When I first moved in, I made presumptions about you. That you were a shallow, spoiled, entitled playboy who had no true ambition.”
“You wouldn’t be the first,” he said wryly.
“Well, I was wrong. You’ve surprised me. You’re a whole lot more than I expected.” She looked at him in earnest, her eyes wide and sincere. The effect of that gaze shaking him more than he liked. “So…I’m sorry.”
“Apology accepted. What about you? What made you want to go into medicine?”
She took a sip of her wine and smiled at some memory. “When I was a kid, they showed these pictures in school from Doctors Without Borders about all these children in third-world countries who were born with physical deformities, like cleft palates. They talked about how these poor kids didn’t have basic medical care, let alone the medical technology to correct these often life-threatening things. I came home crying, and with my mom’s help, held a yard sale that same week, earning a whopping seventy-eight dollars that I then donated to the cause. Daisy still hasn’t forgiven me for selling her new Easy-Bake Oven.”
“Naturally,” he said and chuckled at the image of a determined young Benny trying to
save the world, even then.
“I knew then that I wanted to be able to do something as brave and meaningful. By the time I was in medical school, though, I realized surgery didn’t have the same appeal as much as the day-to-day care of those patients, of being a caring face and voice to keep kids safe and healthy. I still plan on doing a stint in Doctors Without Borders, though. In five years. I just need to get on top of my student loans, and then I’m going to take a year off and try to give a little back.”