Dirty Little Lies (Dirty Little #2) Read Online Free Page B

the steps of this building. I was a freshman in college, and he was a sophomore. We met in the library at Columbia, when Ben bumped into me in the stacks. I had my arms full of books, and he helped me carry them to my table. He took a seat next to me, and walked me through Professor Calderon’s syllabus. He had taken a class with her the year before, and was familiar with the assignments.  
    He sat a little too close, his shoulder brushing mine. We leaned over the paper together, smiling at each other as I made notes in the margins. He smelled like soap and spice, and I wanted to know what his full, pink lips tasted like.  
    Later that afternoon, we went on a New York native’s tour of our favorite places. He walked me across Bow Bridge, and I brought him here, to this building. There was a street performer playing the violin, and Ben danced me across the promenade. We both laughed when he dipped me, and after, he brushed the backs of his fingers across my blushing cheek. I was breathless from wanting him so badly, and when his lips touched mine, I knew my life wouldn’t ever be the same again.  
    If I knew then about the heartbreak and the pain that would follow that perfect kiss, I wonder…would I have done anything differently?
    “Hey.” Ben’s voice pulls me out of my thoughts.  
    I wish I could say that I’m surprised to see him standing here, but that sixth sense of his must be in full effect tonight. I’m definitely feeling emotionally vulnerable, so of course he found me.  
    “Hey,” I reply, trying really hard not to notice how good he looks in his suit. It’s completely unfair, really. He looks like he’s just stepped out of a magazine, or he’s fresh off of a runway, or like he’s getting ready to go deep undercover in some ridiculous spy movie. The most unfair part of it is that I know he looks this good with absolutely no prep time whatsoever. He probably just stepped out of the shower, towel dried his hair, and got dressed.  
    I know that routine from experience, because I’ve seen it before with my own eyes. The reminder of that intimacy we used to share tugs at my heart, and I do my best to tamp it down. Feeling all fuzzy and reminiscent about Ben is what gets me into trouble, every damn time.  
    “You look beautiful.” His voice is soft, and there’s the hint of a smile on his lips.  
    “Thank you,” I reply. I think about telling him that he looks good, too, but I’m not sure if I should. That might take the conversation in a direction I’m incredibly unprepared for.  
    “May I?” Ben motions to the empty space beside me on the bench.  
    I move to the right, making a little more room for him. “Sure.”  
    As Ben sits down, my gaze wanders over to the empty arrival lane in front of the building. There aren’t any cars there. Everyone who’s going to show up to this benefit is already inside, and that was a pretty low number. I feel a depressing little wave roll inside of my stomach.  
    “You’re late,” I tell him.  
    He looks down at his hands. “I know. I’m sorry, I got held up in a meeting that I couldn’t get out of. I wanted to be here when-” He stops himself from saying whatever it was that was going to come out of his mouth next.  
    “When what?” My curiosity is always going to get the better of me when it comes to this man.
    He shrugs. “I didn’t want you to be here on your own. Not that you would’ve been, I mean, I just know that…”
    “Caleb told me that you were pretty well-versed on my situation with the architectural board.” I’m aiming for light and breezy, because I don’t want to reprimand him, but seriously…why does he know so much about what’s been going on with me lately?
    “My mother brought it up over brunch not too long ago.”
    Okay, so his mother fed him the information; he wasn’t driven by his own curiosity to go out looking for it. The realization makes me feel…well, I’m not sure how I feel about it. I