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."
A bleeding heart was what she was. But Henry couldn't help but admire her ambition and philanthropic spirit. "And how do you think this will fit in with your plan to date and-I imagine-marry the great Luke Seeley? Wouldn't a year apart be kind of difficult, especially if you two had any kids." He nearly choked saying it out loud. Not because he had a problem with kids, but because the thought of Benny having them with Luke didn't sit well.
"I imagine, should the two of us be so entwined in the future," she said coyly, swirling the wine in her glass, "that he'll be perfectly fine coming with me. He actually served two years in Sudan with Doctors Without Borders."
Of course he did. Saint freaking Luke Seeley.
The episode ended, and Benny grabbed the remote sitting between them and flipped the television off before setting her wine on the coffee table. She reached down to undo the clasp on her shoes, giving him a dangerous glimpse of her full breasts pushed up against the delicate fabric of her dress.
Good God. This was too much.
He jumped to his feet. "I think I'll have a glass of that wine after all."
"Help yourself," Benny said, preoccupied with the other shoe now.
By the time he'd returned, both shoes were resting on the floor and Benny's feet were tucked beneath her while she sipped from her glass. "Here," he offered, topping off her drink, having brought the bottle with him. He took a seat on the other end of the couch, needing to ensure the maximum amount of space between them.
Benny seemed to be mulling over something as she stared into her glass. "Henry? Can I ask you something?"
He took a taste of the wine, nodding at her to continue.
"And I need you to be one hundred percent honest with me-no holding back. How much attention do men give to a woman's experience? In bed, I mean."
He nearly spewed his mouthful of wine out. Henry hadn't known what question Benny had been about to ask him, but a discussion about sex was the absolute last thing he'd expected.
"What are we talking about here, Benny? Are you meaning sex?" Good God almighty. She wasn't saying she was a virgin, was she? Trying to keep the shock from his tone, he asked her, "You've had sex before, haven't you?"
This was the twenty-first century, for crying out loud. Girls were having sex before they had their driver's license these days. He didn't even want to think about the appallingly young age he'd been his first time, but Candy Leland had been sixteen and curious and-
Back on track, Henry.
Benny's face was a furious red, a depth of red he hadn't thought possible. "Of course I've had sex before."
He took a breath in again, as he hadn't been sure if he could handle a discussion about the first time with anyone-least of all Benny Sorensen.
"It's just that well. I would never bring this up in a million years, but I'm a little nervous. And here you are, a man with a lot of experience when it comes to women and knowing what men prefer."
Hell, she made him sound like some kind of gigolo or something. "I wouldn't say a lot of experience. It's not like my place is a Motel 6 or something."
She rolled her eyes at him. "I just mean that you know a thing or two about women. About intimacy. And I wonder if someone's knowledge, or lack of knowledge, has ever been sort of a turnoff."
"I don't think I understand, Benny. Because, men? We're beasts. Sex with any woman is great; sex with a beautiful woman is fantastic. I don't think we give it much thought beyond that. Where's this coming from?"
She studied her fingernails now. "Nowhere. Forget I said anything."
"Not likely. Come on. You can tell me."
"I don't know. I think sometimes I waited so long to finally do it that I might have lost some of the natural excitement that one has for the whole thing. You know? That whole young ineptitude that probably goes unnoticed when you're sixteen and with an equally horny sixteen-year-old. You learn stuff then. Get better. But I didn't really date much in high school."
Now he was beyond curious. "How old were you when you were deflowered?" he asked in a teasing tone.
"Twenty-two." She still hadn't looked up at him, instead reaching over to top off her glass.
He let that sink in for a moment. She'd gone twenty-two years of her life without sex. It seemed impossible.
"Jake was nice, he was in my organic chemistry class, and we'd been study partners all year."
"Jake was nice? Benny, did you even like the guy?"
She shrugged. "Yeah, he was a really good friend. And since I'd been carrying this V card around for so long to the point I felt like I was a freak, I decided it was time to do something about it. Jake was more than happy to relieve me of that."
"How romantic. So tell me, how was it?"
She shrugged again. "Painful, awkward. And the whole time I was wondering how long until it was over. We hung out for another month before I called it off."
"I'm assuming you've had sex with other men since then." He couldn't believe he was having this conversation with her. He tossed back the rest of the wine in his glass and refilled.
"What do you think, that I'm a prude or something? There was Steve and Jake. Then, of course, Chip."
"Did it get any better?"
"Sure. It's really nice." Only she didn't sound particularly convincing. What was wrong with these men? Didn't they know how to properly make love to a woman? Especially a vivacious woman like Benny?
Not that it was his business.
"Okay, so you've had ‘nice' sex with three or four men, so it sounds like you have some idea how things are done. So why are we having this conversation again?"
She tucked her hair behind her ear and lifted her gaze to him again. "I guess because I'm just worried. Worried that a guy like Luke, who's been with so many gorgeous women, is going to know just by one kiss how absolutely clueless I am to the finer points of seduction in the bedroom."
His head was hurting. He had thought imagining Benny just walking out the door with Luke on her arm was going to be strange enough. The fact that she was asking Henry for coaching tips on seducing the guy was a million times worse.
He stared into her eyes, still watching him with embarrassment.
She was afraid Luke wouldn't find her enough.
Which was absolutely ridiculous. And even if it might be the last thing he wanted to do, she needed to know the truth. "Benny, if and when you take that step with Luke Seeley-and I hope I don't have to go into why sleeping with him on the first date in the long-term is absolutely the wrong call-"
"No, don't worry, I don't intend to do that," she hurried in.
"If you take that step," he continued, feeling more relieved by her proclamation than he should, "Luke is going to be absolutely thrilled and excited at the prospect of just touching you, your skin, your lips, the silkiness of your hair-and I imagine the same will hold true for you. So, well, nothing else is going to matter. But if it gets to that point where you're still struggling to relax and be in that moment, then I think you should be up front with him. Tell him your experience has been limited and you're nervous. It will make him out of his mind with wanting you even more. Believe me."