He went to the kitchen island and poured himself a glass of wine. He started to pour one for her, but she stopped him. "None for me. Want to make sure I wake up looking my best tomorrow. The swollen-bags-under-the-eyes thing is so retro."
"Clinic hours again?"
That's right. He'd left before she could share the details of her upcoming date. "No, actually. Luke's picking me up at noon. We're going golfing. Then he just wants to-get this-spend the rest of the day with me. Impressive, right?"
"Um. Sure, up until you whack him in the head or fail to make it past the first hole. You do remember that you still can't golf, don't you?"
He grabbed his glass and took a seat on the couch. She did still need some tips, so she took a seat on the leather chair next to the couch. "Of course I do. But I got a few swings in, and I'm pretty sure that I have the hang of it now. I can totally envision myself making contact with the ball now."
"Golf isn't just about hitting the ball and sending it careening wherever you want. You're actually supposed to get it in the hole."
"I know how it works. I'll be fine. I can wing it. I just need a little help from you on the actual rules. The jargon. Like what's ‘love' and all that."
"Well, the first thing you should know is that ‘love' is a tennis term. Not golf. What about clubs? Did you actually buy some or are you planning on renting them?"
She hadn't considered that. "Do you think I might borrow the set from last weekend?"
"Of course. Fortunately for you, I forgot to return them to Morgan, so they're still in the closet." He stood and headed to the coat closet and hauled them out.
"Speaking of Morgan, I got the impression she was studying me the whole time. Did you happen to tell her anything about our arrangement?"
He cringed. "I'm afraid so. Not that I had intended to, but Ella was really helpful with providing details about our shopping excursion, and Morgan naturally wanted to know why." He lifted a club up. "Here. Just to get you started, don't worry about all the other clubs in the bag. For now, worry about using these three."
She thought about revisiting his revelation, but what was the point? Morgan wasn't going to blab it all around, and Benny supposed she couldn't expect Henry to lie to her. Something she was feeling more guilty about when she thought about how she'd been less than truthful with her own sister.
Rising to her feet, she joined him and listened as he explained the different clubs, with names like driver, iron, wedge, and putter and a few other descriptions of why she'd ever need any of the others.
And although she'd usually dismissed golf as boring, she found the abbreviated lesson actually fascinating. Managing to hit the ball was just one aspect, of course, but Henry's explanation of how using a different size or weight or angle head could affect the trajectory of each swing gave her something to think about.
"You're going to show me how all this works Sunday morning, right?" she asked.
"I have us down for tee time at nine. And I'm packing a helmet."
She rolled her eyes. "I am not going to hit you again, Henry. Jeez, I'm not that much of a klutz."
"My head begs to differ."
"Well, that time was different. I was distracted."
He raised a brow. "By what?"
Crap. Had she just admitted that? Well, there was no way she was going to elaborate how just having him standing behind her, his breath in her hair, the heady scent of him surrounding her, had left her a little unbalanced.
"I can't remember." She dropped the club back in the bag, unsure how she'd handle herself if Henry decided to give her another up-close-and-personal lesson on swinging. Not when she'd spent the past two nights thinking about what it had been like to kiss him. Even after she'd kissed Luke Seeley, when the only thing running through her mind should have been kissing him again. Not Henry.
"Try not to get too distracted again tomorrow. By the way, if the two of you are looking for something to do, I'm having a get-together tomorrow night. And before you say it, I'll keep the music down to a respectable level."
"Thanks, maybe we will. I should go. I'm sure you have other plans. I really hadn't meant to be here so long."
"No worries. Actually, I think I'm going to stay in tonight. Get my own beauty rest."
Henry Ellison was staying in? And on a Friday night, no less.
For some reason, she felt a tiny sense of relief at knowing he wouldn't be out and about, hooking up with the latest flavor of the week. He'd be here, just down the hall.
She grabbed the golf clubs and slung the bag over her shoulder. "Okay. I'll see you Sunday."
"See you." She was out the door and halfway down the hall when Henry called out, "And remember. Keep your eye on your target, follow through on your swing, and for heaven's sake, whatever happens, don't let yourself get distracted." He touched the top of his head where she'd whacked him and grinned.
She lifted her hand in a weak wave.
Distracted? It seemed these days the only time that happened was when she was in the presence of one man. Luke should be safe.
Chapter Sixteen
"How did things go on your date with the esteemed Dr. Seeley?" Henry asked her early Sunday morning as they whizzed down the freeway at a healthy clip. Benny had tried to coerce him into letting her drive, but considering she looked still half asleep, he wasn't about to risk it. "And by how did things go, I mean did you manage to avoid clobbering him with a golf club?"
"You're never going to let me forget that, are you?"
"Not a chance."
"No, I didn't hit him. In fact, we had a great time. I impressed everyone."
He lifted his brows in surprise. "You did?"
"Yep. Right up to the moment I was lining my hips up the way you showed me, raising the driver for an impeccable delivery, and my right ankle completely went out on me and I fell gracefully on my butt. Unfortunately, the ankle was just too tender to try and walk on, and I resigned myself to sitting and watching the game from the cool shade of the golf cart."
He laughed and shook his head at her ingenuity-or desperation. "And saved yourself, yet again, from displaying your total ineptitude at playing golf. Kudos. What will you think of the next time? A fake bee sting? Passing out from heatstroke?"
"Not necessary. Somewhere between the seventh and the eighth hole, Luke joined me on the golf cart and we watched the other players take their shots. ‘You don't really have a clue how to play golf, do you,' he asked me. And not like he was angry or anything, but like he was trying not to laugh. So I came clean."
"The truth. How novel," he said drolly.
"I even told him about you. At least about how you've been helping me with my golf game up until I'd whacked you in the head. He told me to thank you for that." She grinned, her eyes flashing with humor.
"Tell him I appreciate the gratitude. So it sounds like you two had a nice date, then."
"Oh, that was nothing. After the game, he drove us up the canyon and we hiked to this spot with an amazing view of the entire valley and had a picnic, right there. Later, over wine, we watched the sun set and then just lay under the stars."
The man was good. Too good. Setting up the scene like that, the ambience. Very manipulative. He thought about Benny lying on the blanket with the calculating Luke Seeley creeping nearby, maybe starting with a little hand-holding and then stepping it up. Maybe brushing the hair off her face as a way to make eye contact before dropping his greedy mouth down for a kiss, his hands mauling Benny's body, feeling her softness, her curves, her-
"Uh. Henry, you might want to ease off the gas there. You're pushing ninety-five."
He glanced down to see she was right and lowered their speed. His fingers were taut as they gripped the wheel, and he loosened them, flexing them. "Sounds like you two really hit it off."
She sighed and looked out the passenger window. "It was perfect."
His heart felt like it was seizing. Did that mean-had she-no. She wouldn't, she'd as much as told him so. But he had to know. He cleared his throat, trying to sound cavalier. "Did you two take it to the next level?"
She laughed and shook her head at him. "No. Luke is a gentleman. You might think all dates culminate in a tumble in the hay, but for other more cerebral people, like Luke and me, a meeting of the minds is even more rewarding than a meeting of the bodies."
Now he snickered. "I highly doubt that. And if you really believe that, then you have never had anyone actually make love to you. Because that, my dear, is the reason for everything."
"Everything? Seriously, you believe that? You don't think two people can have a rewarding relationship without sex?"
"No."
"Have you ever had a relationship with a woman that didn't end with her in your bed? And I don't mean your sister."
"Yeah." He grinned and met her gaze for a moment. "You."
Not that he hadn't had visions of that happening a time or two.
Or a hundred.
"You're frightening sometimes," she said. "But why am I not surprised?"
"You know, if Luke's discovered that you don't know how to play golf, why are we still going through with this?"
"Because Luke likes golf. If we're going to have any kind of relationship, I think it's important that I be able to enjoy the same things he does. Or at least understand them a little better."