Chapter Ninety Three – Obedience and Blackmail

Ben slowly lowered himself onto Olivia's couch and propped his leg up on the coffee table with a sigh of relief. Olivia lifted his leg up and shoved a pillow between his foot and the table. For the past week he'd been telling her that his ankle was doing better, but it certainly didn't look like it was doing better. Better meant he wasn't in as much pain, but from the look of relief on his face when she'd elevated his ankle it was definitely hurting today.

"I thought you said you were doing better."

"I am doing better."

"Uh huh."

She ran her hands over his ankle to see how swollen it was. Even though she was being gentle he yelped when her fingers made contact. Olivia raised an eyebrow at him. He was doing better her ass. She grabbed a bag of ice and flopped it onto his ankle before handing him a painkiller. Ben took it without complaint and shifted a bit to get more comfortable.

"It really is better," he told her. "I've just been on it too much today."

"You should have worn the ace wrap."

"Doesn't fit in my shoe."

"And wearing your dress shoes is more important than protecting your injured ankle?"

She didn't exactly expect an answer from him and she didn't get one. All she got was a bright, quirky smile. Apparently looking nice did beat supporting his ankle.

"Now stay put. I'll go get us some dinner."

"I can come," he insisted.

Olivia laughed once before pulling herself back together. He really couldn't be serious.

"Ha. I don't think so. You're staying put and resting that ankle."

Ben ignored her and pushed himself onto his one good foot like he was going to come with her.

"I can come. It's not that far," he insisted as he started pulling his leg off the table.

Olivia wasn't having any of that. She shoved his shoulder lightly, but on one leg it was more than enough to cause him to lose his balance. His arms pin wheeled, and he just gave up and crashed back onto the couch. Again she lifted an eyebrow at him, this time with a darker undertone to it.

"Should I start speaking in another language so you understand better?"

"It's not that far," he whined.

"If I wasn't planning on stopping at the dog park to let Suvi play first you'd be right."

Even so she still wouldn't have let him come with her. He'd already admitted to being on it too much that day. There was no way she was going to let him get back on it again.

Ben sighed. He really just wanted to spend some time with her, but it was looking like he was going to have to wait. Of course he could use that to his advantage. When he realized that, a smile slid across his face. Olivia saw it and didn't like it. She knew that smile, and it didn't mean anything good for her.

"I'll stay and behave, but you have to promise me something in return."

Yeah, that's what she thought.

"I'm not promising anything until I know what you want."

"Promise you'll let me take you out shopping tomorrow."

Olivia just gaped at him. Shopping? He seemed about as into shopping as she was, which was to say not very. It was a really odd request.

"Shopping. Shopping where?"

"Where ever I want."

"Uh huh. And if your ankle is bothering you tomorrow?"

"We go anyway."

She sighed and rested her hand on her hip.

"Ben…"

"Promise me or I come with you today."

Olivia scowled at him, but Ben just continued grinning at her. She could be as angry as she wanted it just wasn't going to change his mind. Olivia knew that. She was sure he would follow through on his threat of coming with her no matter how much his ankle was hurting too. It would be better if she just gave in today and worked on problem solving a way to get out of his request tomorrow.

"Alright. Alright. I promise."

She leaned over to kiss him, though Ben could see some of the annoyance hidden in her eyes. Of course the amusement countered the annoyance rather well.

"See you when you get back. I'll be right here resting and behaving myself."

"Yeah. I'm sure you will be."

Humor flickered in Olivia's eyes as she started getting Suvi ready to go. She was betting Ben wouldn't be anywhere near where she'd left him when she got back, and if he was he'd probably be slightly out of breath from running back at the last second when he heard the key in the lock. There wasn't any way to prevent that besides literally duct taping him to the couch, and she didn't want to torture her couch like that.

It turned out that she would have lost that bet. When she returned with food more than an hour later Ben was still curled up on the couch and looking like he'd been there for a while. Of course considering he had a computer open and resting on his lap she knew he'd been up at some point. It was her computer, and she hadn't left it anywhere near the couch.

"I thought you said you were staying put," she said as she set the plastic bag with their food on the counter.

"I said I'd be resting and behaving myself. I did that."

When she glanced over at him she saw him click around quickly before shutting the laptop. Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. Evidently he didn't want her to see whatever he'd been doing. She would see about that. After taking his carryout box out of the bag she handed it to him.

"What were you working on?"

"Nothing important."

"Uh huh," she returned as she took the laptop off his lap in exchange for the food.

Ben didn't appear the least bit concerned when she took the laptop. Instead he popped the lid on his box and took a peek at what was inside. Peppered steak. Worked for him. What Olivia was planning worked for him too because he knew she wasn't going to be successful.

"Look all you want," he told her as she took the laptop away," but I deleted the history."

He'd totally outsmarted her, and she glared at him.

Now there was no way to figure out what he'd been working on, and she suspected that whatever he'd been working on had something to do with whatever plan he had for tomorrow. There was no other reason for him to go through all of the effort to delete the computer's history. Either they were going on one complex shopping trip or he was planning something else to go along with the shopping. At least that was what she assumed, but there was no way to find out. She grabbed her own meal and sat down next to him, jabbing her fork into the orange chicken.

"You're a pain, you know that?"

"I know I'm in pain. Does that count?"

She didn't respond to that but popped a piece of chicken into her mouth instead. Ben's eyes flickered toward her Styrofoam box, and his fork twitched.

"Orange chicken?" he asked.

"Mmhm," she replied and stabbed her fork down to prevent him from slipping his fork into her takeout box. "Hands off."

"But it looks so good."

It was good. Very good. In fact, she was thinking she could use that to her advantage. There might actually be a way to figure out what he was up to.

"How about this? If you promise you'll tell me what you were researching I'll give you a piece."

"Really?" he asked eagerly, his eyes lighting up.

"Really."

He leaned in to kiss her which was the perfect distraction for him to nab a piece with his fingers. When he pulled away she hadn't even noticed what he'd done.

"As good as that proposition is, I still think I'll pass. Sorry, Liv."

He popped the stolen piece of orange chicken into his mouth and chewed luxuriously. It took Olivia a moment to register what he was doing, and when she did she could only gape at him. Was that…? Yes, it definitely was!

"Hey, that's mine! You snitch!"

"Mine now."

She swatted this arm and purposefully moved her food a little further out of his reach. Ben didn't mind. He'd already stolen a piece like he'd wanted and he hadn't needed to reveal anything about tomorrow or what he'd been looking at. That was more than a win in his mind.