( benjamin ) don't mind if i do

[serenity dylan lehmann]

It seemed to take the male a bit of time to figure out what he was going to do with the money that he had inherited. When Ben seemed to stall on his answer, Dylan knew instantly that he probably hadn't ever thought about it. She was definitely glad that she had made him come to the realization that he wasn't going to be rich forever if he hadn't done anything to protect his fortune or at least try to build it up into something bigger.

When the male made his next comment about her spending someone else's money and her parents being upset about it, Dylan couldn't help but laugh. "Are you kidding? They're probably waiting for the day that that happens," she spoke, finally bringing her glass to her lips again. Deciding to finish it off, Dylan then heard the waiter say that their food would be ready very soon while he poured Ben another glass of champagne.

At Ben's next comment, Dylan grinned devilishly. "I can see why you'd want me to be your next ride, but I don't walk around with an open sign across my forehead," the blonde spoke. "Especially not in Miami," she spoke.

[benjamin ryan thomas]

When Serenity laughed and said that her parents were probably waiting for the day for her to not use their money, the male simply nodded and took more sips of his drink. He watched her from across the table and simply smirked when the female expressed her opinion of his last comment. He knew full well that she wanted to be with him. He could see it in her eyes and calling her out on it was just what he wanted to do.

"You wouldn't be my next ride. In fact, I have a promised good night if you decide to decline my offer," he told her matter of factly and drank more as two waiters came around the corner with the trays of their food. Each waiter carried a tray holder of sorts and put them down first then the trays on top so that the food was right next to their prospective owner. The filet mignon ended up in front of Ben and Serenity at the same time as the waiters were probably taught to work in sync.

Ben nodded and thanked the waiter that had served him. He took the clothe napkin that had rested on the table and unfolded it gracefully to place it in his lap. He took the fork and knife and began to carve into the filet as he looked up at Serenity and spoke again. "My dearest Serenity, you won't know what you've been missing out on all these years until you come home to my beautiful mansion with me. I may even spoil you a bit. Though I think the limo ride might be enough," the male said as the fork in his hand moved to his mouth.

[serenity dylan lehmann]

Taking her napkin off of the table beside her glass, Dylan unfolded it and placed it across her lap, making sure that it was covered so in case she had spilled anything, she wouldn't ruin her dress. As she did so, she heard the comment that Ben had made. Cracking a smile as she picked up her fork and knife and cut herself a piece of her dinner. "I'm sure that your friend Jill is always up for a nice ride with you every night," the girl spoke, bringing her fork to her mouth and taking it's contents with her lips.

Chewing her food and eventually swallowing it, Dylan looked up in enough time to hear Ben's next string of words. "Oh Benjamin, how do you know that I've been missing out. What if it's been you that's been missing out?" she questioned. "And spoil me how?" she questioned. Being spoiled was always something that seemed to spark Dylan's interest. She may have been interested in spoiling herself with lavish gifts at her parents expense, but when it came to someone else spoiling her, Dylan was all for it. She was young, pretty, and she was willing to use that to her advantage until she couldn't any longer.

[benjamin ryan thomas]

Ben had managed to take a bite of food before Serenity responded to him saying he was in for a good night any way that their date ended. Ben almost spit out his food with his surprised chuckle at what she had to say. Once he had calmed himself and drank some champagne to wash down the bite that he had finally swallowed, Ben cleared his throat. "You're very amusing with your assumptions. But unfortunately my hands don't touch my own body anymore," Ben explained before he took yet another sip of his drink. "I have women literally throwing themselves at me, even in my own home. So technically, I'm never lonely enough to use old Jill," he finished with a wink before looking down at his food to grab another bite.

Her next response made the male chuckle even more though this time, he had been able to finish what he was chewing. Ben decided to keep it cool and not get too into details of how he was going to spoil her because her spark of interest in it was enough to keep her hooked for a bit. "I'll spoil you and no matter what I do, I know you're going to love every minute of it. So the how is up to me. It's the when that's up to you. We can either start tonight or wait until you think you're ready to handle the lavish life of Mr. Benjamin Thomas," he told her and gave a huge smirk before looking down at his food to take a few more bites.

[serenity dylan lehmann]

As Dylan sat at the table, enjoying her dinner, she watched as Benjamin had nearly choked on his food after he heard her comment. Grinning with pleasure, Dylan just took another bite of her dinner and chewed quietly. Hearing Ben tell his story of not having to use his own hand because women were falling all over him constantly, the blonde girl kept her cool. She had a feeling that Ben's new lifestyle had effected his dating life; or, his sex life, rather. "Well, I'm glad you have a little hoe for every night of the week so do your dirty deeds for you," the female spoke. "You always seemed to have your looks in check with the girls," Dylan spoke. When the girl saw Ben wink at her, Dylan disregarded it, seeing as how she had a feeling that the male was simply trying to woo her and get her into his bed.

Taking a sip of her drink, the female looked to the male that sat across from her as he spoke again. "The lavish life? Benjamin, you already know that I was born into a lavish life. I can handle anything that you throw my way," she spoke. "And I love sparkly things," she spoke. "Especially jewelry," Dylan added. "But I don't think that you can handle my expensive taste," she said before taking another sip of her drink. "Although, a nice vacation to Spain or Italy would be nice too," she spoke.

[benjamin ryan thomas]

Ben chewed another bite as he heard her comment about the hoes he slept with. Honestly, they only wanted him because of his money but he almost never spent a dime on any of them. Honestly, he didn't want to because then they would become too emotionally attached and Benjamin certainly did not want that kind of commitment from any sexually dependent women. The next words from Serenity though, surprised him. Was that actually a compliment about his looks? Well he was going to take it that way even if she didn't mean it that way. "Thank you for the flattering compliment dear," he said then took another bite and began chewing as she started to speak again.

Ben listened as she explained that she had been born into the lavish life and had very expensive tastes. The male kept his cool, didn't even show a grin. Instead he moved to reach into his jacket pocket. Almost no one knew that the male carried gifts with him for those moments when he really did want to swoon girls with gifts. In the long box was a bracelet. To him, it cost almost nothing but to most everyone else, it was ridiculously expensive.

Ben had remembered that all those years ago that Serenity had worn a very nice bracelet her parents had gotten her. When he had asked her what kind it was, he was practically blown away. Just because Ben wasn't rich back then didn't mean he didn't know which brands were the more expensive ones. He remembered that a little charm where the bracelet connected to itself on the bottom of her wrist was a purple heart.

Ben placed the box down on the table and carefully slid it towards Serenity. Once he had stopped moving it, he left it up to her to pick it up and open it. The male went back to eating and simply watched Serenity. If that bracelet didn't get her into his bed later that evening, he didn't know what else would. Ben remained straight faced but slowly let a grin pass over his lips as he picked up his glass after swallowing and took a sip.

click here for the bracelet (that costs $4 million dollars)

[serenity dylan lehmann]

As the pair ate their dinner, Dylan couldn't help but wish that Ben hadn't have inherited the money that he had. He had changed, drastically, from the last time that she had seen him and she wasn't so sure that he liked the new and not-so-improved Ben. Though, it wasn't until the male had slid a box across the table towards her. Taking a moment to think, Dylan eventually reached for the box. Upon opening it, she saw what was sitting inside of it; it took all of a few seconds to know how much the ticket price of the bracelet was that was sitting comfortably inside it's box. Closing the box, Dylan looked up to Ben. She knew that he had changed, but hadn't realized exactly how much until just then. "While I can appreciate the gift, I can't accept it," she told the male.

Lifting her hand up from the side of the table, Dylan took a quick sip of her drink and then put the glass back down on the table. "The evening has been fun, Ben," she began. "But you've changed a bit too much, even for me," the female spoke. "When you figure out who you really are, call me and let me know," Dylan spoke, taking the napkin off of her lap and placing it on the table as she stood up.

Walking out of the restaurant, Dylan began walking down the street by herself. She texted her sister that she would be home a little late and to leave the door unlocked. As she walked, a few guys turned and looked at her as they passed, but Dylan was more focused on her phone and making it to their former special part of the park they had always hung out at when they were younger. Once there, Dylan saw that it hadn't changed a single bit and looked as secluded as it was so many years previous. Sitting down in the middle of the grass in the small part of the opening in the trees, Dylan looked up at the night sky. It was different, the times were different, and worst of all, Ben was different.

[benjamin ryan thomas]

Ben watched from across the table as the blond took the box and opened it. The moment that Ben had expected to happen, was not actually what unfolded. She closed the box and placed it back down on that table, saying that she was declining the gift. Ben almost choked on the sip of champagne he had had in his mouth. He didn't though and kept a calm face as he set the glass down slowly and quietly on the table.

Once Serenity had said her piece about wanting the old him back, she got up from the table and walked away. The old him? She meant the broke him. The him without money, fame or girls. He wasn't about to give all that up, that's for sure. For almost the whole dinner, though, Serenity had played along and into their little flirting game. He didn't understand what had suddenly changed in her. Maybe he shouldn't have given her the bracelet because she had probably figured out that he was just trying to buy her into bed.

Ben laid out a few hundreds to pay for the bill, the drinks and the tip for the waiter. Picking up the napkin from his lap, the male wiped his mouth. He pushed his chair out then stood place, tossing the napkin onto the table. He straightened out the shoulders of his jacket then proceeded to walk past the table, grabbing the bracelet box on the way. Because it had only been a few minutes, once Ben was outside, he looked around and saw the shape of Serenity walking down the street. He wanted her to explain what she meant by the old him.

He followed her into the park and once she had found a spot, she stopped then made her way through to the hidden patch behind. As soon as Ben saw where she was and where she was headed, his heart nearly broke. The entire time he had stayed in Miami while she was out and about everywhere, he hadn't ever visited their little cove. He had honestly completely forgotten about it. Now as he watched her go into it, feelings rushed back. Feelings that had been shut down in his body for so many years. Ben had never really fallen completely head over heels for Serenity but he did feel something for her.

Ben walked over and pulled back the branches that hid the little opening. Sitting in the middle and looking up at the night sky was Serenity. Ben didn't say anything. Instead, he walked over slowly and just sat down next to Serenity. He couldn't sit with his legs crossed over one another so he leaned back, put his arms behind him and put his legs out straight. He didn't really know what to say yet so he just looked up at the stars like she did. It wasn't until a few moments later that Ben figured out what to say. "Hey, um, thanks," he spoke and looked over at her.

[serenity dylan lehmann]

As Dylan laid there on the ground, looking up at the stars, she eventually heard a bit of a movement in the wooded area surrounded by the opening in the trees that she was sitting in. Eventually, she heard footsteps, so she looked up. Seeing Ben walking towards her, Dylan wasn't sure what he was thinking, so she played it cool and kept quiet.

It wasn't too long after Ben had walked over that he sat down next to her and leaned back on his elbows. Following suit, Dylan leaned up on her elbows, though she laid her head against Ben's shoulder after he spoke a simple thank you to her. "Don't mention it," she said. "You just needed to be brought back down to earth and back into your human body again," she said, cracking a smile that could only be seen slightly in the moonlight.

Thinking back to when the pair had first met, Dylan remembered having a crush on the male; he was older, a bit of a bad boy back then even, and off limits. He wasn't someone that her parents wanted her to bring home to them, which was the biggest thrill of it all, so she had only settled on being friends with Ben back then. Though, when she returned to Miami, she was hoping that there would be some sort of spark there, but with the new persona that the male had, Dylan was sure that she had lost any sort of crush on Ben that she had had left. "I wish that you wouldn't have changed, Ben," she said. "I used to have the biggest crush on you. I thought that maybe something would spark between us, but it was just a childhood crush, I guess," Dylan spoke, trying to convince herself of it as well.

[benjamin ryan thomas]

As soon as Serenity's head rested on Ben's shoulder, the male froze. Her touching him had made more feelings rush back. He was scared of them for one simple reason, he didn't want to mess up the kind of flirty fun relationship he shared with Serenity. He almost didn't know if she was going to say anything to him but then she did speak.

Ben looked over at her to see a faint smile in the glow of moonlight on her face when she finished speaking. She told him that he needed to be brought back down to earth and for a moment, Ben completely agreed with her. Then he thought about his life that he had gained and how much better his life was. His mind started questioning if she was right or if he was. He knew deep down that she was but what kind of poor foster kid wouldn't want what Ben has now and without working for it?

After a few moments of silence, Serenity spoke again, telling him of how she wished he hadn't changed. He wanted to respond but instead just let her keep talking. When she admitted that she had had a crush on him but that it was no longer there, Ben felt a jolt to his heart. What were these feelings he was feeling? Was it something towards Serenity herself? Or was it just something about the nostalgia bringing it all back to his mind. His thoughts began to become clear enough that he could speak to the female. "If it was just an old childhood crush, why did you agree to dinner so quickly?" he asked. There was no hint of sarcasm in his question. He genuinely wanted to know.