Battling Ben: Love in Little River Book Seven

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  Copyright © 2022 by Sweetly Us Press, LLC

  All rights reserved

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form whatsoever without prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief passages embodied in critical reviews and articles. This is a work of fiction. The characters, names, incidents, places, and dialogue are products of the authors’ imaginations and are not to be construed as real.

  Cover design by Sweetly Us Press

  Editors: Jenna Roundy, Gina Denny

  Published by Sweetly Us Press

  www.sweetlyuspress.com

  CONTENTS

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Epilogue

  Sneak Peak

  Love in Little River

  Also By Raneé S. Clark

  About the Author

  CHAPTER ONE

  Marissa Anderson looked up as a cheery ding interrupted the quiet of the diner. She grinned at Addy and started to slip out of her seat at one of the booths where she was folding silverware into the napkins. Addy waved at her to stay put and settled into the seat opposite.

  Marissa glanced up at the clock. “You’re early, Your Grace.” She smirked. She could never help sliding that in during her conversations with the future princess. It was like living inside a book, and it made Marissa jealous.

  Addy rolled her eyes, used to Marissa’s silly ways. “I wanted to chat with you before the others got here.” The ladies of the Magic Pack—the moniker that a local blog had given to the lucky residents who had ended up in fairy-tale like romances with the rich and famous—had a standing brunch date for the first Monday of every month at ten a.m. Customers were sparse that time of day, and it was easier for Marissa and Ben to keep the meal private for them. It was something else Marissa always had a pang of jealousy over. The women of the group had a close relationship and a bond over their circumstances that Marissa wished she had. If any of them besides Addy knew the truth, she felt sure they’d invite her. But sitting with them would give away too much, cause too many questions. And Marissa enjoyed her quiet life here too much to let it go.

  “Anything coming up?” Marissa asked, laughing to herself at the way Addy automatically joined in the work of rolling the silverware into the napkins. Addy looked just like she always did when she was in public, an image she kept tight control over. Put together outfit that included dark skinny jeans, a crisp white button-up, and pointy-toed but sensible flats. Her purse matched the color of her navy-blue shoes, and her hair was pulled into a low ponytail. Few people knew how much effort went into such a casual look for Addy, but the press picked at everything she wore. She wouldn’t care if someone snapped a picture of her helping out here—reporters did love to play up Addy’s roots—but she always made sure she looked professional, even in Little River. Even her casual outfits were carefully crafted athleisure chic ensembles that Marissa copied on a regular basis.

  “Just wanted to hang out,” Addy said. “I’ve barely seen you since Tristan and I got into town.” She pushed some of her rolled-up silverware packages to Marissa and kept rolling.

  “You know how the night shift is.” Marissa grinned. When she’d first come to Little River, that had been a bonus to taking this job. Not much room for a social life and not much room for someone to discover her here.

  “That I do. So what’s up?”

  Marissa shrugged. “Work. Cozy dinners at that beautiful little cottage I live in. A lot of quiet time. I binged Spies last month, like you suggested. It was fabulous.”

  Addy nodded. “And the secret project?” She lowered her voice, although there wasn’t anyone in the restaurant to overhear her. Except Ben, working in the kitchen. Marissa wasn’t sure what he was up to, given the lack of customers. She tried to ask Ben as few questions as possible. Their relationship was still rocky.

  “The same as always,” Marissa said with a sigh.

  Addy made a face. “I’m sorry.”

  Behind the face was disappointment that made Marissa laugh. “Me too,” she said. “I know how much you’re looking forward to reading something new.”

  Addy shook her head vehemently. “It has nothing to do with that. I am genuinely sorry that you have massive writer’s block.”

  Marissa scoffed, but she dropped it. Massive writer’s block seemed to be an understatement. Her publisher wanted a book a year ago. Last summer she’d managed to put together something decent. They’d said no, do better. She’d written about five thousand words since, each sentence like opening up her veins and bleeding on a page, and still she wasn’t sure it was any good.

  It was garbage. It was total garbage. Of course it was.

  Addy sighed and reached across the table to take Marissa’s hands. “What are you still doing in Little River?” she asked, tilting her head.

  “Fresh air and a—”

  “Change of pace. I know, your whole thing about switching your brain up or something. It’s been almost a year. It didn’t work. It isn’t working. So maybe you need to try something else.”

  Marissa glared. “Do you want your diner back? Is that what this is about?”

  Addy laughed. “No. I do not want my diner back. I really am just thinking of you.”

  “I do love it here.” Marissa squeezed Addy’s hands and then pulled away, going back to rolling up the silverware. “Really. Honestly. Even if I had written what my publisher wanted, I would have stayed. Eventually, the writing will come.” Marissa had never had a block this bad that’d lasted this long, but everyone had a career crisis, didn’t they? Marissa was fortunate that hers had come after a dozen best-selling books, three movies, and a lot of cash.

  The bell above the door dinged again, and June St. Clair walked in with Hallie Butler Roberts. Addy waved at them but turned back to Marissa when they headed toward the corner booth. “Get someone to cover for you sometime this week and come out for dinner, please? June and Wyatt are coming over Friday night. Come hang out.”

  “Do you promise not to try to set me up with someone?” Marissa gave Addy a pointed stare. Addy meddled every so often. Sometimes sending men into the diner to flirt with Marissa and ask her out. Sometimes inviting someone along to “hang out” when Addy invited Marissa over to her and Tristan’s house just outside of town.

  “If you’re sure …” Addy put her hands together in a prayer pose underneath her chin.

  “I’m sure.” Marissa chuckled as the door dinged again and Bellamy Jones and Roxy Turner entered. She stood along with Addy to follow her over to the table to get everyone’s drink orders.

  “Fine. You’re not doing your duty as a famous person in Little River, though,” Addy said.

  Marissa could
n’t help a snort of laughter. “Oh?”

  “Falling in love with a local.” Addy’s tone held a lot of obviously. “I’ll see you Friday, though.”

  “Of course.”

  They arrived at the table in time to see Hallie hold up her phone to Bellamy and say, “Jonah finally let my chickens onto an episode.” Hallie made a point to show it to Marissa as well, which Marissa smiled about. She trusted that Addy hadn’t spilled the beans about her real identity, but her employer-slash-closest thing she had to a bestie in town had likely talked her up.

  The picture was a screenshot of Hallie’s character, Calliope, holding a chicken while several others milled around her feet. “Adorable,” Marissa said as she straightened. “Sounds like a great episode. What are we drinking today?”

  The women laughed together as they ordered a mix of waters and sodas. Marissa took the orders back to the kitchen, ignoring whatever Ben was making at the big island in the center and getting the drinks ready. The less he noticed her, the better.

  The last few months since Addy’s wedding had seen a smoother relationship between them—perhaps because the legality of Addy and Tristan’s vows had made Ben see that Addy wasn’t coming back? Or at least his hopes had significantly diminished. Maybe because Addy had told him that even if Tristan ever did divorce her, she’d make sure to get enough money for a new restaurant in the bargain. Marissa had thought that was funny. Ben, not so much. It did not help that Ben’s brooding look—and the ever-so-slight glare she sometimes caught directed her way—was downright sexy. His eyes had just the right amount of unknowable darkness to make him seem—

  She stopped herself. Ben was not a hero in some fantasy romance. Unknowable darkness. That was good, though. For a fantasy romance hero. Not a guy who ran a diner and drove Marissa crazy.

  “Forgot it was the Magic Pack ladies’ brunch this morning,” Ben murmured, surprising Marissa and making her spill half of one of the waters. Had she mentioned his voice? It was low and strong, like maybe he’d be a good bass in a choir. She grabbed a towel to mop up, glancing over her shoulder to see if Ben noticed.

  He had. He’d turned to her, and his eyebrows were furrowed. “What did Addy want?” he asked, his tone suspicious. What he meant was, What were you asking Addy about? Marissa’s ideas for the diner went smoother when she went through Addy. Addy was technically Marissa’s boss. And Ben was a grump, always finding reasons why the cool things she wanted to do were unnecessary.

  “Nothing really. She wanted to hang out for a minute. I haven’t seen her since she got into town last week.” Marissa finished up the drinks and arranged them on a tray, turning to leave the kitchen.

  “Why would you have seen her?” The furrow to Ben’s brow deepened.

  Does being this suspicious about everything ever get tiring? Marissa wanted to ask. But she kept her mouth shut. There was no reason to poke the bear unnecessarily. “Because we’re friends,” she said before pushing back out the door to wait on the table.

  Ben scoffed under his breath, but Marissa ignored it. She’d keep the peace for a few hours, and then Ben would take off.

  She also ignored the little voice that said that she and Ben couldn’t keep on like this—her looking forward to the afternoon when he was gone, him suspicious of everything she did. There was an unspoken truce right now, but anything could break that. As much as Marissa loved the diner, Ben wasn’t going to be the one to go. He loved this place so much he’d tried to talk Addy out of her relationship with Tristan, and Marissa could still sometimes pick up on his worry that without Addy, he might lose his family’s legacy. She wasn’t sure how Ben didn’t realize that Addy would never allow that, and being married to a man as rich as Tristan made it that much easier for her to make sure of that. Marissa didn’t need this job. She could walk away any time.

  It wasn’t hard to pull her smile back on when she caught sight of the women at the corner booth. Ben was going to have to put up with her for a while longer. She might be on the fringe of this, but Addy was her friend and this diner was an anchor she needed while she figured out what was going on with her life. Maybe she’d just have to figure out a way to make him like her.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Ben looked down at his phone when it dinged with an invitation from his sister to come hang out. When she and Tristan were in town, she made sure to fill the time with family and friends. Mom and Dad weren’t due back to Little River for another three weeks, so family meant him.

  Their house at the foot of the mountains would be filled with her friends—who, ever since her marriage to Tristan, included people like June St. Clair and Bellamy Jones. Though, to be fair, Addy and Bellamy had been good friends before all that. But they weren’t Ben’s friends. He didn’t really have friends. He’d always been kind of a loner, and the diner life contributed to that. Going to bed by nine every night put a damper on his social life, but he didn’t mind. He’d always enjoyed the quiet.

  Busy day at the diner, he excused in his reply to his sister. Going to chill before going to bed.

  The dots announcing that Addy was typing danced across the screen for a full minute, so Ben expected a lengthy lecture about him not trying to get to know his brother-in-law when he could.

  Okay. Come over if you change your mind.

  That was it? She was letting him off with a short text? Judging from the amount of time she’d spent writing those two simple sentences, she’d written and deleted several other responses, so he couldn’t help but wonder what his sister wasn’t saying.

  Or maybe there wasn’t anything. Maybe she agreed that Ben wasn’t exactly fit company for the star-studded life she led now. Everything had to be perfect for her now—and on some level, he understood that was because of the scrutiny she was always under. But did that have to include high-profile friends as well as high-profile everything else?

  Ben huffed and flipped on his TV, scrolling to a Rockies game he’d recorded the night before. He opened up the dating app on his phone that he’d downloaded after Addy had gotten married, LoveHunt, an app created by June St. Clair. It was straightforward, the way her search for a second husband had been. Users created “résumés” on the app much the same as you would on a job-hunting site. While it did prioritize practical matches based on compatibility and needs—one of the reasons Ben had joined in the first place—the app always added a few matches in the sidebar that were outside of a user’s typical scope. Likely June’s homage to finding love in an unexpected way herself. Ben always cleared those away before looking over the logical matches.

  As he figured, there was only one way to get rid of Marissa Anderson—get married himself and keep the diner in the family. His parents had always run the diner together, and the only way to convince his sister to get rid of Marissa would be to provide a replacement she couldn’t say no to. Like Ben’s wife. Addy had told him that even if she ended up divorced from Tristan, she wouldn’t come back to work full time at the diner the way she had before. Ben hadn’t exactly given up on that. Not that he hoped for that for his sister, but a royal marriage was begging for a scandalous end. Tristan’s own sister was barreling toward the end of her second marriage.

  Ben got plenty of messages on the app. Probably because he lived in Little River, and given who the creator was, a lot of women wanted to come to town to find the magic June St. Clair had. But in the past six months since joining, Ben had only really connected with one woman. Even that had ended after a couple phone calls and her revealing that in the end, she couldn’t see herself moving to Little River. Ben was unmovable on that. Addy had already run off. It was up to him to keep the diner in the family.

  He picked through his recent messages, replying to a few that seemed more genuine, and then searching a couple profiles that stood out to him.

  A new match was waiting at the top of his profile when he returned to his page. He almost got out of the app, waiting to check the match out later, when he noted the name. Jane FakeName Smith. He couldn’t hel
p a snort of laughter. There was no profile picture, and Ben had to wonder if the details were fake as well. The reason the app matched them stood out right away. The woman’s hometown was Laramie, Wyoming, and the five-year plan on her dating résumé included country life.

  He opened up a chat message. He hadn’t had any connections in the last couple weeks, so what would he lose by seeing what was up with this woman? Can’t help asking, he typed, what’s the point of a fake name on a dating website? He set his phone aside, focusing on the game, but turned when the phone dinged with the app’s notification sound.

  I should set an auto-message, lol. I’m here for research.

  He tilted his head at the phone. He should let it go. This was not the connection he was looking for. But he was intrigued. Isn’t that why all of us are on here? Researching … potential dates?

  She sent a laughing emoji. I guess so. But I’m not looking for a date. Sorry.

  Shocking. Your profile name made me think you were looking for something serious. He added a winking emoji so she’d know he wasn’t upset over the exchange. Maybe she was on to something. Even the last few lines had been easier for him to type than any of his other conversations with women on the app. He was always thinking about how to say things correctly so he could be up front about his relationship goals and the fact that he wouldn’t leave Little River without coming off the wrong way. Too forward, too stubborn, or whatever someone wanted to label him.