Reuben felt her back slip away from his hand, and almost thought he'd misjudged the situation and she was taking a step to increase the distance between them. It turned out to be just the opposite, and he felt immediately reassured. It wasn't as though the signals she'd been sending him tonight could be misinterpreted, and now she'd come right out and more or less asked him to proposition her. That was how he took her question, at any rate. It was quite obvious to both of them what was on his mind; they'd been thinking the same thing for at least the last ten minutes.

"I'm thinking," Ben started in a playful tone, drawing out the syllables as though he needed to reach around in his head and see what he could come up with. He was, in fact, considering his responses, but only the specific verbiage, really. He already knew the gist of what he was going to say. "That your eyes are the clearest, brightest blue I've ever seen."

(Step one: hyperbolic flattery).

"And I'm thinking," he continued, moving his hands up towards her face and resting them lightly on the edge of her jaw. "That that thing you're doing with your lip right now," — he bit his own lower lip lightly to mimic her — "Is really, really cute."

(Step two: contact, more flattery, and drawing attention to her lips — inviting attention to his own).

He leaned in, as if he was going to kiss her, but stopped shy of actually doing so and met her eyes again (after a rather significant glance down at her lips). "What are you thinking, Little Miss Rebel?"