Now it was Ben's turn to laugh. "I don't think you could intimidate anyone," he said with a grin. He lifted his left hand up to push a strand of hair off of her forehead and added flirtatiously, "You're too cute for that."

Mostly it was just the thing to say, because very little of the things Ben said when he flirted with women meant anything, but he did think that her looks were starting to grow on him, a bit. When he'd first met her he hadn't thought much about her one way or another, and when the rumors had started circulating he had definitely thought that she wasn't really much of his type. Here, though, she had a sort of air about her that was delicate and delicious. She was a little disheveled from their kiss (the stray strand of hair on her forehead, for instance) in a way that was endearing. The playfulness in her tone and the enthusiasm in her eyes was alluring. Maybe it wasn't so much her features that were growing on him as it was her mannerisms; her looks were fine, he supposed, but she, as a package, was rather nice.