Ben didn't feel at all embarrassed about living in a club, and could easily have defended the decision, but it didn't seem as though she was too bothered by it. Living somewhere that wasn't home gave him much more freedom, and he would have been playing club dues anyway, which made it the most fiscally sound choice. There wasn't any point in squandering his money on a furnished house or flat with a small hoard of servants he didn't care about, when he could just rely on the house elves at Excalibur and funnel all of his spare change into travel, drugs, and booze.

Her hand was on his chest, though, playing with the buttons on his jacket, which was a much more pressing matter than where he lived. "Oh, we can pop into London somewhere," he suggested vaguely, moving his hands down to her hips and taking a half step closer to her, which brought them into contact (albeit through many layers of clothing, still) on the far edge of the road they'd been walking along. He returned her look with a smirk, because as far as Ben was concerned this was a charade they were both in on; she obviously didn't actually have any pressing desire to make it back to her aunt's any time soon, or else she wouldn't have stopped to mess around with his buttons. Leaning in, Ben brushed her hair back with one hand and planted a light kiss on the top of her jawbone, just where it disappeared into her neck. This left his lips very near her ear, and he muttered quietly, "It's not as though we're in any rush to decide, though, are we?" as his free hand slid down to the clasps at the front of her dress and deftly undid the first.