CHAPTER 2 BENNETT
BENNETT
This fucking piece of hair.
It keeps sticking up in a weird way, and no matter what I do, it won’t submit to me.
I pat it down, once, twice…thrice!
And nothing.
So I turn off my bathroom light and go to my closet, where I pick out a Bombers cap and place it on my head. Whatever, I don’t want to look like I’m trying too hard, and all she’s really known me to wear is a hat, so this would be normal.
Now, the few spritzes of cologne that smells like fresh laundry, that’s new, as well as the T-shirt I’m wearing that is loose around my waist but tight around my biceps. Biceps that I’ve worked so fucking hard to build.
She met me when I was sixteen, scrawny, awkward, and unsure of my body, but I’m not that boney boy anymore.
I’m twenty-four now, a major league baseball player with enough muscle on my body to do damage.
I also grew into my frame, topping off at six foot three.
I know I’m going to tower over her, so much so that her head will meet my chest as her arms wrap around my waist.
I spent last night after the game—that we lost—cleaning up my place, making sure there wasn’t a speck of dirt on a baseboard or floor.
I vacuumed my couch several times, lint-rollered it, and then sprayed some of that nice-smelling shit on it.
I spent too much goddamn time arranging a candle on my coffee table, moving it left, right, and center until I gave up and replaced it with a book about baseball facts.
I considered taking down my framed jerseys I have from my high school team and minor league teams, but it felt wrong.
So I kept them up, but I did clean them, just in case.
And now that she’s going to be here any second, I’m nervous, excited, fucking bursting at the seams to see her.
It’s been a while, a few months, since I’m in the middle of my season.
I think the last time I saw her was over the holidays when I was visiting Gabby and her husband, Ryland, in Almond Bay.
Wait, I know that’s the last time I saw her, because she was telling Gabby all about a guy she was dating and how he had some sort of foot fetish and was constantly giving her toe rings to wear.
Hoping that since she’s moving, that guy is out of the picture now.
Because with him out of the picture, I’m sure with my track record, I’ll just stare at her from afar, never make a move, and then watch her go off with someone else.
I drag my hand over my face.
Christ.
Here I am, pretending like I’m actually going to do something about her being here, but as time ticks by, closer and closer to her arrival, I feel myself grow more and more nervous.
Because, yeah, she might be moving here, but does that mean I’m actually going to do something about it?
I tug on the brim of my hat…
I should.
I really should do something about it.
I’ve wanted this for so fucking long, and now that there’s a chance, a small chance at that—she is eight years older than me, my sister’s best friend, and calls me fucking Benny Boo Boo—there still could be an opportunity for me to flip the way she looks at me.
I take a deep breath, thinking about the other women I’ve been with, how they haven’t interested me in the slightest. How they’re just my attempt to fill a void, a void that I know only Bower can fill.
But can I really do this?
Can I make a move?
I tug on my bottom lip just as there’s a knock at the door.
My stomach bottoms out and my palms break into a sweat.
Fuck, keep it together.
Nerves buzzing through me, I open the door and my heart nearly leaps out of my chest as Bower comes into view, looking so fucking beautiful that it takes everything in me not to cup her cheek, bend down, and kiss her.
“Bennett!” she shouts as she drops her bags and walks right into my chest, wrapping her arms around me.
Fucking fulfilled.
I sink into her hold, my arms encircling her, my chin resting on the top of her head as I breathe in her sweet scent of coconut. As I memorize everything about this moment, like I have with every other hug we’ve shared, her hands travel up my back as she tightens her hold on me.
I revel in it.
In the feel of her wrapped around me.
In her softness.
In her fucking presence.
“Hey,” I say softly, my hand cupping the back of her head for a moment before she pulls away and looks up at me, her hands gripping my forearms.
“Oh my God, you’re so…muscular.”
I feel my cheeks heat from the compliment.
“That’s what happens when you’re required to hit up the weight room.”
She pats my chest with a smirk. “Required? Please, you know you love it.”
She turns around to grab her bags, and I quickly glance at the way her leggings frame her perfectly round ass and how her shirt rides up, showing me an inch of her skin.
“Let me grab those for you,” I say, moving to her side and snagging her bags before she can.
“I’d say I got it, but you have to put those muscles to good use.”
I pull her bags into the apartment and she shuts the door for us before taking my hand in hers and practically skipping to the couch, where she pulls me down to talk.
Her honey-blond hair fans out around her shoulders in long waves, while her light green eyes shine up at me. Her nose ring is no longer a hoop, but rather a small diamond, and instead of eyeliner on her top and bottom lids, she just has mascara, with a hint of blush caressing her cheeks.
“So tell me everything.” That stunning smile of hers fucking gut punches me.
“Everything?” I ask, fidgeting with my hat as I adjust it on my head.
“Yeah, like…do you have any girls in your life?”
Always one of her top questions. She loves asking about my relationship status, and it might seem like I’m a total loser, but I always give her the same answer.
“Nope.”
“Seriously?” she asks, pushing at my knee. “No one?”
I shake my head. “No one really catches my attention.”
Besides you.
You captured my attention.
“Are you even trying?” she asks, a tease in her voice.
“Not really.”
She chuckles. “Typical Bennett. Probably just focused on baseball, right?”
“Pretty much. What about you?” I ask, feeling my throat grow tight with nerves. “Do you have any guys in your life?”
She rolls her eyes dramatically and props her hand against the couch. “Ugh, no. I was seeing this one guy. We went on three dates, but he just wasn’t doing it for me.”
“Why not?” I ask, wanting to learn from this fool’s mistakes.
Her eyes find mine. “Promise not to judge me?”
“Depends,” I say playfully.
She crosses her legs and leans forward, taking my answer as a go-ahead to spill anyway. “He didn’t pass the name test.”
“What’s the name test?” I ask.
“You really don’t know?”
I shake my head. “Nope.”
“Bennett, the name test is a very important test. It basically tells you if you’re compatible or not in bed.”
My brows raise. “Oh?”
She nods slowly. “You have to test the person’s name on a moan, and if it sounds good, then you can move forward. And let me tell you, he did not pass the test.”
“What was his name?”
Her nose crinkles. “Ebenezer.”
“It was not fucking Ebenezer,” I say on a laugh and a shake of my head. “No fucking way was his name Ebenezer.”
“It was.” Her eyes widen in sincerity. “I swear. Ebenezer and his friends called him Nezer.”
“Jesus, that’s not great either.”
“Yeah, so tell me how I’m supposed to have this man’s dick deep between my legs with ‘give it to me hard, Ebenezer’ coming off my lips?”
I laugh and tug on the back of my neck, wondering if I pass the name test. Also, hate to admit it, but hearing Bower say dick deep might have made me slightly hard.
“Yeah, that doesn’t pass the test.”
“Exactly.” She tosses her hands in the air.
“I had to end it. Might be superficial, but anytime I tried to use his name in a sexual way, it just made my nipples invert, and let me tell you something, Bennett”—she gestures to her perfect fucking tits—“these nipples are made to poke against the fabric of my shirt, not hide.”
Jesus…
“Can’t have inverted nipples,” I say, unsure of how to respond to that, especially since my eyes land on her tits for a moment, taking in too much of a fill than I probably should.
“Exactly, so Ebenezer had to go. How I even went on three dates is beyond me. Probably because I’m horny all the time.”
Okay, not information I needed to hear when I’m half-hard, but then again, it’s Bower. She’s never been shy about anything.
“I was reading this book the other day where the female main character came just from nipple play.” She grips my forearm. “Nipple play, Bennett. Have you ever come from just nipple play?”
No, but pretty sure I can come just from talking about it right now.
“Can’t say that I have.”
“Me, either, but I want to have that experience, and let me tell you, Ebenezer was not the guy to do it.” She tucks her hair behind her ear.
“I love my books, more than anything, but do you think they’re setting my standards too high?
Is it too much to ask to pass the name test and to make me come from nipple play? ”
Christ, I’m so hard right now.
Because, no, I don’t think that’s too much to ask.
And if she’d give me a chance, I’d love to try.
“I don’t think that’s too much to ask.”
“Really? Because Gabby was saying I should stop reading my books, then I went and told her that was easy for her to say given the dick she has at home and how absolutely satisfied she is every time she mounts it.”
“Yeah, maybe we don’t talk about my sister and former coach’s sex life.”
“Oh, we’re all adults.” She waves her hand at me.
“Anyway, I’m hoping this move is a new chapter for me, and I get to have you, Benny Boo Boo, as my wingman in a new town.
” She takes my hand in hers. “Seriously, thanks for helping me out. I checked out the apartment and I love it. I filled out the application, and if I get it, I think I might just live here. It’ll be fun being so close to someone I know.
Oh, and when you’re away, I can take care of your place for you.
” She glances around. “Doesn’t seem like you have any plants or anything, but you know, I can check up on things for you either way. ”
Hope springs in my chest because I can’t imagine a more perfect scenario.
Actually, I can. It would be Bower moving in here, with me.
“That would be awesome,” I say, trying not to sound too excited.
“It’s settled then. We’re neighbors. Now, don’t you have a game tonight you have to get to?”
“I do, but I wanted to make sure you were settled before I took off for the stadium.”
“I’m good. You know I can handle myself.” She bounces on her butt. “And this couch is going to be incredibly comfortable, so thanks for letting me sleep on it.”
“Oh, I was going to let you take my bed and I can take the couch. I just changed my sheets.”
“Yeah, that’s not happening.” She pats my cheek. “Cute of you for thinking that, though, and don’t even fight me on it. I don’t need you acting all chivalrous. I like a good couch.”
“Yeah, but I slept on a couch for almost my entire life.” Well, until Gabby gave up her bed for me every night so I had a solid sleep. She always sacrificed herself.
“And that’s exactly why you deserve the bed.
” She winks and then gets off the couch, grabbing her phone from her bag.
Rather than sitting next to me on the couch, she sits on the armrest and holds the phone up in selfie mode.
“We need to send a pic to Gabby. I didn’t tell her I was moving, and this would be the perfect way. ”
She loops her arm around me and rests her head against mine just as she says, “Smile.”
I smile and she snaps the picture, stealing my breath and sanity all at the same time.
She stares at it for a second and then glances at me. “Ooof, you’re so handsome. Still don’t understand how you don’t have girls falling at your feet.”
She stands and texts Gabby while I try to calm the raging heat that’s pulsing through me.
That’s the first time she’s said that to me.
Handsome.
She’s complimented me on my height, my muscles, my build, but handsome…that was the first. She has no clue that she just gave me a fucking truckload of hope.