Chapter Twelve #2
My hair is pulled into a messy bun on top of my head.
I have no makeup on, and my eyes are puffy from the occasional tears I’ve shed over Ben.
And my clothes? Not only are they stained but my soft cotton shorts and old tee shirt are threadbare—because I didn’t care what I wore to wallow over losing Ben.
He pounds on the door again.
“No time to change,” Ivy says, laughing but showing me no pity as she unlocks the door and lets Ben inside. “Hi, bodyguard,” she says.
“Hi, Ivy. Summer here?”
I clear my throat.
He steps past Ivy, looking determined and oh, so sexy. He meets my gaze, his expression softening as he takes me in.
“Hi,” I whisper. Despite all the heavy emotions flowing through me, most of all certainty about how strongly I love him, I am suddenly uncertain of how to approach him.
In the wake of the silence as we stare at each other, Ivy gathers her bag from the couch. “And I’ll take this as my cue to leave,” she says, making her way to the door.
“Bye, Ivy,” I say, my stare never leaving Ben.
“Text me later. I want details,” she says, not ashamed to be blunt.
“Good-bye!” I say, shaking my head over my friend.
Ivy closes the door and leaves me alone with Ben.
“I wasn’t expecting you.” I try not to feel self-conscious about my messy appearance as I gesture for him to come farther inside.
“I couldn’t let another minute go by.” He strides up to me, grasping my face between his hands and staring into my eyes. “I love you, Summer.”
My heart skips a beat at his words. “You what?” I ask, blinking up at him. I know I heard him right, but I definitely need to hear him say it again.
A sweet, sexy smile lifts his lips. “I love you, Summer. Need me to say it again?”
I shake my head, tears of joy filling my eyes and happiness clogging my throat. “I love you, too,” I say, but in my heart, I know our problems aren’t solved just because we admitted our feelings. “But what about—”
He cuts my words off, sealing his lips over mine instead. In his kiss, in the reverent way his mouth moves over mine, his thumb caressing the side of my face, I feel the love he expressed in those three simple words that mean so much.
It hasn’t been long since I saw him last, but I missed him, probably more so because I believed our separation was permanent.
At the thought, I wind my arms around his neck and press into him, needing to get as close as possible.
My breasts crush against his chest, and I soak in his purely masculine scent.
He groans and slides his tongue into my mouth, uniting us as our bodies mesh and our hips grind together.
He drops his hands from my face, his fingers gliding through my hair.
He tips my head, holding me in place while he kisses me senseless, and I lose myself in everything that is Ben, and all I can think about is the fact that he is here, he loves me, and … I am leaving soon.
I pull back, leaning my head so I can meet his gaze. “What are we going to do about the long-distance issue? I can’t get back here while on tour, and if you’re on a case, you definitely can’t come to me.”
Pain fills me at the thought, but a pleased look dances across his face, giving me hope he’s thought of a solution I haven’t.
“What is it?” I ask.
“You’re looking at your new full-time bodyguard,” he says, grinning. “As in, where you go, I go.”
“Really?” Excitement fills her, but then reality takes hold. “Ben, I can’t afford to pay you full time.”
“You have a guardian angel,” he says, kissing my lips.
“Dan got a call from Jade’s people. Apparently, she’s decided to take you under her wing.
She feels responsible for setting up the competition and putting you in a position where Michael could try and undermine you.
She and her team want your security covered. ”
I let his news sink in, Jade’s generosity and the fact that Ben and I won’t be separated after all.
“Oh my God! That’s incredible. You’re coming with me?” I squeal in excitement. “You’re really coming with me! It’s like all my dreams wrapped up in one huge, lucky, unbelievable package. I don’t know how to thank her.”
“You’ll find a way,” he says, a smile on his face. “But you have to know something. Even if the opportunity hadn’t come up, after talking to Dan today about life being short and knowing how he lost the love of his life to cancer … I’d have found a way to make it work. To make us work.”
I bite down on my lower lip to stop its quivering. “I was talking to Ivy before you came in. And I was going to tell you the same thing. I didn’t have a solution, but I knew that I loved you.” I grasp on to his shoulders. “And I didn’t want to lose you.”
“And you never will.” Love and so much emotion flash across his handsome face.
“You’re going to conquer the world, Summer Michelle.
And I’m going to be by your side when you do.
Because nobody but me is going to guard this body,” he says, his hands grazing down my sides, over my breasts, my nipples tightening at the slightest tease of his touch.
“You can start right now.” I grasp his hand and pull him toward the bedroom, my heart light, my spirits high, my sense of gratitude soaring.
I have the career I’ve worked so hard for with the man I love by my side. I couldn’t ask for anything more.