31. Chapter 31 #2
My stomach does a little flip. “Is he? Why?” Don’t tell me he’s changed his mind about investing .
Benson’s smile softens, like he can read my thoughts. “He wanted to talk marketing plans with me while I’m still in town.”
I hate those words. Still in town . My misery leaks into my voice as I say, “Oh. That’s good.”
Benson’s expression softens even more, and I can feel Melissa’s attention shifting from me to him and back again.
I don’t blame her, since we’re giving each other all sorts of heavy looks.
“He wants to talk to you now,” he says. “I can hang with Melissa and walk her through some of the plans of action I’m putting together. ”
“What about Eric?” Heat splashes across my face when that question evokes instant memories of Saturday morning, the last time I said those words. Memories of the way Benson kissed me senseless when I told him that I was choosing him too.
Benson chuckles and looks at Eric’s closed door behind him. “I think he’s busy. But Rogers specifically wants to talk to you, so I don’t think he’ll mind.”
Taking a steadying breath, I stand to swap places with Benson.
As we pass, his hand brushes against mine, giving me some much-needed reassurance.
I’ve lost track of the number of times he’s told me that he’ll find a way for us to be together, but without any solutions, it isn’t easy to believe it.
Either one of us loses something we love, or we never see each other.
But I trust Benson, and that will have to be enough for now. We have a couple of weeks to figure things out.
I find Rogers at the same table we sat at the first time we were here, his gaze on the mountains and looking far too relaxed given the waves of heat rolling off the building.
Summer temperatures are still holding strong.
“Mr. Rogers,” I say when I reach him. “I’m so sorry we don’t have more space. You must be melting out here.”
“I like the heat.” Grinning, he gives me a firm handshake before gesturing to the chair next to him. “I spend half my time in Arizona and the other half here.”
“A bit different from England.”
“Indeed.”
When we sit in silence for a moment, I figure I should nudge our conversation forward so I can get back to Melissa. Back to Benson . “You wanted to talk to me?”
“I did.” He stretches his legs out, looking like he’s never been more comfortable. “After talking to Benson, I wanted to get your opinion on something, as the two of you seem to work rather well together.”
We more than work well together, but Rogers doesn’t need to know that. “Okay?”
“Do you think there’s any chance Benson might consider selling his business?”
My jaw slips open. “You want to…buy Benson’s consulting business?”
“Heavens no.” Rogers laughs, the sound deep and hearty. “I’m simply curious if you think he would ever sell and come work with me.”
I have no idea why this is the topic he wanted to discuss with me, and I wish I had a way to get out of it.
The last thing I want to talk about right now is the biggest thing standing in the way of Benson and me being together.
“Benson loves his business,” I say quietly.
It’s the very reason I haven’t suggested exactly what Rogers asked about.
Everything about our relationship still feels tenuous, and I’m terrified to push Benson more than he’s already been pushed.
“He loves what he does with his business,” Rogers counters. “There’s a difference.”
“Maybe.” I shrug. “But I’ve only just managed to convince him to give a long-distance relationship a try, and I don’t know if he would be ready to uproot the life he’s built in New York.”
“Ah, I wondered if there was something brewing between the two of you.” He sits forward, his eyes dancing with interest. “I saw it the last time I was here, but it has certainly evolved.”
“Yeah,” I breathe, too mournful to hide it. I run my finger along the edge of the table and consider Rogers’s question again. Would Benson ever sell his business? “I can’t ask him to do something that big, though. He’s worked so hard to build his company, and I just want him to be happy.”
“That’s very selfless of you, Miss Baldwin.
” Rogers offers a softer smile this time, a thoughtful look in his eyes as he studies me.
“It would be a lot to ask of someone, I agree, and my line of work can be incredibly difficult, which makes it an even harder decision. Not many people want to dive into something so unpredictable—most prefer something more consistent—but Benson…”
I can’t help but laugh a little despite everything. “Benson loves a good challenge.”
“I’ve noticed that about him. It’s probably why he asked if I would be interested in taking him on as a partner.”
“He’s really…” I stop. Blink. Look at the man next to me with my eyebrows drawn. “Wait, he did what?”
Rogers chuckles, taking in my shock with a new light in his eyes. “He called me early this morning and asked for a chat, and he was quite determined to convince me of the idea.”
Benson is thinking about selling his company? “And…” I shake my head to try to clear my thoughts. They’re all buzzy, like my head is full of static electricity. “And what did you say to him?”
His smile grows. “I told him I would only consider taking on a partner when I found the right person.”
“Oh.” There goes my hope.
“And I don’t think there would be anyone more perfect to join me than him.”
My breath catches in my throat, and I stare at this man with his beard and bird shirt and apparently the answers to all my problems. But I have to be sure I’m not misunderstanding. “He’s going to sell his company?”
Rogers nods once.
“And he’s going to work with you?”
Another nod.
Dare I ask? “Here in…in Utah?”
“He’ll have to spend some time in Arizona until he’s up to speed, but I imagine we can make a decent split of things and save us both from too much time on the road.”
If this man wasn’t our biggest investor, I would throw my arms around him and give him the tightest hug imaginable.
But since I can’t do that, I content myself with a teary smile that hopefully conveys everything I’m feeling.
“You have no idea what… Thank you.” But then I frown.
“Why are you the one telling me this? Why didn’t Benson… ?”
With another warm smile, Rogers gets to his feet and pats my shoulder.
“I think he wanted you to be certain it was real and not just words. So did I, to be frank, after some of the conversations we had last week. This is quite a shift from his plans before. But seeing your reaction, I understand why he would choose this. A man who’s willing to do anything for the woman he loves is a man worth investing in.
I can’t wait to see what all of us do together.
” He winks, and then he’s gone, leaving me in a puddle in my seat.
Benson said he would find a way to make this work. And he did.
Something loosens in my chest, like a long-tied knot that I didn’t notice until it unravels and falls away, letting me breathe. Hope doesn’t feel dangerous like it did a few minutes ago. It feels possible .
When my limbs gain enough strength to work again, I stumble back inside right as Benson appears in the lobby, his eyes full of questions.
“Eric’s with Melissa,” he says, pointing a thumb behind him. “I guess Cathy had a conference call, and he wanted to—”
Grabbing his hand, I tug him past a snickering Lynda and her “I’ll pretend I didn’t see you” and into the storage closet behind her desk. I pull the door shut, and then I throw my arms around Benson’s neck and pull myself in tight. “I love you,” I say into his neck.
His arms wrap around me in a strong embrace that feels like it’s the only thing holding me together as I process the conversation I just had. “I told you,” he whispers. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Sinking my weight back onto my feet, I tilt my head back to meet his gaze. “But how did you…?” Actually, I don’t care. Locking my hands around his neck, I pull him down until our mouths collide.
Benson rises to the occasion splendidly, coaxing the kiss deeper and guiding me back until my shoulders rest against the nearest shelf.
“I couldn’t sleep last night,” he says when he breaks away to give me a chance to breathe.
His kisses move to my jaw and down my neck as he talks, leaving a trail of heat behind.
“I’ve been so desperate for a way to make this work, and then it hit me. ”
“But your business,” I say, though the words come out breathless when his lips press against my throat. “You love what you do.”
He chuckles and comes back up to brush a kiss against my lips. “I also love facing something new. It won’t be that different, anyway.”
“But you won’t get to see as many cool places.”
“I’ve already seen them.”
“And you won’t have as many—
“Avery.” Placing his hands on the shelf on either side of my head, bracketing me in like the heroes do in the books around us, he levels me with a firm stare that quiets all my thoughts.
“Like I said, I couldn’t sleep last night, so I had a lot of time to think about this.
My job means nothing if it means I can’t have you.
I want fewer companies to work with.” He kisses my forehead.
“I want to try something more stable. Something where I have actual stakes in the game.” He kisses the corner of my mouth, lingering there in a way that makes my legs turn to jelly.
“And I don’t want to go anywhere if you’re not going with me. ”
He snakes his hand behind my neck as his lips find mine again, and he kisses me long and slow and deep, so languid that I feel like I might combust here in this closet. At work .
As if remembering where we are at the same time I do, Benson groans and drops his head to my shoulder. “Whose idea was it to keep this a secret?”
I laugh and tangle my fingers into his hair despite knowing I’ll have to fix it. I have come to learn that I love his hair and running my hands through it while he kisses me. “Yours.”
“I’m an idiot.” The look he gives me when he lifts his head is so full of attraction and desire that I’m kissing him again when Lynda’s voice cuts through the moment.
“Oh, I’m sure they’re around here somewhere, Eric.”
Cursing, Benson leaps back and stumbles over a box of books, crashing into the shelf on the opposite side of the closet. I barely have time to grab the nearest thing before the door opens and Eric appears, his eyes jumping from one of us to the other.
“Found it,” Benson chokes out, holding up a copy of Dani’s book.
I grimace. That book is literally all over this closet. “And here is the…” I hold up my offering, wincing when I see the box of staples I grabbed. I don’t even know if I have a stapler on my desk.
Eric’s eyebrows pull low as he continues to look from Benson to me. He’s not an idiot, and we covered our tracks about as well as a toddler with a handful of broken crackers. “Did you two—”
“Yes,” I blurt out. Benson groans, but I move to his side of the closet and take his hand, smiling when he laces our fingers together like he can’t help it.
We were going to get found out anyway because we clearly can’t stay away from each other, and at this point I don’t want to pretend I’m anything but who I am.
And I’m a woman madly in love with the man next to me. Eric has obviously moved on, so I can too, and he has no say in who I love.
I lift my head high to meet Eric’s incredulous stare. “In Florence, actually.”
Eric’s confusion shifts to surprise. “Florence? But how did…?”
Benson turns to me, those beautiful blue eyes of his taking in my features the same way he did that day we first ran into each other on the street. “It’s a long story,” he says, squeezing my hand as a smile blossoms across his face. “But it’s a good one.”