Chapter Forty-Two
Ava
Gianna and Viv had taken time off work . It was a good thing I’d had some wine when they told me that, because otherwise I’d have fallen right over in shock. Riley and Jules had contacted them after talking with Ben, and they had planned to surprise me the next day with a big, shiny plan for moving forward with the bed and breakfast in spite of the appraisal issue.
Since I’d accidentally walked into the middle of that plan underway, we decided to go to Ben’s office the next morning and have all five of us sit down with him to discuss options.
I desperately wanted to call him that night, but it was so late when I left their apartment that I knew he’d already be asleep. Hell, I should’ve been asleep, but I was prepared to make an exception for the girls.
We walked into McKinley Realty at eight sharp, prepared to spend the entire day getting this sale squared away. Iris rushed up to me the moment we set foot in the building.
“Are you looking for Ben?” she asked. Her excitement was so effusive that it was almost suspicious.
“We are, yeah,” I told her.
Her smile grew. “He’s at the Van Kamp place right now. If you head over you should catch him.”
We thanked Iris and hurried over to the house, piling into my van and playing pretty loose and fast with the 20 mph speed limit downtown. When I pulled up in front of the giant Tudor house, a giant “SOLD” sign sat atop the original one.
“What the hell?” Gianna shouted. “I was almost ready to give Ben a pass, but he’s gonna get a piece of my mind in just a minute.”
I tried not to jump to any conclusions. Everything was going to be fine.
Maybe.
By the time the van door shut, Ben and Liam emerged from the house.
“Good morning, ladies,” Liam greeted us. Well, he’d spoken in the plural, but he wasn’t looking at anyone but Riley.
“Hey,” Riley smiled at Liam.
I looked to Ben. “Did you really sell it?” I asked, hearing the desperation in my own voice. “It’s only been a couple of days.”
He let out a sigh. “Yes and no.”
“What does that even mean?” Gianna interjected.
Liam finally broke eye contact with Riley, looking first at his brother and then at us. “It means he sold it, but we’re open to negotiation.”
“Wait.” Riley narrowed her eyes at Liam. “ We? Did you buy it?”
He nodded. “Mom really needed to sell it,” he explained, “and it was looking like you guys wouldn’t be able to buy it.”
“So we did,” Ben finished for him. “By the way, she doesn’t know it was us, so we’d be grateful if you didn’t mention that.”
“How were you planning to hide that from her?” Viv asked. “Wouldn’t she notice that no one moved in?”
“If you’re still interested, we’ll sell it to you and she’ll be none the wiser,” he offered.
I took a step toward Ben. “That’s why we came to find you. We wanted to talk about options since the bank won’t give us the full sale price anymore. We had some ideas about other lending options that might work.”
He stepped toward me. “I have one idea,” he said, searching my face. “You could buy it from us.”
“We’ll still have the same problem,” I reminded him.
“The price just went down,” he countered.
“Ben, no,” I protested. “You’d be losing almost a hundred thousand dollars.”
He stuffed his hands into his pockets. “It’s more like I’d be loaning my mom a hundred thousand dollars, except in a way that didn’t lead to me being disowned for doing it after she told me not to. And, I’m only out about fifteen thousand.” He nodded to Liam.
I looked at Ben’s brother, certain my jaw was hitting the ground. I knew he had money, but this seemed extravagant even for Liam.
“We can’t just take your money,” Riley chimed in. “I insist we pay whatever you paid for it.”
Liam crossed his arms over his broad chest. He and Ben looked so similar—their features in particular—but Liam definitely had a little more muscle and Ben had a little more height. Liam’s face tightened and he leveled Riley a no-nonsense look.
“I will either sell you the house for the appraisal price, or I will keep it and pretend like I don’t own it. But I’m not selling it for anything more than you’re getting from the bank.”
Gianna let out an exasperated sigh. “Unlike everyone else here, apparently, I know a good deal when I see one. We accept your offer, with gratitude.”
Liam’s face broke into a devilish grin. “Excellent. Let’s go discuss the details.”
Ben just stared at me, an unspoken question on his face. Everyone else followed Liam into the house.
The minute the door closed, I ran for Ben. He caught me, lifting me up so high I had to wrap my legs around his waist. His hands cupped my face, reminding me of the amazing night we’d spent together not so very long ago, his forehead leaning against mine.
“It was always you,” he whispered.
What felt like a confession caught me off-guard. I couldn’t make sense of it. “What do you mean?”
“You’re the reason I broke up with Jules.” His voice came out rough, low. “I kept falling for you even when I tried not to. I told you that Jules deserved better than a guy who wasn’t fully committed. I wasn’t fully committed because I couldn’t stop thinking about you.”
The world spun around us as I absorbed that. “But I was so mean to you,” I gasped.
He blew out a breath. “Whether I liked it or not, you were always the one part of my past I could never let go.”
Speechless, I did the only thing I could. I kissed that adorable, sexy man. It was the kind of kiss that robbed you of all thought and assaulted your senses so thoroughly that you could barely remember your name when it was finished.
It was not the sort of kiss for the front lawn of a house on Main Streeet.
“My place tonight?” I asked, fighting for air. I was had dinner plans with the girls, but then Gianna and Viv had to head back to Indy for the rest of the work week.
“Like a date?”
“Exactly like a date.” I lifted my lips into a smile.
I had a lot of things to thank him for—talking to Jules, helping us buy the house, being the most amazing guy ever. And I had a few ideas of how I might do that.
A wicked sparkle lit his eyes. “I’ll bring the strawberries.”