Chapter 40
Chapter Forty
Delaney
Lottie and Romy demanded to take the girls, claiming they wanted to hang with their nieces. Leia beamed when she heard the word niece since she’s never had an aunt before. Sean didn’t have any siblings.
I’m turning off the lights and heading to the breakroom to make sure everything is shut off when the bell from the front of the store rings.
“Delaney!” Bennett shouts.
I stop, and the door to the back hallway shuts. He weaves around the table, and when he reaches me, he stops, staring into my eyes.
“What’s wrong?” My heart rate picks up.
“Sorry… I… am… so sorry.” He shakes his head back and forth.
“Did something happen?” I hear the panic in my own voice. “Is it the girls? Lottie and Romy took them.”
He shakes his head, straightens, and takes my hand. “We need to talk.”
I allow him to lead me to his office, where he stops in front of the couch. I sit and he slides into the spot next to me, keeping my hands tucked in his.
“Are you okay? You’re sweating,” I say.
“I’m fine. Obviously, my mom took me to Daisy Hill for the talk and—”
“What talk?”
“The same one as Lottie. Anyway, I’ve been so stubborn, not being willing to see your side of things. I couldn’t stop harping on what I missed out on, when I should have at least tried to understand your reasons. Put myself in your shoes.”
“It’s fine.” I go to stand, but he clenches my hands tighter.
“It’s not. I’ve regretted leaving you in California since the minute I stepped out of your place.
But I was too prideful to admit that my marriage had failed, or that I’d married the wrong woman because it’s always been you, Delaney.
The minute you showed up in that breakroom, I knew it.
But I was ashamed that I was happy my marriage didn’t work out and that it enabled me to pursue something with you. ”
“Please don’t, Bennett.” I blink back the tears welling in my eyes. “I can’t. We can’t.”
“Why not? I’m telling you. I love you. It’s always been you. This whole time when I couldn’t move on, I thought it was from the guilt of not loving Kristie when she passed, but now I know.”
“What… what do you know?”
“That I didn’t want anyone else. I knew no one was going to compare to you. You are the love of my life.”
I dislodge my hands from his and stand, rounding the coffee table. “I kept Leia from you. I allowed another man to raise her. You should hate me.”
He meets me on the other side. “I never hated you.”
I give him a look that says he’s lying.
“I was mad, that’s true, but I could never hate you.
And it’s upsetting that I missed out on all that time with Leia.
I wish you’d made a different choice, but I can understand why you didn’t.
And I can see the role I played in your decision, even if I didn’t know it at the time.
I’m sad it took my mom to help me see that you were being protective of yourself and our child.
God, I should’ve stayed with you then. I should’ve told Kristie that we’d coparent and that would have been that.
I’m sorry. I told you I’d always be there, and I wasn’t. ”
I suck in a shaky breath. “I wanted to tell you. I wished so many times I’d gotten to tell you I was pregnant before her and maybe things would have gone differently,” I admit, never making eye contact with him.
He steps closer, putting his finger under my chin and raising it so our eyes meet. “Can you forgive me?”
“Can you forgive me?” I hold his gaze, and some of the guilt I’ve been carrying around slides away at what I see there.
“Yes. All I know is that I don’t want to be apart from you. Do you think you’re ready to start a new chapter?”
“My existing chapter hasn’t closed just yet. I’m technically still married, in the legal sense.”
He puts his hand over my heart. “Is this still attached to someone?”
I nod. His face falls, and he moves to step back, but I grip his wrist, keeping his hand covering my heart.
“It’s attached to you. You’ve always held my heart.”
He leans closer, invading my space. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying I love you.”
“And you want to give this a try?”
I nod. “I’m terrified, but I’m more terrified of living my life without you.”
“God, me too. I’d rather have you and lose you than to continue to fight all these feelings. I love you so much, Delaney. You were my first love, and you’ll be my last.”
His eyes are on me as though I hung the damn moon, and I lean in, already forgetting all the reasons this could be a bad decision. As if my body doesn’t remember how badly it hurt when he left. I push it all away because I do love this man, so, so much.
He’s standing so close, I feel the heat coming off his skin. One more step, and I can fold into him as if he’s been mine for years.
“Say something,” I whisper, because the silence between us is too weighted and charged.
“I missed you,” he says, his voice rough. “I’ve missed you since the day I let you go.”
My heart stutters. I never knew he felt even a fraction of the ache I’ve been carrying around.
And just like that, the space between us disappears.
His hands cradle my face, thumbs brushing under my jaw as if he’s memorizing the shape of me all over again. Then his mouth is on mine, slow at first as if he’s testing the waters, afraid to put himself out there in case I pull away.
I don’t.
God, I don’t even consider it.
I press into his body, starved for him. For us. For the way he makes me feel as if I’m the only woman in his world.
He groans against my lips, deepening the kiss, and I let his tongue through the seam of my lips. My fingers twist into the fabric of his shirt, pulling him closer. His hands slip down, one finding the small of my back, the other splaying across my hip, holding me to him.
Then the gentleness turns into a frenzy.
All the years of what-ifs pour out all at once.
He backs me toward the edge of his desk, and I go willingly, needing something to brace against. His mouth trails down my neck, leaving heat in its wake, and I gasp when he finds the spot just below my ear.
“Tell me you want this,” he murmurs.
I do. God, I do.
Instead of answering, I tug his shirt, making it so there’s no space between us. He exhales hard.
Bennett pulls back to look in my eyes as his hands slide under my shirt, warm and slow, one inch at a time. His mouth falls to my collarbone, his fingertips dangerously close to my breasts, causing my nipples to pebble.
“Laney,” he whispers against my skin, and the sound of my nickname on his lips wrecks me.
Because this is it. We’re promising ourselves to each other.
This moment is the culmination of everything we never said, everything we never stopped feeling.
And I’m done running.
From him.
From this.
It finally feels as if I’ve come home.
“I need you on a bed,” he whispers.
“My parents are still gone, and Levi is gone. The girls are with your sisters.”
“Perfect.”
He takes my hand, but I tug him back, needing to kiss him one more time. He doesn’t pull away, caging me to his desk, deepening the kiss further and spurring us to both moan.
I don’t want to stop kissing him, touching him, but he has enough willpower for the both of us. He closes the kiss and rests his forehead against mine. “I’m only able to stop because my sisters will be watching the girls overnight, and we’re going to make up for lost time.”
He secures my hand in his, leading me out of the office and flicking off the lights on our way out.
I’d follow him wherever he leads me because I meant what I said. He owns my heart. He always has.