CHAPTER TWELVE #2
Damnit. It wasn’t worth it though, was it?
Allowing his head to fall into his hands he tried to catch his breath.
Memories coming thick and fast. He tried so hard to be strong for his mom, but between appointments, he unraveled.
Spiraled. He smoked too much. Drank more than was healthy.
Spent way too much time alone. His world was upside down and the one person he wanted to talk about it with—he’d pushed away.
God only knows what would have happened to him if he hadn’t joined the fire department when he did.
It saved him. Gave him focus. A purpose.
And best of all, something else to think about.
He faintly heard Bethany sink into the cushions next to him. Her soft hands wrapping around his face, coaxing his gaze to hers. “Hey. You’re right.”
“I am?”
“I would have stayed.” Her words were quiet but no less impactful. “No matter how hard you tried to convince me not to, I would have stayed.” Benny’s knuckles went to her cheek, where he trailed them over the apple and down to her jaw. “I’m really fucking stubborn.”
“Yeah, you are.” He felt his lips tip up as he dragged his knuckles back up over silky skin. “My girl is stubborn as hell.”
And she was his girl. Time hadn’t changed that.
He knew that now. All time had done was make him impatient.
He was sick of waiting. Ten damn years. Waiting for her to return to Woodvalley, even just for a visit.
Hoping she’d call, enough that he’d never changed his number.
And, of course, avoiding any kind of relationship because no one was her.
Jesus Christ I’m pathetic.
“Okay,” she said out of nowhere.
“Okay?” That wasn’t what he was expecting. Was she giving him an out?
Instead of expanding, she leaned into him.
A soft kiss grazing his lips as he let his eyes flutter closed.
He didn’t know how much he needed her touch until just then.
When she went to pull back, he held on. One hand going to her neck, the other to her hip as he tugged her closer.
His mouth covering hers again. His tongue teasing the seam until she parted for him.
It was too easy to pick up where they’d left off.
Physically that is. His attraction to Bethany, the chemistry they shared—he’d never been able to get lost in anyone the way he did with her.
Emotionally though, they had some catching up to do.
And addressing how they ended up where they were now wasn’t the only thing he wanted to discuss tonight.
Which was why he released her. Not letting her get too far as his hands remained in place.
His thumb gently stroking the pulse point at her neck.
“I know you don’t want to talk about what’s going on between us, but I think we need to.”
A heavy breath hit his lips, as she looked away. “Can’t we just live in this bubble a little longer?”
“Baby, trust me when I say that’s all I wanna do. But after what happened on the highway, and the rumors still swirling from the wedding...well, people apparently have questions. And opinions. A whole hell of a lot of them.”
Bethany may be able to dodge the locals while working up in Goldacre, but he didn’t have that luxury.
“Let me guess, Mrs. Molly?” She gave him a small smile. One he matched before replying.
“Mrs. Molly, my friends, my mother...Darla from the Tipsy Cow, who said and I quote ‘don’t fuck it up this time, pretty boy’.”
Bethany’s smile only grew, that familiar twinkle reaching her eyes that he felt all the way in his gut. “Pretty boy?” she teased.
Benny shrugged. “What can I say, I’m pretty. No need to hate.”
“You’re pretty something...” The smack to his chest made his hands drop. But they didn’t stay down for long before he captured her waist and hauled her onto his lap.
“So...” He guided her down until his forehead rested against hers. “You ready to put a label on this, NeNe?”
“Ummm...no. Absolutely not.” Why did that sting so much? “It’s not even been a month since I ran out on my wedding, Benny. Doug is...fuck. Doug doesn’t deserve this. Me rubbing whatever this is in his face.”
Right. Doug. Like he could forget she was about to marry another man.
“No offence, B, but what did you think was going to happen when you kissed me last week? You don’t think that was rubbing ‘whatever this is’ in his face?”
“I agreed to meet with him.”
“What?” His whole body stiffened.
“For coffee, this weekend. I need to...I don’t know...I just...he deserves a conversation, you know?”
Benny knew, he really did. They were supposed to be married.
He got it. The need for closure. But that didn’t mean he had to like it.
Or that his stomach wasn’t bottoming out at the thought of it.
So instead of voicing all the jealous, possessive and damn right crazy demands that had suddenly infiltrated his thoughts, he stayed quiet.
“Look, I’m not saying we should hide what’s happening with us...but I really don’t want to go out of my way to advertise it, either. I know I messed up by kissing you in front of people. But right now, I need to be respectful.”
“Why did you?”
“Why did I what?”
“Why did you kiss me in front of everyone?”
Benny’s pulse pounded as he waited for her answer. Lost in her deep green eyes as she stared into him.
“I couldn’t not kiss you, Benny,” she whispered.
And just like that, not kissing Bethany Mayer right now, in his living room, was no longer an option, either.