CHAPTER 12 KAYLEE
“Are you hungry?” Ben asks.
“I could eat,” I admit. We’re sharing a lounge chair by the fire pit as I lean back on him, his arms wrapped around me.
I’m comfortable here, and I don’t really want to move even though I’m hungry.
“Are you thinking of a weenie roast on the open flames with s’mores for dessert? Or just a box of your S’mores cereal?”
He chuckles. “I have one more birthday surprise,” he says, his voice warm and husky close to my ear.
So far, his surprises have all been pretty epic, so I don’t want to waste the chance at more Ben birthday fun even though I could stay here in his arms forever.
“Let’s get changed and table the weenies and s’mores idea for later because that is happening for sure. And just as a note, I have another wiener you’re welcome to snack on any time.”
I giggle, and then we head inside to change out of the clothes that smell like a campfire.
Once we’re ready, a car is waiting to take us to our destination, which turns out to be Caesar’s Palace.
We wade through the Saturday night crowd, stopping often as Ben is recognized and asked for autographs or selfies or to give his signature roar, and we arrive in front of a restaurant a few minutes later.
Ben says something to the hostess, and she leads us to a private table in the back where I find Maddie, Meg, Sarah, and Alyssa. “Surprise!” they all yell.
I turn toward Ben. “You did this?”
He shrugs. “Couldn’t make them come all this way and go back home without some extra time with you.”
I smile and tip my head back, and Ben takes the signal as he leans down to press a soft kiss to my mouth.
“You really are the best,” I say.
“I know,” he says, and he swats my ass. “And don’t you forget it, Peaches.”
I sit down with my friends, and Ben sits beside me. We catch up on all the things I feel like I’ve missed out on over the last year since the four of them stayed relatively close geographically while I moved across the country.
Ben is quiet as he listens to our conversation. Even when the girls ask him questions about his career, he redirects the focus onto me.
I’m so used to sitting with men who love nothing more than talking about their victories on the field that it’s sort of strange to be sitting at the table with a pro football player who doesn’t eat up every ounce of attention thrown his way.
“What’s going on with Dane?” Sarah asks.
“What do you mean?” I ask, playing dumb since I know exactly what she means.
“He’s been all over the gossip sites talking about you,” she says. “Just wondering about your take on it.”
I’ve never been in a position where I didn’t trust these girls. I’ve also never been in a position where every word I say holds so much weight. As much as I love them, and entire year has passed since we were close. We’re not where we once were anymore back when I trusted these women with my life.
And that’s a little scary to me. Who knows where their allegiances lie at this point? Are they still with me?
That’s not something I have the answer to right now. All I know is that anything I say here could end up on Billy Peters’ next edition of Celebrity Snaps.
I’m not even a celebrity.
But Ben is, and the way I’ve fallen for him over the last few weeks has shown me that while I don’t know about other people and their intentions, I know where my allegiance needs to lie…and that’s with him.
“He’s just trying to get his fifteen minutes,” I say, brushing it off like I don’t care.
“Doesn’t that piss you off?” Maddie asks.
“Of course it does.” I take a sip of my vodka-Seven and glance over at Ben. “He can do what he wants. It’s not going to break what Ben and I have built.”
I don’t tear my gaze from Ben’s for a beat as I see his eyes warm over with a little bit of gratitude.
In this moment he sees that I’m choosing him. I’m choosing him over my past. I’m choosing him over my friends, because somehow in the last few weeks, he’s become my best friend outside of my family. I feel like he knows me now—who I am today—better than the women sharing this table with me.
And because of that, I hope he knows that I will always choose him.
“And what exactly have you and Ben built?” Sarah presses. She was always the most direct when it came to the grilling.
“We’re getting married.” My words are simple even though we both know the magnitude behind them.
We haven’t talked about what that means yet.
We haven’t even talked about any sort of logistics.
I don’t know the where or the when. It could be in a few months, it could be in a few years, or it could be never if September hits and we realize we’re better off going our separate ways.
It doesn’t matter. I am living in the moment and enjoying every second I get to spend in Ben’s orbit.
“And it’s real?” Sarah asks.
“Sarah!” Meg warns.
I offer a smile. “It’s okay, Meg. Yes, it’s real.” Ben’s arm moves around my shoulders and he presses a kiss to my temple.
“You tamed this beast?” Sarah asks, shaking her head like she still doesn’t quite believe it even though she’s seeing it with her own two eyes.
Ben and I both laugh. “It’s my magical vagina,” I say with a modest shrug.
“More like I tamed her,” Ben jokes.
I giggle. “The man knows what he likes.”
“And she is what I like.”
I lean over and kiss him, and this little banter we’ve got going here…now that is genuine. And I realize I don’t really care if Sarah believes me. I don’t care if Dane does, either.
I only care that Ben believes in us.
We play more catch up and eat our dinner. The girls are flying back to Michigan tomorrow morning, so we have just one last night here in Vegas. They decide to head to a club after dinner. It sounds fun…ish, but it doesn’t sound like what I really want out of my night.
I’m tired of the selfies and the autographs. I’m tired of his attention being pulled from me. I’m tired of Vegas.
I’m ready for Montana.
And I’m also ready to get my fiancé home and naked.
I say my goodbyes to the girls who were once my best friends but feel like a part of my past, and then we head home for that naked time.