Not that what I looked like mattered. I wasn’t here for me. This was all about Katty.
A security guard escorted me to the locker room and told me to wait outside. Taking a deep breath, I leaned against the cinder-block wall, willing myself not to puke. I shouldn’t have been nervous. If anyone was going to be nervous, it should have been Ben. He was the one who’d put us in this position. He was the bad guy who had a whole lot to prove. I’d done everything right. Everything I could have.
Chill out, Mazzy.
The locker room door swung open, clunking against the wall, and out stepped Ben Wells. He was even bigger than I remembered, filling the doorway as he looked for me. When he found me, the smile that spread across his face, sunshine after a storm, was so dazzling, I nearly forgot I kind of hated him.
“Mazzy Belle!” He started toward me, his arms wide. “You’re really here.”
Pushing off from the wall, I held up a hand. “Ben Wells. You’re very sweaty.”
His black, sleeveless shirt stuck to his chest and abdomen almost obscenely, and rivulets of sweat ran down his neck. His curls were damp, but still managed to be wild, poking in every direction. And his thighs…they were threatening to burst out of his black shorts.
He just wandered around like that? No wonder he got strangers pregnant.
Ben stopped in his tracks, looking down at himself. “Oh crap. I am.” He scanned me from head to toe. “I’d say screw it and hugyou anyway, but you’re dressed fancy. I don’t wanna stink you up.”
“That would be great. I have to go back to work after this—”
He moved into my space and cupped my cheeks, tilting my head back. My heart stopped when his warm eyes landed on mine, filled with affection I didn’t understand.
“It’s so good to see you.” His smile hadn’t wavered even once since he’d come out of the locker room. “How long has it been?”
“Five years,” I managed to rasp.
“And you live in Denver now? For how long?”
“Um…” I licked my lips, trying to remember what time meant. “Almost two years.”
“Really? All this time…” His thumb stroked along my cheek. “Doesn’t matter. You’re here now, and I couldn’t be happier.”
Finally, he let my face go, but only to hold my shoulders. He took another long look at me, meandering his gaze from my loafers to the collar of my shirt. Then his eyes, lit like high beams, met mine.
“You look so professional. I love it, Mazz. Where are you working?”
“A law firm.” I pointed behind me, like he could see my building four blocks away. “I’m an assistant while in law school.”
“Hell yes. That’s awesome, baby. Using that big brain of yours to kick ass and take names.” He shuffled back and forth on his feet, almost dancing. “No wonder I had to slot myself in for a midweek lunch. You’re busy being awesome, huh?”
Iwasbusy, that was true, but that wasn’t the reason I was here in the middle of the day. When Ben had called, he’d taken me by surprise. Well…that was an understatement since I’d almost fainted in shock. Once I’d pulled myself together, I’d thought strategically. If we had to meet, it needed to be in public with a time limit. Plus, I didn’t want to take away from the too-short time I got with my daughter. Not for him.
“I don’t know about that…” I glanced at my watch. “Is there somewhere we can sit down for a minute?”
His brows popped. “Right, right. I’m sorry for being rude. You just…look so different yet the same. It threw me all the way off guard. Let’s go have lunch. I’ve got it all set up.”
His hand took up most of my lower back as he guided me down the hall to a small room, seeming to be a lounge. There was a table set up with baskets of stadium food, along with bottles of soda and water.
Ben pulled out my chair and waited for me to sit down before he took the seat across from mine, eyeing the massive pretzel and hot dogs with the same zeal he’d had for me.
“I never eat this kind of food during the season, but come on.” He picked up a hot dog slathered with ketchup and grinned. “You showing up calls for a celebration, doesn’t it? I still can’t believe you’re here, Mazzy Belle.”
“I can’t either, to be honest.”
He talked around the hot dog in his mouth. “Thank your crazy cousin for me.”
“Kylie isn’t crazy. She’s…passionate. And protective.”
He wiped his mouth, cocking his head. “Yeah, I was going to ask you about that. I don’t know her, obviously, but she seemed pretty pissed off at me. What’s the story there?”
