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“You were? You’re not saying that to make me feel like less of a dork?”
“Who’s the stalker now, baby? Sounds as though I am.”
She loved him for teasing her. Wait. She loved him? Oh God, where had that come from? She stopped laughing and turned away. There was no way she would let herself fall in love with him. Nope, wasn’t happening.
She’d experienced pain worse than she ever thought possible once before in her life, and she promised herself then she’d never let anyone other than her daughter close enough to risk it happening again. Her heart was closed, and it was going to stay that way.
“Whoa, what happened?” Ben tried to get her to turn back to him, but her muscles were rigid.
“Nothing.”
“It isn’t nothing. Your face went from laughing to full-on thundercloud. What did I say?”
“It’s nothing. I’m fine. You didn’t say anything.” What could she say? No big deal, I just realized I’m falling in love with you.
“Come on, Liv, don’t do this. We’ve had a great day. We’ve had a great week. You’ve had fun, haven’t you?”
“I’ve had a great time, Ben. Everything is fine. I remembered something I have to do. I’ll be right back.”
Liv went out the back door and into the barn as fast as her feet would carry her. She checked on the horses, put a few things away, and made sure the stall was ready for the new horse arriving tomorrow. She ran out of things to do, and had no choice but to go back and hope Ben let it go.
When she walked back inside, Ben was still in the kitchen, where she’d left him. He obviously hadn’t let it go.
“Liv, please sit. We need to talk.”
“Ben, we’ve done nothing but talk.”
“Liv, sit. Please.”
She sat.
“This is hard for you. I’ve invaded your space, and followed you around. I won’t let you alone for five minutes without wanting to touch you, or kiss you, or get so close to you that we’re one, not two. I like being with you. A lot. I like you a lot. When you do that thing you do, what you just did, it makes me crazy. You close yourself off from me and then you bolt.”
“It was nothing.”
“It wasn’t. Don’t lie to me about it. Talk to me.” As much as his instincts told him to hide his anger from her, if he did, he’d be doing the same thing that made him angry with her.
“Maybe you should—”
“Don’t,” he shouted. “Don’t tell me I should leave.” He scrubbed his hand over his face and continued to pace the kitchen.
“That wasn’t what I was going to say.”
“What then? What were you going to say?” His voice was still raised.
“I was going to say you should sit down.”
Shit. What was wrong with him? He hardly recognized himself. She had him so tied up in knots he was acting like somebody he didn’t recognize. He wanted a drink. Fuck, no. Where had that come from? He needed to leave. He stormed out of the back door in the direction of his truck.
“Ben, wait!”
Thank, God she was following him. What he would have done if she hadn’t? He turned back.
She threw her arms around him and crushed herself against him. “I’m sorry. Please don’t leave.”
“Liv, I’m an alcoholic.”
She tightened her hold on him.
