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“Want to come in for a bit?” I ask when he pulls into my driveway. I’m not quite ready for him to leave yet.
“Have you told your friends what happened?”
I freeze, my hand on the door handle, poised to let me escape this moment.
“I haven’t had time. Everyone has been dealing with Hope’s mobster ex coming to town; I didn’t feel it was necessary to add to their stress. Besides, nothing happened, so what would be the point?” The words feel like they’re true, but the tone of my voice doesn’t quite hold the strength I need to make them true.
In all honesty, I’ve barely acknowledged the incident happened at all. Thinking about having to say it out loud to my friends…there’s no way.
“You need to tell them. Cooper needs to know someone is trying to abduct people in his town.”
“I’m sure we’d have heard about someone else being abducted by now, if that were the case.”
“That doesn’t change anything, Sara. Do you think your life means less than someone else’s? That your attempted kidnapping is somehow less important because they weren’t successful?”
“I don’t know!” I yell, unable to stop my emotions from overflowing. I sit back in the seat of Ben’s car, feeling all my anger at this situation drain out as quickly as it came. “I don’t think it’s less important. I just… Trying to explain what happened to me…how weak I was… I can’t, Ben. And having people hovering over me is only going to make me feel even smaller.”
He reaches over the console to grab my hand, squeezing my fingers in his. “You aren’t weak.” When I look away from him, unable to take his words to heart, he uses his other hand to force my gaze back to his. The intensity in his eyes brings tears to my own. I hate how emotional I’ve become over this whole situation.
Ben’s hand slides across my jaw, his thumb stroking my cheek. “You’re the bravest woman I’ve ever met. I feel incredibly lucky that you’ve allowed me to be a part of this journey, but I’m not the only one who could help support you. It’s not weak to need help. Acknowledging you can’t do it alone is the strongest thing you could ever do.”
“I know,” I whisper. “I’m just not ready.”
He looks at me for a moment longer before nodding his head. We stay staring at each other far longer than would be normal, taking each other in. I’m so grateful for this man and how much he’s done for me. He didn’t have to do any of this. He didn’t have to save me; he didn’t have to stay with me while I cried, and he didn’t have to help me find a trainer. Yet he did all of that and more.
Before I can think too much about it, my lips crash against his, trying to convey how much he’s come to mean to me over the last week. I don’t even know how that’s possible in such a short time, but it’s happened all the same.
For a moment, Ben is frozen, unmoving against my lips. Then, snapping out of his surprise, he wraps his hand around my head and fully takes over the kiss. It’s deep, full of longing and passion. I’m completely swept up in him. The twining of our tongues, the pulling on my scalp where he has a hold of my hair.
It’s everything I’ve ever wanted in a first kiss.
Slowly, we pull apart with gentle kisses to calm the building inferno. “Holy shit,” Ben breathes. His forehead pressed against mine.
“Yeah. I didn’t exactly see that coming. I was just trying to say thank you.”
Ben’s laugh is loud in the confines of the car. As usual, it makes me laugh along with him. “You’re something special, Sara. I hope you know that.”
“Thanks,” I whisper, overwhelmed by the turn of the evening’s events.
“I’m going to walk you to your door, and then I’m going to leave because if I go inside with you right now, I can’t guarantee I’m going to be a gentleman.”
As much as my body doesn’t want him to be a gentleman right now, my brain needs some space to figure itself out before things move too far, too fast. Leaning on him for support is one thing, using him to forget what happened is a whole other.
“Okay.” I grin at him, then open the door to get out of the car. The summer air feels cool against my fevered skin, although I think that has more to do with the kiss than the air actually being cold.
Ben grabs my hand and leads me up to my front door. He wraps his arm around my waist, pulling me closer to his body. “I need one more to get me home.” He leans in, kissing me far too quickly before pulling away with a groan. “Addicting. What am I going to do with you?”
“Keep coming back for more.”
“You’re damn right I will.” He leans in to give me one more peck before walking back down the sidewalk and to his car. He stands next to the driver’s side door, watching me unlock my house and step inside before he gets in and drives away.
I press my fingers to my lips, unsure of how to process exactly what happened tonight. A lot of good things have come into my life recently. I can’t allow the one negative thing to ruin any chance I have at making this life exactly what I want.
19
BEN
As I pull into the parking lot of the clinic, a grin stretches across my face. Sara’s car is already here, which means I’ll see her when I walk inside.
