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No, Ben was nothing like Ethan Reynolds. Nothing at all.
She inhaled deeply and took the plunge. “Want to buy me a cup of coffee?”
The darkness cleared from Ben’s face and that tempting grin slipped into place. “Now, there’s a change of topic.”
“Seems to me you’ve earned the right to move on from your past. A bunch of idiots on some board of review might have judged you one way. Everyone else sees you for the hero you are, or at least the ones that matter do. Me included.”
He smiled. “You know how sexy that is, right?”
The scruff, the bright smile, those shoulders. Yeah, no question she was going down for the count. “What?”
“Acceptance.”
Right answer.
To keep from jumping on him and trying another kiss right there, where people worried, prayed and mourned, she stepped back. “So, how about that coffee?”
He winked at her. “Sounds like a second date to me.”
“Don’t push your luck.”
Chapter Seven
Ben held the door open for Jocelyn as they left the cafeteria. When he realized she matched her stride to his, he slowed down. Longer legs meant he ate up more space and he didn’t want her running. The goal was to stay steady and keep her safe. Calm didn’t hurt, either.
The thud of their shoes supplied the only noise between them. People passed and conversations swirled around them as the clanking of silverware from the cafeteria faded behind them. He hadn’t said much. Well, not after verbally spilling his guts out upstairs.
He swore under his breath, unable to understand his uncharacteristic lack of control. He had no idea why he had gone off on the tangent or told her so much. He’d never been one to talk just because.
With his upbringing, he had learned to hold things in and overcome them. No whining. That was his father’s motto. His father had not exactly been the cuddly type, and Mom dying before Ben hit elementary school hadn’t loosened the guy up.
If Jocelyn wasn’t afraid of him before, she would be now. Ben wondered if maybe she should be.
Every time he thought he’d found his emotional footing, something new knocked him off-balance. A follow-up story about the pending trial. Something his father said to the press. The way people looked at him when he walked down the street. He saved it up, didn’t talk about it, but something about her icy blue eyes and the way they saw through him had him opening up.
She played with the lid of her cup, tracing her fingers around the outside rim. “You okay?”
Great, he could tell by the careful placement of her words she was back to pity. Just what he didn’t want. “I believe it’s my job to ask those questions.”
She smiled up at him. “The bodyguard thing.”
“That’s why you’re tolerating me, right?” Man, he wanted her to deny it. But if she mentioned the kiss, he’d be all over her, and that was a level of unprofessionalism that could get them both killed.
She shook her head instead. “Just keep walking.”
He pulled her closer to him, pinning them against the wall as a large group of what looked like family passed in almost a straight line. They took up much of the wide space and didn’t seem to care. Since the move gave him a second to be squished next to her, he wasn’t complaining.
They started moving again. “Yes, ma’am.”
“I like the sound of that.”
He’d spent a lifetime saying it. The words rolled off his tongue without thinking now. “Came with the uniform.”
“There’s a reason women love those, you know.”
He thought about the one in his closet and seriously considered offering to model it for her. He’d try anything to get her clothes off in bed with him at this point. “I believe my recruitment contract said something like that. The promise of many women wanting to pet my jacket if I put on the dress blues.”
She nodded as that smile grew wider. “Nice image.”
He’d lived his entire life by a strict set of rules. His father’s career took him from base to base, city to city. He never stayed long enough to set down roots. Some psychologist would likely have a field day assessing why, after all those years of despising the constant moves, Ben had followed in his father’s footsteps.
And now he listened for others.
Around corners and down hallways, Ben heard the soft tap of shoes behind them. When he tested his theory and sped up their pace, so did the echo behind him. By logic, whoever it was should have slipped by them when he pulled Jocelyn over to let the family pass. But that didn’t happen.
