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“Thank you for saying that,” she whispered. “I should have gone to HR after he pulled the same crap again, but I was ashamed of not reporting him the first time. I felt like an idiot, and I just didn’t want anyone to know what had happened, so I ignored his bad behavior, and look where that’s gotten me. I’m effectively trapped in a car with you, driving around town, pretending to be heading to my best friend’s house to deliver her soup. I’ve fucked everything up and now, I’ve gotten you involved in my mess. I’m so sorry.”
“I’m not and I’d gladly spend every evening trapped in my truck with you if it means getting to spend time with you, honey,” Ford said.
“You don’t have to be so nice to me, Ford. I’m sure that you had other things you wanted to do tonight besides babysitting me,” Journey insisted.
“Not a thing,” he assured. “In fact, I was going to ask you to spend the whole evening with me.”
“The whole evening?” she choked.
“Well, I can’t let you go home knowing that your boss will be waiting there for you to return. And first thing tomorrow, I’m driving you to work and you’re going to report that ass to HR. It’s never too late to do the right thing,” he said. “And reporting him is the right thing to do. What if he takes things too far with you or goes after another young woman in your office? Don’t you want to stop him?”
“Yes, but there’s one flaw with your plan,” she said. He thought over what he had just said and couldn’t see one thing wrong with his plan.
“What’s that?” he asked.
“Tomorrow is Saturday, and my office is closed for the weekend. Plus, you can’t babysit me for the whole weekend. I won’t take up your time that way, Ford,” she insisted. He wanted her to take up all of his time for the rest of his damn life, but there was no way that he’d admit that to her—not yet anyway. Ford had only just gotten her to agree to go on a date with him, and that took him months to do. He had only been home for six months now, and every damn week, he asked Journey out on a date, and she turned him down flat. Tonight was the first glimmer of hope that she had given him, and he wasn’t about to fuck that all up.
“First of all, please stop calling the two of us spending time together me babysitting you, Journey. I might be older than you, but you sure in hell don’t need a babysitter anymore. I want to spend time with you. Hell, you should have picked that up from me asking you out every damn week since I’ve been back. I want to spend the weekend with you, Journey. Say that you’ll stay with me,” he begged. He wasn’t above begging either. He’d beg her for everything if it meant that she’d continue to give him a chance.
“You can’t be serious,” she insisted.
“Sure I can be,” he said. “Spend the weekend with me, Journey,” he asked again.
“I don’t have any of my stuff,” she said.
“We can run by your place now and pack a bag for you. I’ll be with you the whole time, so I’m betting your boss won’t make a move. Hell, maybe he’ll even get the hint that we’re together and leave you the fuck alone,” Ford growled.
“But we’re not together,” she insisted.
“Give me the chance to prove you wrong,” he whispered. “Let me show you how good we can be together,” he asked. She looked out her window again and he was sure that she was going to turn him down—but she didn’t. Instead, she turned and smiled the most beautiful smile he’d ever seen and nodded her head. She was finally giving him the chance that he had wanted with her, and he wasn’t going to screw it up—not this time.
Journey
Journey couldn’t remember a time when she didn’t want Ford Dixon. God, the man was in her dreams every night and that made her life a living hell. When he joined the Army, she was just a kid—a freshman in high school. She spent most of her teen years moping around, wondering why she wasn’t good enough for Ford. She shut herself off from other boys her age, even turning down going to her senior prom—something that Lucinda was still pissed at her about. She couldn’t tell her best friend why she didn’t want to go to the prom with Billy Yates. Hell, she knew that half of the senior class believed the rumors about her that she was a lesbian because she turned down every boy who had ever asked her out in hopes that Ford would return home and sweep her off her feet. That never happened, and when he finally returned a year after she finished college and moved back home, she knew that she had played the fool.
When he finally asked her out, she knew that saying yes to him could never happen because then, she’d have to tell Lucinda about her massive crush on her older brother. She could never tell her best friend that she had kept that from her all of those years—it would hurt Lucinda and she wouldn’t do that to her.
The only problem now was trying to find a way forward and stop wanting Ford. Seeing him around town all the time again and having him ask her out every week was wearing down her defenses. Seeing her best friend happily married was making her want things she thought that she could live without. Having Ford come to her rescue tonight was the final straw and honestly, telling him no anymore wasn’t something that she wanted to do. When he asked her to spend the whole weekend with him, her head was telling her to say, no, but her heart nearly jumped out of her chest. She couldn’t deny what he was asking her to do because she wanted it more than she wanted her next breath.
As promised, Ford had stopped at her apartment and waited for her to pack a bag. He looked around her living room while she painfully went through her closet analyzing everything in her wardrobe, trying to decide if she should bring it along or not. Trying to figure out if she should pack her good panties and bra or her old ones was the biggest hang-up for her. If she packed her good stuff, Ford would know that she was expecting to end up in his bed this weekend. And, if she packed her old stuff, he’d know that she wasn’t hoping to end up in his bed, but she’d look raggedy when all she wanted from him was for Ford to find her sexy. Did he though? He did kiss her in the parking lot in front of her boss, and God that kiss scorched her soul. Did Ford want more from her? If he did, she wanted to be ready, so she tossed her good panties and bra into her bag, found her favorite t-shirt that she liked to sleep in, threw that in on top, and zipped up her bag. She was done second-guessing her every move when it came to Ford, and if things actually worked out with him, she’d find a way to admit to her best friend that she had been in love with her older brother for years now.
“Ready,” she said.
“Your place is nice,” he said. She looked around her dinky little apartment and laughed.
“You’re an awful liar, but I can afford the rent and that’s enough for me, for now,” she said. “I would have cleaned up a bit if I knew that I’d be having company,” she said.
“Well, I think that it’s cozy. It feels like you, Journey,” he said. She wanted to remind him that he really didn’t know her—not the grown-up woman she had become, but he seemed to hate every time she pointed that fact out to him.
“Thanks,” she said. She peeked out her kitchen window that looked down on the complex’s parking lot and saw that her boss’s car was still parked in the back.
“I take it from the look on your face that he’s still out there,” he said.
“Yeah, he’s just not going to stop, is he?” she asked.
“No, and that’s why it’s best for you to spend the weekend at my place,” he said. She wanted to ask him if that was the only reason he wanted her to spend the night—to protect her from her boss, but she was too much of a chicken to point blank ask him.
“Well, I appreciate you putting me up, Ford. I wouldn’t feel safe here with my boss circling the block out there. You’re a good friend.” She picked up her purse and jacket and Ford closed the distance between the two of them, tugging the bag, her purse, and jacket from her arms. He pulled her against his body and sealed his mouth over hers again without any warning. Journey felt as though her heart was going to beat out of her chest again and she was sure that kissing Ford Dixon was something that she’d never get tired of. He broke their kiss, leaving her breathless and feeling a bit weak in the knees. Geeze, when did she become such a cliché?
