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“Oh no you don’t. You know the drill, Junie. I’m not letting you go into an empty house alone. I want to make sure it’s safe.”
“You have got to be kidding me,” I snarl, my voice biting. Ben just gives me a “look”. “Sheriff, in case you haven’t noticed, the entire place is fenced in.”
“Never met a criminal that couldn’t scale a fence, Junie,” he says.
“I have that doorbell camera thing. I’d know if anyone was around. It would alert my phone.”
“Never met a criminal who goes up to the front door and rings a doorbell when he’s set to rob the place or hurt the owner, Junie.”
“I have—”
“Baby, we can sit here and argue all night, or you can hand me the key to the gate and let me get you inside the house.”
“Donotcall me baby,” I warn him, mostly because I like hearing it and that can’t happen.
“I’ll try to remember. So, what’s it going to be?”
“I’ll get out and unlock the gate,” I grumble, clearly pissed off and you think that would be enough to make him back down.
“The hell you will. Junie, give me the—”
I don’t let him finish. I jump out of the squad car and slam the door on him. Then, I jog to the gate. I open it up just enough to squeeze in, then I lock the sucker back. I look up at Ben, shielding my eyes from the glare of his headlights and flip him off. Screw this. I don’t have to put up with his overprotective ass—especially after he went out of his way to ruin my date. Okay, so I wasn’t having that much fun on the date and Zeke felt more like a brother than a potential boyfriend. Still, Ben didn’t know that. It could have been anamazingdate, and he would have ruined it.
The asshole.
I’m almost at my front door when I let out a huge screeching yell. Ben has somehow climbed over my fence and caught up with me. He grabs me from behind, locking my body against his, yanking my keys out of my hands.
“You forget who you’re dealing with Junie,” he whispers in my ear.
I hate that I do it. I try to fight it back, but instead my entire body starts shaking. I’m trembling so hard that I can’t even respond.
“Jesus,” I hear Ben hiss. He gathers my quaking body into his arms, one hand under my knees the other at my back and he’s packing me to the door. “Fuck, I’m sorry, Junie. I wasn’t thinking,” he murmurs with such gentleness that tears sting my eyes.
“It’s… it’s okay,” I stutter, and Ben squeezes me into his body tighter.
“Let me get you inside, Baby,” he says, and then, somehow, he’s juggling me and unlocking my door at the same time. When we get inside, he doesn’t waste any time. He walks me straight over to the couch in my living room and sits me down. “Hang tight for just a minute, Junie.”
With that, he retraces his steps, locks the door, and starts going through my house. I close my eyes and lean back against the couch. When I open them again, it’s to the sight of Ben coming down my stairs. He walks straight to me and bends down on a knee between my legs, one of his hands on each of my thighs.
“Are you okay, Junie?”
“Yeah,” I tell him, feeling really embarrassed.
“I’m so fucking sorry,” he says again.
“It’s okay. I just wasn’t expecting it. I’m fine,” I assure him, wondering if I’m trying to convince him or myself.
“I’m a jerk,” he mutters, pushing his fingers through his hair as he moves back just a breath to watch me.
“No argument here,” I try to joke. I think I mostly fail, but I give myself an “A” for effort.
“Do you have nightmares?” he asks, and Ireallydon’t want to have this conversation.
“Ben, it’s late. Can you just leave? I don’t—”
“That means you do. I thought you were in counseling,” he says, studying my face.
“How do you know? Are you checking up on me, Sheriff?”
