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“You checked into my past.”
“Your brother told me who your boyfriend is.”
“Was.Wasis the key word here, Ben.”
“I’m too old to keep repeating mistakes, Junie. Lodgewasin Luna’s past too, and then he wasn’t.”
“You think if we do ever get our heads figured out that I would throw you aside for the idiot in my past?” she asks, her voice sharp and disbelieving. I don’t reply. There’s really no reason. “Gavin and Luna were in love and it was the kind of love you don’t let go of, no matter the amount of time that passes, you big doofus!”
“And what were you and The Rat?”
“The Rat?”
“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.” She blinks and then must make the connection and starts laughing.
“Oh God, do you know I never thought of that. All those years, I could have mocked him with that comparison, and I didn’t. Wasted time…”
“Junie,” I whisper, starting to feel better about the man in her past just from her actions and tones.
“I was young and stupid when I left California to follow Greg—The Rat—to Nashville. I thought I knew everything, but I knew nothing, maybe even less. I will say that Greg was good at hiding his true colors, but I was stupid once they began to show,” she says, and I lift my hand up to the side of her face, pushing her hair out of the way.
“What do you mean?”
“That’s a story I don’t want to get into, at least not now.”
“But someday soon?”
“If you’re around to hear it,” she says, dropping down an ultimatum, but this one I don’t mind.
“I’m not up to playing second fiddle again, Junie. I’m not going to go through that,especiallywith you.”
“What does that mean? Am I not worth the hassle like Lu—”
I kiss her to keep her from finishing that question. It doesn’t take long before the kiss goes carnal, deep, dirty and I’m claiming her mouth over and over. When we finally break apart, we’re both gasping for breath.
“You’re worth everything, Junie. I don’t compare you with anyone else, and you shouldn’t either. I don’t want to play second fiddle, because if you kicked me to the curb, it wouldn’t be my ego that needed healing.”
“Ben—”
“Do you understand what I’m saying, Junie?”
“I don’t know,” she responds her voice little more than a whisper.
“A man doesn’t wait a year on a woman, refusing to even look at the women who are around him, without a reason, Junie. From the moment we began whatever dance we have going on, there’s been no one I’ve wanted more than you.”
“Ben—”
“And that includes the moment you walked out of my bed after drenching me with water. I fucked up. I admit it. But dreams are shit, Woman. Hell, last night I dreamt I was riding around in the Mystery Machine, throwing Scooby Snacks to that damn dog, while trying to see what color panties Velma was wearing under that skirt she’s always wearing. It doesn’t mean I want to fuck her instead of you.”
Junie’s lips spread into a smile. “That’s good since she’s not real, Ben.”
“No other woman is real for me except you, Junie. If you walked away and left me behind, it’d be my heart that would be hurting, Baby.”
“That’s a really good line, Sheriff.”
“It’s not a line and someday maybe you will see that,” I tell her earnestly.
“I’m sorry I didn’t respond to your texts…”
