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“Thank you, Ben,” she whispers, as she faces the television.
I watch her as the game loads. Even with downturned lips and tears streaking her cheeks, she still manages to brighten up the room. She surprises me by leaning her head on my shoulder.
“Be prepared to lose ‘cause I play at my best when I’m upset or angry,” she declares.
I chuckle and lean back to get comfy, since I have a feeling we’ll be doing this for a while. It beats tossing and turning all night.
“Then I should warn you, I concentrate better when I’m tired.”
“Game on,” she warns as she sets up in the game.
*** *** ***
A faint ringing echoes in the back of my mind, pulling me from a dream. With one hand covering a yawn and the other rubbing sleep from my eyes, I begin to stir awake. I stretch the stiffness in my back until I hear a satisfying crack that feels good.
A weight on my shoulder grabs my attention, and I open my eyes to find frizzy auburn hair belonging to Imogen. And she has a lot of hair.
The back of my hand gently brushes across her cheek as I sweep her hair aside. She’s so fucking beautiful. Her bow-shaped lips are gently parted, and the warmth of her breath is a wisp of air against my cheek. Her eyelids flutter open like a butterfly spreading its wings for the first time. A soft mewl slips past her lips before her gaze fixes on me in a soft squint.
From the softness in her eyes when she sees it’s me, and the burn of her touch where her hand lies on my chest, I know I want to kiss her.
I also know the moment I do, she will be mine forever. I’ll never want to let her go, and that scares me the most.
“Ben?” she rasps, her voice filled with sleep.
And my resolve to do the right thing breaks at her calling my name. I glide my hand across her jaw, until my fingers reach into her hair and my thumb rests against her earlobe.
The second my mouth meets her warm, soft lips, everything I have been hiding, all I have been holding back, pours out into the kiss. Her fingers run through my hair, tugging slightly and setting every nerve ending off.
She kisses me back just as hard, and before I know it, she’s straddling my lap, her hair falling around us.
My phone goes off, breaking the spell she had me under. I rest my forehead against hers. “I should get that,” I rasp.
She slowly climbs off my lap, getting to her feet as I reach for the phone. One arm covers her stomach as she presses two fingers to her lips with the other.
“Hello?” I answer, not breaking eye contact with Imogen, so I don’t see who the caller is.
“Ben, I know you’re still recovering but I need your help. Imogen never came home last night after she got some unsettling news. We’re worried. We’ve been out all night looking for her but haven’t been successful. I know it’s a lot to ask, but I need everyone out looking for her,” a distressed Evan greets.
Hearing her dad’s voice, she shakes her head, mouthing, ‘I’m not here.’
“She’s here. She’ll be on her way home in a minute.”
Her glare has me breaking eye contact.
“She’s there?” he asks, before I hear her mum. “What? You’ve found Imogen? Is she okay?”
“Yeah. She turned up late last night and fell asleep on the sofa,” I lie, not about to admit we fell asleep holding each other.
“And she’s there? With you? Is there something I should know?”
“Only that she’s okay, and she didn’t know where else to go,” I admit, ignoring her snort. “It was late and she was clearly upset so I didn’t want her driving in that condition.”
“Can you tell her to come home? We’re worried and we have some explaining to do.”
“Will do,” I reply.
“Thanks for taking care of her,” he tells me before ending the call.
