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Today was a good day. No, today was an awesome day. I slept insanely well in Bennett’s arms, woke up early after hearing him leave the house, and went for a swim with Kenna. I ate breakfast—the first time I’ve done that in three days—and then saved two people's lives. Oh, and I’m pregnant.
The only flip side to that is that I didn’t see Bennett much all day. It was surgery after surgery rolling in for both of us, so I didn’t get a chance to talk to him at all. Hell, we hardly had a passing glance in the hall. Now I’m making enchiladas—Owen’s dad Carter’s recipe—for Paula so Bennett and I can tell her we’re pregnant.
I’m so excited for it. I realize I should cool my jets because it’s still so early, but I can’t seem to. Where I was an exhausted, emotional, overwhelmed mess last night, today I feel… clarity. Awake. Alive. Jubilant.
Still, I was hoping Bennett would be home early so we could talk before his mother arrives. We have so much to get worked out.
Bopping my head from side to side, I sing along to the music I have blasting from the Alexa as I pile on the cheese and set the casserole dish in the oven. The rice and beans are cooking on the stove, and Paula should be here in about twenty minutes.
Everything is set. The table, the wine—which I can’t drink—the food.
I have just enough time to run up and take a super quick shower since I splattered myself—including my hair—with enchilada sauce.
“Alexa, sto—ah!” I’m swirled off my feet, spun in the air, and then plopped directly on the kitchen counter. “What in the hell?” I yell, ready to kick and scratch my feisty way out of here until I meet the dark blue eyes of the man who positions himself right in my face. “Jerk.” I smack his shoulder. “You scared me. How about next time warn a girl before you attack her from behind. You’re lucky I didn’t take a butcher knife to your favorite appendage.”
He scoots me to the edge of the counter and steps between my parted thighs. “Maybe if you didn’t have the music so loud and weren’t singing along at the top of your lungs, you would have heard me open and close the door and call your name.”
“Maybe, but that’ll never happen. You’re late,” I tell him, changing the subject. “I was hoping you’d be home an hour ago.”
His eyes brighten. “You were?”
“Yes. We have stuff to talk about.”
His hands meet the counter on either side of my thighs, and his expression grows serious. “We do. We have a lot to talk about.” He licks his lips, his eyes all over me. But he doesn’t say anything, and it’s too silent. Too tense. And I need to tell him. I need to tell him so much, so I open my mouth and start with, “Listen,” just as he spits out, “I love you.”
“What?” we both say at the same time. I blink and he does the same. “You go first.” “You love me?” Again, at the same time.
He growls and runs his hands over his face before dragging them through his hair and making it stick up all over the damn place. “I wasn’t going to blurt it out like that, but then you were sitting there with your pretty eyes all over me and it just slipped out.” His hands meet my knees and run up my thighs. “I’m not taking it back though, Katy. I know this goes against everything we agreed upon, but I don’t care. Fuck the contract. I love you. And I know you don’t feel the same way about me. I know that’s not where?—”
“Bennett—”
“Just let me say this,” he cuts me off. “I didn’t want to fall in love again. Not ever. It didn’t matter though because I’ve been in love with you all along.” His hands cup my cheeks. “It’s always been you, Katy. From the moment I first saw you all those years ago to the moment I saw you again, it’s been you. No one has ever felt right the way you do because I have never loved anyone the way I love you.” Our foreheads meet, and his nose runs along mine. “You’re not looking to fall back in love, and you don’t trust your instincts. I get it. We were both hurt, and when your trust is broken the way ours was, it makes you call everything into question. But God, sweetheart, don’t you see how perfect that makes us for each other? I’ll never break your trust. I’ll always protect your heart. And I’ll do whatever it takes to prove to you that no two people have ever fit together more perfectly than we do.”
He pulls back slightly, his hands on my cheeks holding me like he’s afraid to let go, his blue eyes so intense on mine.
“Don’t give up on all that we could be just because you got spooked.”
I rest my palm on his cheek. “Are you done?”
He swallows hard and nods nervously.
“Good. I love you too.”
He tilts his head, staring incredulously at me. “You do?”
I laugh. “Yeah.”
“But…” He pauses and shakes his head, squinting at me as if my words don’t make any sense to him. “Last night you called me your friend.”
I sigh, wrapping my arms around his neck and dragging him back to me. “I know. That sort of slipped out and then I didn’t take it back because, well…”
“You got spooked.”
I give him a sheepish look. “I did. But then I saw your face when I said it and watched you storm out of here, and then when you came home a little drunk, it got me thinking.”
“It got you thinking? I just spilled my heart out to you.”
I laugh at his wounded expression. “It was a really good speech. An epic speech.”
