“Benny,” she warned as he offered his hand.“I want to go home.Take me home.”
“You mean Lucy’s, or back to your parents?”Yes, it was dangerous to poke the bear, but he was pissed, too.
Making no attempt to move, Bethany’s arms crossed her chest.Being sure to shoot him daggers as he stood waiting.
“You really wanna do this here, in my driveway?You sure you don’t want a glass of wine to throw at me while we hash this out?”
She ignored him.Eyes still flashing with fire.
“Fine.”Pinching the bridge of his nose, he took a moment to pray for patience.It didn’t work.“You’re angry because I didn’t deny our relationship.”
It wasn’t a question, it was a statement, one that she answered anyway.“Yes, Benny, I am.We agreed—no labels...and now my parents think we’re together and you’re all buddy buddy with my dad and making damn dinner plans.What the actual fuck?”
Patience, remember?
“Guess what, B, the reason your parents think we’re together is because...we aretogether!”He was trying real frigging hard to keep his voice at an even level.It was not easy.“Whether we use some dumbass fucking label or not...nothing is going to change what we are, NeNe.”
No longer satisfied with just glaring, Bethany jumped out of his truck.Taking a step until she was in his face.“Oh yeah?And whatare we, Benny?”
He was so over pretending this wasn’t real.His feelings weren’t real.It all felt pretty goddamn real to him.He may not want his heart shattering all over again, but he wasn’t too stupid to realize it was already too late to protect it.
“There’s a reason why you ran out on your wedding day.Same way there’s a reason I’ve spent the last ten years single.”He closed what little distance there was between them and dipped his head.His face so close to hers that their noses brushed.“You’reitfor me, NeNe.Then, now, tomorrow...it’s only ever been you.”She inhaled shakily, moisture clinging to the corners of her glazed eyes.“And I think I’mitfor you, too.”
His throat felt raw, his chest ached and the more she searched his eyes like he was hiding something in them, the harder his heart hammered.
Benny’s hand shot up as a single tear broke free, he was thumbing it away just as another soaked his skin.
“Baby,” he murmured softly.Swiping away more tears than he was mentally prepared for.
He didn’t know how long they stared into each other in silence.All he knew was the evening sun was beginning to dim by the time Bethany’s mouth opened, but no words came, just a strangled sob caught in her throat.He watched as her eyes closed, and she drew in a stiff breath.A moment later, it wasn’t the defeat in her eyes that tore the last pieces of his heart apart, it was the words that followed.
“You broke me,” she whispered.
Fuck.
He was wrecked.
“I broke me, too,” he confessed just as quietly, letting his nose trace hers.
“I’m scared.”
“I’m fucking terrified.”
Breathing each other in, Benny let his eyes close this time.
After a minute, her quiet voice skated over his skin once more.“So, what...are we just supposed to pick up where we left off?”
“I’m pretty sure that’s exactly what we’ve been doing.”
“I’m not the same person I was when I was nineteen, Benny.”
His thumb traced her cheek one last time before tipping her chin up.Then his eyes opened, slowly finding hers and staying there.Letting her see everything.
“No, NeNe, you’re not.”His voice came out just as ragged as he felt.“You’ve become everything I always knew you could be...but you’re stillyou.You’re stillmine.And you still own my damn heart, and you always fucking will.”
As his ears pounded and his throat dried to near dehydration, she kissed him.Hard.And he finally understood that no matter how many lies he told himself or how many times he swore he was over her—he never stood a chance.Because when it came to Bethany Mayer, Benny had always been all in.A decade hadn’t changed a damn thing.It had only made him love her harder.
***
