“We’re almost there,” he says.
“I know,” I say without looking up. “Itismy family’s cabin, Bennett, I've been here a few times.”
“You don’t say?”
Finally, I look over at him as he pulls off the highway, and directly onto the country road towards Brindlewood, the small town our cabin lies on the edge of.
“You know, sarcasm isn’t a good look on you, McGuire.”
“Everything is a good look on me, Timms,” he returns with a smirk, and a wink.
The man actually winks at me!
I roll my eyes as I turn to look out my window, even though I know he can’t see them, it makes me feel better doing it. I could swear he chuckles, but by the time I look back at him, he's got a straight face, and I'm second guessing whether or not I was hearing things.
The ten minutes it takes to drive through the centre of town, and back out again to the dirt road to our cabin is done in silence.
The second Bennett has the car in park, I've unbuckled my seatbelt, gathered my things, and I'm out of the car, reaching to get my bags out of the back of his car.
“Hey, let me.”
I try to argue, but he's by my side, hauling my bags, and his out before can even open my mouth.
“I know you're stubborn, and can do things for yourself, just let me help you this once. I won't tell anyone if you don’t,promise.” His smile is disarmingly kind, and it throws me off long enough for him to take my non answer as an answer. “Can you grab the keys out of my pocket, that way I don’t have to put anything down before we get inside.”
I look up, and realise that we’ve walked to the front door, and Bennett is standing in front of me, but slightly to the left, with his hip jutting out so that I can put my hand in his pocket!
“I'm sorry, you want me to grope around in your pocket for the key?” I ask, feeling my eyebrows fly up into my hairline in surprise.
“Nobody said anything about groping, Kassie, but if that’s something you feel like doing while you're in there, I don’t think I’d fight you.” Once again, he flashes his cocky, lopsided grin at me. It’s one I've seen thrown around at leisure to more women than I care to admit counting.
“I'm not groping around in your pocket,” I say with a snort of disgust, as I start digging around in my handbag, and raise my hand triumphantly when I find what I'm looking for. “Luckily, I have a set of my own!”
“Yeah, definitely lucky,” he mumbles, making me pause for a second before I slide the key into the lock, and open the door.
Ignoring him, I push open the door, and allow him to walk in first. At least, I attempt to, but we end up in some kind of weird stand-off.
“You're the one who loaded himself up with all the bags, go inside so that you can unload.”
“My Mum would be ashamed if I didn't allow you to go inside first.” He nods towards the doorway, indicating that I should go in first. “Not to mention, my Dad would smack me on the back of the head for not being a gentleman.”
I snort, because I can't imagine Bennett being a gentleman in any way, but Icanimagine both his Mum chastising him, and his Dad clocking him on the head.
“Fine,” I say, marching into the cabin, standing to the side so that he can manoeuvre his way through the doorway, then shutting the door behind him.
I have no idea whether he has more stuff to get out of his car, but it can wait for now, because I need to get the heater on.
“Fuck me, it’s freezing in here!” I say, louder than I mean to. In fact, I didn't mean to say it out loud at all.
Without waiting for a reply, I walk over to the thermostat, and switch on the heater. I put the temperature up higher than any of my family would want it, but for now, I just want the damned house to warm the hell up!
When I turn around, Bennett has disappeared, along with all of the bags, so I make my way towards the bedrooms to find him.
He's been here more than enough times with my family to know who usually stays in which bedrooms, and I find him in the room that I call mine.
“I assumed you'd be staying in here again?” he asks, and I nod, because seeing him standing in the middle of my private space with luggage dropped at his feet, makes my brain stutter. “I’ll take the room across the hallway, if that’s OK? The main bedroom is obviously your parents, and I don’t want to take Max’s room, because I’ll just have to move out of it when he gets here. But, also, I don’t want to be too far away, just in case.”
There are more guest rooms on the other side of the living area. Our parents purchased this place years ago with the hope that we could all grow into it with partners, and families of our own. At this stage, it’s still about sharing the space with our friends, rather than husbands, or wives.
