He could be so exasperating. “Then what would you call it?”
“Foreplay.”
His body slid gracefully from the car so he could walk around and open my door. I felt the blood drain from my face while a fire lit low in my belly. Something deliciously lustful rolled over my skin at the same time I struggled not to panic.
I swallowed against a lump in my throat and tried to steady out my breathing. By the time Ben opened my door and offered his hand, I had started to tremble.
He pulled me from the passenger’s seat and settled his hand on my waist. He nudged me to the side so he could close my door, but backed me against it, caging me in with his body.
“Liz, you mean a lot to me. I’ve come to care for you deeply.” His hand brushed over my jaw and his gaze bored into mine with staggering intensity.
“I care about you too.” I hated the quiver in my voice, but there was nothing I could do about it. I was obnoxiously stunted when it came to this relationship. I felt more immature about my feelings for Ben than anything else in my life. But I also didn’t know how to solve that. I wasn’t ready to be anything more than casual with him. I wasn’t ready to let go of Grady and accept that my feelings for Ben were real and significant. I had started my cycle of grief all over again only with this relationship. Currently I had settled into denial.
I liked denial.
Ben’s expression did not soften when he said, “I’m exhausted with pretending that this thing between us is anything less than serious. I want more from you, Liz. I want more from us.”
My heart kicked into overdrive, “I don’t know if I can give you more. I’m… I’m just trying to keep up with what we already are.”
“Then meet my parents,” he coaxed gently. “That’s all I’m asking. Live in this moment with me and we’ll get to the next moment together. I’m not going to make you do this on your own.”
My hands glanced over his chest to wrap around his neck. I needed him to hold me together, to keep me together. He wrapped his hands around my waist and pulled me tightly to him. My heart pounded against his chest, but when I breathed in his familiar scent I couldn’t help but relax.
I closed my eyes and let my spirit return home.
“Don’t leave my side,” I ordered him.
“I won’t, Liz. Not for anything.”
He squeezed me tighter and I felt his promise burrow inside of me and chain itself to my heart. I didn’t want to face the fact that we were serious, but we were. Ben had become an immovable part of my life. He cared about me and I cared about him. He cared about my children and they loved him in return.
I had to let go of this denial. I needed to face the reality of our relationship. What I didn’t have to do was decide what that meant. A permanent future together was still impossible, but I couldn’t give him up yet.
So that meant I needed to meet his parents.
“Okay,” I conceded. “Take me to dinner.”
He pulled back to press a sweet kiss to my lips. “I can do that.”
Taking my hand, he led me to the front door of his parent’s stately two-story house. This looked like the kind of place a successful lawyer would live. And yet, I had to laugh because it was so vastly different than Ben’s current home.
Ben’s house was modern, the most modern in our circle. This house had all of the character that he’d described his parents with, colonial with cream stucco siding and beautiful flower beds that wrapped around the house. I felt a thrill of anticipation. I suddenly couldn’t wait to meet them and to see the kind of faded environment Ben had grown up in.
His relationship with his father improved daily, but he’d shared some of the hurt from his childhood and I knew it was still hard for him to accept that his father wanted to change, to salvage whatever they could of their tattered bond.
We walked through the open front door and Ben called out, “Mom, we’re here!”
She rushed into the entryway, a ruffle-trimmed apron tied around her waist.“Ben, hi!And you must be Liz! I’mSharon,it’s so great to finally meet you.” A beautiful smile lit her happy face. She was everything I expected her to be from the pictures hanging in Ben’s house, but so much more in real life. Her dark brown bob fit the shape of her face stylishly, no grays anywhere in sight, and she held her slender frame with a dignified grace that I recognized in the way Ben held himself too. She looked between Ben and me with a shocking amount of affection. I didn’t know how to accept her immediate approval of me.
Katherine had been so distant my entire marriage to Grady. I had expected much of the same with Sharon.
A burning irritation rippled through me. I couldn’t help but hate that I had to go through this again. It had been bad enough with Grady, but what was I doing here with Ben?
His hand squeezed mine and I tried to step out of my bad mood. “It’s nice to meet you too, Sharon. Ben has told me so much about you.” I smiled politely and squared my shoulders in an attempt to push my negative thoughts away.
She looked at her son adoringly, “Has he? He hasn’t shut up about you and the kids. It’s too bad you couldn’t bring them with you. I’m so anxious to meet them.”
“I… Well… I, uh, thought it was probably better if they stayed home tonight. They can be… a little much.”
