It just means she doesn’t want to die.
“Oh, Callie, I’m so sorry,” he said. “I really am.” He really was. Because she was bereft and heartbroken and obviously the decision was a difficult one.
She didn’t sob for very long, he’d give her credit for that—just long enough that he could feel the dampness through the sweaterandthe button-down shirt he wore beneath it—but even once she settled down a little, she didn’t seem interested in putting any proper space between them.
The next thing he knew, he found himself sitting next to her on the couch, Callie tucked up against him, his arm around her waist, as she sighed and sniffled and wiped her nose.
“Sometimes it sucks being an adult,” she said. “You know?”
“Yeah. I know.” He resisted the urge to stroke her along the arm, and he wasveryaware of the fact that her soft, generous breast was resting against his chest. It felt like it was burning into his side, and he knew exactly where her hip was too, because it was bumping against his hip.
She just needs a friend right now,he told himself.Like inWhen Harry Met—oh, no, no, no… that isnota good comparison at all.
“Want to watch something?” she asked in a low, scratchy voice—surely unconsciously echoing a line from that very movie after the scene that this very moment sort of reminded him of.
Dammit.
“I just need some distraction. Or—oh, no—do you have work to do?” she added quickly, pulling away a little to look at him. “You must have lots to do with it being year end. I should get going. I didn’t realize how late it is!”
“No, no, that would be good,” he replied before she could straighten up all the way. He’d sit here all night unmoving if it meant he could cuddle Callie Quigley. Work could wait, and keeping a guy’s circulation moving was overrated. “I mean, watching something is a good idea—I’d hate to waste that fire. And besides, the weather outside is frightful.”
He felt her chuckle a little next to him, even felt her cheek move against his arm—that was how sensitized he was to her every breath. “Is it cold outside, baby?” she asked with a little giggle.
“It’s definitely cold outside, but it’s nice and warm in here,” he said, unable to suppress his own low rumble of a chuckle.
“The fire is slowly dying,” she whispered over another adorable giggle.
“It isnot,” he said with mock indignation. “I just stoked up that baby, and when I get a fire going, she burns forhours.”
For some reason, those words hung in the air, settling in the silence, and Ben felt acutely aware of the double meaning one could read in them. If one should be thinking down that path.
Which…damn. He needed to shift a little—things were getting a bit tight in his chinos—but he dared not move. Not now.
Somehow, Callie managed to grab the TV remote and manipulate it, and the next thing he knew she’d landed onWhen Harry Met Sally...
“Ooh! I love this one. It’s one of my favorite holiday movies—even though most people don’t think of it as a holiday movie. But so many of the pivotal scenes happen during the holidays,” she said. “Mind if we watch it? It’s a comfort-watch for me, you know.”
“Sure,” he managed to say, wondering not only how he was going to get through a whole movie about friends falling in love, but also that famous “I’ll have what she’s having” scene with Callie bundled up next to him all the while.
But somehow he managed it, and even enjoyed it. Why not, since this sort of perfect, fantasy idyll would never happen again?
And when, during the scene with “I Could Write a Book” on the soundtrack, he heard the soft, delicate snore coming from the woman next to him, he smiled indulgently…and he was finally,finally, able to touch the soft, bright lock of hair that fell over his arm. It crackled with static electricity and gave him a little shock as Harry Connick, Jr., sang about making two lovers of friends.
But Ben didn’t care.
And pretty soon, he lapsed into sleep as well.
* * *
When Callie opened her eyes,it took her a moment to figure out where she was.
And then, slowly it dawned on her that the large, solid warmth next to her wasBen Tremaine.
And they were on his couch.
And she’d been really cuddled up with him. Practically in his lap.
Her face flamed when she realizedwhere her hand was.
