He turned around. “Yeah, I did.”
I gawked. “Ben?”
He smiled. “You dyed your hair.”
“You got some new clothes.”
We collided in a hug that I didn’t want to end. I pressed my face into his neck and stayed in his arms for several moments.
“I missed you so much,” he murmured. “I had to come.”
“You didn’t tell me.” I pulled back to look at him. “You’re gorgeous.”
He chuckled, blushing enough that I could see it even in the shade. Had he been standing in the sun, I would’ve recognized his hair color immediately.
“Yeah, I wanted it to be a surprise.” He leaned closer and kissed me on the lips.
I tried not to be demanding, but a small whimper escaped me.
I could feel him smiling as he angled his head and licked the seam of my lips. I gasped, and he used the opportunity to touch his tongue gently to mine.
Then he cupped my cheek and ended the kiss, just to press our foreheads together.
“Consider me surprised,” I croaked, feeling overwhelmed in the best of ways.
“I really like the hair,” he whispered, tugging my hair a little.
“I thought about what you said, that I don’t need the dye and I realized you were right. This feels more me.”
“It looks nice.”
“So do your clothes.” I stepped back to gesture at him. “Did you actually have all this already?”
He blushed. “Uh, I might’ve thought back on stuff Theo wears and figured it out.”
And yes, now that he’d said that, his plaid shirt was a fancier version of Theo’s ever-present flannel, and his jeans must’ve cost twice what Theo’s did. It was the white tank underneath that had me feeling things I shouldn’t be feeling in public.
I placed my hands on his stomach and felt it constrict under my touch. “It’s very…effective.”
His eyes widened when he caught up to what I meant. Then he smirked ever so slowly. “Good.”
Now it was me who felt surprised. “You did this on purpose?”To turn me on?But I didn’t ask that out loud.
“Well, I could’ve worn my chinos and a T-shirt,” he said nonchalantly as he turned to leave the stable. “What do you think?”
I groaned. I was at least half hard and now I needed to go socialize more. “Shoo, I can’t deal with you right now.”
He laughed out loud, the sound making me feel elated and light as a feather.
* * * *
A couple of hours later, I sat at one of the picnic tables with Ben and Lake. We were chatting and taking a breather, because there was a bit of a lull in visitors.
I sat with my back to the arena wall, so I could see when the familiar form of Dr. Cobb walked closer.
“Hey, boss!” I called out, making his gaze snap to mine.
He chuckled and walked to us. “Hi. Look, I made it.”
