Before I can respond, we pull up in front of the Bardot family home. It’s a house that would be the perfect setting of any early aught primetime comedy, practically screaming that a functional, loving, and communicative family lives here. No shoving things under the proverbial rug in this house.
Wonder what that’s like. Quickly, I twist my ring around so it’s not as obvious on my finger. Ben clocks the movement, frown lines forming between his brows. In an extremely cowardly move, I hop out of the car before he has a chance to protest.
Elaine and Hugo are out on the porch as soon as my car door closes. “Hello, my cabbages!” Elaine calls, huge grin flashing from beneath her riot of curly gray hair.
“Did she just use a cruciferous vegetable as a pet name?” I ask a smirking Ben.
“It’s a French endearment,” Ben replies, but I don’t register anything other than the tingling sensation at the base of my spine where his hand now gently rests, urging me forward.
We’ve touched each other in downright indecent ways, but this, this small sign of affection, might be my undoing. I’m momentarily paralyzed until the tug of Ernest’s leash brings me back to the present.
He hops up the steps and into Elaine’s waiting arms. “Aren’t you the cutest boy I’ve ever seen?” she coos.
“Mom, not in front of Cole,” Ben teases.
She rolls her eyes. “You know full well I’m talking to the dog, Benoit Francis.”
My eyes widen, and I do my damndest to keep my mouth tightly clamped, not wanting to offend the elder Bardots. Ben sighs, turning to me. “You can laugh.”
I shake my head emphatically, not daring to open my mouth. But the feeling of bubbled up laughter is hard to ignore. He gives me a look that says he knows how much shit he’s going to get later, and then he puts that infuriating hand back on the small of my back. With a quick “Bye, be back later!” called over his shoulder, we are back in the car and on the road again.
“Say it.”
“Say what?” I know exactly what.
“Go on,” he presses. “Make fun of my name.”
“Francis is a perfectly acceptable middle name,” I reply. “Does kind of ruin the Finance Bro image, though.”
The corner of his mouth lifts. “Wouldn’t want that.”
“Absolutely not.”
The rest of the ride goes by in companionable silence, only broken up by my occasional, “Are we there yet?” Asked only to piss Ben off just a little bit.
Ben, annoyingly, rolls with any and all punches thrown his way and just laughs every time I ask him how much longer. We leave Sassafras and drive into the neighboring town that’s just slightly bigger. After driving all the way through to the other side of town, I’m about to bug Ben about our ETA when he pulls to a stop in front of a building I can only describe aszen.
There’s an abundance of lush vegetation, a stream of water that trickles through gardens, and a stone path that leads up to a red brick building with a black-tile sloped roof.Bay State Bathhouseis written across a large plaque that’s nearly hidden amongst the foliage.
Panic gnaws at me because, “I can’t bathe with other people!”
Ben’s hand wraps around my clinched fist, prying it open and massaging gently. “Red, remember to trust me.”
His rhythmic circles across my palm have the intended effect. Taking a deep breath, I murmur “Fine,” and then open the car door to meet my fate.
“Trust,” Ben reminds me when he circles the car.
If only he knew how much I was trying.
Cole is wound so tightly, I swear if she were to let go of some of that tension she would spring straight into the atmosphere.
Sliding my palm into hers, I squeeze once to help ground her. “No one is here, Cole. It’s just us.”
Her surprised look makes me smile. The immediate relief I see in the drop of her shoulders, however, tells me I have more work to do on this whole trust thing. I pull her to a stop right in front of the entrance to the bathhouse. Holding her left hand up, I twist her ring back around until the gem stone is facing up. “No more hiding this.”
She hums in response, a flush crawling up her neck. In an incredibly impulsive—and not at all regretful—move, I lean down and lick the blushing skin from her throat to her ear.
“Benjamin!” She growls. “Did you just lick me?”
