“Well, I did actually. But when I came over you were harboring ex-wives in your apartment and sent me away.”
“Yes. That,” he said sheepishly.
“So . . .” I folded my arms in a businesslike fashion. “You asked me here to talk. What is it you still have to say?”
Ben smiled, “Talk. Yes. Just give me a moment to get out of my clothes, they’re covered in paint and I’m all sweaty.” He rushed off to the room at the end of the passage and disappeared. I walked back out to the lounge and sat down, taking the opportunity to glance around. I’ve always thought you can tell a lot about a person’s personality by looking at the environment they live in. On closer examination. There was a lot of pink. The bookshelf was packed with rows of books for Li and on a nearby shelf stood a picture of her and Ben that melted my heart a little. I got up and walked over to it. He was wearing hospital scrubs and holding her in his arms; she was clearly a newborn despite the wild crazy mop of black hair she already had. The look on Ben’s face as he gazed at her was indescribable. Another photo showed a shirtless, tattooed Ben cradling a naked, sleeping, pudgy Li in his arms. And then a photo album caught my eye. It was labeled, “The story of us.” I opened it and immediately recognized Ben’s distinctive handwriting.
Once upon a time there was a man who didn’t know what real love was, until the day he met the most beautiful Princess in the entire world—
There was another picture of Li and Ben in hospital scrubs, but this time he was looking directly into the camera. His smile was massive and it lit up his eyes. He looked a lot younger than he did now, but equally gorgeous—dammit.
I slammed the book closed quickly, feeling a stab of something deep inside. I was so touched by the love he had for this little girl that it forced me to wonder what it would have felt like to be so cherished. A tear left my eye and rolled down my cheek.
“Hey, are you okay?”
I turned and Ben was standing right behind me.
I shook my head. “Not really,” I finally managed to mutter.
Ben reached out and wiped the tear across my cheek with his thumb. His touch felt good.
“I really am sorry, Sera. I never meant to hurt you.” His other hand came up and touched the other side of my face.
“I know,” I whispered.
“Is it too much to ask you to forgive me?” His other hand cradled the side of my face and he stepped closer, holding my face between his hands. “Or do I need to beg and grovel?” A tiny smile darted across his face.
“How would you do that?”
“Like this.” Suddenly Ben started slipping down. He got closer and closer to the floor until he was on his knees and then suddenly he reached down into his pocket and started pulling something out. I gasped in absolute shock!
“What the hell?” I reached down and started pulling him up again. “Are you going to . . . uh, were you going to . . . you were, uh,propose?”
Ben burst out laughing and laid his hand on my shoulders. “No. But if you want me to . . .?”
“No! God, no!” I pulled away quickly feeling like a total idiot. But Ben was so weird and unpredictable that I wouldn’t have put some totally inappropriate proposal past him.
“You sure? Thisisthe second time you’ve brought it up.” He laughed.
“What’s in your hand?” I asked and pointed at the hand that had reached into his pocket moments ago.
He opened it and held it out.
“You think you can bribe me with chocolate?” I asked, taking it from his hand.
“It worked last time.” He said and then without warning, playfully pulled me towards him again, wrapping his arms around me and locking me into a hug.
I closed my eyes, not wanting to look him in the eye right now.God, I felt like an idiot!
“Open your eyes, Sera.”
I shook my head and closed them even tighter. “Mmm-uuhh.” And then I felt his lips coming down onto mine. They were soft and gentle and I was reminded of the way he’d kissed me in the car that night. No one had ever kissed me like this before—except him. I began to forget myself. Forget everything that had happened between us. And when his hands moved to my lower back, my mind went completely blank. Then he pulled me closer and started walking me backwards towards his . . .Bedroom?
51. Kissing Daze . . .
Halfway down the passage to his room, Ben stopped walking and had me pinned against the wall, kissing me. We tried to walk and kiss at the same time, which didn’t really work, so we were forced to make another kissing pit stop—this time I was doing the pinning.After a few more steps, he managed to get my top off, which caused another delay, as it seemed to call for more kissing. These kisses were concentrated in a more southerly direction. I’d never been in such a full-blown kissing daze. Ten minutes prior to that moment I hadn’t even realized such a state could even exist.
I wasn’t even sure we were going to make it to the bedroom, because with only a few feet to go, Ben held me up against the wall and I wrapped my legs around him to pull him nearer.
