4
Beth
She knew she should’ve felt something when Ben told her they’d be staying in Hope Falls for another few days. She probably should’ve felt upset, disappointed maybe that their trip was postponed. Or she probably should’ve felt grateful or relieved that Ben had found a way to still save their Disneyland trip. He’d called their hotel in California, arranged a place to stay at no cost, retrieved their bags from the car, and planned a night out for them to keep their minds off how screwed they were. He’d done it all alone, and Beth stood next to him in a fog.
She should feel something, but she felt absolutely nothing.
“I think I’m gonna lay down for a bit,” she said, forcing a smile through her indifference. All she really wanted was sleep. Sleep was her reset button.
Ben shrugged his coat on and grinned underneath his five o’clock shadow. At least someone was happy about all this. “Good idea. Enjoy the next few hours you have to yourself, because tonight…” He paused for effect, waggling his brows up and down like he’d suddenly turned into a Disney villain. Beth almost could imagine lime green smoke rising up behind him.
“Tonight… you’re all mine.”
On top of taking care of everything, he had to be adorably charming. Beth tried hard to chuckle at his antics and flirt back, but she really wasn’t feeling it. As soon as he left she knew the faux smile would drop and her body would refuse to do anything but lay there in silence. A shower didn’t even sound appealing, even though she desperately needed one.
Ben bent down, planting a brief kiss to her lips before leaving. It wasn’t until he’d been gone for ten minutes that Beth finally felt a reaction to that kiss as she relived it, staring up at the ceiling and trying to make patterns in the paint. Her stomach swooped at the thought of his lips on hers for much longer than they had been.
She bolted upright in the bed, running a hand over her abdomen. He was at the garage, and she didn’t know the way, but she was sure she could find out. Fantasies of finding him greasy, bent over the hood or tucked underneath it flipped through her mind like an animation book. She would kiss him how he deserved to be kissed, throw all the appreciation she felt for him dealing with this unfamiliar version of her into it, and tell him how much she loved him, how sorry she was…
But as quickly as the sensation came, it vanished once again. He probably didn’t want to be bothered. He probably wanted the time apart for a bit. And reality rarely lived up to the fantasy, so whatever she was painting in her head wouldn’t be nearly as romantic as she hoped. Then she’d be worse for wear tonight for whatever he had planned for them.
A long sigh flitted out of her lips as she fell back against the mattress.
Sleep. Sleep will reset her. It always did.
Problem was, she wasn’t sure what version of herself she’d wake up to.
***
A click of the door snapped Beth out of her cat nap, her brown hair flying over her face as she sat straight up in bed. The smell of metal and oil surrounded her.
“Still sleeping?” Ben asked, shucking off a pair of coveralls. His scruff was stained with grease, causing an unexpected flurry of butterflies to run rampant through her stomach.
“How’s our baby?” she asked, stretching her limbs. Ben’s boots thudded as they hit the floor.
“I’d say she’d be back on her feet by the end of the week.” His eyes met hers. “Unless you want me to work 24-7. Then I’d say maybe two days.”
She pretended to mull that one over. After a moment of letting him sweat, she said, “Nah. You’re much easier to deal with if you eat and sleep.”
“Always thinking of others.” He leaned toward her, lips puckered, but stopped halfway. Beth grinned at the shy look on his face as he realized how dirty he was. “All right… I’m showering, then I’m taking you out.”
“Where are we going?”
“On a date.”
“Are there any good date places here?”
Ben stopped in the doorway to the bathroom and tapped his fingers against the frame, giving her a butterfly-inducing smile. “Don’t know, but we’re gonna have a good time. I’m determined.”
There he went, making lemonade out of everything again. She wondered how in the world he’d kept it up for nearly a year now.
She did a quick inventory of her emotions—happy, yep… she could feel that, especially looking at her sexy man with his hard day of work staining his skin. Worry was there, too, but it was taking a backseat. Excitement over their date, anticipation over what may come later in terms of sexy time, and relief was finally sitting in the pit of her stomach, telling her that even though they were delayed, Disney wasn’t completely off the table.
Grateful that she was back to somewhat normal, she pushed off the bed and stripped her shirt. Ben’s eyes widened, not missing a beat as they trailed down the length of her torso.
“There’s room for two in that shower, right?”
“You want to join me?” His surprised tone made her frown. How badly had she ruined their dynamic?
She hooked her thumbs into her yoga bottoms and shimmied them down, not meaning to give him a show, but since it’d been a while she could probably turn him on getting stuck in her clothing and falling to the floor.
His shock grew into eagerness as she passed him on her way into the bathroom. His pants were off quicker than a man on fire.
She stifled a laugh, cranking the hot water knob… but only a few low groans came from the faucet, followed by one lonely drip.
“Uh oh.”
“It comes off, I promise.”
She glanced over her shoulder at his dirt-ridden naked body, biting away a grin. “Not ‘uh oh’ you. ‘Uh oh’ that.” She pointed to the lack of water. His brow went from eager to panicked in less than a second. He nearly knocked her over on his way to inspect the shower.
“Which way did you turn it? You sure there’s not a button or something? Maybe if we give it a pound…” He smacked a fist against the metal, eliciting more pipe groans.
“Maybe I can hose you off out back,” she teased. “Splash you with bottled water from our mini fridge.”
“You find this funny, do you?”
“Only because you need a shower more than I do.”
A smile split his lips, his teeth a brilliant white through all the grime. His knees cracked as he stood, and he grabbed her waist and pulled her flush up against him.
“Ben!”
“I just want a hug.”
“Liar.” Giggles cascaded through her belly as he rubbed his scruffy face against her cheek, warmth rushing under her skin as their bodies bumped with one another. It felt so good, so familiar, so… just like before the evil cloud had descended upon her. Her playful struggle soon turned into an embrace, her fingers clinging to his skin and her face snuggling his bare shoulder. Ben froze for a second, most likely confusion causing him to hesitate. Then his arms circled her, held her tight, and they basked in the quiet echoes of their laughter.
“I’ll call Justin up at the main house,” Ben said after a moment. “See what we can do about the water.”
She nodded against his shoulder, the protective warmth he projected creating a nice, safe pillow for her. Her grasp tightened when she felt him shift to let go.
“In a minute,” she said, feeling Ben’s whiskers catch her hair as he smiled over her head. He was always such a clean-shaven guy—in the years they’d been together, he never let it grow out no matter how many times Beth had asked to just see it once. Over the years she’d teased him about not being able to grow any, or flipped and gave him crap about being the missing link in the theory of evolution. He took it all, bragging about his baby-soft skin, and she did love that. But she decided she loved this, too. Furry Ben, Baby-soft Ben… She loved every version of Ben.
She hoped he loved every version of her, even the one who was slowly taking over.
Her tongue snaked out and wetted her lips, her mind battling between seduction and practicality. She wanted him—and definitely wanted to take advantage of the notion—but he had plans, they had no shower…
“Beth—”
“I think their number’s on the welcome packet.”
He pulled back, brow furrowed. “Huh?”
“Justin and Amanda.”
It took him a minute to shake out of it. “Ooooooh. Gotcha.”
Her mood didn’t shift when he crossed the room and grabbed a pair of jeans from the bed. She watched his cute butt every second until it was hidden; that had to be a good sign. Yeah, this mood wasn’t going to go away anytime soon.