________
Benjamin
By the time we were out the front door, Emily was dragging me. Both her hands gripped one of mine as she tugged me forward.
My Raptor was blocked in the driveway. “Shit, babe, hold up. I’m gonna have to go get them to let me out.”
“Don’t bother, you’re riding with me,” she replied with a smile.
I arched an eyebrow at her. “I can’t just leave it.”
“Yeah, you know,” she said quickly. “We’re not going back to the apartment, anyway.”
“Where are we going?”
“Charleston.” She opened the driver’s side door and finally looked at me.
“Charleston?” I croaked.
“Yeah, we’re scheduled to meet with a realtor come Monday, and she’s gonna show us a few houses to look at.”
I stopped her from climbing into the seat and twisted her around to face me. “Houses? What’s going on?”
“I know about the dealership your dad wants you to run. I also hope I understand your reason for not telling me about it.” She gave me a small hesitant smile that quickened my pulse. “It’s already late, so we’ll have to find a hotel once we get there,” she mumbled quickly, grabbing my arms. “One question, Benjamin, and this one matters most. Where you go, I follow, it’s as simple as that. The question is: do you want to leave this town? With me? Shit. That was kind of two questions.”
“I couldn’t ask you to go… How could I ask you to leave your dad?” I cupped her face with both hands and searched her face. “That’s why I didn’t bring it up. I was fine with staying here.”
“Fine?” she whispered. “So you do want to leave?”
I thought about having her all to myself. Us starting anew. Us being away from Roger and Kelly and all the faces of her past and mine. Yeah, I wanted to get the hell away. I wanted her, and I had her. I’d stay here and forever live the rest of my life here as long as I had her, but us getting away? I craved the idea of showing her more, letting her let me give her more, all on our own. The thought of her following had me feeling so damn choked up.
The idea had me greedy for more, more, more of her and us, and a lot less of everyone else.
Now, I finally thought of the job I’d get if we left and that was the real question she was asking me. I knew that. She didn’t want to know how much every choice I made or wanted was about her. No. This was about what else I wanted that wasn’t her.
And, I wanted it. She knew it. I knew it. I didn’t even have to ask to know how she found out.
“I want the job,” I told her, leaning closer. “You know I work best when I’m my own boss.” That worked a smile onto her face. “But mostly, I like the opportunities the job brings…” I ran my hand down her arm. “I want to start somewhere new with you. I want a life with just us. That probably makes me sound so fucking selfish, I know it does, but it’s the truth.” I stopped rubbing and gripped her arm instead. “How could I even ask you to leave? I wouldn’t have, Emily, because deep down I knew I wanted to be selfish and pack us up and leave…. And at the same time, I feared the idea of you not being into us, what we are, enough to leave with me.”
She held her eyes closed as I spoke and now she was tiptoeing and wanting her face closer to mine. I leaned down to help with the closeness she sought. “I’m with you, wherever you go. You’re my safe place. You’re the heat inside me, and the passion in my soul and the love in my heart. How could you not ask me to go?” Damn, she was killing me with that mouth, and the blessings disguised as words dripping from her lips.
She opened her eyes. I drowned in the green staring up at me. “You’d leave your dad?” I asked her, tipping her head upward by her chin.
“He’s doing great. I trust him to stay that way without me.”
Emily owned me, inside and out. The chaos I was feeling, the need to cry, wrap her in my arms, fuck her silly, and love her until my dying breath… I felt everything while hearing her speak.
“Are we going?” She waited for me to answer.
“I love you.” I breathed the words into her, right before I kissed her.
“Is that a yes?”
“What about college?”
“I switched all my classes to online this semester,” she answered quickly, nibbling on my bottom lip until I groaned.
“What about Crash’s?”
“That depends on what we find when we go.” I pulled her arms closer. “Benjamin, are we?”
“Let’s get a move on before I take you in my parents’ driveway,” I murmured into her ear. “Get in the passenger seat. I’ll drive.”
She squealed and ran around to climb in. I started the truck up and looked over at her. “If we do leave, it’ll just be me and you… Will you still look at me the same six months from now when you’re pulled from everything and everyone you know?”
“It’s only two hours away.” She laughed freeheartedly. “It won’t be hard to come and visit… Benjamin, when we were apart, I was miserable. When I told myself we were going to one day grow apart, I pretended it was normal and that my heart wasn’t secretly ripping to shreds in the process. I think my heart knew even when you were just a friend to me that you’re the only person I need and want. If I have to spend every day and night, every second with someone, I’d want no one else.”
“You must want to be fucked,” I said with a gaze that took in the curves wrapped in the dress she wore. Even so, I cherished the things she said.
“That mouth,” she whispered, squeezing her legs together.
“Yeah, it’s going to be all over you when we find a place to stay.”
She pulled out her cell phone from between her breasts. “I’ll start looking for a hotel.”
“Emily, have I mentioned how much I love you today?”
“You have, but you can say it again if you want. Better yet, you can say it for the rest of our lives if you’d like.”