Something’s up.

I close the hood to my SUV. “You want me to stay? Here, with you?”

“Why wouldn’t I?” Ben says, slipping every pleading emotion known to man on and off his handsome face.

I lean in ever so slightly. “Don’t you find it a bit strange how a battery from a new car suddenly goes missing?”

“I’ll get you a new one. First thing tomorrow morning,” Ben insists, entirely bypassing the point.

As a resident of Willow Run since inhaling my first breath, I know a thing or two about this community. Batteries just don’t go missing around here. I also know Ben didn’t take it. He’s not left my side. But who did take it?

Blowing my bangs from my face, I lean back against the front grill and cross my arms for warmth, my mind jumbled in thought over what I should do. “I have no doubts you will.”

“Look,” Ben says, straddling my legs as he scoots in close and takes my hips into his hands. When he meets my gaze, his eyes glisten in the darkness. “This is your childhood home, Addison. If being here makes you uncomfortable, I’ll understand. But if being here feels right, then please stay.”

He’s going all out, flashing me those puppy dog eyes. The sight blends with an emotion I’ve seen from him a few other times. He’s determined. And I have a feeling he’s not coming down from his makeshift mound until he feels he’s more than finished the job. Nope, he’s bound and determined to talk me into staying.

Intrigued, I stand in the batter’s box, eagerly listening to each additional pitch he sends my way.

“This’ll give us more time together. I don’t like being so far away from you.”

Strike one.

Like my apartment’s really that far away. It’s a couple of miles, at most. Knowing this, I lift a brow, feeling his fingers slip from my hips to caress my rounded belly. I know the look on his face; here comes pitch number two.

“I don’t like knowing you’re all by yourself. It’s safer for both you and the baby for us to be together.”

Strike two.

Safety is a good thing. As is the closeness I feel when he holds me in his special way and lights my insides on fire from all the sexy things he says.

I inwardly smile, and wait patiently for the next pitch. After all, this is Ben. And Ben Peterson is merely doing his thing.

Enchanted, I already know I won’t be swinging.

“Addison.” He caresses my arms, his eyes glistening under the moonlight, his expression shifting even more serious. “I want you here with me more than I’ve ever wanted anything.”

Strike three.

And it’s the most beautiful buzzing sound I’ve ever heard, his words laced with heartfelt determination, each one encased with what to me feels like…love. With that, Ben talks me into staying. Not just for the night, but indefinitely.

He uses the word “forever,” even though he unknowingly had me at “Please stay.”

Spellbound and eager to give our growing relationship a try, I don’t argue. What’s there to argue about?

He’s just told me I’m more important to him than the game of baseball.

It’s not what I thought he was going to say. And if I’m honest with myself, I’ve wanted him since our day together out in the woods—well before he unceremoniously popped the question.

I believe him. His words feel real. Ben wants me in his life as much as I want him in mine. And after all he’s done for me, why wouldn’t I believe him? If it’s not what he wants, why would he have come back to Willow Run in the first place? Why would he go so far as to ask me to marry him?

Because it’s the noble thing to do.

I push the thought to the back of my mind, storing it where it’ll still creep up on me from time to time. My reasons for keeping Ben at arm’s length are fading. I’m no longer the daughter of a politician. I don’t have to do things by the book. People are already talking. And I no longer feel like I’m the thorn in Ben’s golden arm, or the story from his off-season that would tarnish his glowing career in baseball.

I’m falling hard for Ben Peterson. Fast. But what if this doesn’t work out? We’ve both gone through loss. Could he be doing this because it’s what he thinks is right? Or because it’s what his parents would have told him to do?

Surely none of this is about that.