I dropped a kiss onto her forehead and then slid my mouth over her soft lips, murmuring into her, “I love you. I can’t fucking stop telling you that.”
“I know.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Georgia
I chatted with Ben’s parents and Eden while I waited for him, and I managed to keep my head low. I didn’t meet the eyes of any press and none of them approached me. So far I hadn’t spied any of the players and I wasn’t sure what I was going to do if I saw Rick Danby. Kind of awkward to be with your boyfriend’s parents and have one of your ex-lovers walk by.
I was lucky and it never happened, mostly because Ben was the first guy out of the dressing room and after quick hugs with his parents—who were flying out to visit his other sister—he rushed me out of the Wells Fargo Center as if the place was on fire.
He signed a few autographs along the way and I loved watching him with the young fans. They all adored him and he made them all feel special. He posed for a few pictures and then we left.
I was nervous and I think it rubbed off on him because we didn’t really talk on the drive home. My left hand was threaded through his because I needed to touch him and the feeling was mutual. The Foo Fighters blasted into the night and they didn’t stop until we pulled up at his place.
He cut the motor and for a moment there was nothing. No words or looks…just his thumb rubbing a slow, gentle circle on my hand.
“I have to show you something.” My voice was soft, barely a whisper.
He turned to me and my breath caught at the look in his eyes. They glittered in the light from the dashboard, the long lashes throwing shadows down his cheeks.
“Okay,” he said simply, brining my hand to his mouth. My heart skipped erratically as he slid his lips over my knuckles, his eyes not leaving mine.
I felt his touch as if he’d ran hot coals over my skin and I jerked, a nervous reaction, and he smiled because he knew exactly how he affected me.
My eyes dropped to his mouth and he shook his head. “Not yet. If we go there now we won’t even make it inside and Peaches, it’s been a long, hard month, but I don’t want to have sex in the truck. I want you flat out on my bed because I’m going to need some time to get reacquainted with your body.”
I was on fire. I was a molten mess of quivering girlie parts and all he’d done was suggest sex. Reacquainted sex. God, could that be as hot as make up sex?
He smiled that smile that could melt a frickin’ ice queen’s heart. “So what did you want to show me?”
I exhaled and reached for my door. “Follow me.”
We walked around his house, Ben in his expensive navy blue suit, me in my official Lancaster Flyer jersey, and headed for the barn. I knew he was wondering what the hell was going on. As far as he knew I hadn’t been out to his place in over a month and up until this afternoon that would have been correct.
But this afternoon my world tipped a little more toward happy and after I’d visited with Seamus for the last time, I’d headed out here knowing Ben was already at Wells Fargo doing press and stuff for his first game.
I walked into the barn and didn’t stop until I reached my canvases, Ben right behind me. I flipped the switch and didn’t realize how nervous I was until I began to shake.
“Hey.” He nuzzled my ear and the tremors multiplied, rippling along my skin until my teeth began to chatter. “What are we doing here?”
“I wanted to show you something. Something I finished this afternoon.”
His hands and mouth stilled. “You were here?”
I nodded and stepped out of him embrace, pointing to the large canvas on the easel. “I finished that for you.”
He followed my finger and for a few seconds he said nothing. He rubbed his chin and shook his head. “Wow.”
He took a step forward and stopped again, inches from my painting. “You did this?”
I moved until I was beside him and I bumped his hip with mine. “Yep.”
The painting was one I’d started months ago, the day his parents arrived. It didn’t have an ambiguous face with a gaping mouth and hollow eyes.
It was Ben who stared back at us. A candid painting of how I saw him.