It Had to Be Them (An It Had to Be Novel Book 4)

by Tamra Baumann

  “Who leaves a quarter of a half a stick of chocolate? Why didn’t you just eat all four sticks?”

  “More precisely, that’d be an eighth. You’ve obviously never had to ration your chocolate while living in a tent. Habits die hard.”

  He rolled his eyes. “Fred never runs out of chocolate. My grandma would shoot him if he did. She’s the only one I’ve met who hoards chocolate like you do.” He popped the tiny square of candy bar into his mouth. Maybe he was hungry. “What other partially consumed food do you have in there, hoarder?”

  “Keep up the attitude and you’ll go hungry, Mr. Cranky.” She found her phone and turned on the flashlight app. “Ah. Here’s a—never mind. You’ll hate this one.” She went back to digging and then pulled out a different breakfast bar. “Your main course. I’ll eat the other.”

  “Wait!” He grabbed her hand to stop her. “What’s the other? You got me into this mess, so I should get first pick.” He needed to quit barking at Kline, but anxiety swept through him like a rising flood.

  “Fine. But you won’t like it when you see what it’s made of.” She handed over the little package and shivered. “It’s getting cold in here.” Kline scooted closer to his side and shone her light so he could see what was in his makeshift dinner.

  Her warm body against his made it a bit easier to draw a deep breath. He read the label. “It has chocolate, so far so good. Coconut and . . . caramel? No thanks.”

  “Told you. I’ve never met anyone who so freakishly hates caramel.” She switched out their bars, then Kline opened hers and took a bite. “You wouldn’t even kiss me unless I brushed my teeth after eating it.”

  When she shivered again, he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close. “Caramel is sticky. Maybe I was just looking out for your oral health.”

  “Nice try.” She turned and blew a big puff of air in his face. It nearly gagged him.

  Kline chuckled. “You clearly just had a visceral reaction to the scent of caramel assaulting your olfactory system. As predicted.”

  “Did other guys find your constant need to prove your little hypotheses correct annoying or cute?” He slowly chewed his peanut-butter-and-chocolate breakfast bar to make his meager dinner last longer.

  “You’re the only one who’s ever been annoyed by it. Which made doing that just now so much fun.” She finished off her bar and then started digging in her purse again. “Here. I found another one, sans caramel. You can have it.”

  He split it in half and then handed over her piece. “Why do you have so many breakfast bars in your purse? Do you ration these like you do chocolate?”

  “No. My other purses are still in moving boxes until I find a house. I had this one on the plane ride home from Tahiti and just haven’t ever cleaned it out. The probability of missed flights or lost luggage is on the rise these days, so I carry all the basics with me.”

  “Hence the need for a purse big enough to carry a bowling ball.” Kline was just like her mother that way.

  “Be glad I do, or you’d be starving. It pays to be prepared.”

  “I’d agree if you had some power tools in there to bust us out.” He finished off his half a bar and then slowly folded the wrapper. Maybe teaching himself origami for the next few hours would keep his mind off things. Until they went to sleep, anyway. Then he wasn’t sure what he’d do.

  While Kline busied herself digging around in her purse looking for God knew what next, he grabbed another used wrapper and started folding.

  As he attempted to make a duck, he said, “You don’t happen to have some bottled water in there, do you?” The thought of drinking from the sink didn’t appeal, but he might have to risk it. The peanut butter made him thirsty.

  “No. But I do have these from the airplane.” She withdrew six little bottles of alcohol.

  “I’m starting to see the benefits of the giant purse.” He opened two little bottles and handed her one. “Cheers.” He clinked his minibar drink against hers.

  “Cheers.” She took a swallow and one of her eyes squinted. “That packed a punch.”

  “Yeah. Good stuff for airplane booze.” He slowly drank from his little bottle, savoring the long, slow burn traveling down his throat.

  “The older guy sitting next to me on the plane kept pulling out his black credit card—you know, the kind only rich people have?—and insisted on buying me drinks. I repeatedly told him I didn’t want any, but he wouldn’t take no for an answer. I stashed all of them in my purse and then just drank the soda mixer. He got so drunk he could barely make a pass at me by the time we landed, so that was good.”

  Anger, and maybe a good dose of jealousy, made Ben crush the wrapper in his hand. He growled, “Ask to be moved next time.”

  “Calm down. The guy was a married, harmless flirt. He wasn’t really interested in me.”

  “You still don’t have any clue how beautiful you are.” He finished off his drink, hoping it’d help with his still-growing anxiety. “It drives me nuts when you belittle yourself like that. Of course he wanted you. Any guy with a pulse would. Like your bird friend.”

  “Okaaaay, still grumpy, I see.” Kline produced a roll of candy from the depths of her magic Mary Poppins purse. “And now for the dessert course. Your favorite. Cherry. A little sugar might brighten up the gloomy cloud in here named Ben.”

  “Thanks.” He accepted one and popped it into his mouth. “You should have one too, caramel breath.”

  Kline gave him a shoulder bump. “Lucky for you, I have a travel toothbrush and toothpaste in here that should make me kiss-worthy once more.” She grabbed her little kit and walked toward the sink.

  Was that an invitation to kiss her? He folded his wrapper while pondering the kiss-worthy part. Then he sent a text to his brother asking him to turn up the heat.

  Ryan wrote back, “Nope. Body heat is your only option.”

  He was going to kill his brother the next time he saw him.

  When Kline rejoined him, she switched off the light on her phone. “Better conserve my battery. I’ll just send a quick text to my mom and then shut my phone off.”

  He blinked to let his eyes adjust to the dark while Kline tapped on her phone, and then he started messing with the wrapper again. Luckily, the moon was almost full, and there was a dim green safety light that shone out in the hallway so they weren’t in complete darkness.

  She whispered, “You never used to stay mad at me for this long, Ben. Especially when I cooked for you.” Kline’s soft hand reached out and covered his. “I’m truly sorry you got dragged into this with me.”

  “What makes you think I’m mad at you?” He weaved his fingers through hers and gave a quick squeeze. “It’s not like we’ve really been arrested. Ryan did this to get my father off everyone’s back.”

  “So what’s making you so cranky? Is being locked up in here stressing you out?”

  He hated to admit it. “I just have routines that I like to do . . .”

  She nodded. “Like your straightening habit?”

  “Yeah.” He stood to pace. “But it’s not a compulsion or anything. I’ll be fine.”

  “Okay.” Kline opened up her purse and dumped everything out on the bed. “Do you want to help me organize all of this?”

  He smiled and sat beside her again. “That’s a lot of crap, Kline.” But he was grateful for the distraction. As he started in on the pile, he whispered, “Thank you.”

  She leaned over and kissed his cheek. “If you do a good job with this I’ll let you organize my bedroom closet when we get out.”

  “Deal!”

  With her purse as organized as it had ever been, Kline shivered on the bunk and watched as her cellmate paced back and forth like a caged animal. After explaining again that what he had was just normal anxiety and not anything serious, Ben finished off his fourth little bottle of liquor.

  She understood the unease that being in a locked cage could cause some people. She’d overcome that while spending six long weeks in a fo
reign jail waiting for justice to be served. She hadn’t been sure she’d ever get out of that hellhole. Luckily Nate had been relentless in his efforts to get her out. She’d be in debt to him forever for it.

  One night in Anderson Butte’s pokey was like staying in a five-star hotel compared to that dank, stinky jail cell. Except using a pot to go to the bathroom in front of other female prisoners was still easier than the thought of using the toilet in front of Ben. She’d never done that while they lived together and she didn’t want to start now. Some things just needed to remain private between men and women.

  Worried about Ben, she stood and intercepted him by slipping her arms around his waist. “Hey. Stop. Maybe we should just go to bed.” She hoped that last drink he’d slammed would start to catch up with him and make him calm down.

  “Good idea.” He pulled her against his warm body, buried his face in her neck, and whispered, “I need you, Kline.”

  Needed her? Like sex? Or to help with his anxiety?

  His mouth landed on hers and answered that question.

  The kiss was hard, urgent, and downright sexy. He ran his hands along her cheeks and tilted her head the way he wanted it so he could take more. His usual slow, sweet kisses were great but whatever had him so wound up was really working for her.

  Maybe he was the one who’d learned new tricks in their years apart. She really shouldn’t be so eager to sign up for his class. She’d vowed to stay strong and not sleep with Ben until they’d talked, but she was too intrigued to stop as he backed her toward the cot.

  By the time her knees hit the bed, he’d unzipped her jacket and tossed it aside. His warm mouth on hers made her spine go weak and her knees wobble. They really needed to have a serious conversation before they did this.

  Her fingers, on the other hand, had a mind of their own and had unzipped his coat. Without breaking their kiss, her busy hands ignored her brain’s warning to stop and started on the buttons of his shirt. It was a race to see who could undress the other quicker. No time for doubts or regrets because his hands roaming her body turned her hormones up to DEFCON 1 and they were holding steady. She had no intention of stopping now, even though they should.

  Seconds later, after they were both stripped to their underwear, Ben scooped her up and laid her gently on the bed. Instead of diving right in like her hormones voted for, he whispered, “God, you’re even more beautiful than I remembered.”

  Her heart threatened to ooze right past her ribcage until she reminded herself to stay strong. They were just going to have sex. To put out the fire that burned between them, that’s all. There were to be no feelings rekindled yet until they made a few things clear between them. They had never been good at communicating and that needed to change if they were going to resume their relationship. She needed to come to terms with living in Anderson Butte or it’d never work.

  But then he laid his lips on hers again and everything inside went right back to goo. The kiss was so tender and sweet. As if she were suddenly fragile and precious. How was it possible that this kiss was even sexier than the rough ones earlier that had driven her wild?

  He slowly lifted his mouth from hers and said, “I love you, Kline.”

  She froze as he rained kisses up and down the sides of her neck. She should say something, but what? Her mind raced for a response. She was afraid to tell him how she felt because they hadn’t resolved their issues. If they couldn’t do that, then why make it worse by declaring her love for him too?

  But the rough stubble on his cheeks kept sending delicious tingles up her spine, making it hard to concentrate. Ben had her breathless and weak even before he whispered, “I missed you so much I thought I’d die from it.”

  Hot tears stung her eyes. She’d felt that same familiar ache. One that explained where the expression “brokenhearted” must have originated. A pain and longing so deep, it felt like her soul being ripped from her body.

  “Ben, I—”

  He cut her off with another kiss so long and deep she couldn’t think or feel anything other than the hot lust coursing through her body. Taking his time to please her like he’d always done before, he slowly unclasped the front of her bra, his fingers softly caressing the valley between her breasts. When both of his palms cupped her aching flesh, he groaned. She wanted to touch him too, so she ran her hands down the hard ridges of his broad back, welcoming the heat radiating from him like a furnace. Ben still had the most beautiful body—lean muscles covered with smooth, olive skin.

  She sighed at the familiar pleasure as he took the time to explore and caress her skin with his hands and mouth on his southward journey down her body. Everywhere he touched made her skin feel alive with heat and desire. Her heart pounded so hard in anticipation it was hard to draw a full breath. Would it be like before? Or had her memories over the years enhanced the way Ben made love to her, never failing to leave her sated and satisfied? No other man had been able to replicate the feeling.

  After Ben had removed her panties, her hands dove to his boxers and inched them off, finding him hard and ready. Both naked now, with their chests heaving, hands exploring each other, kissing each other, desperately searching for more . . . this was just how she’d remembered Ben. They could never get enough of each other.

  It became harder to hold any thoughts other than yes, like that, and more as he slid his fingers inside her. He remembered just how she liked to be touched and made her back arch as she cried out in grateful pleasure. “Now, now, now, Ben!” Everything inside her quivered for release.

  “Still so demanding.” Ben chuckled as he rummaged around for the condom in his wallet. After what felt like an eternity, his warm body covered hers again. He took her face in his hands and stared into her eyes. His lips tilted into a sexy, sin-filled smile that made her shudder in anticipation. Gazes still locked, he slowly entered her. She wrapped her legs around his waist and moved her hips in time with the steady rhythm he set. He lowered his mouth and kissed her, dissolving every bone she had left. When he stilled, her body continued to clench relentlessly around his.

  His stopping tortured her, and at the same time made her want him even more. Ben knew just what he was doing and thankfully did it so damn well.

  Staring into his heavy-lidded eyes, she smiled. “Still so mean.”

  “Mean, just the way you like it.” He leaned down and kissed her as he drove his point home.

  Each hard thrust sent her closer to the place she craved, holding her captive under his spell, making her want to beg for more. She gasped for enough air as Ben finally delivered her to that place only he ever had. One filled with such intense pleasure that she finally gave in to the sweet pain and let go a moment before he did.

  Breathless and perfectly sated, she lay under him on the small bunk, lightly raking her fingers through his thick hair just as she always did after he made love to her. She didn’t have that familiar need to leave as fast as she could like she had with other men. She was happy right where she was. As happy as she could remember being in a very long time.

  When realization hit, a wave of panic filled her.

  Had she just made the biggest mistake of her life by sleeping with him before they’d worked things out? She had plans to live in Denver in the long run. Maybe after her time in Anderson Butte was up, she could convince him to move away with her. Then they could be together like before without all of his family distractions. But he’d be miserable without his family.

  Oh God, what had she just done? Could she live in Anderson Butte long term? Her heart couldn’t bear to be broken all over again if things didn’t work out with Ben.

  Ben rolled off of Kline as much as he could on the tiny bed. He’d missed the way her fingers lightly combed through his hair and her warm, soft body under him. Kline had a way of making him feel whole and content. All the anxiety he’d felt earlier was gone.

  He finally cracked an eye open just as a single tear leaked out of the corner of Kline’s closed eyes. “What’s wrong?” />
  “Nothing,” she whispered. “I just . . . missed you too.”

  Nice to hear, but she didn’t say she loved him back. Baby steps. “It’s getting colder.” He wrestled the blankets out from under them until they were covered.

  When they were settled, Kline whispered, “After I left, I kept thinking that any day you’d show up. You said you loved me, and yet you never came after me.”

  “Because I couldn’t at first. And when you never came home, I figured you still hated me for bailing on our plans.” He didn’t want to ruin the great moment they’d just shared by telling her the whole ugly truth, but it looked like he had no choice. Although he wouldn’t go so far as to tell her that losing the election was the only way for him to get his clinic. She’d throw the election in a heartbeat rather than deny him his dream. And if she did that, she might not have a reason to stay once she discovered her mother was fine. He needed to figure out how to convince Kline she belonged in Anderson Butte with him.

  A line creased her forehead. “What stopped you from coming after me?”

  He paused to get the words just right. “Do you remember that crappy old apartment we had sophomore year of college?”

  “Who could forget roaches as big as the mice? Thank God for that scholarship you got so we could move.”

  “It wasn’t exactly a scholarship. I wanted a better place for us so I asked my dad for a loan. I figured I’d make plenty after I graduated and could pay him back over time.”

  Kline’s eyes grew wide. “You knew I’d never agree to borrow money from your father. So you lied to me?”

  “I didn’t want you to have to live like that.” Why couldn’t she see that he’d done it all for her? He would have done anything to get her out of that hellhole.

  She huffed out a breath. “So you justified lying to me because you were saving me? If I thought it was so bad, I could have always moved to the dorms. The point was that we were together and that’s all that mattered.”

  “Technically, I never told you it was a scholarship; you assumed that. But it gets worse.”