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

by Tamra Baumann

  By asking Kline to keep what she’d seen about his father to herself, he had effectively taken away Kline’s biggest weapon. That she’d agreed so readily as a favor to him, and without question, pounded on his conscience.

  Technically, he couldn’t share information with Kline about his father’s health because he was a patient, but it still wasn’t sitting right in his gut. On the other hand, if she lost the election, the new clinic would be built. Then the next time his father had heart issues, it could save his life to have the equipment and care he’d need right in town. Ben needed to focus on that part.

  Maybe he’d join his father when he met with Tara’s dad tomorrow, to make sure his clinic was going to be part of the plan and hold his dad to his word. He’d thought of a new plan for the clinic that included plastic surgery offerings and wanted to run it by them.

  A knock sounded, drawing him out of his deep musings. Kline was right on time, as always.

  He opened the door, and she smiled as she passed him a pie box. “I brought dessert.”

  “Thanks, but I made you chocolate cannoli, even though we never had that rematch on the court.”

  “Smart man.” Kline laid a quick kiss on his lips. “Because I would’ve won anyway. Saves you the humiliation.”

  “So sure about that, huh?” Ben handed her back the pie box. “Then you can eat your own dessert and I’ll eat mine until I get my rematch.”

  Kline laughed and closed the door behind her. “I guess I’ll have to choke down Gloria’s awesome peach cobbler crumble all by myself then.”

  Dammit. That was his favorite treat from the diner.

  He threw an arm around her shoulder and led her toward the kitchen. “You play dirty.”

  “I play smart. Smells wonderful in here. What are we having?”

  “Brains and entrails,” he teased as his phone vibrated in his pocket. He glanced at the screen. “It’s Sam. I have to take this. Can you please drain the pasta when the timer rings?” He walked outside to the back deck to gain some privacy.

  Ben had joked with her when she’d arrived, but something was still bothering him. His jaw had been set and his slight frown told her something was up. He mentioned a talk about feelings later, so that could be it.

  Kline laid the dessert box down and then plucked a chocolate cannoli from the countertop, just to be sure she got one. He might have been serious and there was no way she was leaving without having one of her favorite things in the entire world. A fair tradeoff for his talking to another woman while on a real date. Even if it was his best friend and probably the one taking care of his father in Denver.

  The gooey chocolate and mascarpone melted on her tongue. Yum.

  It looked like they were having Ben’s famous lobster-filled ravioli. The aroma of crispy sourdough garlic bread made her mouth water.

  The bread smelled done, so she took it out of the oven before it burned. Then the timer rang, so she gently poured the ravioli into the drainer in the sink, so as not to break any, as she’d seen Ben do. Then she tossed the salad with the vinaigrette that stood nearby the bowl.

  The cream sauce simmering on the stove looked done so she plated the pasta, poured the rich sauce over it, and sprinkled grated Parmesan cheese and chopped herbs on top. Next she set everything on the table in the nook. He’d be proud that she’d paid attention all those years ago while she pretended not to be able to cook so he’d do it for her. She wasn’t stupid, after all.

  It was dark outside, so she found the light switch for the deck and flipped it on. Then she stood in front of the French doors, grabbed her stomach, and pretended to swoon from hunger. He forced a smile and lifted a finger to show he’d be right there.

  Still not a happy camper. Maybe his father was sicker than Ben was letting on.

  When he finally came back inside, she pulled out a chair for him. “Dinner is served.”

  He glanced at his plate and smiled. “You even remembered the herbs? I’m impressed.”

  After he was seated, she laid a cloth napkin across his lap and poured him a glass of wine. “We aim to please. Everything okay?”

  “Yes. Thanks for putting this all together, Kline. So how was your day?”

  He obviously didn’t want to talk about his dad. “Good. I’m actually looking forward to checking out Barb’s classes tomorrow. She left me detailed test content for the kids to study, so maybe I can trick them into learning while we have some fun.”

  He took a big bite of pasta and frowned. “I can’t remember middle school science ever being fun.”

  She hitched her brows. “That’s because I wasn’t old enough to teach the class yet. Mr. Randall and the big stick up his—”

  Ben’s phone rang and he cut her off.

  “Sorry.” He glanced at the screen. “I need to talk to Casey about something.”

  When he rose and walked outside in the freezing night air, Kline shook her head and dug into her food before it got cold. Not much had changed in that department. His family still managed to interrupt their meals.

  Ben was gone so long that Kline had finished eating and had put the leftovers away when he finally came back inside, accompanied by a cool gust of air. “Sorry, Meg called after Casey. I just needed to tell them that Dad is fine.”

  So maybe it wasn’t his father Ben was worried about? “Finish your dinner, and then I thought maybe we could soak in that big tub of yours for a bit?” Heaven knew the man needed to relax.

  He genuinely smiled for the first time all night. “You read my mind. Let me go set things up first.” He finished his meal in four humongous bites and then took off at a jog.

  The cannoli at her elbow called her name, so she had another as she waited. Finally he called out, “All set.”

  The thought of getting naked made her put the third cannoli back. She wasn’t twenty-four like she was the last time he’d made them for her.

  When she crossed the threshold into Ben’s room, it was dark but for the flicker of candlelight bouncing off the walls in the bathroom. She stepped farther inside and smiled. Ben had placed candles around the jet tub. Rose petals and bubbles churned along the water’s surface, making the room smell heavenly. It was so romantic it made her eyes mist.

  Ben stood before her in a white, thick terry cloth robe. He handed her one just like it. “I couldn’t give you your birthday present last night with all the people here, so happy birthday a day late.”

  She hugged the soft robe and laughed. “I can’t believe you remembered.” Back in college, when they were dirt poor, she’d told him that after he finished med school, she’d just once like to spend her birthday in one of those expensive spa hotels with little guest houses right on the ocean. One that offered couples massages on their private beach, where people sat on their patios overlooking an infinity-edged pool, listening to waves crashing while eating gourmet room service dressed in luxurious robes. Complete with hot cabana boys to bring all the drinks they wanted.

  He said, “Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any cabana boys on such short notice, so you’ll have to settle for just me.”

  “I’ll suffer through it.” She leaned up on her tiptoes and kissed him. “Thank you, Ben.”

  “Welcome. But you can wear that later. Now, I want to help you out of all those clothes.” He took the robe from her hand. That he’d even thought to have her name embroidered on it made her stupidly happy.

  They stared into each other’s eyes as he removed his robe first and then slowly removed all of her clothes. Ben’s hands roamed her flesh, caressing and kneading as they explored her body. It made everything inside quiver with need.

  But she could see in his eyes that something was still bothering Ben. So maybe he was the one who needed to be pampered a bit.

  He took her hand and helped her up the steps and into the deep, bubbling tub, and then he slipped beside her. The soothing jets seemed to come from all directions and instantly made her muscles turn to a happy mush.

  After yanking a bott
le of champagne from an ice bucket, Ben poured them each a glass. “Happy birthday. I’m glad you’re back.” He tapped his glass against hers.

  “Thanks. Me too.” She took a sip, and then quickly laid her glass down. “Remember you asked if I had learned any new tricks in my travels?”

  Ben’s lips tilted into a naughty grin. “Yeah?”

  She plucked the glass from his hand and laid it beside hers. “I’ve been dying to show you this one.” She slid behind Ben, made him scoot down in the water a bit, and then laid her hands on his shoulders, using her thumbs to knead the pressure points in his neck. “There was this tribeswoman I met who could get rid of my migraines with just her hands.”

  “Mmmm.” Ben closed his eyes and let his head fall back against her shoulder. “You still get migraines?”

  She whispered in his ear, “Only when I’m super stressed. I guess it’s my version of straightening stuff.” She lightly nipped his earlobe and made him moan.

  After a few minutes, Ben’s shoulders and neck muscles became putty in her hands. So it was time to move on to the rest of his magnificent body. She laid kisses on his neck as she slid her hands slowly up and down his muscled arms, purely for her own pleasure, before she moved to his solid pecs and squeezed. She loved all the hard steel covered by soft skin. Ready to get things a little more heated, her hands dove under the bubbles. She traced her fingers over the dents and valleys of his abs. They twitched under her light touch as she made her way lower.

  “Wait.” Ben’s hand covered hers to stop her progress. “I have a few new tricks I wanted to show you too. So unless you want this over quick—”

  “I do. You can show me later.” Touching Ben had made her unbearably turned on. She slipped from behind and then straddled his lap. She took his face in her hands and said, “I want to make love to you this time, Ben.”

  “I’m all yours.” He kissed her long, slow, and deep. Then he leaned back and whispered, “Condoms are over—”

  “I’m on the pill and was just tested. How about you?”

  “Squeaky clean.” His eyes darkened with desire as he caressed her needy breasts. When he switched to using his mouth and tongue she slid her hand behind his neck and leaned back to enjoy the hot desire forming low in her belly. When she couldn’t take any more, she slowly lowered herself onto him and closed her eyes as she relished the feel of him. She hadn’t had sex without a condom since Ben and she’d almost forgotten how good he felt inside of her.

  His large hands cupped her bottom and moved at the fast pace they both wanted. She was supposed to be in charge but it felt too good to complain as his hips thrust under her, harder and faster until he had her begging for more. But it was supposed to be about him this time, and she couldn’t hang on much longer. She wanted to give him what he’d crave most, so she leaned her mouth next to his ear and whispered, “I love you, Ben.”

  He took her face between his hands as he filled her with harder, faster strokes that took her to that place between sweet pleasure and pain, and said, “Look at me and say it.”

  Panting for release, she stared into his beseeching eyes and said, “I love you.” Then they both went over the edge together.

  Later that night, after they’d dried off from their bath, and he’d made long, slow love to Kline, he lay next to her, unable to sleep. He should have been elated that Kline had finally admitted she loved him, but instead he was wracked with guilt. He needed her to lose the election to get what he wanted. At the same time, he wanted his father to slow down and take care of himself.

  He’d been toying some more with the new plan to fund a new clinic, even if they had to expand upward in their current location. His idea would cater to the celebrities who already supported their town, but it’d feel like selling out to him if they did it. But if it would get him the staff and equipment they needed along with it, he’d suck it up and stomach it. And maybe it’d get him out from under his father’s iron fist.

  He glanced over at Kline, who slept soundly at his side. Could he have everything he wanted, but be certain he wouldn’t lose her? If he could convince Tara’s wealthy father to back the new venture, then it wouldn’t matter who won the election.

  Kline asked for no more lies—he’d made that mistake the last time—so maybe after the meeting with Joe McDaniel and his father tomorrow, he’d tell her the truth about the threat his father had made and that he’d never ask her to pull out of the election. He wanted to show her that he had changed for the better, and that meant he’d tell her the whole truth and let her make her own decision to stay in the race or not.

  Kline had planned to get to school early, but Ben talked her into showering with him and messed up her schedule. Not that she was complaining; it just meant she’d have to hurry. She had come home and dressed in record time, but she would drive to school to save a precious ten minutes.

  She couldn’t be late on her first day.

  Kline threw her laptop and a container of her mom’s snickerdoodles onto the seat beside her and then pressed the button to start her car. Nothing. No light saying it was good to go.

  Her battery must have lost its charge. And Uncle Zeke hadn’t called to say the parts had come in to make her a charging station. She quickly grabbed her things and ran back inside. She called out, “Mom? I’m going to borrow your car, okay?” Kline grabbed the keys from the hook by the garage door.

  “That’s fine, honey.”

  Kline jogged to the garage and slipped behind the wheel of her mother’s ten-year-old SUV that had a whopping twenty thousand miles on it. Because there was little need to drive in Anderson Butte, cars lasted forever.

  She pulled out of the long drive and then gunned it toward Main Street. Her mother had mentioned that the mayor had donated land on the very outskirts of town to build a newer high school and that he’d remodeled the middle school. Kids were bused in now from far and wide.

  As she got closer, that familiar queasy feeling she’d had most mornings before middle school came back. How excluded she used to feel sometimes by the other girls, and how hurtful it had been when they’d laugh at her behind her back and call her names. But that was ridiculous; she was the teacher now, not that picked-on girl.

  When she turned into the parking lot, she blinked in surprise. The old single-story middle school was three stories high. She got out of the car and glanced across the street at the new huge high school. It even had its own football stadium. No wonder Wayne was happy to move back home to teach in such shiny new facilities.

  Barb’s e-mail said to check in at the front desk and then go straight to her classroom. The principal would probably stop by later to see if Kline had everything she needed.

  Kline hardly recognized her old school as she dodged kids milling in the hallways in clusters around their lockers. After she’d checked in and received a temporary badge, multiple sets of eyes tracked her progress to Barb’s classroom. Some were surely plotting how they could have fun with the substitute teacher, but this wasn’t her first rodeo. She’d throw in a little twist first and make sure the kids were the ones off-kilter.

  She quickly laid her laptop on the teacher’s desk in front of Barb’s classroom and then started rearranging the students’ desks into a baseball diamond, complete with dugout sections. A glance at the clock on the wall showed she had four minutes before the kids got there.

  As she worked, Kline studied the shelves filled with equipment. The experiments and project possibilities would be endless with materials like those. Along the back wall stood shelves filled with textbooks and reference materials that would put a college biology classroom to shame. So different from her past teaching experiences where she was lucky to have the bare minimum.

  Kids wandered in with bewildered looks on their faces as they studied the room setup. One boy asked, “What’s the deal? Did Mrs. Wilson pop out her kid early?”

  “Nope. She’ll be back Wednesday. I’m Ms. Grant. Take a seat anywhere.”

  Kline found s
ome stickers in Barb’s desk, and as the kids filed in she handed them out. When the bell rang, she did the introductions and roll call, then set up her laptop and the projector. “All of you who have a red sticker please go to the window side of the room, and blue to the other. We’re going to play some baseball.”

  The kids quickly split into two teams while Kline laid out the rules. They especially seemed to like being able to earn snickerdoodles after crossing home plate. But if her game went as planned, not too many would get the chance for a cookie, because “stealing” bases after a wrong answer always made the game more fun and harder to score a run.

  Kline pointed her remote at the laptop and called up the first image. “All the questions today might show up on the test tomorrow, so paying attention could pay off. And earn you cookies too. Red team, you have twenty seconds to answer. If you’re wrong, the blue team can steal and all of your runners lose their bases.”

  The question about cell structure popped up and the kids dug into their textbooks for the answers. All except one girl who had her head down on her desk, her closed book beside her. Kline sat in an empty desk next to her. “Not a baseball fan?”

  The pretty blonde girl jumped as if startled. The cute redheaded girl who sat on the other side said, “Ally stutters so she doesn’t like games like this where she has to talk in front of the class.”

  Ally nodded.

  An arrow of familiar pain went straight through Kline’s heart for Ally. Kline knew full well what it was like to want to hide and just get through the day without anyone noticing, so she handed Ally the remote control. “I was just going to ask for a volunteer to change the questions and keep score. Could you do that for me instead?”

  Ally smiled and nodded again.

  Kline leaned closer. “Do you know the answer to the question?”