by Lauren Wood
I felt like I might cry, finally hearing him say everything I never thought he would. I hadn’t even let myself hope for it, because I was so convinced he wasn’t capable of feeling this way. But now that I knew he was … I could play hard to get all day long to punish him, or I could just let go and give in. I decided to take one more leap of faith and hope that he would actually catch me this time.
“I love you too,” I murmured through a smile. “And … yes. I will be your girlfriend. If you think you can handle it.”
“Oh, baby. I can handle it. That or die trying,” he smirked. He yanked me into his chest, pressing his soft lips to mine as we laughed with relief and happiness.
20
Ben
As scary as I thought it would be to stop running from my feelings for Kate and actually admit them out loud to her on top of that, I felt the opposite as I was holding her in my arms, kissing her again. I had never been so sure of anything in my entire life, and it consumed me with contentment and happiness.
She reluctantly pulled away from my lips after a while. “As crazy of a morning as it's been, I should actually get back to work I guess.”
“Play hooky,” I suggested. “You’ve earned it.”
“I second that,” Greg’s voice appeared suddenly as he walked past us towards the elevator. “I’ll let you know if I hear anything from Nesters. But other than that, I’ll see you back here in the morning.”
“Thanks,” she smiled, turning back to me. “So now what do we do?”
I considered it for a moment and then had the perfect idea. “Well, when we met and had coffee … I believe you suggested we grab lunch some time.”
“Lunch sounds great,” she laughed. “I’m starving.”
I grabbed her by the hand and walked her out of the building. We drove to Angel’s restaurant to eat where we were able to tell her the good news. We were officially a couple.
“I knew it!” she beamed. “I could just see it with you two. It was meant to be. I can’t wait to tell Joey.”
“Thank Olivia for us,” I told her. “She’s a great matchmaker already, and she’s not even two years old yet.”
“She also inspired my pitch for Nesters,” Kate added. “That’s some kid you got there.”
“Thanks,” Angel smiled before getting back to work.
I leaned across the table to Kate, playing footsie with her as we talked. “So, after we had a lunch date. What would have happened next?”
“Third date,” she replied. “Dinner.”
“I knew it!”
“Hey, I’m worth the wait,” she defended playfully.
“As someone who had the good fortune of getting an early sample … I can confidently say that it is one hundred percent true.”
“So, we have the whole day. … ..and we’ve had lunch. What’s next?” she asked.
“Hey, I’m making up for doing things all wrong the first time,” I told her. “If you want three dates, I’m giving you three dates. I’m going to take you home, and then we’re going to dinner later.”
“What will you do until then?”
“I take dinner dates very seriously,” I quipped. “I have a lot to do before then.”
I drove Kate home and then went over to Del’s shop. I had her help me pick out a new dress and some jewelry to send over to Kate’s place, but not before ducking into the shop around the corner to get some chocolates to send along with it. After all of that, Damon was more than happy to meet me and help me shop for a new suit.
I looked like a million bucks by the time I showed up to her place to pick her up, and I had made reservations at one of the nicest places in town for dinner. She answered the door in the glittering silver gown with its plunging neckline. Her long legs went on for miles past the hem, and when she spun around for me to show it off, my mouth dropped at just how good she looked in the backless garment.
“Damn. I knew you’d look good in this thing … but you do it justice in ways I never could have imagined just looking at it on the hanger,” I whistled.
“You look pretty damn good yourself,” she replied.
I pulled her in for a kiss and then showed her out to my car. We enjoyed a lovely candlelit dinner with our very exclusive, hard-to-get reservations, paired with expensive wine and a shared dessert.
“Now that we’ve had coffee, lunch, and dinner,” she said, looking stunning in the dim lights with the glowing candles that danced between us. “Three dates. What would you have proposed next?”
“You’ve still never seen my place,” I reminded her. “I would have invited you over for a drink.”
“Oh my gosh. You’re right! I haven’t!” she gasped. “Okay. Your place it is then.”
I drove her back to my penthouse and showed her in. I could barely keep my hands to myself on the car ride over, but I wanted to give her the full experience and tried to be a gentleman, as if we had never slept together before. It occurred to me maybe I should have picked a different dress, because she was so sexy in the one she was wearing that it made it nearly impossible for me to contain myself.
She seemed surprised when she walked into my apartment. She quietly walked around, looking over all the framed pictures of me and my family, and others with me and the guys from over the years. The place had the typical penthouse view, but I kept the decor nice and cozy. I didn’t go for all the flashy modern stuff you’d picture for a place like that.
“This is nothing like I expected,” she marveled as she looked around. “It’s so … homey. I thought I would be walking into some kind of seduction den. Like a real bachelor pad.”
“Do you like it?” I asked anxiously.
“I do …” she said slowly, looking like she had a lot on her mind.
I opened another bottle of wine and asked her to join me out on the balcony. “You’ve got to tell me what you’re thinking,” I said after a while. “You’ve been so quiet since we got here. Do you not like me anymore now that you’ve seen my place isn’t the ‘seduction den’ you were expecting?”
“That’s not it at all,” she laughed. “I’m thinking … that something a little birdy told me earlier about you might really be true after all.”
“What’s that?”
“That you’re not as much of a ladies’ man as you try to make everyone think you are,” she answered. “And I’m thinking … that if I had come back to your place that one night you asked, everything might have been different. This might have changed how I saw you. But then again … you might have just gotten freaked out all the same and still ghosted me.”
“But I still would have come to my senses just like I did this time,” I told her with certainty. There was no way I could have ever really walked away from Kate for good. And if I had, I would have spent the rest of my life beating myself up over it.
After spending a while out on the balcony, enjoying the crisp night air, we went back inside and cozied up together on my couch.
“Well, we’ve checked everything else off on the list,” I said. “Should we watch that movie together that we skipped out on before when you got all weird about hanging out with me?”
The smile from her face slowly faded, and her eyes sparked with a hunger that excited me. She leaned in close to my lips and replied in a deep, seductive tone, “No. I’m done making up for things we never did before. Let’s do more of what we already knew we were good at this whole time.”
She rolled her tongue into my mouth and wrapped her arms around my neck, pulling herself up to my lap. I ran my hands up her thighs and around to her back as she straddled me, rocking against the growing bulge in my pants.
“I’ve been waiting to take this thing off of you all night,” I whispered against her lips.
She lifted her arms above her head, allowing me to slide it right off. She wasn’t wearing a bra underneath, so her breasts spilled out in front of me. I took them both into my hands and brought them to my lips to tease her. I co
uld feel the wetness seeping into her black lace panties as she grinded into me.
Sucking each of her hardened nipples in between my teeth and tongue, I used my other hand to slide my fingers inside of her. She moaned and rocked harder against me. We kissed and tugged at each other's clothes until we couldn’t stand it anymore. I reached under her to pull my pants and boxers down, tossing them to the floor.
She took my hard-on into her hand, stroking up and down, before lifting up to lower herself over me.
“Oh my fucking god, Kate,” I rasped as she guided me inside of her.
She was wet and tight, clenching around me as she took me in. Riding me in slow, up and down motions, she knew all the right things to do to unravel me to the point of no return.
But I knew exactly how to do the same to her in return. I reached between her legs and circled over her folds, matching her rhythm. We worked together in harmony until we were both crying out, on the brink of exploding.
She kissed me deeper, thrusting her tongue into my mouth as my fingers thrusted inside of her. “I love you, Ben,” she moaned and whimpered.
“Fuck, I love you too.” My reply was broken by my quickly approaching orgasm, which only made her ride me harder.
I clenched my fingers into her thighs, and felt her muscles contract around me. She tossed her head back with a loud moan as she shuttered. Watching her cum on me sent me crashing over the edge. I pulsed inside of her and exploded, groaning in ways I never had before.
It was all so incredibly sexy, but sweet and tender. Intimate. All the things that I never thought should go together … but with her it made perfect sense.
She draped herself across my chest as we caught our breath and let the pleasure fade slowly, but I stayed inside of her … wishing I could stay there forever. After a while, our bodies slowly melted sideways and we drifted off to sleep. And when the next morning came … no one freaked out and rushed off.
Epilogue
Kate
“I come bearing gifts!” I shouted out into the foyer of Nick’s home as Ben and I both burst in with our arms full.
All the kids, including Olivia, who was over two years old now, gathered around and watched as we emptied the bags, creating a pile of toys in the middle of the floor. They each dropped to their knees and dug in. Liz, Angel, and Del stood around, smiling with approval.
“You’re a lifesaver,” Liz beamed. “They’ll be preoccupied with all of those for hours!”
“We’ll actually be able to enjoy dinner in peace,” Del quipped.
“Glad I could help!” I grinned back at them.
The launch of Nesters’ new toy line had been a huge success, and my reward, aside from a promotion with a huge raise and fancy corner office, was a ton of free toys. Of course I kept a small stash hidden away for myself, in hopes of giving them to my own kids one day.
Damon and Nick came roaring into the room, running up on the kids, ready to roughhouse. But they barely noticed them with the distraction of all their new toys.
“Don’t get them all riled up,” Angel scolded them.
“Ah, you’re no fun,” Nick teased before turning to Ben. “Hey, I brought along the final papers for you to sign whenever you’re ready.”
He glanced over to me. “I’m ready whenever you are.”
“Let’s do it,” I smiled, sliding my hand into his.
We followed Nick into his home office and turned our attention to the small stack of papers on his desk. He talked us through all of the main points of the contract for the house we were buying together. A beautiful Victorian-style home just outside the city, but still close to work and all of our friends.
“You ready to join the ranks of the rest of us homeowners?” Nick asked Ben as he handed him a pen.
Ben smiled back at me and leaned over to sign. “Beyond ready. But don’t forget, I was actually the first one to buy a house. Way before any of you ever even started thinking about it.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Nick waved, pointing out the places for each of us to sign. “I’ll get these over to the sellers to finalize everything first thing in the morning. Now, let’s eat!”
We got the kids set up at a table in the playroom so they could jump right back into playing when they finished eating, while the rest of us went out onto the patio. Del had made a beautiful outdoor dining arrangement with hanging lanterns all around, giving everything a lovely soft orange glow. And of course, Angel was in charge of the food so we knew it would be delicious.
The kids did stay quiet and preoccupied as predicted. All except for Olivia who couldn’t resist sneaking out to crawl into my lap. Joey shot her a warning glance, but let it slide. I snuck her little bites of my food and snuggled her close. Ben and I still picked her up for regular playdates. I had gotten more attached to her with the more time I spent around all of them. We had definitely bonded.
Ben was still one of her favorites too. After dinner, everyone enjoyed the backyard. The kids ran around catching fireflies, and she insisted that Ben be the one to help her wrangle the little bugs into her jar. The rest of the gang watched from the sidelines while I sat on a bench, admiring the stars in between smiling at the excited shrieks Olivia let out each time they caught another one.
I was distracted by the sight of the big bright moon when the two of them came walking by. Olivia dropped something, which I felt tap against my shoe.
“Oh no! Let me grab that for you.” I leaned over, feeling around in the grass under the darkness of the bench. My fingers wrapped around what felt like a small, smooth box. “What’s this?” I asked, pulling it up.
I stared at it in my hands for a moment before looking back to them, filled with the suspicion that it wasn’t something I was supposed to hand back to Olivia at all.
Sure enough, Ben dropped down before me on one knee, just as he had done in the boardroom that day at work over a year ago. Only this time, there was a jewelry box in my hands … so I could only assume he was going to propose something much bigger than me being his girlfriend.
I started crying soft, happy tears when he pulled my hands into his. “Kate, I had everyone, including myself, fooled into thinking I wasn’t the marrying type. But that all changed the moment I met you. I may have been too stubborn to admit it in the beginning, but I have no choice but to admit it now. I know without a doubt that I want to get married … but only if it's to you. Will you be my wife?”
He opened the box, revealing the most beautiful diamond ring I had ever seen.
“Yes!” I nodded. “Of course, yes!”
I cried even harder as he slid it onto my finger before pulling me up to my feet, wrapping me in his arms for a sweet embrace. I kissed his lips and couldn’t believe how lucky I was. I knew I would get to kiss that man every day for the rest of my life.
Everyone had gathered around to watch the big moment and they all started clapping for us. Even little Olivia danced and clapped around us.
“You see, kiddo,” Ben smiled down at her. “You ended up being the perfect bait after all.”
“Yeah, she just baited in something much bigger than you ever intended to catch,” Joey laughed, rushing over to swoop her up into his arms. He threw her over his shoulder and spun her around in circles while she laughed and screamed.
I kissed Ben again and felt happier than I ever had in my life. “Well, now we have the house. And we’re engaged.”
“There’s only one thing that’s missing,” he replied, scooping me up into his arms. “And if the rest of you will excuse us, I think we’ll go home and get started on that right now.”
“Oh no you don’t!” Del yelled at him. “You put her down! There will be plenty of time for that later. I’m popping open a bottle of champagne to celebrate.”
“Anyways, take it from me,” Liz grumbled. “You don’t want to be pregnant at your own wedding.”
“I’ll second that,” Angel added.
We all gathered around while Del and Nick handed us
glasses filled to the brim with bubbly champagne. I couldn’t help but think they were right as I took the first sip. Something about champagne always tasted better when you were celebrating something special, and I definitely wanted to be able to enjoy that on my wedding day.
Besides, I wasn’t in any rush to have kids. It would happen when the time was right, and I had no reason to rush anymore. I landed the promotion even with everyone at work finding out about my fake fiancé … and fake kid. But since that day I was exposed to everyone, I never wasted another second in regretting the lie we told. It was what brought Ben and me together after all. Or rather, it was what kept us together despite us doing everything we could to run away from each other.
From the back of Del and Nick’s yard, you could see a beautiful view of the mountains in the distance, which we stood around and admired for a long time while we talked and sipped our drinks.
Del and the others marveled at how funny life was. That Ben got this big idea to haul his best friends and their business all the way from New York down to Cherry Falls. That one move converted the four billionaire bachelors over to the cause of love … and now here we all were.
We all toasted to Ben. If he had never got the bright idea to come to this place, Del never would have owned her shop. She wouldn’t have Nick or their beautiful little boy. Damon wouldn’t have his club or Lizzy or their adorable daughter. Joey never would have gotten the family he always dreamed of, and Angel would have never gotten the restaurant and true love she always dreamed and hoped for.
And as for Ben and I … who knows how long we would have drifted aimlessly through this world, convincing ourselves that our careers were all we needed to be happy.
It turned out that moving shop to Cherry Falls caused so much more to grow than just the population and all the booming businesses that came from it. It helped us all find love—and family—in each other. And we couldn’t have been happier.