Stumbling Into Him_Romantic Comedy

by Molly O'Hare

  “Oh, how very chivalrous of you,” she remarked.

  “I thought so.”

  “Why are you really here?”

  “For the exact reason I just said.”

  “Your dog wants a playdate?”

  “Yeah?”

  Holly threw her head back in laughter. “Sure, your pup wants a playdate. You can’t even convince yourself.”

  Ben’s face broke out into a ridiculously wide grin. “Well, when you put it that way I want a playdate too.”

  Holly raised her brow. “Do you want me to get Mildred?”

  Ben’s eyes gleamed. “Nah, she’s undoubtedly too much woman for me.”

  “You’re probably right.”

  “All joking aside, Grace…” She glared at him. “I had a good time yesterday, apart from hitting you in the face?”

  “You hit her in the face?” Mildred hollered from behind a bookshelf.

  “Get back to work, you old lady!” Holly yelled back.

  “You two are no fun.”

  Ben shook his head. “If I knew the library was this entertaining I would have spent more time in one rather than on the field.”

  “Of course, because you just had to be a jock, weren’t you?”

  “You say it like it’s a bad thing.” At her dirty look, he held his hands in surrender, which caused her to narrow her eyes.

  “Anyway, I had a great time with you yesterday. I can’t remember the last time I laughed as much as I did with you. I figured we could hang out again tonight if you’re not doing anything.”

  “She’s not doing anything!”

  Holly shot her head to where she heard Mildred’s voice. Low and behold the old coot was peering at them from in-between a few books.

  “As much as I would like to disagree with Mildred…” Holly turned back towards Ben. “I’m not doing anything. I only planned on working on a short story I’m writing and watching some reruns.”

  “Perfect.” Ben stood bringing his hands together in a clap. “What time do you want to meet?”

  Holly leaned over her desk looking at her schedule. “I promised I’d help update our electronic reader catalog tonight. I don’t think I’ll get out of here until around six thirty. I can run home get Waffles and meet you at your house at seven fifteen.”

  “I get off at five today unless there is an emergency. How about I pick up something to eat, grab a movie and meet you at your house when you get off? That way you won’t have to worry about anything else other than going home.”

  Holly thought about it for a few moments? Did she want Ben to know where she lived? His boyish glee, melted her heart causing all her worry to leave. Plus, she hated feeling hurried. Whenever she felt rushed her clumsiness skyrocketed by one thousand percent. It’d be better for Ben to deal with everything, and Holly just show up. “You know what, that sounds pretty good.” She took out a piece of paper and wrote down her address. “Here you go. Meet me outside of my apartment building at six forty-five.”

  “Deal.” He reached around Holly grabbing her cell phone which was on her desk. He started fiddling with it before he gave the phone back to her. “My number’s in there in case you need to call. I also text myself, so I have yours as well.”

  She took her phone putting it in her pocket. “Okay, Ben. I’ll see you later.”

  “Yeah,” he said turning away. “I’ll see you tonight. Maybe then we can talk about how I make your panties wet.” He looked over his shoulder and winked.

  Chapter Seven

  Ben sat outside of Holly’s apartment building with Ripley by his side. He hadn’t known what came over him throughout the day. When it hit lunchtime at the clinic, before he knew it, he found himself headed towards Holly’s library. No plan in mind, all he knew was he wanted to see her.

  He was pleasantly surprised when he walked in on the conversation Holly and her coworker were having. He thought he’d hit the jackpot. Mildred was a hoot. Her foul mouth and crude remarks only made him like her more. It was to his advantage they were talking about him. Plus, how could he go wrong when wet panties were involved?

  The mortification on Holly’s face amused him beyond measure. You’d have thought she’d been caught with her pants around her ankles, with her ass up in the air.

  Instantly his lower half stirred to life as he bit back a groan.

  Ripley sensing the change in her owner, leaned against his leg, placing her head on his lap. Her ice blue eyes looked to him for guidance. “Sorry, girl. Your dad has somehow went and lost his mind.”

  Ripley whined.

  “You’re still my number one girl, Rip. Promise.” Ripley’s response was a tongue flop onto his right knee. Ben scratched her head ruffling her fur. “What would I do without you?”

  “You’d probably be sitting out here talking to yourself.” Ben looked from Ripley to see Holly making her way down the sidewalk. Damn, she was beautiful. She wore a fitted long sleeve hunter green top, with black pants that hugged her hips. Her hair was pulled on top of her head in a neatly placed bun. From what he could tell, she barely wore any makeup, if any at all. Which in turn only excited him more. Holly was such a natural beauty, and the fact she didn’t see herself that way made his desire for her stronger. Everything about her screamed lust, from her ample hips that begged for his hands to caress, to her incredible chest. Then there was the way she sashayed her hips from side to side as she walked. If he didn’t know better, he’d have sworn she was trying to seduce him.

  “Were you waiting here long?” she asked reaching the steps to the lobby door.

  “No,” he choked out, before clearing his throat. Get yourself together.

  “Hi, Ripley.” Holly bent at her waist to greet his dog giving him a perfect view of her delectable ass. He had to control himself from reaching out and squeezing it. Closing his eyes, he fought the images of her bent over as he took her from behind.

  “You okay?”

  His eyes shot open. “Yeah.” He shook his head. “Yeah, no, I’m fine.”

  “You looked a little weird there for a second.”

  He held up the take-out bag. “It’s the food. I brought Chinese, and the smell is making my mouth water. I’m starving.”

  “I didn’t know food did it for you,” Holly joked.

  “Oh, Grace, many things do it for me.” He held open the lobby door for Holly to walk in, once again giving him a perfect view of her ass. He held onto Ripley’s leash and the food as they made their way to the elevator.

  Once they were inside, Ripley couldn’t contain her excitement, she trotted to be right next to Holly. When Holly turned to face him, she hadn’t seen the leash which caused her to stumble into Ben’s arms. Thankfully, he had quick reflexes.

  “And you say Grace isn’t the name for you?” he joked while righting Holly.

  She brushed her shirt down before looking at him. “It’s not.” Holly lifted her chin and made her way inside the elevator. Damn, she’s adorable when she’s stubborn. It only made him like her even more.

  “I live on the third floor.” She pressed the button. When the doors closed, she descended to her knees to scratch Ripley. There she went again being perfect.

  When the elevator door opened, they made their way to her apartment. She opened the door, and Waffles came running towards her. He started wagging his butt as fast as he could, while bark-whining his excitement that his mom was home.

  “There’s my big boy! Who’s mommy’s big boy?” she said as she eagerly welcomed Waffles into her arms.

  Within seconds of their greeting, Waffles looked around Holly and stared at Ben and Ripley, whom at his command was sitting patiently at his side. Waffles took off in a full speed pursuit towards him and Ripley. Once his little legs made it to Ben, he jumped on him, demanding pets.

  Holly turned to face the commotion. “What am I chopped liver now?”

  Ben laughed as he greeted Waffles. “What can I say, Waffles is a man’s man.”

  “Whatever,” Holly
huffed before throwing her bag onto the nearby table. When Waffles turned his attention from him to Ripley, Ben took the time to examine Holly’s home.

  It was a relatively small apartment. The front door led right into the living room. The walls were a light shade of blue, with inspirational quotes that were framed scattered all around. There was a decent sized couch in the middle of the room that had seen better days, with a second-hand coffee table in front of it. Everything appeared pretty tame. Which surprised him, Holly seemed anything but tame. Looking toward his right, he noticed a tiny kitchen that only had room for the essentials. Once again there were inspirational quotes on the walls accompanied by odd Knick Knacks.

  Continuing his scan, he made his way into the middle of the living room turning towards the opposite wall. That’s where he saw family photos. Well, he assumed they were family photos. In the pictures, Holly stood next to an older man, who looked remarkably like her. There was also a photo of Holly and the same older gentleman releasing what looked like butterflies into a sunrise.

  “That was on what would have been my mother’s fiftieth birthday. My dad and I wanted to do something special, so we released butterflies in her honor,” Holly remarked moving to stand right next to him.

  “That’s a wonderful way to honor someone,” he said, thinking about his own father.

  “We thought so too.” Holly reached to pat Waffles on the head before she quickly turned away from him making her way over to the front door. She then toed off her black flats before slipping her feet into flip-flops that were placed by the door. She removed the elastic from her hair letting it fall naturally. The brief head shake she did to make her hair free rocketed right to his groin. Oh, fuck!

  “Make yourself at home. I need to take Waffles out.” She reached for his leash causing the little guy to jump around with excitement.

  “Let me,” Ben said before taking the leash from Holly’s hand. “How about you set out some plates and put in the movie.” Right now, he needed some distance from Holly. Whenever he was around her, his body lost its mind, and he forgot how to be a rational human being. He desperately needed some fresh air.

  “You sure?” she asked worrying her bottom lip. Yeah, he was sure… He needed to fight the urge to push her against the wall and nibble on that lip.

  “Of course. You know where everything is and I’m sure us men can handle a little potty break.” He bent to Waffles ruffling his neck before hooking his collar. “You gotta go potty, little guy?”

  Waffles barked in excitement before jumping in circles causing Ben to laugh. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

  Ben nearly ran Waffles out of the apartment and outside. As soon as the air hit his skin, he took a deep breath filling his lungs with the fresh Holly free air he needed.

  The leash pulling on his hands brought him back to reality. He started walking Waffles around the front of the building waiting for him to do his business. “Did you know your mom is something else?” Ben asked looking at Waffles who was on a mission to find the perfect spot.

  “There’s something about her that I can’t put my finger on, but I can’t get enough of it.” Waffles still ignored him as he found the spot he’d been looking for and started doing his business.

  Once Waffles finished, he looked at Ben then back at the grass, then once again to Ben. “Damn. I guess Holly was right. You demand for it to be picked up right away. Ben roared with laughter. “Well shit, you really do think of yourself as a King, now don’t you?”

  A few minutes later they returned to Holly’s apartment. There were two plates set at the coffee table with two glasses of water.

  Holly walked out of the kitchen with two dog bowls in her hands. “I saw you had Ripley’s food in a little baggie, so I made her dinner too. I hope you don’t mind, I added chicken broth to it. When I was adding it to Waffles food, Ripley looked at me like she was starved and started to whine.”

  Ben rolled his eyes. “Don’t let her fool you, but yes, it’s fine.”

  “I’m glad.” She placed the food bowls at opposite ends of the living room before turning back to Ben. “You never know if there might be an altercation and I am pretty sure Ripley would kick Waffles’ ass.”

  Ben roared with laughter. “You’re probably right, and that’s good animal parenting. I wish half of my clients were like you.”

  She smiled at him before she placed the Chinese food containers on the coffee table and sat down. “Everything is ready when you are.” She grabbed her plate and started adding bits of food to it.

  He sat beside her doing the same. “Did you put the movie in?” he asked, leaning back once his plate was full.

  “Heck no!” Her eyebrows shot to the ceiling. “I do not do jumpy horror movies. Now serial killer, stabby movies, I’m fine with, but that crap you tried to pull, no way. Nope.” She shook her head.

  He couldn’t help but smile. Even if his plan of scaring her into his arms didn’t work out, her over animated personality warmed him.

  “Fine scaredy cat. What did you pick instead?” he asked reaching for the remote.

  “Some random comedy.” Her eyes screamed with mischief as she placed a forkful of noodles into her mouth.

  Ignoring it, he pressed play. A few minutes into the movie he groaned. “Grace, you’ve got to be kidding me, isn’t this the vampire movie where they sparkle or some shit like that?”

  Holly burst out laughing before grabbing the remote from Ben. “And, that’s what you get for trying to scare me.” Her face beamed as she maneuvered around the streaming program before picking a movie they would both enjoy.

  She placed the remote on the coffee table and started to eat again.

  “You don’t use chopsticks?” he asked.

  “You’ve seen how clumsy I am, right? There is no way I’d get through a meal using chopsticks unscathed.” She sat back on the sofa pulling her knees under her.

  “You’re right, Grace.” He plopped a dumpling in his mouth with a chopstick smirking.

  “Jerk.” She jutted her chin towards the screen. “Watch the movie.”

  * * *

  As the movie played in the background, Ben found himself inching closer to Holly’s side of the couch. In his defense, Waffles and Ripley both joined them on the sofa pushing him closer to Holly.

  He wasn’t complaining, though. Instead, this gave him a better opportunity to watch her reactions. Holly became completely engrossed in the movie. She was on the edge of the cushion with her full attention on the screen. Her enjoyment in the scenes was contagious. Whenever there was a funny moment, she’d laugh as if she was the only one in the room. She had absolutely zero cares in the world.

  He felt his heart warm. Holly was genuine and in today’s day and age that was a rarity. He turned his attention back to the movie and watched idly as he made sure to pet each of the dogs by his side that were demanding his attention.

  Once the movie ended, he turned towards Holly. She glowed. The light reflecting from the screen illuminated her face, highlighting her features.

  How the fuck was she so beautiful?

  “Thank you for coming over,” she whispered staring at him. “It was a lot of fun.”

  “It was fun,” he agreed. As the shadows danced on her lips, he saw the cut. The slight laceration, in a roundabout way, had brought them together.

  He watched as her tongue slipped out wetting her bottom lip. He couldn’t hold back another second more. He leaned closer to her. When he heard her breath hitch, he whispered, “Holly.”

  Her eyes widened as her breath quickened. He couldn’t stop himself as he placed his hand behind her neck.

  “Wh-what?” she stammered.

  Ben looked into her eyes. “I’m going to kiss you.”

  Chapter Eight

  The air in the room thickened as Holly stared at Ben. Their lips were only millimeters apart from each other. Could she kiss him? Her head felt light as she tried to analyze everything. Men like Ben were not supposed to want t
o kiss a frumpy, klutzy woman like her. Were they?

  No.

  Try telling that to Ben. Even in the darkness of the room, Holly could see his eyes filled with lust. This was her do or die moment. Did she try to make sense as to why this Adonis wanted her or should she throw caution to the wind and go for it? Even if he never spoke to her after tonight, shouldn’t she live her life? Or maybe she should live the life of the women she wanted to write about. The sensual, sexy, confident women. The type of woman Holly always wanted to be. Plus, who was she to look a gift horse in the mouth?

  That’s it. She made her decision. Throwing her arms behind Ben’s neck, she launched herself at him. The moment her lips connected with his, the tension exploded. She kissed him as if she was a starving person and his lips were her salvation.

  Ben wrapped his arm around her waist as he leaned back onto the couch bringing her body on top of his. He held her tightly against his skin.

  Normally, she’d never be caught dead in this position, but there was something empowering about being on top.

  Ben’s hand migrated to her ass, squeezing it. He started to grind her into his hips, as he pushed upwards. Their connection rocketed through her body sending earth-shattering sensations everywhere. She could already feel her slickness increase as Ben’s member rocked against her apex.

  “Fuck,” he groaned, as he tore his lips from hers. He moved towards her neck nibbling and sucking her skin.

  “Not yet.” Her voice came out breathy as she threw her head back giving him better access. She might not be super experienced in the lovemaking department, but she was well versed in her romance novels. Her mind raced to recall all of the information she’d read over the years that turned her on.

  Ben’s hand moved to her hips pushing her down onto his shaft. “Fuck, I want you, Holly. I want you badly.”

  “Me too,” she said. “Me too.”

  “Off.” He grabbed hold of the hem on her shirt pulling it from her body and throwing it behind him.