by Mia Madison
Does she mean me? I don't think she knows. Who would have told her?
“A little birdie told me you were one of the strays he gathered up recently.”
Fuck! She does know. “I don't know what you mean.”
“Didn't your boyfriend just leave you? Katie said something about how upset you were. Then my sister saw you at my house kissing Ben in the garden. Really. You young girls these days! I'm so happy my Katie is getting married. If you and she were out on the prowl every night, goodness knows what you two would get up to.”
“It's not like that.” My heart is thudding. Stephanie is the last person I want to do battle with and I'm not even sure of my ground right now.
“Not like what? You're not a stray he picked up? Yes, like father like daughter. I'm sure my daughter doesn't need you at the bakery either. But that's my family for you. Champion of lost causes.”
Ouch! Does she really mean that? Katie has never hinted at anything like that. But maybe that's what she means when she asks me about my plans. Maybe it's not all about my future. But no, I can't believe that about Katie. I would know. This woman hates me because she wants Ben back.
“That hits home, does it? You were always hanging about our house. No doubt you were making eyes at Frank too.”
She really is out of order now. “That's complete crap and you know it. I've been going out with Vince for years.”
“Maybe he just saw through you, the way you took up with my husband so quickly.”
“Your husband? You're not married to him anymore. You haven't been married to him for years. He’s not interested in you. He told me himself.”
“Did he now? I guess he tells you whatever he thinks you want to hear to keep you happy. He can't bear to hurt anyone. Somehow, he's never worked out that short term distress is far better than causing more hurt in the long run. Far worse. I'm sure you agree. Better to end things now before they go too far and you go and do something silly like falling for a guy who's too much of a man for you. Leave him for the grown-ups to deal with.”
I've never felt like strangling anyone with my bare hands before but I could cheerfully kill this woman. Is she like this because of Ben? Stephanie has always been nice enough to me in the past, not over the top motherly or anything, but okay. She doesn't seem like herself. She sweeps past me back into the kitchen and I catch a waft of gin on her breath. Has she been drinking?
But before I have time to process that she says, “I bet he says all kinds of nice things to you. I bet he calls you honey bun. He used to call me that. He seems to call all his women that. He tells us all we're different, unique, special, but he doesn't mean it. I'm sorry if it's upsetting. I'm pretty upset myself. I've had a lot to drink. I shouldn't have come here. You're Katie's friend. Maybe you're in love with my ex but, whatever, you don't deserve what I said to you.”
And then I do believe her. I believe her because now she's not attacking me. Not at all. She just seems like a woman who was hurt by him as much as I'm hurting now. I take off Sullivan's lead and give him food and water and then let him out into the garden before I go. “Please let Sullivan back in after a while,” I say. She can deal with Ben as well. She's welcome to him.
*
I need to find a new dog walker for Sullivan. I love the dog and I don't want to make him suffer, but I don't want to go to Ben's house anymore. He hasn't stopped texting me, so much so, I've had to switch off my phone. I don't believe anything he says. When I take Sullivan out the next day, I come across a woman with four dogs on leads. I've seen her a couple of times before with different dogs.
I smile at her, though my heart is heavy. “Your dogs?”
“They're not all mine,” she says. “I have a business.” She hands me a leaflet. “If you hear of anyone needing help, I have a couple of free spots.” I look at the flyer and back at her and it's on the tip of my tongue to ask her about walking Sullivan but the woman is young, in her early thirties I think, attractive too and I just thank her. I can't bear the idea of her working for Ben. I crunch the leaflet up and take the dogs back to his house. He can find his own solution. I'll leave him a note or something.
But Ben's car is there when I get back. He must have swapped his shift again. Is he trying to bump into me? I guess he just wants to explain and make himself seem less like the bad guy in all this. But I don't want his pity. I open the back door and as soon as I get Sullivan inside I slip out, closing the door quietly behind me. But Sullivan whines and gives me away and Ben rushes after me.
“Where are you going? Don't rush off. What happened yesterday? You're not answering any of my calls.”
“You need to get someone else to look after Sullivan. I can't come here anymore.”
“What the fuck, Gemma? Come into the house. It's freezing out here.” He pulls me inside. “What do you mean, get someone else? What's going on? You know Sullivan will hate that. I will hate that.”
“You'll just have to hate it. Ask your wife what's going on.”
“My wife? I'm not married. You know that.”
“Your ex-wife then. She was here yesterday when I got here. It seemed to me like she felt quite at home in your house and it was pretty clear I had no reason to be here beyond walking your dog.”
“That’s crap, Gemma. She was still here when I got home yesterday but she didn't say she'd seen you. She only had a key so she could lock up if she had to pick up Katie when she was a teenager and I was called out in an emergency. I took my key back and drove her home. She was drunk.”
That figures. He drove her home. Rescuing strays again. Just like she said.
Ben runs his hand through his hair, like he doesn't know what the hell to make of any of it. “What did she say to you? Is that why you didn't show up yesterday, why you're not returning my calls?”
“She said you were just stringing me along like you did to everyone else. She said that you'd hurt me in the long run, that you didn't mean to hurt women but you always did because you couldn't bear to let them down, even the wholly unsuitable ones. I know she meant me. She said I was like a stray you picked up and couldn't put down.”
“Fuck! Gemma, Sullivan is the only stray I've picked up and he wasn't even technically a stray. She's deliberately trying to get between us. Why didn't you speak to me? I'd have set you straight, honey bun. You know I would.”
“She said you called her that name too, that you called all your women that.”
“What? Honey bun? I've never called her or anyone else that, ever. Only you. It just seems right for you. That messy bun thing you do with your hair. How did she know I called you that?”
“I don't know. She knew you kissed me at the party. Maybe she heard you or something.”
“The woman is a liability. If she has no problem telling a whole supermarket about plans I haven't any hand in, I'm sure she has no qualms about putting you off with all kinds of lies.”
“But, is she right? Is that what you do— stay with women too long because you hate to let them down? Because if that's the way it is, it's better if I go now. It'll be for the best in the long run.”
“No that's not what I do. Never have. In any case, I don't think any amount of time could be too long to stay with you.”
Ben pulls me to him and kisses me. I'm not sure at first. Does he really mean that? But when he says, “I love you, Gemma, you've got to believe it,” I stop thinking I might be slapped down in the future like a stray nobody wants and start kissing him back.
“Do you believe me now?” he asks when we stop for air.
“I'm starting to, but you know a little more convincing wouldn't go amiss,” I tease.
He laughs. “Convincing like this?” He kisses me again.
“That's better, but you could try a little harder.” I run my hands under his shirt and down his body.
“Oh, you mean more serious convincing? The kind that calls for far fewer clothes?” He brushes my nipples with his fingers.
“Yes, that kind.”
“Right now?”
“Right now.”
I love his way of convincing me. I love that he convinces me right there in the kitchen, rocking the table as he powers into me. I love that he convinces me then on the bed, in not one but three different ways. And then I love it even more that he can't stop convincing me even when we are supposed to be getting clean again in the shower.
Finally, we get out from under the water and he pats me dry. “Convinced now?” he says.
“Yes, I think so.”
“Thank fuck for that,” he says. “A man needs food after all that exercise,” and we laugh.
We relax in front of the TV that night. I think we're both happy but too worn out to do more.
“I'm pleased you believe me now,” he says and kisses my hair, “but I just thought of one other thing we should do so you know I mean it.”
I groan. “You can't be serious. I can't move. Rain check for tomorrow? You're off tomorrow again right?”
“Yes I'm off tomorrow. But I'm not talking about tomorrow or next month, maybe not even in the next six months … but that might be a good time, in the summer.”
“Eh? I'm not following you at all. Earth to Ben. I think all that convincing frazzled your mind.”
“Not frazzled, no. Quite, quite serious. Marry me, Gemma.”
“Are you kidding me?” I know we’re wonderfully, gloriously happy, but we’ve been together such a short time. Does he really mean it?
“Nope, not kidding. Very, very serious—but if you need convincing...”
“No, no, I believe you. And I don't believe I need any convincing at all. At least, not tonight. Tomorrow, though…tomorrow is another day.”
EPILOGUE
Gemma
Of course, I don't let Ben rush me into anything. I'm not that impulsive, but I say yes to moving in with him—“testing him out” I call it. My mother is a bit sniffy about it and my dad keeps looking at me as if I have two heads but that's parents for you and I'm sure they'll come around in time.
They are already softening up after being invited to dinner a few times. Mum is impressed by Ben's cooking (“I don't mind at all that he's handy in the kitchen” she says, meaning “Because you're not much good at that Gemma”) and she likes his “nice house” and how good his manners are.
Gran is all for it and I sometimes bring her around and hope she doesn't get too embarrassing by making remarks about any parts of Ben's anatomy. He's very patient with her.
My relationship with Katie was strained for a while and even more so after I moved in with her dad, but once she saw how happy we were together, she soon got over it and we're best friends in every way again.
As she says, she wants us both to be happy, so what the hell if that means we're together. She still thinks it's weird that I like her dad like that, except she admitted the other day that if she pretends he's not her dad, she can totally get my point of view.
“But it's still weird,” she says and we have a laugh about that. It does seem like she's forgiven me and that means the world to me.
I told her I was leaving the bakery so I could set up as a photographer full time. I didn't want to be a burden on her business any longer, but she cried and begged me to stay if I possibly could. So, I still work there and help her out at her busiest times a few hours a week and she took on an older lady, Jean, full-time too. It feels good that she really did need me, that I wasn't just sponging off her and relying on her good nature. Her urging me to do something else was totally for my sake after all, whatever Stephanie said.
And Stephanie? Stephanie is still around like the wicked witch of the west, but not for long. Katie tells me she has the owner of the golf club in her sights and they have been dating for over a month. It looks like she might be hooked up and out of our hair soon, especially as her new friend has big plans for the expansion of his golf resorts overseas. Those places can't be far enough away for me. I'll still have to put up with Stephanie and be polite to her at Katie's wedding but I'll manage that for Katie's sake.
The bromance between Bertie and Sullivan continues. They are best pals. I think Sullivan would like it if Bertie moved in too, but he's really Mum and Dad's dog so the dogs only have occasional “dates” when we take Bertie with us on our walks.
Sometimes we take Sullivan to see Reg, who can't get out at all now.
“Good to see him looking so well cared for,” Reg says. “I miss him but I can sleep easy, knowing he's being looked after.”
I made Reg a special album and a collage with pictures of Sullivan and he loved that.
Ben
Gemma's business is taking off. I'm so pleased she's getting recognition for her work and her pictures are in great demand, not just dogs but all kinds of pets. It's not lost on me that even though she's busy, she has my shifts in her schedule so we have as much time together as we can.
She still jokes now and then that she needs convincing I care for her and I'm happy to do all the “convincing” she wants, though there's no doubt she believes me now.
It's been six months since Katie's birthday party when I first kissed Gemma in the garden. I think it's time to ask her again. I wait until we have a whole day off, not an easy feat. I told her I wanted her to myself all day three weeks ago and asked her to keep the day free.
I wake before her and let her sleep in while I make breakfast. I feel more nervous than I ever have facing an inferno. Fucking not cool that! But never mind, I'm doing this.
“Hey sleepyhead,” I say when she opens her eyes. “I made breakfast.”
She smiles at me as I bring in the tray and get into bed beside her. “What's the occasion?”
“Just the day you finally say yes to marrying me.”
She laughs. “Ask me then.”
“Will you marry me?”
“Of course,” she says. “I thought you'd never ask.”
I kiss her long and hard. “Does this mean you won't need any more convincing?”
“I don't know about that,” she says. “A little convincing or even a lot never did anyone any harm.”
And after breakfast I show her exactly how much I love her and she shows me right back.
*THE END*
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
In the mood for something decadent, delicious, and provocative? Meet Mia Madison, purveyor of Forbidden Fantasies Romance. Come in, sit back, and relax. The candles are lit, and the dancing shadows on the wall promise sexy, seductive tales of spine-tingling love, leading to a pleasure-drenched happy-ever-after.