I smile, climbing up into the truck after my door is opened for me.
Nolan talked nonstop on the drive to the dinner show, and every time Ben tried to talk to me about something other than dragons or knights, Nolan would adorably cut in and change the subject.
I’d be lying if I said I’m not grateful for Nolan’s missed nap.
I settle into my seat and buckle up. “I can’t say I blame him. Dragons and knights are way more exciting than what Tessa and I did today.”
He closes my door and gets in on the driver’s side, starting up the truck and pulling away from the castle.
I inhale, taking in Ben’s scent that has completely filled the space between us. He smells like pure Ben. No cologne, just him. Like a man that knows exactly how to please a woman.
Shit. Don’t go there.
“How’s your mom doing? Tessa mentioned a few months back that she was really sick. Is it breast cancer?”
I cross one leg over the other, angling my body toward him.
His one hand stays firmly planted on the wheel while his other relaxes on the console between us. I’m glued to his fingers, the fingers that I moronically doubted that night. I didn’t think there was a chance in hell he’d get me off the way he did. And now that I know what those fingers are capable of, I’m fascinated by them. I actually can’t stop looking at them.
The length, the thickness, the fucking tips of them that played me like a record. I want him to turn his hand up so I can straddle his fingers and ride out my pent up orgasm right now, but that’s not going to happen.
He clears his throat, gaining my attention, and I’m quickly reminded of the question he hit me with before I wandered off into finger fucking la-la land.
I paint on my most convincing I-wasn’t-just-fantasizing-about-what-you-could-do-to-me face and answer. “Yeah. She’s doing great right now. The treatments aren’t making her nearly as sick as they did in the beginning. It was awful when she first started them.”
He glances over at me and gives me a sympathetic smile.
“She wouldn’t eat anything and she didn’t have the strength to get out of bed. I couldn’t leave her side for more than a few minutes at a time because she was constantly getting sick.”
“But she’s doing better now? Does she still have it?” he asks, turning onto the main highway that leads to Ruxton.
I nod once. “Yeah, she still has it, but I guess the treatments are working because she’s doing so much better than she was. I think she’s gotten most of her strength back.” I lean my head back against the seat rest, shifting my eyes from Ben’s profile to the road in front of us. “I just, I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to her. She’s the only family I have left besides my aunt.”
The hand that I had longed to mount reaches over and grabs mine. He squeezes it gently, comforting me. “Nothing’s going to happen to her. And she’s not the only family that you have. Tessa would kick your ass if she heard you say that.”
I laugh and he smiles at me. His eyes shift to our conjoined hands. After one gentle squeeze, he lets mine go. I hold in my disappointment and rejoin my own hands together in my lap.
“So, Officer Kelly.”
My God, does that have a ring to it or what?
Images of him doing things to me in that uniform flash in front of my eyes too fast to focus on. I blink rapidly as his eyes meet mine and darken. And that look, the look that he’s hitting me with is directly connected to the pulsing spot between my legs. I clear my throat and the dirty thoughts from my mind.
“Do you like being a cop?”
Good save.
I hide my heated face behind the strand of hair that fell out of my clip, shifting my attention to the road in front of us. My body goes rigid when his hand brushes my face, tucking my hair back behind my ear.
“I do,” he replies coolly, as if he didn’t just touch me. As if he’s completely unaffected by that touch. His hand returns to his lap before he continues, his eyes returning to the road as mine neglect it completely. I am entirely too focused on him and his smooth voice. “It’s never boring, that’s for sure. Plus, Nolan gets a kick out of it.” His lip curls up into a smile, as if he’s thinking of some memory. “What about you? What were you doing back home?”
“I was taking classes at the local community college, but stopped when my mom was diagnosed. I’d like to eventually do something with kids, I think. Be a teacher or guidance counselor or something.”
“I can see that,” he says. “I’m sure you’d be awesome at it.”
I look to the back seat at a very sleepy little boy whose head is slouched against his car seat. “He really is the cutest kid I’ve ever seen.” I pry his wooden sword out of his hand and place it onto the seat next to him. “You’ve raised this incredible little boy, Ben. If I ever have kids of my own someday, I hope they turn out as awesome as this one.”
Our eyes lock.
“If there was any woman that was born to be a mother, it’s you.”
He means what he says. I can feel it. I settle back into my seat and stare at his profile. “Really?”
I’ve never given much thought to having children, mainly because I’ve never pictured
