“And twelve?” But he knew it meant midnight. To the casual glance, it was meaningless. But upon inspection, he realized it was a simple and effective code for communicating a place, date, and time.
“I’m going with you,” she said by way of answer.
“You are not.” This time he did pull her into his lap. He needed some sort of leverage to make her understand. She could not put herself in danger again.
She tilted her chin higher. “I am.”
“I demand—”
She shook her head even as she settled in to his lap, her chest pushing against his. “We’re not engaged any longer. You can’t tell me what I should or should not do.”
“How about if I asked? Begged?”
She placed her forehead against his, looking into his eyes. “Or you could just take me with you so that you know I’ll be safe?”
“When you’re there, I take more chances to keep you from harm.” He was supposed to be reminding her that she was the weaker one. Instead, he already felt himself bending as her chest pressed tightly to his. How he’d missed her.
UNTITLED
“But I notice things you don’t. Admit it.”
He could admit that. And as he wrapped his arms about her, he said, “I will as long as you agree that both of us are better together. Tell me I’m not the only one who sees that.”
He felt her breath catch, felt her heart skip a beat as she spoke. “How could I ever trust you with my heart again?”
He didn’t know. But he had to find the way back into not just her life, but her heart too.
CHAPTER SIX
Rebecca stoodby the front door waiting for Bennet. It had been five long days since she’d seen him last.
Five near-sleepless nights and days spent wondering about him feeling as though she half in a dream. She didn’t wish to give him her heart again, she knew that. But her body…
It cried out to be his.
She spent half the night aching for his touch and the other half waking from dreams filled with his scent and feel until she woke up mad with longing.
And now the night of the twentieth was here. And he’d promised to take her to the warehouse with him.
She had two staff members, sisters, one who cooked and the other who cleaned, but both had left for the evening, which left her free to pace in the entry.
He’d promised to come…
But as the clock struck ten, he still had not arrived. What was he doing? Had he changed his mind? Would Bennet not take her with him?
Her shoulders straightened. She knew where to find him. If he thought to leave her behind, he had another think coming.
But even as she thought the last words, the knocker tapped on the door.
Bennet.
She peeked through the window to see him standing on her stoop. Clicking the lock, Rebecca yanked the door open. “You came.”
His brows lifted. “Of course I did.”
She pursed her lips as she refrained from answering. She’d not begin with a fight, but those words irritated her already-frayed nerves. He did understand that he’d not arrived for his own wedding, didn’t he? That he’d left her alone for the last three years? He’d made a reputation for himself ofnotcoming.
But rather than say any of that, she stepped out on the stoop, closing the door behind her, and inserting the key into the lock.