Living Again (44 page)

Ben stood, holding Alexis and murmuring to her softly, while Kayley walked Alex’s parents out.

“I don’t know how you did that,” Kayley said, hugging Liz tightly, then Allen. “But I will never forget it. Thank you for telling me I’m an idiot without really telling me.”

Allen laughed. “Honey, you’re not an idiot. When we’re in a situation, it’s hard to see it objectively. I don’t know all of the details of what happened, because it’s not my business and that’s what I told Ben. But, what I do know is that people hurt each other because we’re just human beings. That’s what we do, even when we don’t want to. But at the end of the day, if you have someone that loves you the way that the two of you love each other, you don’t let it go over hurt feelings. Ever. You hang on to that with all that you have, because it doesn’t come around very often. Now get in there. That poor man has been a nervous wreck ever since Alexis went tearing across the park at him when we had no idea who he was,” Allen chuckled.

“Sweetie, you shouldn’t have been afraid to tell us about him. We want you to be happy,” Liz said. “We would never expect you to pine for Alex forever. You will always be a daughter to us, and we can never thank you enough for letting us be a part of your life still.”

“Enough talking to us old people. Get in there and make things right. Life is too precious and time too short to let things like this go. You know that as well as we do. We’ll see you tomorrow.” Allen kissed her on the cheek, and the two of them got into the car and left.

Kayley stood in her driveway, her head reeling and her body in overload on what had just happened. Ben was in her house. And she was okay with that. What Allen had said was right. He hurt her, she hurt him. They both allowed misunderstandings to get way out of control. But they loved each other. And he loved Alexis just as much. She knew she was done fighting rationale over feelings. From the beginning, she had tried pushing him away as much as she could, never wanting to admit that her feelings were important. She was so tired of fighting. She just wanted to be happy. And up until almost two weeks ago, she had been deliriously happy.

Striding up the driveway and into the house, Kayley knew. The torture and pain for both of them was ending—right now. She walked into the house, where Ben was arranging the beautiful purple hyacinths into a vase in the kitchen and Alexis was playing, just like everything was back to normal in her world. When she walked in, Ben froze, waiting for her reaction to him being there.

Kayley marched up to him, stopping a few inches from touching him. He looked at her, wide eyed. Smelling his cologne, she breathed in, and a smile broke across her face. Standing up on her toes, she pressed her lips to his, almost crying in relief at feeling him again. The flowers forgotten, Ben crushed her body to his as he kissed her deeply, sighing into her mouth as she allowed her tongue to dance with his. Sucking his tongue into her mouth, Kayley gripped his shirt, then ran her hands up and touched his face. She loved the feeling of the slight stubble he had at this time of day, his high cheekbones, and then his soft, sexy hair. Wrapping her hands around his neck, she pulled him down so she could deepen the kiss even more. She could feel his heart pounding against her chest, and she took one of her hands and placed it over his heart, wanting to feel that he was here. He picked her up and sat her on the counter easily, so they were now even and face to face. She parted her legs and he stepped in between them, closing the distance between their bodies again. Not even wanting to breathe, they kissed for so long neither of them knew how long it had been.

Leaning back to catch her breath, she noticed Ben’s face. Tears coursed down his cheeks and dripped off his chin, and his chest shook with restrained sobs. Using her thumbs to catch his tears, she pressed them to her lips as he had done to hers once before. No words had been spoken between them since he walked in the door, yet they had already said volumes.

“I-I thought for sure I’d never see you again,” Ben hiccupped, touching her face everywhere. Tears mirroring his now dripped down her face, and she let them go. “God, Kayley, I’m so sorry. I know they are just words, baby. But I promise, I will spend the rest of my life making it up to you. I love you so much.”

Kayley allowed those words to sink into her soul, believing them, trusting them. “I’m sorry too, Ben. I’ve never loved anyone the way I love you. Truly. I’m done running and being scared. We both hurt each other, but hopefully we learned big lessons on how to move forward. I can’t live another moment without you.” She looked over her shoulder at Alexis. “Neither can she.”

Ben pulled Kayley to him, hugging her so tightly she could barely breathe. But she didn’t dare move. “This isn’t a dream, right? Because if it is, I’m going to be really, really pissed when I wake up.”

She laughed, rubbing his back under his shirt. “No way.”

He pulled her chin up and kissed her delicately, like a fine piece of china that could break. “Never again,” he murmured against her lips. “I promise.” Trailing kisses from her mouth to her neck, he breathed her in. “God, I don’t know how I’ve lived over the past week, baby.”

Kayley looked at his eyes, the beautiful blue of the ocean. Her heart skipped at the love and emotion she saw there. “Babe, we haven’t lived. At least I haven’t. I honestly don’t know how I’ve functioned at all. You were everywhere. My thoughts, my dreams, my memories. I think I may be dehydrated for years after all the crying I’ve done. Let’s make a promise, okay?”

“Anything,” Ben immediately said, his hands resting on her legs. He ran them up and down the bare skin of her thighs and she shivered, goose bumps breaking out on her body. Ben smirked at her reaction. “I want you too, baby,” he growled in her ear. “Let’s count the hours until Alexis goes to bed, because I’m going to make you scream my name over and over and over again.”

Kayley eyes widened and her whole body tightened, aroused at his words. “Maybe I’m going to make you scream
my
name,” she teased.

He raised his eyebrows and put his lips back at her ear. “Maybe Alexis should go visit Nana tonight. Now what’s the promise? Wait, I have one. I promise to make this night the best night of your life, even better than our first night. What’s yours?”

“I was going to say let’s promise to always tell each other everything, even if it seems insignificant. That could’ve saved us a whole lot of heartache.” Kayley grinned. “That’s not nearly the kind of promise that you made me, but I will take both of them.”

“Thank you,” Ben said suddenly, seizing her again. All teasing forgotten, he held her, caressing her and kissing her gently.

“For what?”

“For taking me back. For forgiving me. I don’t know who that man was you saw back at my house that night. I don’t ever want to see him again. That’s another promise I will make you. You will never see that person again, that mean, hateful, spiteful person. I know we’ll get mad at each other, but I promise to never, ever treat you like you don’t matter, even when I’m mad. I will always listen to you and hear you out.”

“I know, babe. I know,” Kayley reassured him. She continued to run her hands underneath his shirt, loving the feel of his rippling muscles under her hands. “You don’t have to thank me. You came after me, you tried. I’m the one that was too stubborn to give in. So, I promise too. I will always listen to you and never run away mad. I will spend forever if you want me to, showing you how much you mean to me.”

“If I
want
you to?” Ben hooted. “I dare you to try to get away from me now. Do we have enough money saved up to not work for the rest of our lives?”

They laughed, and Ben picked her up off the counter. “I have a song for you. Let’s dance.” He removed his phone from his pocket, selected the song, and sat it on the counter. Kayley closed her eyes, loving how he always picked the best song, and each time, it took her back to the song he sang in her ear.
Wanted
by Hunter Hayes started streaming through the speakers of his phone, and Alexis turned, hearing music. Smiling, she toddled over to them and held her hands up to be held. Ben grabbed her, then pulled Kayley to him, swaying back and forth slowly to the words.

As she listened to the lyrics, she closed her eyes, emotion overtaking her. Ben whispered his lips across hers. “Open your eyes.” She did as he asked, and he held her head with his big hand. “I mean every word in this song, baby. Nothing makes sense without you. The world is brighter with you in it. I want you, from this moment on. You’re beautiful, but more importantly, you’re a kind, loving, and tenderhearted woman.”

They were silent through the rest of the song, Alexis’ head on Ben’s shoulder and her hand holding her moms. Ben kept his one arm around Kayley, holding her tightly to him as they danced slowly. As the last chords of the song played, Ben released her with a loving smile.

“Whoever said chivalry is dead hasn’t met you, Ben Nichols,” she smiled, wiping the emotion from her eyes. “You never cease to amaze me.”

“We dance, Daddy?” Alexis asked, her hands on either side of his face.

“Always, Princess,” he answered, kissing her button nose. “You’re my Princess, and Mommy is my Queen. I love you both with all of my heart.”

Alexis looked at Kayley. “We wuv Daddy, Mommy?”

“We do, baby girl. We sure do.” Kayley kissed Alexis, then gripped Ben’s hand as he released Alexis back to the floor.

“Now, let’s go spend some time with our girl. Want to go for a bike ride? Then, I’m serious, we’re taking her to your mom and dad’s because I’m going to take you in every room in this house tonight. Well, except hers, because that would be just wrong. Oh- and you know the flowers? They are purple hyacinths. They mean, please forgive me, I’m sorry.”

“Already did,” Kayley answered. She turned to Alexis. “Want to go for a bike ride, Princess?”

“Thank you,” Ben said to Kayley’s mom and dad, not even bashful about asking them to keep Alexis so he could take Kayley home. Kayley was in Alexis’ bedroom at their house, saying goodnight to her.

“Ben, we’re so glad that you two worked it out. Of course we want to keep Alexis. What we want is for all of you to be happy again, and be a family.” Renee smiled at Ben. “That is what you want still, right?”

“More than anything,” Ben admitted, then turned to Dale. “I want to ask you, sir, if you think it would be okay for me to ask Kay to marry me. Not right now, but sometime in the near future.”

Dale and Renee exchanged a glance, and Renee put her hand over her mouth. “Son, nothing would make us happier than to see Kayley happy again. When we see her talk about you, it’s almost like the worst didn’t happen to her two years ago. Not that she will forget, but you helped her move on. She left the past in the past. We would be happy to have you in our family.” Dale clapped Ben on the back and pulled him in for a hug.

“What’s going on here?” Kayley asked, waking into the room. The two men eyed each other, a secret between them. Ben reached for her hand and pulled her to him, kissing her softly.

“They were just putting me in my place,” Ben said, winking at them.

Kayley gasped. “Mom! Dad! Why would-”

“I’m kidding, Kay. Kidding. We were just having a discussion about us figuring things out.”

Kayley smacked his arm, grinning. “Well thank goodness! I would hope they would never do that to you.”

“You two take care,” Renee said, a knowing smile on her face. “You’ll pick up Lex after work tomorrow?”

“One of us will,” Ben said. “I have a short day tomorrow, so I may be able to be here earlier than Kay, depending on if any emergencies come in.”

Kayley listened to Ben talk to her parents about picking up her daughter early, and she felt content. This man, that she almost lost, didn’t care about going to the gym or getting a drink to relax after work. He cared about picking up her daughter and taking her home early, so Kayley didn’t have to get her. She had missed him so much. Her stomach fluttered as she thought about going home alone with him. They hadn’t been together in too long. She thought back to his heated whispers in her ear when they were in her kitchen several hours ago, and she blushed. She had no doubt that he fully intended to do everything he said, and she couldn’t wait. They had said everything they could say; their bodies were going to show the rest.

“I see that pretty blush on your cheeks,” Ben whispered in her ear. “I know what you’re thinking about, and you better bet that I’m thinking about it, too. Let’s go home, Kayley.”

She smiled up at him, touching his face. “Let’s go home.”