Katie leaned her head against his shoulder. He couldn’t resist pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead. All at once, she sat up ramrod straight as if just suddenly realizing how intimate their position was.
Bennett cleared his throat. “So I should probably apologize for this weekend.”
She glanced at him from the corner of her eye. “You should?”
“Well, probably. Although I have no idea what I’m apologizing for exactly. I had a great time and then an out of body experience in your bed afterward.”
Katie made a choking sound.
“But I’m probably not supposed to talk about that either, I guess. So I’m sorry for whatever I did that made you uncomfortable. And I really hope you aren’t going to quit.”
She still hadn’t said anything and Bennett was really starting to get nervous.
“And I also feel like I should point out that I warned you ahead of time that I was really bad at all of this dating stuff and was probably going to offend you,” he added.
Katie finally turned to look at him directly. “You didn’t offend me. You were amazing. And that scared the hell out of me.”
Bennett knew he was bad at decoding all these flirting signals but he truly was lost if being amazing in bed led to getting kicked out the next morning. “So you asked me to leave because things were too … good?”
“I handled that so badly. But I wasn’t sure what to think. A guy like you probably wouldn’t want to be with me long term. You’re this super genius and you have those abs,” she sighed. “It just hit me all at once that you were probably just having a fun, one-night stand and I was getting in too deep and probably going to be hurt.”
“Katie, that wasn’t a one-night stand. Not for me. I respect you. I admire you. The fact that I fantasize about your lips all the time doesn’t negate those facts.”
Her brow crinkled slightly before her head dropped to her hands. “Bennett Alexander. You have dirty fantasies about me?”
“On a constant basis. It’s actually a good thing my lab coat is so long and covers everything.”
She snickered and he joined in. Before she could think too hard about things and possibly come up with more reasons to be afraid of this, he figured he’d better state his case.
“I meant what I told your son on Saturday. Any man would be lucky to spend time with you. And that’s all I’m asking for. I know you've been hurt before by an asshole who didn’t deserve you. But I’m asking you to take a chance on me.”
Katie scooted closer and rested her head on his shoulder. And said the sweetest word he’d ever heard.
“Okay.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
?
Bennett shifted the wrench he held from his left hand to his right and walked outside to get a breath of fresh air. His hands were sweating already inside the heavy work gloves he sported and his back was aching from bending over the broken tractor for so long but he barely even noticed. All of his attention was drawn back to the woman watching him from across the field.
“You think we need a new axle?”
The voice of Grady, one of the ranch hands who’d worked for his family the longest, came from behind him. Bennett didn’t fool himself into thinking that the other man actually needed his opinion on what was wrong. Just looking at the machine, it was obvious what the problem was. However, a broken axle meant the machine was out of commission and that it would probably be cheaper to buy a new one. Since his mother was the one who approved new machinery purchases on the farm, it was likely Grady just didn’t want the responsibility of telling Julia Alexander that they needed to spend around twenty grand on a new one.
“Unfortunately, I think we need a new tractor. Fuck.”
Grady chuckled. “Don’t let your mama hear you. You’ll get both our mouths washed out with soap.”
That made Bennett smile, too. It was one of his mother’s favorite warnings when she heard foul language.
“That’ll be the least of our worries when she finds out we need a new tractor already.”
Grady winced. “Good point. Well, you seem to have this in hand. I’ll let you handle it while I check the rest of the equipment.”
If he hadn’t been so agitated, Bennett would have laughed at the other man’s obvious relief. His mother could never be called a tyrant (she was much too sweet for that). However, she had a stare that could make a grown man feel like he was about two feet tall. She was also very frugal. His grandfather used to say she’d squeeze a penny so tight it would squeal. Considering how economical his grandparents were, this was the highest compliment his grandpa could give.
And now he was the one who’d have to tell her they were officially over budget for equipment and they hadn’t even gotten through planting season yet.