Truly (New York 1)
Page 176
“Good.”
“And that’s all you were worried about? That’s everything?”
“Well, that and the fact that, like you said, we had kind of a crazy week. I’ve never fallen in love in a week before. It’s freaky.”
“I know. I’d rather keep it in a box under the bed than have to walk around all vulnerable and flipping out.”
“Me, too.”
“Little late for that, though.”
“Cat’s out of the bag.”
“Completely out.”
Ben let go of her hand to thread his fingers into her hairline, loosening her ponytail. “Given that’s the case, you could tell me again.”
May smiled that coy sideways smile that never failed to rev his engines. “You could try and make me.”
“I would be delighted to make you.”
He slid one arm around her and tugged her against his hip, bracing his free hand against the swing behind her. Their kiss had barely started to gather heat when the door opened.
“You guys done making up yet? Mom says lunch is ready.”
May flipped Allie the bird over his shoulder at the same time that Ben muttered “Fuck off.”
The door closed.
“So you want a ride back to New York?” he asked.
He kissed her jaw. Her chin. May tipped back her head, and he kissed the space behind her ear.
“Of course,” she said.
Because she was May.
Of course.
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
South of Milwaukee, the highway opened up and emptied out, and it was just the two of them, riding high with the windows down, and Ben drumming his fingers against the side of the van to the rhythm of a song about working at a car wash.
She didn’t know the song, but she knew that look on his face. That light behind his smile.
May let herself savor the moment. It had taken two days to extricate herself from her family—to reassure her mother without compromising the position she’d taken, to reassure herself that Allie would be all right. She’d moved into May’s house temporarily, grateful for a place to stay while she tried to gather the pieces of her life.
May had taken a walk with Matt, spoken again on the phone with Dan, even had a heart-to-heart with her father that made both of them awkward and uncomfortable until finally it was over and they could hug and go back to talking about football.
All that, plus some packing, and now she had Ben to herself at last. Ben, and the road, and the future spreading out in front of them.
She couldn’t remember when she’d ever felt so good, or so full of hope.
“I’ve been thinking,” Ben said.
“Oh yeah?”
That earned her one of his infinitesimal smiles. “Yeah. I’ve been thinking you’re right.”