Smirking, I take Ben’s arm again, trying to turn us subtly.
“Finally, someone with brains!” Ben exclaims. It seems Martina’s own charm has worked to calm Ben’s nerves. “I’ve been trying to get Harper to notice these qualities for the better part of two decades.”
I scoff. “Ben didn’t have these…attributes for the better part of two decades. Don’t let him fool you. The recent developments are just that. Recent.”
“What about my charm?” he asks, palming his chest as if I’d stabbed him in the heart. Martina and her husband laugh. “Haven’t I always had that?”
“When you weren’t breaking rules. I guess so,” I agree. “No breaking rules tonight either.” It’s a thinly veiled request and one I know he picks up on. He squeezes my waist.
“Harper. Nice to see you,” Marcus rasps from Ben’s other side. The reason I was trying to work us to stand in the opposite direction.
Martina’s eyes widen. She knows the whole story, which means so does her husband. I’m shoved behind Ben’s back before I can get a word out. SEALs give new meaning to the words reflexes like a cat.
“Don’t talk to her,” Ben hisses. “Get the fuck out of here. Right now.”
I can see Marcus swaying, a drunkenness I’ve only seen one other time—when his grandmother died—visible from my hiding spot. Laying a hand on Ben’s back, I try to remind him of where we are. He shakes his head as a response to my silent plea.
“I never want to hear her name come from your lips again. You have nerves of steel. I’ll give you that much. Which means you’re looking for trouble or, you’re a fucking idiot.”
Martina grabs my arm. “Let’s go to the bathroom.”
Ben spins on us. “She doesn’t leave my side.”
My eyes widen as I take in a side of Ben I don’t know. It’s scary. It’s also undeniably, mouthwatering hot. I have to check my psyche another time, because I’m not sure what that says about me. “Go. Get out of here,” Ben says, leaning forward to Marcus.
Darren wanders over, feet sluggish and eyes glassy.
His brother’s presence is all Marcus requires to leak asinine statements. “I have nerve? I’m the one with the nerve?” Marcus says, voice quavering. “You loved her when she was mine. You had her when she wasn’t yours.” I can see his neck work as he swallows and shakes his head. “Don’t call me a fucking idiot. I know what I want. You’re the fucking idiot for not going after what will never belong to anyone else. Maybe I do have nerves of steel, but someone needs to tell you to appreciate what you have.”
“You had to hit her to figure out how to appreciate her? That’s how it works then?” Ben’s breathing heavy and I can tell the effort it’s taking to keep from causing a full-on scene. “You’re a pathetic excuse for a man.”
Ben ushers me next to him. Marcus’ eyes dart to my chest, my body, and finally my face. “Take a look, man. Take a good, hard look. A nerves of steel look,” Ben quips.
My arms feel like spaghetti and my stomach has butterflies so wild a bout of nausea takes me over. The room is staring at us. “Hi, Darren,” I whisper. He didn’t have anything to do with Marcus’ reckless behavior and manners dictate I be a decent person.
Darren nods at me and takes another sip from his clear cup.
Grabbing my shoulders, Ben spins me to face him. “This one is for the fucking record, okay?”
His eyes are pleading, but his features are soft, a complete transformation from mere seconds before. “Okay,” I whisper, unsure what he wants me to say or do. He’s unreadable. His hot alpha kill mode has annihilated all of my Ben sensors.
“You hear that, Marcus? This is me setting the record straight for you and for anyone else who doubts what I want. Hell, what we both want.”
Ben grabs my face in his hands, his thumbs setting on the top of my bottom lip, one on each side. He smiles. An out of place smile that reminds me of the Ben from thirty minutes ago. The butterflies leave and the sappy, deep emotions I feel for this man soak my awareness. He kisses me, slanting his head to the side. My eyes close and I feel every single place where his body touches mine. The five o’clock shadow on his chin brushes my soft skin.
I grab his forearms and let him guide the kiss deeper still. I haven’t been kissed like this, or felt this much in a single melding of lips, since the last time we kissed. It’s like I’m opening a suitcase of emotions and love that’s been sitting untouched in a closet, dusty and disused. I’ve missed out on this, all this time. The thought makes me sad, and a tear slips from the corner of my eye.
Ben pulls back, eyes wide, and lips slightly parted. His hands are still on my face and he brings a finger up to brush away the salty remnants of a memory equal parts sad as amazing. I can have this now. Finally. Past relationships be damned. This is what life is about. Grinning at Ben, the rest of the room vanishes. We don’t say a word to each other. We don’t have to.
I think it’s why I wanted to go into linguistics. The silent language I’ve always had with Ben. We speak without saying a word and understand each other in a perfect harmony no one else could ever decipher. It’s ours. “Record straightened,” I whisper, mostly for my own benefit.
“It was better than I remembered,” he replies, glancing to the side and breaking eye contact for the first time since we pulled apart.
Sometime in the middle of the kiss, Darren and Marcus disappeared. Those who weren’t paying attention before are now. The room is applauding with cheers and whistles mixed in. My blush comes fast and furious, and Ben glows under the attention, waving and shaking both hands side to side like he’s accepting an award.
As we leave I remark that it’s like I’m starting over completely. I’m finished with school. The new chapter is starting. A new life, one of my own choosing.
A life I’ve always dreamed of.
