Page 83 of Home to Me

“It was fun, but it was just a hook-up.”

God damn, he felt sick to his stomach.

He knew he didn’t handle the situation well the night before. He just wasn’t used to rejection, never learned to deal with it gracefully. Hell, if this is what it felt like, he hoped to never have to learn this lesson again.

Damn. Maybe he was in denial, but he knew that what was between him and Lauren was more than what she claimed. He knew it. And he planned on doing whatever it took to convince her of that fact. He hadn't gotten to where he was today by giving up after the first ‘no.’ She was about to find out just exactly what a persuasive salesman he could be when he put his mind to it.

He just wanted to get this little meet and greet over with so that he could head back to Hope Falls and somehow, somehow, convince Lauren to give him a chance.

As he stepped into the green room, where the women were waiting to set up the time and date of the dinner they’d won, he didn’t make eye contact with anyone. He just scanned the room for paddle #174.

He saw it and started walking towards it. He realized that it wasn’t the fault of the poor woman who bid that he screwed up his love life so badly, and she didn’t deserve his foul mood, so he put on one of his biggest smiles as he raised his head to greet her.

His heart stopped when he saw the beautiful green eyes of the woman he was in love with staring back at him.

She raised her paddle slightly and said, “Hi,” in a small voice.

His mind was trying to catch up to what his eyes were telling him was true. That Lauren—his Lauren—was standing here in front of him.

“Hi,” he replied, an automatic response. His wooden voice sounding like a stranger's to his ears.

Lauren looked like she was about to jump out of her skin, so he moved towards her to pull her into his arms.

She put her hand up and said, “Wait, Ben. I need to get out what I came to say.”

Ben froze. He wanted to touch her, but he wanted to hear the next words that were going to fall from her perfect lips more.

She shuffled nervously from side to side before licking her lips, which made him want to pull her to him and kiss away any anxiety she might be feeling. She looked up and met his eyes, and he could tell that it was difficult for her to do this. Taking a deep breath, she began her speech.

“I wanted to tell you how sorry I am for the way I acted last night. This thing between us was just… I have some issues that… Well, it doesn’t matter. I just needed you to know that you are not just a hook-up. You are so important to me. More important than pretty much anything, actually. And I…I…” She shook her head a little and tried again, her voice coming out in a whisper. “I love you…”

She took a deep breath and looked up at him with fresh resolve in her eyes. “I love you,” she repeated, still softly, but with quiet conviction.

He smiled. “Sure about that?”

“I am sure, but it scares me.”

This time, he did pull her into his arms. “You don’t have to be scared. We're in this together. I love you, Lauren.”

Lauren's voice trembled. “But what about the fact that you live in LA and I am in Hope Falls? What if the show doesn't get picked up? What if I can’t get over my issues—”

Ben interrupted her. “Lauren, we could live in a world of what-ifs. Anyone could. So much in life is uncertain. I'd rather focus on what we are sure of. We know we love each other. The rest of it? We’ll figure all that out, I am pretty resourceful when I am properly motivated,” he said, waggling his eyebrows up and down, which had the desired result of making her laugh.

Oh, that laugh. It would be his undoing. He would do absolutely anything to hear it, and he couldn't see that changing anytime soon. And when he saw the beautiful smile that remained on her face even after her laughter subsided, his heart swelled with love.

He reassured her even further. “Seriously, baby. All of that is nothing more than geography. You are my heart, which means it doesn’t matter where I “live”—wherever you are is home.”

Lauren kissed him, and Ben felt like the luckiest man on earth.

He was seized with a desire to get down on one knee right there and ask her to marry him. He knew that she was it for him, that there would never be anyone else. He was, to fulfill his mom's prediction, racing her to the altar.

Still, he restrained himself. Since just admitting that she loved him made her look so nervous that she almost turned green, he figured that a spontaneous proposal immediately upon the heels of that declaration might be moving a bit too fast for her. He could give her time. He wasn’t going anywhere.

Lauren smiled playfully. “Guess what?” she said. “I have a surprise as well.”

“What?” He grinned back.

She removed something from her purse and held it out for him to examine.

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