Page 24 of Coming Home

Hey Shelby, it’s been a while.

Shelby, it’s Ben. Funny story . . .

I may have made a big mistake.

Sport, I’m still crazy in love with you, please give me a second chance.

The whole drive over I thought through my best possible opening lines, but none of them felt right.

I was half an hour early when I parked and walked up to the front door. My palms were sweating, and I felt like I might throw up, but I was also really excited to see my girl. As I raised my hand to knock, the door flew open and Shelby rushed out, plowing right into me.

Instinctively my arms wrapped around her waist and I pulled her to me to steady her. My heart beat raced with the familiarity of holding her.

“Hi,” I managed to say as I looked down into eyes that were wide with shock.

Shelby

Chapter 9

I couldn’t breathe. His scent enveloped me, making my head spin as the realization began to sink in. Ben was holding me. My wolf hummed with happiness and I hadn’t felt so content since, well, since the last time I’d been in his arms.

As the fog started to clear in my head, I pushed back against his solid chest.

“Let me go,” I demanded. “What are you even doing here? You’re early. You’re never early,” I said.

I was upset. It might had been a chicken shit move, but at the last minute I’d decided I wasn’t ready to face Ben, so I was leaving before he got there. Why was he here now?

“Sorry. Army habit,” he said in a voice deeper than I remembered. It buzzed through my body like I’d been struck by a livewire.

“Well, stop it,” I said, before righting myself and pushing past him.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

I sighed. “Out.”

“But we’re having dinner in twenty minutes.” He looked down at his watch to confirm the time.

“No, you’re having dinner with my parents in twenty minutes,” I informed him. The looks of disappointment and frustration on his face amused me.

“Come on, sport. Why are you running? Stay for dinner. It’s been too long,” he said.

My traitorous heart nearly melted. I had to find a way to protect it before Ben destroyed me forever. I wasn’t sure I was a strong enough to survive another broken heart.

“You don’t get to call me that anymore,” I said defiantly, even while everything inside me screamed to run back into his arms. Instead, I crossed them over my chest.

When Ben’s eyes glanced down and he sucked in a hard breath, I knew immediately the mistake I made, but I refused to undo it. Stubbornly I stood there and let him gawk at me. I hated that I liked it so much.

“Don’t be like that. We need to talk,” he insisted.

“I have nothing to say to you, Ben. I tried. Lord knows I tried. I wrote you every day and you know how many replies I got back since you finished boot camp? One. One thirty second phone call to say you didn’t want me to come out for your graduation. One letter in nine years, Ben. So, you know what. You can go to hell for all I care.”

That felt really good to get off my chest.

“I’m pretty sure I’ve already been there, sport, and your letters were the only thing that got me through it.”

The sincerity in his eyes when I dared to look up nearly gutted me.

The front door opened, and my dad peeked his head out. “Honey, Lily apparently appropriated your mom’s last bottle of wine for your last girls’ night. Would you please bail me out and run to the store to grab a bottle?” He startled, as if he had just noticed Ben for the first time. “Benjamin, you’re early.”

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