Page 12 of Planning on Happily Ever After

He snorted. “Um, no.”

“Benji-Boo? Jam-Jam?” Holly opened her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest, almost offended that no one other than his mother had ever given him a nickname. “You have got to work with me, Ben. How am I supposed to annoy you if I call you what everyone else does? It won’t work.”

Ben stepped closer to her and even though Holly was on the taller side, she still had to tilt her head up a little to meet his gaze. His gray eyes were lighter today, looking less stormy and more silver, and when he rolled his lips inward for a moment before popping them out again, Holly tracked the movement and found herself wanting to trace the fullness of his rosy lips with her tongue. The realization along with the stirring in her core caused her to drop her arms and if it weren’t for the tree behind her, she would have turned and ran.

Instant attraction wasn’t a foreign concept to her, but it was never usually this strong, never making her want to do things she had far too little experience doing. Holly wasn’t totally inept when it came to the opposite sex, but a few make-out sessions and fumbled attempts at going further didn’t exactly make her confident in the area either. She’d always been so focused on love and figured that the sex part would naturally follow. When the first part never happened, she kind of forgot about the second. Now it was there, literally staring her in the face, and she had no idea what to do with it.

Ben’s eyes flicked to her mouth for a second as well, the confirmation that he might be just as attracted to her making her slightly lightheaded. “You could always try not annoying me, you know.”

Despite her inner turmoil, Holly smiled knowingly. “I have a feeling that would be impossible. You strike me as the type of guy who annoys easily.” She shrugged a shoulder, playing it all off as banter when she was still eyeing his mouth like it was dessert. “Besides, if I’m annoying you, you have to pay attention to me.”

Ben shook his head and huffed a humorless laugh. “Holly, I’ve been paying attention to you all day.”

At that admission, her heart beat faster unprepared for what could possibly come next. Before she could address his comment, however, Trish had returned and Ben had stepped back to a more respectable distance. “Sorry about that you two. I need to head into the office for an emergency tooth extraction.” She hugged Ben and then Holly, her eyes bouncing back and forth merrily between the two. “Benny, I will call you later and Holly, I will see you next week at the flower shop.”

Holly was grateful for the reminder that she was there to do a job, not attempt to flirt with the woman’s son.Why not do both?Holly dismissed the thought, at least for the moment. “Absolutely, and I’ll email you about the details from our tour today.”

“Sounds good.” Trish waved goodbye and ran over to her car as Holly and Ben started walking toward theirs, though surprisingly, Ben was still behind her when she got to her driver side door.

Holly smiled at the gentlemanly act, her more wanton thoughts from earlier making a turn back toward something a little more innocent. “Oh, you didn’t need to walk me to my car, but thanks.” It was a sweet gesture, and the fact that he had done it had the already floaty feeling in her body increasing significantly. If she didn’t hold onto something, she might just float away.

“Always happy to do an escort mission.” Ben’s mouth drew up into a kind of half-smile, and Holly was so excited about it she almost didn’t catch the jest.

When it finally dawned on her, she chuckled, buzzing slightly that they’d only just officially met and already had an inside joke. “Ha, ha. I’m not some helpless character, you know. I can escort myself around from one point to the next just fine, thank you very much.” Holly opened her car door but paused before slipping inside, narrowing her eyes as she remembered what else he had told her about escort missions. “Or was this more about gaining experience and practicing skills?” Ben shrugged his shoulders in reply, a tiny smirk on his face. “What does that mean? What were you even practicing?”

Ben chuckled, the sound rusty but still very pleasant. “Not telling.”

She scowled and poked his chest. It was very firm and she had to try really hard to focus on their interaction and not on wondering what that chest looked like without a bulky sweater covering it. That was a thought for later on that evening, and possibly even the next morning if she had time. “I’m going to figure you out sooner or later, Jam-Jam. You can’t hide from me.”

His expression shuddered for a moment at her comment before turning slightly playful again. “Drive safe, Holly.” He moved toward his SUV but called back to her over his shoulder, another sarcastic look on his face. “Try not to back into anyone on your way home.”

“Very funny, Benny-Boi.” Holly slid down into her seat and started her car, pointing it back toward Sunset Cove. She waved at him out of her rolled down window before driving away completely going over their interactions from the day the entire way home.

Ben hadn’t been as talkative or as sunny as his mom or Holly was, but he seemed less grouchy and more thoughtful today. He hadn’t offered up a lot of opinions, but he had paid attention to everything the two women were talking about and didn’t check out or bury his head in his phone like someone else might have. Ben definitely wasn’t the type of guy Holly would typically go for. He was hot, no doubt about that, but he wasn’t a cheery person, seeming to prefer his own company to just about anyone else’s. There was something about him that spoke to her though, and she wanted to find out what that something was. Holly could tell he wasn’t going to make it easy for her, but she had meant what she’d said. She was going to figure him out, and she would break through as many walls as he could put up to do it.

CHAPTER SEVEN

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