Page 52 of Holly Freakin' Hughes

Ihad to resist the urge to roll my eyes at that. For two weeks I had struggled,trying to find some semblance of a connection to this man I was giving myselfto willingly on a regular basis, and not once had he picked up on that. Andyet, there he was, noticing that I panicked at the sheer thought of meeting hisparents.

“Yeah,I’m fine. I’ve just had a weird day.”

“Tellme about it,” Ben said, walking towards me and wrapping his arms around mywaist, pulling me to him.

Isighed irritably. “I already did, Ben.”

“Youdid?” He rested a cheek against the top of my head as a hand came up to tanglein my ponytail. “Oh, wait, are you talking about that girl at the park?”

Hehad actually listened. I smiled against his chest. “Yeah. It just felt good,but I don’t know what that means. I mean, I spent months feeling unhappy aboutthis whole thing, but now I think I actually like it.”

“Yeah,that’s good.” His hand continued to curl into the strands of my hair, and Itook note of the tone in his voice. Distant and disinterested.

Myarms unlatched from behind Ben’s back, signaling for him to let go, and Iwalked into the kitchen to fetch the bag of deli sandwiches he had broughtover. I pulled out the two wrapped rolls, and placed them on paper plates,while Ben grabbed a couple bottles of water from the fridge. We ate in silenceat the table, checking our respective phones for news, until Ben spoke.

“Thisis really nice,” he said with a smile, his dimples looking adorable. “I lovethat I can just sit here and be totally comfortable with not talking.”

“Yeah,”I said with a smile, and thought about the only person I truly felt comfortabledoing nothing with.

Imissed him.

CHAPTERTWENTY

HOLLY

Somehow a few weeks ofsomewhat casual sex went by, and I found myselfin Ben’s minivan a couple days before Christmas.

Wesat outside Liz’s house, the endnote to our weekend together.He turnedto me, grinning, and I had to smile back. My eyes lingered on his lips and I allowedmyself to drift back to his place just an hour earlier. I thought about thepizza, and how he had allowed me to inhale four slices while he ate two andproceeded to devour areas of my body that would make my mother blush. Thememory was a nice one, especially when it consisted of food that didn’t comefrom his crockpot.

Reachingacross my lap, he opened the glove compartment and removed a little wrappedbox. “Here, I got this for you.”

Iheld my breath in my lungs, silently cursing him for buying me afreakin’ Christmas present. “Ben, I didn’t get youanything,” I admitted. We hadn’t even considered ourselvestogether, forcrying out loud.

Hejust shook his head, still flashing those dimples. “We never talked aboutgifts, it’s fine.”

Hesaidit was fine, but it wasn’t fine. Not at all.

Still,I awkwardly unwrapped the present, cursing him further at the sight of a velvetjewelry box, and I creaked it open to reveal a little teardrop garnet pendantattached to a thin silver chain. All at once I felt guilty, angry, ashamed, andtouched at the sight of the glittering little stone.

“Ben,I really don’t think I can—”

Heheld up a hand. “Yes, you can. Iwantyou to have it.”

“Thankyou,” I said in a choked mumble, unable to take my eyes off of the necklace.“It’s beautiful.”

Bensmiled as he began to stroke my hair with a gloved hand. For a fleetingpanic-stricken moment, I thought he was about to ask for us to move forward;meet the parents, meet the daughter, and I knew I’d have to turn him down. Whatkind of awful person wants to do that right before Christmas?

Butthank God, he wasn’t making any suggestions that night.

“Comehere,” he said coyly, and I turned to him.

Yes.This is something I can do.

Hekissed me softly, his lips barely touching mine, teasing me, before parting hislips. Mine followed his lead, allowing for his tongue to slip between them forjust a few moments. And then he pulled away, flashing his dimples. “I’ll talkto you later, okay?”

Ileft the car, feeling guilty with a dash of lust, and walked up to the house.Liz opened the door, waving to Ben with a big grin. She called a hearty “MerryChristmas!” to him before he drove away and out of sight.

“God,Holly, you’re so lucky to have him,” she gushed, clutching her hands to herchest, and I wished I could agree.

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