Page 87 of Fighter
“Ben?”
“I'm sorry, Serafina. I'm so sorry.”
Tears spilled out of my eyes again. “Me too. I don't want to leave. And I'm scared. I think Amber did all this and I don't want to be alone and what if she—”
He silenced me with the gentlest of kisses. The ease of his lips against mine stole my breath again. His hand splayed across my cheeks and into my hair. He held me so close that I felt my heart slam against him. My fears quieted.
Benjamin had me now, and this security wasn't a dream.
“You're not staying here tonight,” he growled. “It's not safe. You're coming home with me, whereI'llkeep you safe. And if you say no, then I'll sleep here. And if you say no to that, I'll sleep on the floor downstairs.”
Laughing, I said, “I won't say no.”
He smiled softly and tucked a piece of hair behind my ears. “Good. Because you belong with me, Sera. I still can't figure out what you see in me. Why you'd want to spend more time with me, but . . . I don't want to lose this. To lose you. So I'll trust it. I'll trust you.”
With our eyes locked, I could see the vulnerability there. The lines of uncertainty that held up a man with deeper emotions than I ever realized.
“You make me feel safe, Ben,” I murmured, my voice husky. My finger traced the edge of his lips. “Alive. You make me . . . you make me want to stay and I've never felt that before. You make me feel tangled up in something bigger and better than me. You give me a reason to wake up in the morning and giggle through the day and something to look forward to. You're my light.”
He covered my lips with his, taking absolute possession of my soul. As if he scooped into my chest and cradled my heart in his hands. I felt utterly swept away. Lost in the winds of his feelings for me. My joints became liquid so that I sank into him, lost in the heat of his kiss and the touch of his hand.
He pulled away, closed his eyes, and pressed his forehead to mine.
“Come home with me, Sera? Let me keep you safe and we'll figure all of this out as it happens?”
I smiled, my lips a breath from his.
“You got it, Mercedy.”
Benjamin reached for my hand as I slung my backpack over my shoulder and locked the loft door. He held my laundry basket full of dirty clothes and other necessities with his other arm. The shop lay in darkness as we left it behind and I followed him down the spiral stairs. He didn't let me go.
I didn't want him to.
Stars had broken out in the sky over the reservoir when we stepped into the parking lot. Water lapped at the reeds not far away, and the deep, mournful cry of a bird came from somewhere out on the water. The fresh air was cool and refreshing on my cheeks. Ben sent me a quick, secretive smile as he pulled me into his side and nudged me toward the front at the same time.
“I parked over there.” He jerked his head to the right. “We just need to walk around.”
“Afraid I'd lock you out?” I quipped with a grin.
He laughed. “Yes, actually. And perhaps that would have been deserved.”
With a giggle, I caught up to his side, deliriously happy to be headed back home with him. Away from the loft and the loneliness I'd been ready to carry with me into the night. Back into Benjamin and Ava's life, where I belonged.
The scrape of a shoe on gravel stopped us a second later. Benjamin paused, eyes on two shadows leaning against the wall of the coffee shop. They were just out of reach from the streetlight, their faces obscured in the darkness. He dropped the laundry basket and gently nudged me behind him with a hand, his entire body tense now. He stood tall, with his legs slightly braced.
“Get back, Sera,” he murmured.
The shadows changed as the two men straightened and slowly advanced. The one on the left was broad shouldered, meaty and thick. A dark scowl crossed his features that made my stomach sink. The other was scrawny, with twitchy hands and bulbous eyes that darted all over the place.
A cold feeling of fear swept through me when his froggy gaze landed on me.
“Ben?” I murmured.
“Call 911 and get someone over here.”
Ben stood his ground in front of me, but his gaze darted quickly around. No others approached, and the lack of traffic on the street left a ringing silence in the air. Even the usual shouts from the bar down the road didn't reach here. If I screamed, would anybody hear?
“You have five seconds to turn around and leave,” Ben said calmly to the approaching men, “before I kick your asses into the next town.”
