Page 43 of Saved By Love at Christmas
His eyes crinkled at the corners, and he grinned, then became serious. “Now I’m a partner at the vets, having a separate office here would be ideal. Plus, Marie uses several contractors who could help on the refurb.”
I scribbled another note down on my pad. “Cool, I’ll add it to the list.” I frowned, wondering how far I could push this.Go for it, Rubes. He has two choices.“I don’t want to get too carried away, but had you any plans for the loft space?”
He chuckled. “Apart from a place to hide all my junk, you mean? No, I haven’t.”
“Well, I have some ideas for that too. But I’ll keep that on the backburner for now.”
“This all sounds great. Now you’ve got me thinking about the loft space too. But I agree, we’ll work something out about that later.”
“Right,” I said getting to my feet and standing in front of Ben. “There’s an important decorating issue we need to address now.” I waved the other bag at him that I’d brought with me.
“Christmas decorations?” He raised his brows at me.
The corners of my mouth lifted into a grin. “Absolutely. And we need to get a tree.”
“We can do that after I’ve shown you to your room and had some lunch. I need to recycle the tree, though.” He tapped his chin.
“No problem there. There’s a local lady who has goats. We can take it there for them to eat.”
“Excellent. Problem solved.”
Ben showed me to my room, which was next to his, and also shared perfect views of his back garden and the river. I could see hisgirlsstill pecking around their enclosure. Bright winter sunshine shone on the water, giving it a pretty, shimmery glow. After unpacking my few belongings, I headed back downstairs, where Ben was making sandwiches in the kitchen.
“Looks great. I’m starving.”
He turned and smiled, indicating for me to sit at the breakfast bar. I noted a plate with sausage rolls and mince pies on it.
“Hmm, I recognise those. Has Grandad been feeding you up?”
“Guilty as charged. I think he was worried we wouldn’t have enough to eat. He brought them round yesterday.”
I noted a large saucepan on the aga.
“What’s hiding in there?” I inclined my head to the saucepan.
“Guess.” He winked.
My eyes widened in recognition, and he nodded.
“Oh. My. God. Your special homemade chilli. Have you made your own tortilla chips too?”
“You’ve guessed it. And yes, I’ve made my tortilla chips as well.”
Ben’s chilli was the best I’d ever tasted. He’d got the recipe while he was travelling in Mexico a few years back. It was out of this world and one of my all-time favourites.
Unable to help myself, I left my seat and hugged him close. Hugging Ben appeared to be my new favourite pastime. My emotions closed in around me. I didn’t realise until that moment how close I’d come to losing everything I cherished. Missing out on the familiarity of being with my Grandad, friends, and sharing the simple pleasures of home cooking.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” He brushed my hair away from my face and swiped at my tears.
“I never thought I’d be able to escape Jamie. The idea ofneverseeing my grandad, meeting up for lunch with Marie, and sharing precious moments like this with you. I… I’d never been so scared in my life.”
“It’s okay. You’re here now and that’s all that matters.”
I sat back down, taking a gulp of my juice. “I never want to admit this to Grandad, but I thought Jamie was going to kill me.” I closed my eyes as the memory of his fury after he’d hit me overwhelmed me. I opened them to see Ben waiting for me to continue. “He looked deranged. I was so terrified he’d track me down before I could get home.”
Ben pulled me to him again and held me closer. He was trembling, and my belly was consumed with somersaults. When he broke away from me, our eyes locked.This time, please kiss me.
Our mouths hovered a hairsbreadth apart. His hands held my face with tenderness, and my eyelids felt heavy.
