Page 13 of Under The Cherry Blossoms
“What?” I asksoftly.
“You’re just really beautiful, you know that?” He reaches over, tucks my hair behind my ear and pulls me firmly to him, kissing me gently. Just as he pulls me closer and starts to deepen the kiss, a cough interruptsus.
“Gag me, guys,” Cassidy says, pulling a face. “Although, I suppose I should be grateful you were able to prevent yourselves from the public fucking you were promisingearlier.”
“The night’s not over yet, I may just drag Squeak awayyet.”
“Okay, explain the Squeak thing, it’s so cute it’s cringeworthy.” After examining me in a way that makes me super uncomfortable, she continues, “It suits herthough.”
“I don’t know whether to be flattered or insulted,” I throw right back ather.
“Yeah, don’t look too closely at it,Skyballs.”
Chuckling to himself as he watches our back and forth, Ben answers her question simply and with a shrug. “She’s a pipsqueak. Your turn. The Skyballs thing.Explain.”
“Well, your girl here has a real issue with eyeballs. They completely freak her out. Did you ever see that episode ofFriends?” He shakes his head no and she continues, “Well, you should watch it. Skye is a complete Rachel and it amuses the hell out of me. And that, my friend, is how Skyballs wasborn.”
We continue to sit and laugh for another hour or so and I could not be more thrilled with how tonight is going. Ben and Cassidy have instinctively fallen into an almost quasi sibling relationship and it triggers a visceral reaction in me. Cassidy is essentially my family, the most important person in the world to me, and seeing the two of them like this opens my heart up to Ben evenfurther.
As we settle the check and prepare to leave, Cassidy throws her arms around Ben in a full-on bear hug, almost knocking him off his feet. After a brief moment of surprise, he wraps his arms around her and squeezes hertight.
“I like you, Ben. But, I love her. So, trust me when I say, if you hurt her I’ll cut your dick off and use it for my own very special brand of turkeyslap.”
“Noted,” he says, smiling into the top of herhead.
I feel the sting of tears at this exchange until I notice her hands snake down to Ben’s delectable ass and give it asqueeze.
“Get your hands off my man’s ass,Jensen.”
“I’m only human, Balls, and that ass? Bravo,Ben.”
As I sit in the back seat of the car on the way back to my apartment, curled into Ben’s side and enjoying the warmth of his body, I consider all the things his dirty mouth is going to do to me in the not too distant future, when my phone dings. Pulling it out I see Cassidy’s name on thescreen.
CASSIDY:He’lldo.
“Passme one of those sugar cookies, Skylah, I can’t resist them any longer.” I smile at Juliet’s request and, using the tongs in the jar, I remove the biggest cookie and place it on a napkin forher.
Taking the treat with a smile, Juliet continues, “I’m so proud of you, my love. My accountant told me that the last month has been the shop’s most successful in the last two years. Those changes you implemented have certainly worked.” My smile widens at her words. I had been nervous about making changes to what had been a winning formula, but the risk had paid off and we had seen an increase in our profits over the lastmonth.
“Thank you, J, that means a lot. I still have a few more ideas that I’m working on, but I don’t want to make too many changes tooquickly.”
“Absolutely. Now, enough business talk, tell me how things are going with your young man.” Upon hearing Juliet’s question, Layla suddenly appears in front of us, plops herself down on a stool in front of the counter, places her chin in her hands and looks at me expectantly. Juliet chuckles while I roll myeyes.
“You know, it’s so easy to forget that you’re related to Cassidy. Until you pull shit like that,Lay.”
She shrugs and widens her eyesinnocently.
“Us Jensen’s like the gossip, what can I say? Nowspill!”
I try to present an air of nonchalance, but on the inside, I’m a giddy child. These last few months with Ben have been incredible. Since that day at the Botanical Gardens, things have progressed with a speed and intensity that I never would have imagined I would love. Every day I fall a little harder. The man has the kindest heart and he makes me laugh like no one else. Ben makes me feel safe and it would be so easy to become consumed by him. And for the first time, the thought of that doesn’t terrify me. I have, however, tried to temper my enthusiasm when it was pointed out to me that I may be talking about him a little too often. “It’s going so well, I’m really happy. He makes me happy,” I answersimply.
“I’m so pleased to hear that, Skylah. It’s about time you allowed yourself to be swept away by some debonairgentleman.”
“From what I hear, he’s not much of a gentleman, if you know what I mean.” Layla waggles her eyebrows atus.
“Layla, that’s enough of that!” Juliet chastises before following with, “We need some wine if we’re going to go there.” She throws a wink my way with a slysmile.
Then as if all our talk has conjured him up, the bell to the front door jingles and Ben walks through. As he looks around the shop I take this moment to appreciate his physicality before he notices me. Tall and broad, he dwarfs me in every direction, and I adore the sense of security that gives me when I am with him. His face is beautiful, in a completely masculine sense. Dark brown eyes, that remind me of melted chocolate, are filled with mischief more often than not. The imperfection of a slight bump on his nose only adds to his appeal, and a strong jaw, that is usually covered in a slight scruff, has my thighs clenching anytime I stare too long. His huge smile has the ability to light up his entire face, which is exactly what is happening now as he spots me from his position in thedoorway.
