Page 72 of Plentywood
Lake Hawthorne was in front of us, so I pulled closer and turned the Tahoe off. “Yesterday,” I said, pausing for a moment to calm my nerves. “I didn’t think this could happen.” I glanced at him to take his pulse, to reassure myself I wasn’t barking up the wrong tree. “Thereissomething happening, right?” I asked, confirming what we were doing.
“I want to get to know you better,” he admitted. “And not just as a friend.”
“I don’t wanna be your friend either,” I blurted. I’m sure I blushed redder than a fire ant. “No! Idowanna be your friend,” I corrected. “But something more, too.”
“There are so many things that you need to know about me first,” he said. “I tend to worry about being good enough to date someone.Actually, I never think I’m good enough,” he admitted. “Why not just tell it like it is?”
I’m not sure where my next question came from. “Do you kiss?” I asked, staring at him as I studied how amazingly flawless his skin was.
I hadn’t noticed the natural beauty of his face this close-up. I remembered the first afternoon when I’d met him at the clinic. I’d labeled him as pretty without really seeming feminine, not that I would’ve cared if he was feminine. But he wasn’t. Ben was masculine in an understated way, while being cosmetically stunning to look at.
I must have been in a state of dreaming because I heard my name somewhere off in the distance. I focused on his face. “Hunter?” he said, poking my arm.
“Uhm… yeah?” I answered, shaking the fog out of my brain.
“I was saying that I kiss,” he said. “If you want to.”
CHAPTER FORTY: Benedict
“I’ve only kissed one person,” he admitted. “Mark and I were together since high school,” he added, perhaps defending himself against expectations.
“I drunk kissed a few times. Nothing or no one serious ever,” I responded.
“No one?” he asked. “A guy that looks like you?”
“Professional student,” I replied. “Too busy for dating.”
“So no dating either?”
“Not traditional dating anyway,” I said. “And he wouldn’t kiss. Claimed he wasn’t gay.”
“A casual hookup?”
His brow furrowed as the question hung in the air. We hadn’t bothered to get out of his SUV yet. The humming of cool air-conditioned air kept us company while his question continued to marinate. Did I want to go there so soon?
“As it turned out,” I stated. “Athree-yearhookup.”
“That can’t be true,” he disagreed. “Three years and not one single kiss?”
“Not one he’d reciprocate,” I confirmed. “Rocco was straight.”
Hunter’s eyes widened in disbelief, and then he sat back and exhaled. “Wow!”
“Do you think I’m pathetic now?”
Thank goodness he didn’t hesitate to respond. “Of course not, Ben. Truthfully, I don’t want to judge you as the person you were before we met. I’m only interested in this you.”
I shouldn’t have been surprised by his response. Hunter gave the impression that he was a no-nonsense person and seemed nonjudgemental as well. It would seem he was truly about the here and now and who I actually was while withhim.
“So, you’d kiss a man with no experience?” I asked.
“I would.”
“Here?” I confirmed, nervous that a kiss might actually happen. “Like, is this an okay place? We could get out of the truck. You know, stand up and try that. I think tha…”
Hunter interrupted my blabbering and placed his hand behind my head, leaning into me. I immediately closed my eyes. My pulse quickened when he pulled me closer, pausing before contact. I waited. One second. Three seconds. I opened my eyes. He was an inch away.
“You okay?” he whispered. I nodded, repositioning myself on the bench seat. “I’m going to kiss you now,” he whispered. I nodded again and closed my eyes a second time. I thought I might actually die as I waited.
