of who I am, and what I want. And I can tell you right now, I am someone who is going to be making her own decisions from now on. Some of them you’re going to like. Some of them you’re not. But you have no one to blame but yourself for my epiphany.
“Now, the good news is, as part of all this, I also have a good idea of who I want and why I want him.”
This time I know better than to say anything. She’s on a most definite roll.
“I want you, Bennet.” She gives me an extra squeeze, and I bite back a groan. “Don’t you doubt it. But if you ever pull that shit on me, tell me what I should do and how things are going to be…if you ever play the hypocrite, make me think you’ve deceived me and that you’re not the guy I think you are…if you do any of those things, that’ll be the day I say good-bye.” Then she releases me and walks off the way we came.
I don’t follow right away. I watch her hair swing, and her ass sway, and her legs take long confident strides away from me until she’s almost completely out of view. I am awestruck and ecstatic, and yet all I can do is pray, pray, pray she doesn’t mean that last part. I know my day of reckoning is coming. No matter how good my intentions, I’m not such a fool to think I can avoid it forever.
Chapter Forty-Seven
Katherine
I wake up to find Bennet still asleep. He’s on his stomach, the sheets pulled down to his waist, the smooth, tanned skin and defined muscles of his back bared to me. I smile at the sight and get dressed quietly. He worked late last night. He needs to sleep in. I, however, have plans for the day.
I put a hand on the bed beside him and lean in to kiss the small of his back. He shifts and rolls. I straighten and look down at his beautiful face. His bright blue eyes go hot, his arms reach up and close around me. The next thing I know, I’m in bed with Bennet’s mouth on mine.
When he pulls back, he says, “Were you sneaking off somewhere? What’s with the dress?”
“I was going to leave a note, but then I thought to kiss you instead.”
“Always a good choice.”
I smile against his shoulder, and his arms tighten around me. My dress is going to get wrinkled, but I don’t care enough to do anything about it.
“So where were you going?”
“New Porte.”
“New Porte?” His eyebrows shoot up. “Why?”
“Well…Rachel has invited us over for dinner tomorrow, and there’s a recipe I want to try. Tremblay’s doesn’t carry some of the ingredients, and…” I’m not sure about the next part. It’s just an idea I thought I’d check into, and I haven’t mentioned it to him yet. “I’ve also got an appointment with an admissions counselor at the college in Bell Harbor.”
His body stills. I don’t know how to take it. I know we’re solid, but maybe I’m moving too fast.
He rolls us so he is on top, pressing me into the mattress. His eyes go hazy, and his face softens with so much love and so much relief that it makes my heart give a little squeeze. “You’re staying?”
“Yeah.”
He sucks in a breath and holds it for a second. “Really staying?”
“If I can get into school up here, then yeah.”
He touches his lips to mine, briefly sucking my bottom lip into his mouth, then he rolls off and away. “Not worried, babe. You’ll get in.”
I turn to my side and watch his sculpted backside as he goes to his dresser and pulls out a pair of faded jeans. He tugs them on commando, and the muscles in his back move as he walks to the bathroom to snag a clean T-shirt out of the laundry basket.
“What are you doing?” I ask. “You should sleep in.”
“Going with you, of course,” he says. “And then we’re going out to celebrate.”
Chapter Forty-Eight
Bennet
Hours later, Katherine and I are in New Porte, sitting in a soup and panini joint called the Purple Paisley. Mooshy gave me shit about going anywhere near the ferry on my day off. Under any other circumstances, I would have agreed with him, but today is no ordinary day.
We took my truck to Bell Harbor, just a twenty-minute drive from New Porte, and I waited in the lobby of the