is.” Batting my lashes, I add, “If only my doctor were around to advise me.”
Ben scratches the scruff on his jaw. “He might have to take a look at your file––”
“Oh, yeah. Of course. No rush––”
“I’m kidding,” he teases, dropping his authoritative tone from seconds before. “I think you’d be fine to travel as long as it was relatively soon. I don’t want you to leave my sight once you reach thirty-two weeks.”
“Maybe I don’t have to leave your sight,” I offer as the hustle and bustle on the street fades away. The comment slips out of me before I can register what it really means, or how he’ll take it.
His head cocks to the side, and I scramble to take it back. “I mean, you definitely don’t have to come because that might be kind of weird since we’re still figuring out this whole, taking it slow with a romantic twist kind of thing, right? I was just thinking it could be fun to take a little weekend trip. But no pressure, ya know?” My mouth snaps shut to cut off my rambling even though it’s easy to see that he heard every single word.
Without hesitation, Ben snakes his arm around my lower waist and pulls me into his chest. Planting the sweetest of kisses against my forehead, he murmurs, “I’d love to come.”
“You sure?” My insecurities lace themselves into my question as I chew on my lower lip and peek up at him. I kind of hate how much I like this guy. How much he makes me happy. How easily he checks off every single box on my perfect guy list. And I’ve already put myself out there once with him and was burned. Bad. Would a vacation away from it all be a good thing? Or would it act like gasoline on an already precarious fire?
His deep laugh rumbles through his chest and into mine, making it tighten in all the right ways as I realize I kind of love how much I like this guy too. Ben Bennett. His smile. His laugh. His need to take care of everyone around him with no regard for himself. He’s the whole package. I just need to figure out if I have a chance of ever stealing his heart the way he’s somehow managed to capture mine. Or if it’ll forever belong to Kate––the girl I will never live up to.
“Positive,” he tells me, brooking no argument while completely oblivious to my inner turmoil. “Besides, I get a much-needed vacation with the woman I can’t stop thinking about. Sounds like a win-win to me. I only have one condition.”
“And what’s that?”
“You let me pay for everything.”
“Ben––”
“I’m serious, Marcy. Let me treat you the way you deserve. You’ve spent so long taking care of yourself that I’m not even sure if you know what it feels like to let someone else take care of you instead.”
“You don’t have to do that, though. You didn’t sign up for the job––”
“Maybe I want to sign up. Did you ever think of that, Marcy Holden?” he challenges, getting all up in my grill until I’m positive my brain is going to short circuit, and I’ll give in to whatever he asks of me. “Let me take care of you. It’ll make me feel better if I can. Look at it this way. I’m a doctor. It’s my job to look after everyone else around me.”
“And who’s supposed to look after you?”
He shrugs before leaning down and kissing me. It’s soft. And sweet. With the perfect amount of tongue to lip ratio that has me melting into a puddle. When he pulls away a few seconds later, my heavy lids open, and I find myself pressed against his hard chest.
Damn, he’s good at getting what he wants.
“Okay,” I breathe. “You win. I’ll set it up.”
“Sounds to me like we both win.” He winks. “Now, let’s get you home.”
21
Ben
A few weeks later
“You’re pushing your luck. You know that, right?”
“Why, whatever do you mean?” Marcy asks innocently as I push her carry-on into the luggage compartment above our heads.
“I said you could travel before thirty-two weeks.”
“And I’m exactly thirty-two weeks today. Sounds to me like I’m an excellent travel agent,” she tosses over her shoulder before squeezing into the window seat. The girl has yet to complain about any pregnancy symptoms. Either she’s the biggest trooper I’ve ever seen, or she’s too embarrassed to admit that pregnancy can be a bitch.
Or at least, so I’ve