Wild for You (Crave #2) - C.C. Wood Page 0,90

all. I left Dallas on Monday so I could come back and talk to you, but before I could do anything Cam called me crying—"

"I really don't want to hear your excuses, Sierra," he interrupted. "I don't want to have to keep chasing you. I don't want to play games. I—"

As he spoke, the anger built in me again, breaking down all my good intentions, and I exploded. "I'm not playing fucking games, Benjamin Murphy. I'm trying to tell you why I didn't call so that maybe you'll stop interrupting me so fucking much and we can talk about more important things!"

He stared at me, his jaw flexing as he clenched his teeth.

Before he opened his mouth to speak, I continued, "Cam asked me to help Brody. I'm sure you know that his ex was trying to use Jacks and Cam against him so she could get what she wanted, right?"

Ben nodded, his face rigid, but he didn't interrupt me again.

"Okay, so I'm not just good at writing programs for computers, I'm good at...other things that could help Cam and, by extension, Brody. She called me when I was on my way back Monday, crying, and she needed me. Now, I love you, but I love her too and she's more like a sister than my best friend, so I didn't think. I dropped everything to help her. I haven't seen her cry in years and she was sobbing on my shoulder. I'm sorry that it hurt you and I would handle it differently if I could go back, but I had to help my best friend. Then, we figured out what was going on and I had to help her in a different way. I've barely slept in the last three days because I wanted to do everything I could for her."

Ben's body locked, every muscle tight, as I spoke.

Once the words started, I couldn't stop them. They kept spilling out of my mouth. "I quit my job in Dallas on Monday because I realized that I dreaded going to work. I used to look forward to it, but that's been changing over the last year. My heart isn't in it anymore and my boss was a real asshole, so it made it much easier to see that. I planned to call you as soon as I got back and ask if I could come here so I could apologize for the way I treated you before and tell you that I was wrong. That I did want more from you than just sex." I stopped to take a breath and realized that I'd been babbling for the last few minutes. I couldn't read Ben's expression, but his jaw was no longer bunched as though his molars were clenched together.

"I just..." I trailed off, unsure of what else I could say. If he wasn't already convinced I wasn't playing games, I didn't know what else I could put out there to make him understand. "I just missed you."

Silence fell between us and he didn't move or speak. He was breathing hard, but I wasn't sure if it was from anger or something else.

I fidgeted with the bottom hem of my shirt. "Would you please say something?" I asked.

Ben cocked his head to the side. "I'm trying to figure out if you just told me you loved me in that long, rambling monologue."

My heart gave one hard thump against my sternum. I had. It had flown out of my mouth without a single thought. I'd been so scared that he wouldn't give me a chance to tell him and I'd already blurted it out.

"Uh, well, maybe," I muttered.

Ben shook his head and looked down at his feet, crossing his arms over his chest.

When he looked up, his mouth was slightly curved as though he were fighting a smile. "Is it true?" he asked.

"Which part?"

He huffed out a breath and walked toward me, sweat gleaming on his skin and his muscles flexing with each movement.

Holy mother of God, he was a breathing, moving work of art. And it had been way, way too long since I'd been close to him. Touched him.

He stopped less than a foot from me. "Any part. All the parts."

I swallowed the sudden lump in my throat and rubbed my fingertips together because they were tingling madly with the need to touch him. "Every word," I confessed.

He lunged for me then, hoisting me up with both hands on my ass. I wrapped my legs around him as

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