Page 17 of My Heart Still Beats
I don’t take it.
“I’d offer to help you in the car but…” Ben says.
“I’m fine, thank you.” I slide into the back seat, edging over so that I’m behind the driver’s seat. Ben gets in after me, keeping to his own side.
“Where do you live?” he asks me.
I rattle off my address, and Sherlock begins to drive.
I don’t know what to say, so I say nothing.
But I’m very aware that I’m sitting next to a man. A man who doesn’t frighten me nearly as much as I expected him to.
Still…I feel frozen. My skin feels numb, and I’m antsy. I just want to get home. Get out of the car. Get up to my apartment and cuddle with Rita.
We don’t speak the whole way there, and when we finally arrive at my place, I immediately try to open the car door.
It’s locked, of course.
Locked.
I’m locked in.
The tingles start again—
Ben’s low voice eases the panic. “Sherlock will get that for you, and I’ll see you up.”
“That’s not necessary.”
A man hasn’t been to my apartment since…
“I’m not asking to come in, Tessa. I just want to see you to your door. Make sure you get in safely.”
What I’m feeling is such a contradiction. Part of me wants the security of his presence. After all, what if someone is waiting for me? What if Garrett is waiting for me?
But on the other hand…
His nearness makes my skin prickle, and not in a good way.
I desperately want to be free from him. Yet I also want him to walk me to my apartment.
Sherlock opens the car door for me and extends his hand, which I don’t take. He doesn’t seem offended, though. He just closes the door behind me and gets back into the driver’s seat.
Ben follows me to the building entrance. “Which floor are you on?” he asks.
“Fourth.”
My place doesn’t have an elevator, which sucks, but it’s part of the reason why the rent is so cheap.
Ben follows me up the stairs, staying close but careful not to touch me.
We get to the fourth floor, and I walk the two doors over to my apartment. Rita’s barks pierce through from the other side.
“You have a dog?” Ben asks.
“I do. I need to take her down to do her business.”
“It’s dark outside, Tessa.”
