Page 46 of Live Like There's No Tomorrow
Jack smiled at her gratefully. “That sounds good to me.”
“Not a bad hustle for your first evening,” said Pete.
Charlotte made a face at him. “It’s not a case of hustling, Pete. This is one of the things I love about my work, these days almost everyone you meet needs help with building an online presence.”
Pete nodded. “Yeah, sorry, that came out wrong. I’m impressed.”
“Is there any chance I could get that in writing?” asked Charlotte with a laugh. “I never thought I’d see the day I could impress you.”
Pete smiled. “Neither did I.”
“Oh, stop it, you two,” said Missy.
“Yeah,” said Ben. “Could you please stop harassing my girlfriend, Hemming? I’m just grateful that she’s versatile enough to hit the ground running and build a new business for herself here.”
Charlotte turned to smiled up at him. She leaned against his shoulder and was about to say something, but didn’t get the chance as Emma spoke first.
“Ooh, is it official, then?” asked Emma. “Is Charlie your girlfriend? Are you back together?”
Ben’s heart raced. He hoped so, but he didn’t know so and he certainly hadn’t planned to force Charlotte to answer that question yet. He looked down into her eyes, afraid of what he might see there. She smiled up at him. “Don’t be silly, Em. I’m here, aren’t I?”
Ben looked around. He felt as though everyone had turned to see his reaction to her words. He forced a big smile. She hadn’t said no, but she hadn’t said yes, either.
Chapter Thirteen
“That was a great night,” said Charlotte as they walked back across the square. “It’s so good to be back. It’s so good to see almost everyone else is back too. I never thought Pete would end up living here. I could see him having a vacation home or something, but not dominating the world from here.”
“Yeah, that one’s the biggest surprise to me too, but I’m glad he’s here.”
Charlotte laughed. “Well, at least that makes one of us.”
“You two do all right really.”
“We do. I irritate him, but that’s okay, he irritates me as well. Don’t tell him, but I love him really. He’s like a big brother who always has to make his opinion known. And always thinks he’s right.”
Ben nodded. “He means well.”
They were walking toward her car, but Charlotte wasn’t sure she wanted to go home yet. It had been a fun evening, but she still wanted to spend more time with Ben. He’d seemed a little quiet for the latter part of the evening, and she wanted to get to the bottom of why. She looked up into his eyes; there was a hint of sadness around them. “Are you okay?”
He stopped walking and turned to face her, putting his hands on her shoulders. “I’m good. I’m really, really good. You’re here, how could I not be?”
“I don’t know, you seem a little sad.”
“No, I’m not sad. Well, maybe a little.”
She slipped her arms around his waist and leaned against him, looking deep into his eyes. “Why?”
He rested his forehead against hers and shook his head slowly. “It’s nothing, I’m being stupid, I know. I guess I’m just in too much of a hurry. When Emma asked you if we were back together, you didn’t exactly say yes. And just now, when we said goodnight to everyone, they all went off home. They went home with their partner, back to their life. And here I am walking you to your car.” He shrugged. “I don’t know, I don’t think I gave much thought to how things would really be if you did come back. To the reality, you know? All I ever thought about was how things would be once we were together. Not how we would get there.” He leaned back and looked deep into her eyes. “And I sure as hell never questionedwhetherwe would get there.”
Charlotte sighed, “Honestly, Ben, neither did I. All this time, I’ve dreamed about us being together. I never considered that we might have to take things slowly before we get to that place.” She took a deep breath. “Perhaps we’re both ready to speed things up. I’d love to see your apartment.”
He smiled. “I’d love to show you.” He stepped back and took hold of her hand and led her back across the square.
As she followed him up the steps to his front door she couldn’t help the shivers of excitement that raced through her. He opened the door and let her go in ahead of him. She looked around. It was a lovely place; it was very Ben. It was neat and orderly, stylish and yet understated. She turned to smile at him. “I love it.”
He stepped toward her. “I love you.”
She looped her arms up around his neck and planted a kiss on his lips. “And I love you.”
