Call Her Mine

by Melissa Foster

  Ben nodded, and then he went to gather his things. He carried the bags up to Aurelia’s apartment and set them down inside the door on the knotty hardwood floors. She’d only just moved in, and already it felt like her—organized but not oppressive, light and spacious but not empty. The brick walls were painted white. A light gray sofa, which Ben had slept on more than a dozen times in the last year alone, was covered with throw pillows in muted rust, pale green, peach, and dark gray, as were the pale yellow armchairs. Her loft-style apartment was open save for the two bedrooms and the bathroom. The kitchen overlooked Main Street, boasting stainless-steel appliances and four circle-head windows. It was separated from the living room/dining room combination by a large island with four barstools and a built-in reading nook, which cantilevered out about six feet over the sidewalk. The nook had L-shaped bookshelves that ran from floor to ceiling and were already chock-full of books and framed photographs. The books dominated the dining area like hundreds of sentinels watching over the room.

  Aurelia organized her books by author, publication date, and series, which she’d been doing since she was a kid. That was just one of Aurelia’s bookish quirks. There were pictures of her and her grandparents; pictures of her mother, whom she’d never known; and pictures of Ben and his family, Remi and Aiden, and a few of her other friends. His favorite picture of all was one Aiden had taken at the opening of Remi and Zane’s movie. Ben’s entire family had gone, and they were all beaming at the camera. Aurelia had stood in front of him, his arms around her middle. Her hands were on top of his, and Aiden had caught her looking up at Ben with what he told himself was adoration and a hint of annoyance, since he’d just whispered, Let’s blow this taco stand and make out in the back of the theater. In reality, it was probably annoyance with a hint of putting up with him he saw in her eyes.

  “So,” Piper said, jerking him from his memories. She was sitting on the couch with B in her arms, feeding her a bottle. “About that kiss . . .”

  Aurelia was pacing, wearing black skinny jeans and a gray T-shirt he knew by heart. He didn’t have to see the print on the front to know it was the one that had a picture of a girl wearing a black floppy hat, with the words STOP THINKING & JUST LET THINGS HAPPEN written in white stacked down the center. Her Converse were black, and he also didn’t need to look further to know she’d written a literary quote on the white strip just below the inside of her ankle. She did it on all of her sneakers, the same way she used to drive her grandparents bananas by writing quotes on her jeans. She’d been wearing many of the same pairs of jeans and sneakers since she was a teenager. She gravitated toward the familiar. That and her utilitarian style were just a couple of the things Ben had always loved about her. She didn’t care about money or material things. She cared about family and friends.

  She stopped pacing and looked nervously at him. Their eyes connected with the heat of a thousand suns, and there was no mistaking just how deeply she cared about him, too.

  “Is this how it’s going to be from now on?” Piper asked. “The two of you lusting after each other so badly that neither one can speak? Because if you two need to hit the bedroom to get past that wickedness, I’ll take this sweet little muffin for a walk and come back in an hour. But I prefer to know what the hell is going on first, Benjamin.”

  Ben huffed out a breath and said, “She might be mine.”

  “So I gathered when Aurelia said you guys were calling her Baby B, for Baby Ben.”

  He paced, and Aurelia sank into an armchair as he gave Piper the lowdown on what had transpired over the last two days. As he spoke, he desperately wanted time alone with Aurelia to get everything out in the open between them, but that would have to wait. Piper might be the size of a pixie, but she was his most aggressive sister, and she asked a million questions, which he had to answer, because there was no deterring her. He told her about the two women he had yet to contact—the yoga instructor and the blonde in Los Angeles, though he hated the way it felt to say it again in front of Aurelia. Then he told her about the doctor and the paternity test, and when he was done, Piper blinked several times, as if she couldn’t believe what she’d heard.

  “Didn’t Dad ever explain the birds and the bees to you?” Piper snapped.

  “Not helping,” he said stoically.

  “A baby,” Piper said. “A frigging adorable baby.”

  “I know,” he said, feeling such a mix of emotions, he couldn’t make heads or tails of them.

  Piper gazed down at the baby and said, “There’s a chance she’s not yours, but who would leave a baby on someone’s porch if she wasn’t sure he was its father?”

  “That’s why my bet is on her being Ben’s,” Aurelia said, averting her eyes from Ben.

  “It is?” He hadn’t even gone there in his mind yet.

  Aurelia nodded, finally meeting his gaze. “It makes sense, Ben.”

  “Maybe,” he admitted. “I don’t know what makes sense in this situation. For all I know she’s trying to nail me as the father so I’ll pay her off.” He pushed to his feet, unable to sit still with that thought rattling around in his head again.

  “You could be right, but I doubt it.” Piper put the bottle down and lifted B to her shoulder, patting her back. “If someone wanted money they’d blackmail you about the baby, not give her to you.”

  All he knew was that he wanted two things at that moment—to have Aurelia beside him and Baby B in his arms. He’d wanted Aurelia for so long, wanting her closer made perfect sense. But the emotions he’d already developed toward the baby were harder to understand. They didn’t fit into his view of himself or his future, and that threw him off balance.

  “I’m on the verge of the biggest deal of my life, and I just made my feelings for Aurelia clear after years of wanting her.” He turned to Aurelia and said, “You, wanting you. This timing sucks.”

  “Years . . . ?” Aurelia said softly.

  He nodded. Needing something to do, he grabbed the towels from the duffel bag and layered them on the floor.

  “What are you doing?” Piper asked.

  “Getting ready to change her diaper. She’ll poop in about a minute. I swear she’s a shit machine.”

  “She goes a lot,” Aurelia said as she dug through the duffel bag and withdrew wipes and diapers.

  “Okay, first of all, this”—Piper waved her finger between the two of them—“this is the stuff Dumb and Dumber is made of. Why would you bring towels to Aurelia’s apartment? She lives here. She has towels.”

  “I don’t know,” Ben snapped. “I didn’t think about what I was bringing. I just shoved everything I could possibly need into the bags so we weren’t stuck without something.”

  “Have you ever heard of a changing pad?” Piper asked with a hint of amusement. She kissed B’s cheek and said, “It looks like Auntie Piper will have to go shopping because Bachelor Ben is a numbskull. I don’t know what Aurelia’s excuse is, but I’ll get you all set up with proper baby stuff.”

  Ben glared at her.

  “Just because we don’t have experience with babies doesn’t mean we’re stupid,” Aurelia said. “It just means we’ve come upon a situation in which we have no experience.” She grabbed a bag from the counter and dumped a pile of books on the couch beside Piper. “Give us a day and we’ll know everything there is to know about babies.”

  Ben couldn’t hide his shock at the pile of baby and parenting books. “You said you couldn’t do this . . . ?” And then you went out and bought these books?

  “Yeah, well . . .” Aurelia sighed. “That wasn’t about the baby. I had intended to tell you how I felt about you—not quite in the same way you showed me—but you were standing there wearing nothing but a towel, and my brain went blank.”

  Ben grinned, suppressing the urge to exclaim, Hell yeah!

  Piper thrust the baby into his hands and said, “This is getting to be way too much information for me. What’s your plan, Ben? When do you get the paternity results?”

&nbs
p; “No idea. Soon, I hope.” He kissed B’s cheek, inhaling the sweet baby scent he was becoming overly fond of. “Tomorrow we’re going to see the yoga instructor. I have to find out who the mother is.”

  Piper arched a brow. “‘We’re’? You know you’re asking a lot from a woman whose tonsils you just inspected with your tongue.”

  “Can we please not talk about that?” Aurelia said. She looked at Ben, and her cheeks pinked up again.

  Piper held her hands up and said, “Right. Well, Ben, I think you’d better get this shit under control before Sunday, when we’re going to see Mom and Dad at Willow and Zane’s for dinner.” Willow and Zane were hosting a family dinner since their parents, and Bridgette and Bodhi, would be back in town. “I’ve got some free time tomorrow. Why don’t I babysit so you can track down that yoga chick? I’ll swing by the baby store tonight and get the things you don’t realize you need, like a changing pad and a Diaper Genie.” She eyed the bags and said, “Is it safe to assume you’re staying here tonight? Or are you hiring a truck to take all your cargo back to your place?”

  Ben looked at Aurelia and said, “I’ll get back to you on that.”

  Piper left after the baby fell asleep on the blanket-bed Aurelia and Ben had made for her beside the couch. The second Piper was out the door, everything Aurelia had held in for the last two hours came tumbling out in fast, harsh whispers. “You kissed me! In front of Piper’s crew! Our very first kiss ever and that’s where you do it? How was I supposed to react to that? And in front of Piper?” She paced, unable to stop the accusations from flying. “You know everyone in Sweetwater will know about this by the end of the day. Piper will make a snarky remark, and then it’ll be all over town. She probably won’t even know she did it. She’s like a secret obliterator. Not that we have to be a secret, but . . . our first kiss? And Piper and the baby? Did you see Piper’s face? She loves B already! She’s shopping for her. What if she’s not yours? What if she is? Oh God, Ben . . .”

  He pulled her into his arms and slanted his mouth over hers as he had downstairs, taking her in a passionate kiss that shattered her thoughts and left her light-headed.

  He brushed his delicious lips over hers as light as a feather and said, “It wasn’t planned. I had something much better planned, and I’ll tell you about it, but first I need to say this. I agree my timing sucked. The last thing I wanted was an audience, but I can’t hold back anymore, Rels. I can’t hear about one more man asking you out or be there to hold your hand when he turns out to be an asshole. And I sure as hell can’t kiss one more woman, hoping to fill a void where you belong.”

  She was overwhelmed with emotions, and “Ben . . .” slipped out. He’d been doing exactly what she had all this time?

  He kissed her temple the way that always made her heart melt and said, “Let me finish. I know asking you to be with me when I’m in the middle of a paternity nightmare is a lot to hope for. I fucked up. I have no idea how, because I’ve never in my entire life had unprotected sex, but this is on me and I take full responsibility. And I’ll understand if you want to walk away, even if it’s only until I have this figured out. But I hope with every fiber of my being that you’ll stick around, because baby or no baby, you’re the only woman I want by my side.”

  Happiness bubbled up inside her, and she tried not to let it carry her away. “Do you have any idea how long I’ve wanted to hear that? But how can I know if this would ever have happened if we didn’t find B on your doorstep? What if you want me because it’s overwhelming to do this on your own?”

  He took her hand and led her to the couch, pulling her down beside him. “I need to tell you how I had planned on confessing my feelings for you. How I’d planned on earning that first kiss.”

  “You better hope you’re good at making things up on the fly.” She knew Ben was a planner when it came to business, but not so much when it came to his personal life. The idea that he might have planned something so meaningful blew her away. If he really had.

  He pulled out his wallet and handed her a folded piece of paper. She unfolded it and scanned the handwritten list. Her pulse quickened with every item she read.

  Glass slipper

  Lights at night

  Dancing beneath the stars

  That look that Grandpa gives Grandma

  Whispers and secret smiles

  To be loved like Mr. Darcy loves Elizabeth Bennet

  Moonlight walks

  P.S. I Love You type of love that never ends

  The list went on, filling every line on the front and the back of the paper, and included so many of the comments she’d made over the years about things she wished for in a relationship, like waking up in a man’s arms and finding him looking at her like he was so in love he could barely breathe and finishing each other’s sentences. He’d even written, “That look Zane gives Willow,” which she remembered saying she was jealous of when they were at the pub with them one night.

  “Ben . . . ?” Her hands were trembling. She couldn’t believe he’d remembered, much less written it all down. This was the most romantic thing ever, and it was better than movies, better than books, because it had come from Ben.

  “It’s all the things you’ve said you wanted.”

  “I know what it is, but why do you have it?”

  “Because I wanted the night I finally told you how I felt to be everything you ever dreamed of. I planned to tell you at Bodhi and Bridgette’s wedding reception, while we were dancing beneath the lights on the back patio.”

  Oh God. Her heart was beating so fast, she didn’t think it could take much more. “But you didn’t,” she said, confused. Everyone knew he had two left feet and hated dancing. Was that why he hadn’t followed through?

  “Because you bought this place and said you were making a fresh start. I think, more specifically, you said you’d outgrown your life in Sweetwater, and I thought that included me.”

  She flopped back against the cushions and laughed. “Oh my God, Ben. We’re so pathetic. I didn’t think you’d ever want to settle down with one woman, and I didn’t want to be the stupid girl hanging on for the eternal bachelor.”

  He leaned over her, boxing her in with his hands beside her shoulders, smiling down at her with those insanely kissable lips. She wanted to stay right there, with his chest brushing hers and his dark eyes looking at her like he never wanted to look away as he said, “There is no one I’d rather be pathetic with than you.”

  She didn’t think, didn’t hesitate or question herself, as she slid her arm around his neck and pulled his mouth to hers, kissing him as deeply and earnestly as she’d dreamed about for far too long. His chest was hot and hard against hers as he gathered her in his arms, never breaking their connection as he lifted and shifted their bodies, so they were lying on the couch. He wedged his thick thighs between her legs, his hard length rocking against her center. The weight of his body pressing down on her was so perfect, so exciting, she wanted to feel every hard inch. She clutched at his back, and his hand snuck up her side and over her breast. That first intimate, purposeful grope sent shivery thrills racing through her body. His hand was even stronger and bigger than she’d thought, covering her entire breast. His thumb played over her nipple in slow, mesmerizing circles, and she heard herself moan.

  His lips left hers, and he kissed her jaw and her neck, and then he traced the shell of her ear with his tongue and nipped at her lobe. “Is this okay, Relsy? I’ll back off if you want me to.”

  “Don’t you dare,” she panted out, pulling his mouth to hers again.

  He reclaimed her mouth with renewed greed, and she pushed her hands beneath his shirt, feeling his back muscles bunch and flex. She didn’t care that this was the first time they’d made out. She had wanted Ben for so long, she had no desire to resist. When he lifted her shirt over her breasts and teased her through her bra, her nipples tingled and burned. She arched up, whimpering into their kisses, wanting his mouth on her skin. He broke their kiss, searching her
face, and he must have seen the invitation in her eyes, because he made a growling sound and dipped his head as he pulled the cup of her bra lower, freeing her breast. The first slick of his tongue made her moan and squirm. Her senses were already overloaded, but when he sealed his mouth over the taut peak and sucked it against the roof of his mouth, she buried her fingers in his hair, clenching her mouth shut to keep from crying out at the exquisite pleasure coursing through her. Every suck brought a pulse of heat between her legs, and when he grabbed her hands and thrust them above her head, recapturing her mouth in a penetrating kiss, she thought she might shatter into a million little pieces. His kisses were whole-body experiences, sensual and demanding at once. Possessive and captivating. Every seductive swipe of his tongue was magnified by an alluring rock of his hips. Feeling his hard heat against her in that magnificent rhythm made her wetter, needier, than she could ever remember being. Flashes of heat flared deep inside her, every thrust of his hips bringing them closer to the surface. If he could bring her this close to the edge fully dressed, she could only imagine what it would be like to finally make love with him.

  He grabbed both wrists in one hand and drew back, his dark eyes sliding over her face, down her neck, to her breasts. Embarrassment washed through her as he visually devoured her, licking his lips, hunger brimming in his eyes.

  “You’re beautiful, Aurelia.” He lowered his mouth and dragged his tongue around her nipple in slow circles. “I’ve waited so long for this, for you.” He lowered his mouth over the sensitive peak again, sucking lighter this time, until she was a writhing, moaning mess of desire.

  “Ben, Ben, Ben—” His name came out as a cross between a plea and a demand.

  He shifted his body so he was lying beside her, and his mouth crashed feverishly over hers. Their teeth gnashed and their chests heaved as he worked her jeans open and pushed his hand into them. He gripped her hip, holding her against him. His long fingers pressed tantalizingly into her ass cheek.