by Lori Leger
“I know,” she groaned. “I’lI was pregnant.l try not to, but there’s something there, Meagan.” Her eyes widened as the realization hit her. “This feels so right. What if he’s the one?”
Meagan’s eyes darkened as she grew more serious. “Listen, I adored my son’s father. He was a Marine, too. I wouldn’t trade having Buck for anything in the world, but I’m raising him alone, and it’s been difficult.” Her gaze fell to the floor. “I lost Chris in Afghanistan.”
Haley brought one hand to her mouth. “Oh, I didn’t know.”
“Well, I’m not ashamed of it, but it’s not something I advertise. I didn’t find out I was pregnant until Chris had already been deployed. What’s worse is that I never got to tell him we were having a child. It … it haunts me to this day.”
Her words had the effect of a polar plunge. “I’m so sorry, Meagan. I hadn’t heard that.” She gathered her new friend to her for a hug. “Thank you for worrying about me. I can handle this, I promise.”
The two of them exited the ladies room together before going their separate ways, Meagan back to working behind the bar, and Haley, heading back to Corporal Bonin.
Before she reached him, Trevor grabbed her arm and pulled her aside to speak to her.
“Haley, what is this?”
She turned on him, annoyed at his intrusion. “Excuse me?”
“So, what? Are you with that guy now?”
She stared at his incredulous sneer, recognized the self-absorbed attitude he’d displayed so many times, and wondered what the hell she’d ever seen in him. Haley faced Ben, who watched the encounter with an eagle eye. He kept his distance but watched closely, and she suspected he’d be there in a second if there was any indication she needed him in any way.
Was she with Ben now? Haley turned to meet Trevor’s gaze. “I sure hope so.”
Trevor released her hand and stepped back, his face a mask of shocked disbelief.
She turned and made her way back to Ben.
He stood at her approach. “Is everything all right?”
“Sure is. But it’ll be better once you get me back out on that dance floor.”
Throwing back the last of his beer, he set the bottle on the bar and grabbed her hand. He led her out to dance to the band’s cover of an Easton Corbin song. He tucked her hand close to his chest and held her close.
He jutted his chin toward Trevor, standing alone at the bar. “Has your friend given up, or do I need to have a talk with him?”
Her heart fluttered at the sound of concern in his tone. “I think I got the point across to him.”
He nodded. “Good.”
“But, for the heck of it, if you did talk to him, what would you say?”
“I’d tell him you’re going to be busy for the next couple of weeks.” Before she could respond he finished. “But first I’d have to ask you.”
She pursed her lips. “Ask me what?”
He stopped in the middle of the dance floor and took her chin in his hand. “Are you with me, Haley?”
Haley swallowed the lump in her throat. “Do you want me with you? I mean, you’re a Marine.” She suddenly found herself smoothing his shirt, straightening his collar, touching his buttons, anything to indulge herself with the feel of him. In her opinion, everything about the two of them seemed to click. But what did he think? “I mean, maybe you aren’t the type to want to be with one wom—”
His mouth came down on hers, silencing her words. One hand moved to the back of her head, as the other gently cupped her chin. The kiss lasted for several seconds, would have lasted longer had a familiar voice not interrupted them.
“Oh Haley, what would mother think?”
She pulled away from Ben and stared, wide-eyed, into her brother’s smug, grinning face. Refusing to look flustered, she paused a moment to collect her thoughts then sent her brother an equally smug grin. “She’d probably understand that I’m with someone now.” She looped her arms around Ben’s neck. “Aren’t I, Benjamin?”
Ben sent Tex a big grin and nodded. “Roger that.”
Tex sent his sister a wink. “And a military man … a Marine. Imagine that.” He shook his head and chuckled. “Never say never, Haley girl. Never say never.” His following guffaw of laughter carried across the space as he swung around them with his own dance partner, a petite redhead with a too-big smile, and too-big boobs to match.
As with the previous night, Ben had proven to be a willing participant at the faster dances, even though he was no expert. But it was the slow dances she craved with him. Those were the dances that gave her hands ample opportunity to touch, to explore his upper torso. She wanted to do more, but it would have to suffice.
When Matt was ready to leave around midnight, Ben offered to take Haley home later. A little after two a.m., Ben parked his truck beside her brother’s in Mitchell’s driveway. And still, they talked. After another hour they reached a long enough pause in conversation to notice how late it was.
Haley placed one hand on the door handle, hovering between knowing she should exit the truck and not wanting to leave. “I’m sure your family has a full day planned for you. I should let you leave now.”
He reached out to cover her left hand with his own. “Please don’t go, yet. At least not until you say you’ll spend the day with me in Lake Erin. It’s about forty miles southeast of here.”
Her chest tightened as she considered her options. “I’ve been to Lake Erin, Ben, but I live in Beaumont. I have to go home and stable Dakota in …” She stopped to glance at her phone. “In a few hours, actually.”
He leaned over the truck’s console to get closer to her. “I’ll follow you back to Beaumont, pick you up and bring you home tonight. I don’t care what it takes.”
“That isn’t necessary. I have my own car.”
His eyes widened. “Are you saying you’ll spend the day with me?”
She nodded. “If you’re sure your parents won’t mind.”
Ben shook his head. “My mom will say the more, the merrier. Believe me, I know her. But you have to let me pay for your gas, at least.”
Haley tapped her fingers on the armrest, her mind humming with plans. “My grandparents live just south of Jennings, and they’ve been asking me to spend some time with them. I’m sure they’ll be glad to put me up for a couple of days.”
Ben’s face lit up. “Are you serious? Jennings is only ten minutes from our place.”
“I’m warning you, my grandparents are kind of old fashioned. You’ll have to pass my Paw Paw’s twenty-one point inspection, or he won’t let you anywhere near me.”
He rubbed her hand between his. “I’m not worried.”
She cocked her head to contemplate his answer. “You aren’t, are you? Do you worry about anything?”
“Only that I won’t get to see you every day for the rest of my leave.”
“Ben …”
He pulled her closer, framed her face between his two hands. “I mean it, Haley. I want you with me.”
Haley stared into his eyes, tried to still the butterflies in her stomach. She inhaled deeply, and released it slowly. “I know we’ve only met—”
“But this is different, right?” He dipped low, cocked his head to one side. “I mean, is it me, or do you feel the potential here, too?”
She nodded. “I feel it, and something’s telling me to spend every minute I can with you.” She gave him a shy smile. “So yeah, I’ll be there as long as you want me around.”
He narrowed the gap between his mouth and hers. “Hell, that’s good to know, because something’s telling me that’s gonna be a long, long time.”
Haley had experienced a few really good kisses in her previous twenty-one years. Even so, she found herself not quite prepared for the kiss that followed. It began innocent enough. Somehow, he managed to fool her into thinking the first whisper-soft touch of his lips would be the end of it. One slight adjustment, and subtle shift of his head later, and he went in for the kill.<
br />
This Marine knew how to make a lasting impression. A warm glow started in the pit of her belly, spiraling outward as a sweet heat infiltrated her limbs and torso.
He pulled back, sucking in his breath as he touched his forehead gently to hers. “Oh, man …” The words came out in a hoarse whisper.
“Oh man …” she countered, before he targeted her mouth again for another kiss, she could only hope one of many more to come.
CHAPTER 2
Learning to Let Go
Haley unloaded and stabled Dakota, speaking softly to calm the animal. She filled the trough with feed, watching her mom’s approach from the corner of her eye.
“Hey Popcorn, Matthew says you’ve had an interesting two days.”
Her mom’s rare use of Haley’s childhood nickname put a smile on her face. “Yeah, I had a good race.”
Angie Broussard grinned. “Well, I’d already heard that. What I want to hear about is this new young man you’ve met … and want to spend some time with?”
Haley covered the feed container and took a deep breath before turning to her mother. “Mom, he’s only in for two more weeks, and I want to spend as much time with him as I can.”
“Haley, you’re twenty-one years old. I can’t stop you from doing what you want. But I’ll still worry about you. How much do you know about this boy?”
“He’s not a boy, he’s a twenty-two year old Marine who’s about to deploy for his second tour in Afghanistan.”
Angie released her breath in a hiss. “If you’re trying to make me feel better, you’re not.” She lifted her daughter’s chin and stared into her eyes. “Look, I’m not too old to remember those feelings. That’s why I’m having this talk with you.”
Haley rolled her eyes. “We had this talk already and it was quite a few years ago.”
“Consider this a refresher course.”
“I hear you, but …” Haley paused to pull her buzzing cell phone from her pocket. She checked the screen, seeing a text message from Ben, asking for her home address. She sent him the information along with a double question mark. She waited for his response and grinned at his immediate reply.
“Would it help if you met him, first, Mom?”
“It might. I guess that depends on what kind of impression I’d get from him.”
Haley lifted the phone, showing her mom the text Ben had sent her.
I’m on my way. I just stopped for a break at the welcome center at the state line.
Her mom smiled as she read it. “Well, he’s off to a good start.” The phone buzzed in her hand and she and Haley both read his follow up.
I can’t expect your parents to trust their beautiful daughter with me for the next two weeks unless I meet them first. Don’t you think?
Angie nodded and exchanged amused grins with her daughter. “An extremely good start.”
Ben pulled into her drive thirty minutes later and spent the next two hours getting to know Haley’s parents and assuring them his intentions were honorable. He followed her back to her grandparents’ home, arriving a little before noon to meet the older couple, both in their late seventies. Within the hour, Ben had charmed her grandmother, and impressed her grandfather with his sincerity.
Haley slipped into the passenger side of Ben’s truck and buckled her seat belt, then watched as her Paw Paw shook Ben’s hand and waved at her through the window. She waited for him to situate himself into the driver’s seat before speaking.
“So, is that part of your job description with the Marine Corps?”
He started his truck and turned to her. “What’s that?”
“Charming old people into trusting you enough to leave with their only granddaughter?”
His low laughter filled the cab of the truck. “To my knowledge that’s never been part of my MOS. That’s a—”
She cut him off. “Military Occupation Specialty … sister of a Marine, remember?” She tore her gaze away to keep from climbing over the console to get to him. “Hmm, maybe it should be. You sure made easy work of it.”
“It’s not that difficult. My mom knew something was up before I even mentioned you this morning.” He leaned in close and Haley met him halfway for a kiss. “And now, it’s your turn to charm the pants off of my family.”
Haley placed a hand over her stomach, nervous at the prospect of meeting his rather large family. His parents had both remarried, so he had a slew of step relatives thrown in with the blood relatives.
She needn’t have worried. As it happened, his family was every bit as warm and welcoming as hers had been, despite there being so many of them.
By the end of their time spent in almost constant company, Haley had thoroughly meshed into Ben’s family. As for her and Lance Corporal Bonin, the two of them had grown close—closer than she could have imagined in such a short amount of time.
Two days had turned into one week, and one week into twelve days. In those twelve days, they’d learned about everything there was to know about one another in every way, except for one. As badly as they both wanted it, and boy did she want it, Haley kept Meagan’s words of warning close to her.
Just as she wasn’t the type of woman to sleep with a guy so soon after meeting him, Ben wasn’t the type of man to coerce her into doing anything she didn’t want to do.
Twelve days of spending every possible minute together led to precisely the predicament Haley had never wanted to face. She had to find a way to let him go. To Afghanistan, a good eight thousand miles away, on the other side of the world where people she knew nothing about would like nothing better than to see him dead.
How can I let him go?
Haley clasped his hand tighter, not wanting to break contact with Ben one second sooner than she had to. How had she gotten herself into this predicament?
I will never fall for a man in the military.
Her proclamation of less than two short weeks ago returned to haunt her, like the Ghost of Christmas Past in the Dickens novel.
Had she really said that? Absolutely. And as she’d spoken those words, she had meant every flipping one of them. It seemed fitting that Ben entered her life on that very night, as though God’s sole purpose had been to make a mockery of her determination. Her brother’s words … “Never say never, Haley girl” … echoed in her mind.
Her eyelids drifted shut as she leaned her head against Ben’s chest, turned her face toward the source of warmth and comfort, and breathed him into her. The delicious scent of him mingled with Dolce & Gabbana’s Light Blue cologne for men, always managed to make her a little weak at the knees. His arm tightened around her, letting her know that he didn’t want to let go, either. Haley slipped her right arm around his waist, reveling in the feel of taut, hard muscles under her hand as she struggled to get closer, knowing she could never be close enough.
“I know, babe. I know.” His deep voice, accompanied by a soft kiss to her crown, seemed to reverberate in her skull, echoing in the crisp, stillness of the fall air. The soft sounds of music surrounded them, courtesy of someone’s I-tune list. At the present, Keith Urban strummed the heartbreakingly mellow guitar and crooned Making Memories of Us. The song had somehow turned into their song in the time they’d spent together.
The fire pit on his mom and step-dad’s back deck glowed with warmth on this unusually cool fall evening, hissing and spitting sparks at their shoes. They sat before it, in a two-seated glider, moving slowly back and forth. Neither of them wanted to leave their comfortable positions, lest they break the mesmerizing spell of being one with the other.
He’d be gone in thirty-six hours. Overwhelmed at the thought, Haley’s heart constricted, forming a lump in her throat. She swallowed painfully, unable to keep the quiet sob from escaping.
He wrapped both arms around her, hugging her close. “Please don’t, babe. Please don’t cry. I’ll be back before you know it.” His voice, whisper soft in the air, still managed to sound so strong, so controlled.
“I’m sorry, Ben. I’m t
rying.”
“Don’t apologize for not wanting me to leave. That’s a good thing.”
She knew he was smiling as he spoke, which made her smile, too. “It’d be great if I could be as strong as you, but I’m not.” She tried to loosen her grip, but when his hand tightened around hers, she brought both up to wipe her tear-streaked face.
“Sure you are, Haley. You just don’t know it yet.”
She let the weight of her head fall back against his shoulder as she met his gaze. He lowered his lips to hers for what she thought would be a quick, innocent kiss. It turned deeper, his tongue mingling sweetly with hers as his arm tightened around her. It wasn’t the first time he’d kissed her like that, but it had never happened in front of his family.
She pulled back enough to whisper a mild reprimand. “Ben, not here.”
He grinned and kissed her again before pulling back. “Why not? You think these people don’t know I’ve kissed you before?” Snickers from around the deck accompanied his statement.
Ben’s sister, Kristy, chimed in. “Don’t worry about it, Haley. We know. Every chance he gets, boy do we know.”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean he has to subject the rest of us to it, constantly, I might add,” his brother, Zeke, threw in. “Go rent a room somewhere, for Christ’s sake.”
Ben’s mother, Monica, jumped to her feet. “No! No room. Whatever you two want to do, you can do right here.”
Ben’s right brow lifted as he looked up at his mom. “We can?” He stood, pulling Haley up alongside him. He bent at the waist and lifted her like a sack of potatoes over one shoulder in one smooth movement.
“B-e-e-e-e-n-n.” Haley’s screech of horror filled the air. “What are you doing? Put me down.” She gasped for air, craning her neck to see what was going on. When she realized he was heading for the doorway she beat on his back with both fists. “Put me down, Benjamin—now.” She stiffened, as a sharp whack from his large hand landed on her butt. At least she thought it was Ben’s hand. From her disadvantaged viewpoint, it may well have been someone else’s hand. She could only blame the blood-rush to her brain for her next comment. “That better be your hand on my butt, Benjamin Bonin.” Ben’s laughter combined with several other snorts and snickers to complete her utter mortification. Haley issued a low groan. “That’s not what I meant.”
