by M. Malone
Katie made a choking sound.
“But I’m probably not supposed to talk about that either, I guess. So I’m sorry for whatever I did that made you uncomfortable. And I really hope you aren’t going to quit.”
She still hadn’t said anything and Bennett was really starting to get nervous.
“And I also feel like I should point out that I warned you ahead of time that I was really bad at all of this dating stuff and was probably going to offend you,” he added.
Katie finally turned to look at him directly. “You didn’t offend me. You were amazing. And that scared the hell out of me.”
Bennett knew he was bad at decoding all these flirting signals but he truly was lost if being amazing in bed led to getting kicked out the next morning. “So you asked me to leave because things were too … good?”
“I handled that so badly. But I wasn’t sure what to think. A guy like you probably wouldn’t want to be with me long term. You’re this super genius and you have those abs,” she sighed. “It just hit me all at once that you were probably just having a fun, one-night stand and I was getting in too deep and probably going to be hurt.”
“Katie, that wasn’t a one-night stand. Not for me. I respect you. I admire you. The fact that I fantasize about your lips all the time doesn’t negate those facts.”
Her brow crinkled slightly before her head dropped to her hands. “Bennett Alexander. You have dirty fantasies about me?”
“On a constant basis. It’s actually a good thing my lab coat is so long and covers everything.”
She snickered and he joined in. Before she could think too hard about things and possibly come up with more reasons to be afraid of this, he figured he’d better state his case.
“I meant what I told your son on Saturday. Any man would be lucky to spend time with you. And that’s all I’m asking for. I know you've been hurt before by an asshole who didn’t deserve you. But I’m asking you to take a chance on me.”
Katie scooted closer and rested her head on his shoulder. And said the sweetest word he’d ever heard.
“Okay.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
♥
Bennett shifted the wrench he held from his left hand to his right and walked outside to get a breath of fresh air. His hands were sweating already inside the heavy work gloves he sported and his back was aching from bending over the broken tractor for so long but he barely even noticed. All of his attention was drawn back to the woman watching him from across the field.
“You think we need a new axle?”
The voice of Grady, one of the ranch hands who’d worked for his family the longest, came from behind him. Bennett didn’t fool himself into thinking that the other man actually needed his opinion on what was wrong. Just looking at the machine, it was obvious what the problem was. However, a broken axle meant the machine was out of commission and that it would probably be cheaper to buy a new one. Since his mother was the one who approved new machinery purchases on the farm, it was likely Grady just didn’t want the responsibility of telling Julia Alexander that they needed to spend around twenty grand on a new one.
“Unfortunately, I think we need a new tractor. Fuck.”
Grady chuckled. “Don’t let your mama hear you. You’ll get both our mouths washed out with soap.”
That made Bennett smile, too. It was one of his mother’s favorite warnings when she heard foul language.
“That’ll be the least of our worries when she finds out we need a new tractor already.”
Grady winced. “Good point. Well, you seem to have this in hand. I’ll let you handle it while I check the rest of the equipment.”
If he hadn’t been so agitated, Bennett would have laughed at the other man’s obvious relief. His mother could never be called a tyrant (she was much too sweet for that). However, she had a stare that could make a grown man feel like he was about two feet tall. She was also very frugal. His grandfather used to say she’d squeeze a penny so tight it would squeal. Considering how economical his grandparents were, this was the highest compliment his grandpa could give.
And now he was the one who’d have to tell her they were officially over budget for equipment and they hadn’t even gotten through planting season yet.
He sighed and wiped at his forehead absently before going back inside the barn. The temperature had soared over the last few days and it was even higher inside the old structure. The air was thick around him and Bennett had to concede that he’d spent way too much time inside lately. His body wasn’t used to this much physical labor anymore.
Glancing around, he reached over his head and yanked his shirt off. He wrinkled his nose at the sight of the sweat stains on it. Taking the shirt off wasn’t helping that much as far as temperature but at least he didn’t have the clammy material clinging to his skin anymore. He turned his attention back to the machine in front of him and concentrated on removing the broken axle. It would likely cost a pretty penny to try to get it repaired, but it was worth a try.
Something made him look up just then and his eyes met Katie’s again. The heat that overtook him was altogether foreign and unfamiliar. The past two weeks, by unspoken agreement, they’d decided to enjoy whatever this thing was developing between them.
He wasn’t sure what to call it and she hadn’t offered any suggestions for defining it either. Truthfully he was a little scared to push her for anything more than what she’d already granted. He knew it was a huge step for her to trust another man with her body and her heart but she’d managed to worm her way into every area of his life until he couldn’t imagine her not being there.
The one thing she wouldn’t budge on was spending the night. Bennett scowled as he yanked at the wrench, trying to pull the mangled axle away from the body of the machine. He channeled his frustration into the metal. He understood that she couldn’t just blow off her responsibilities, he truly did. She had children and they were her first priority, rightly so. But there was definitely a part of him that wondered if it said something that she seemed to have no interest in putting him anywhere other than last on her list.
Something ugly and twisted sprang up in his mind as he remembered the horror show of dating in college. The girls who were more than happy to take advantage of his sexual prowess under cover of night but didn’t want any of their friends to know they were together. Good enough to fuck but not enough to be seen in public.
Katie wasn’t like that, though. She’d never acted like she was embarrassed by him and they’d been out in public plenty of times.
Not as a couple, though. That was a practice date and it wasn’t like we were kissing in public. Be honest: how do you think she’d react if you tried that move?
Bennett flinched, the mental image of Katie recoiling from him in public so vivid that he dropped the wrench. On reflex, he tried to grab it before it fell into the body of the machine and his arm made contact with the ripped metal.
“Fuck!” His anguished shout carried throughout the barn but he was in too much pain to care. Blood streamed from the long gash on his arm and he took several deep breaths before carefully maneuvering his arm back out of the machine.
When he turned around, he stopped short. Katie stood right behind him.
“Bennett, what’s wrong?” When her eyes landed on his bloody arm, she swayed slightly. “Oh my god, what happened?”
He grabbed his shirt from the ground and pressed it against the long gash, hoping the dirt on it wasn’t going to give him an infection. “I need you to call someone for me. Take my phone out of my back pocket.”
She did so, her fingers shaking slightly and then input the passcode he dictated for her. Bennett had hurt himself plenty of times around the farm; it was an inevitability when there were machines, and tons of work to do. However, he knew that Katie wasn’t used to this sort of thing.
“Find the contact information for Grant.”
She scrolled the list and when she found the right one, she glanced up at him. �
�Grant Alexander?”
He nodded. “Yeah, he’s my cousin. I need you to tell him I got hurt and ask him to come.”
She hit the contact and waited patiently as it rang. And rang. He could see the panic rising until she finally hung up.
“He’s not answering. Let me take you to the emergency room.”
Bennett froze. There was no way in hell. He hated hospitals. They were filled with everything he tended to avoid in one place: people, germs and lots of questions.
“No, I’m fine. It’s just a scratch. We can just wait until Grant can come out. He’s patched me up plenty of times before.”
Katie swallowed and then motioned toward his arm. “Um, Bennett. That’s way more than just a scratch.”
He looked down at his arm. The shirt he was holding against the cut was soaked with bright red blood.
♥
Katie focused on the action at hand instead of the blood-soaked fabric on the table. It had gotten her through plenty of unpleasant situations before.
Hold steady.
Wrap the gauze.
Tuck the ends under.
She followed Bennett’s soft verbal instructions until his entire arm looked like it had been mummified. It made him look even worse which was hard to do after he’d almost keeled over at the sight of his bloody arm.
Damn men and their egos. Even after almost face planting into the ground, he’d still been dead set against going to the hospital. He’d just started walking toward his lab and she’d had no choice but to follow. She didn’t want to push too hard. For all she knew he’d had some traumatic experience in the hospital as a child, but if they hadn’t been able to get the bleeding under control she was prepared to take drastic measures such as knocking him out and dragging him to the hospital against his will. Or doing the one thing he’d begged her not to do.
Tell his mother.
“See now it’s fine. It’ll probably be scabbed over by the time Grant even gets here.”
Katie rolled her eyes. After calling several times, she’d finally gotten the elusive Grant on the phone and his annoyed voice had changed immediately when he heard Bennett was hurt. She was glad someone seemed to be taking this seriously. Her eyes slid over to Bennett sitting up at the stainless steel worktable, looking for all the world like he was actually impatient that he couldn’t immediately go back to work.
“Does it hurt a lot?”
He shrugged. “It’s not as bad as the time I fell out of the old hayloft. I fractured my arm that time.”
Katie shook her head. “You’d think I’d be used to this by now after having two boys. But you just scared the hell out of me.”
That got his attention. “I’m sorry I scared you.”
Although she’d wanted his attention, it was more than a little overwhelming now that she had it. The past few weeks she’d tried to do the modern, casual thing and just live in the moment. But every day that got harder and harder. How did you pretend that you weren’t getting attached to someone? There were times when he’d look over at her in the lab and the next moment, they were wrapped around each other. They could go from screwing each other’s brains out to working in complete silence easily. Well, it was easy for Bennett anyway. She’d observed the way he worked and he was a master at compartmentalizing. Katie couldn’t do that though. She didn’t know how to love him just a little or only at the appropriate times.
She feared that she was quickly becoming addicted to him and these stolen moments in the middle of the day weren’t going to be enough.
“Knock, knock,” a deep voice called out.
Katie jumped at the unfamiliar voice but Bennett just raised his uninjured arm in a half-hearted greeting.
“Hey Grant.”
His voice sounded slightly slurred and Katie suspected the effort of fighting off the pain was taking its toll. Not to mention the strain of appearing calm so he didn’t freak her out. Damn it, she couldn’t help that she got a little frantic at the sight of blood! Wasn’t that some sort of biological emergency instinct? You were supposed to freak out at the sight of blood.
“What’s this I hear about my cousin almost losing an arm?”
Bennett looked at Katie. “This is my cousin, Grant. Grant, this is Katherine Mason. Mrs. Katherine Mason.”
Katie furrowed her brow. Katherine? He’d never called her that before. Why was Bennett suddenly acting so formal?
She held out her hand in greeting. “Hi, Dr. Alexander. I’m Bennett’s assistant, Katie.”
Grant was tall with honey colored skin and curly dark hair. He also looked a little like Bennett except his eyes were as dark as his hair. Then he smiled and Katie could have sworn she heard angels singing in the heavens above.
“Jesus. Aren’t there any ugly Alexanders?”
At Grant’s snort of laughter and Bennett’s scowl, Katie realized what she’d just said. “Oh god, I’m sorry. That was rude.”
Grant set a black bag on the stool next to Bennett. “You’re fine. And yes, there are definitely a few of us who got the short end of the stick aesthetically. Poor Bennett here must not have been around the day the gods were giving out looks.”
Katie’s mouth fell open at the mean comment. What the hell was this guy’s problem? Then she saw that both of the guys were chuckling and figured it must be an old joke between the two of them.
“I mean, really. Ole’ green eyes here is really a hideous sight.”
“My eyes are hazel,” Bennett interrupted.
Grant held out his hands in surrender. “My apologies.” Then he turned back to Katie. “As I was saying, Hazel-eyes here has always been the ugly duckling. I don’t know how Aunt Julia does it. This is truly a face that only a mother could love.”
Katie crossed her arms. “Okay I’m not getting in the middle of whatever this is,” she said, gesturing between the two of them.
“You sure?” Grant’s brown eyes held a naughty twinkle. “Because according to my ex-girlfriend, being between two Alexanders is a common fantasy around these parts.”
Embarrassment made her stutter. “You don’t … I can’t even talk to you right now.”
“Leave her alone, Grant.” Bennett looked murderous and like he was a second away from slugging his cousin, hurt arm be damned.
Grant had been busy unraveling the gauze covering Bennett’s arm and when he finally got all the layers off, the sight of the ragged bloody skin had him hissing in dismay.
“Hmm. This doesn’t look good. Are you sure you don’t want to go–”
“Just stitch me up, Grant.”
Katie put a hand against her stomach. The gash looked even worse on second glance. “I have to go. The kids will be home soon.”
Bennett nodded. “Of course. Sorry to keep you late.”
She hesitated but before she thought it through, she leaned over and kissed him lightly on the cheek. “Listen to what the doctor tells you. Even if he is kind of a jerk.”
Then she left before she couldn’t get the strength to do it.
♥
After the door shut behind Katie, there was complete silence. Bennett figured it probably wasn’t a good idea to rip into the guy who was about to shove a needle through your skin so he mentally recited the periodic table. Then he made the mistake of looking up and into his cousin’s smug face.
“If my arm wasn’t throbbing like a bitch right now you’d be missing some teeth.”
Grant continued setting out his supplies on the sterile pad he’d unfolded on the table. He didn’t say anything just raised one elegant eyebrow. Somehow that damn eyebrow just ticked Bennett off even more.
“And what the hell was that ‘every woman fantasizes about being between two guys’ thing? Do you even hear yourself sometimes?”
Grant shrugged and the fact that he couldn’t be bothered to defend himself only made it worse. Bennett could feel himself getting more and more worked up and it annoyed him that his cousin could get under his skin so easily. Especially since he knew that
annoying people was the reason Grant acted the way he did. He’d always been a troublemaker, even when they were kids.
“You don’t have to try to seduce every woman you come across, you know?” Bennett huffed, finally running out of steam.
“Now where’s the fun in that?” Grant drawled, right before he injected Bennett with something.
“Oh shit.”
All his anger drained out at the sharp prick. Luckily the sharp pain was followed by a blissful numbness. He let out a sigh of relief.
He hadn’t been lying to Katie when he told her that he’d had worse. But having your arm throbbing angrily for an hour wasn’t an experience he was keen to repeat any time soon.
“You enjoy torturing people. That’s the real reason you went to med school. Don’t pretend. You can’t fool me.”
“Oh no. You’ve found me out,” Grant deadpanned.
Bennett looked in the other direction but he could still see the up and down motion of his cousin’s arm as he stitched the wound, along with feeling the slight tug and pull on the numbed area.
“You’re going to need help for a few days. It’s better if you don’t move this arm too much in the beginning or you’ll pull the stitches out. This is a bad cut. You really should have gone to the hospital right away.”
Bennett ignored his cousin’s stern stare. “Your serious doctor face doesn’t work on me. I’ve seen you pee on yourself, remember.”
Grant grunted. “Treating family is the fucking worst. I’m serious, Ben. I know you wanted to look tough for your girlfriend but the next time you open a vein on a piece of rusty metal, get your ass to the hospital.”
Too shocked to even address his cousin’s bossy directive, Bennett just shook his head. “I wasn’t trying to be tough for Katie. You know I hate hospitals.”
“I know that. But even you usually aren’t this stubborn about it. Plus, you're in control now. It's not like when you were little and having all those tests.”
