by Lee Rose
Hannah laughed softly and dropped a light kiss on his chest and snuggled closer into his body. “Sounds good to me, lover.”
* * * *
Hannah woke up and tried to stretch her legs but she couldn’t move them. Heavy, warm limbs held her down. She opened her eyes and saw Ben holding her tight in his arms, their legs still entwined together. She smiled as last night’s memories came to mind. Ben was a wonderful lover, making sure she had found her pleasure before giving in to his own. She had orgasmed so many times it was no wonder she had passed out on him. He looked so adorable in his sleep but she didn’t think he’d appreciate her saying that out loud. He liked his tough guy image. His shaggy brown hair was all over the place and she smoothed his hair out of his face.
She leaned over and kissed his cheek, feeling the stubble growing already, wanting to see his sexy green eyes open up.
“Mmm,” he mumbled, sleepily snuggling into her soft, warm body and nuzzling her neck softly, spreading light kisses all over her neck and shoulder. “What a way to wake up, honey. Keep touching me and we‘ll stay here all day long.”
Hannah smiled and playfully shook his chest with her hand. “You need to feed me first, sheriff, then we’ll talk about more touching.”
Ben groaned and stretched his arms above his chest and yawned lazily. Then he grabbed her until her body was rolled underneath his body. Her eyes had a soft, slumberous look to them and her smile was soft and affectionate. It was a look he wanted to see on her every morning for many years to come. “Can we negotiate? Like maybe sex first then food?” he asked with a boyish grin.
Before Hannah could answer him his doorbell rang and he groaned, letting her go. “Great. That’s probably Jackson ready to kick my ass. He accepted us dating, not you spending the night with me without the dating first.”
Hannah laughed. “Quit whining, you big baby. I am a grown, twenty-five-year-old woman and can spend the night with whoever I want. I don’t need big brother’s permission.”
Ben growled and pulled softly on her long golden hair, wrapping it in his fist. “I’d better be the only man who has that privilege, or I’ll turn you over and slap your ass so hard.” He squeezed her butt cheeks and smiled wolfishly making the threat useless. “Maybe I will anyway. Do you tan down by the creek nude? I’ve driven myself crazy wondering.”
“Come surprise me one day and you will see,” she said, giving him that flirty smile that melted his insides and got him hard as a rock. The doorbell rang again three times in a row. Ben sighed impatiently and got out of bed and pulled his jeans and a T-shirt on. “If I’m not back in five minutes, come and save me, okay? I don’t need Jackson to put me out of commission. I have plans for you.”
Hannah sat up fully naked, knowing he was taking a good look at her bare breasts. “Okay, but try not to get hurt, Ben. We have negotiations going on and I’m willing to compromise.”
Ben looked at her full breasts and hard pink nipples and groaned. “Terrific, Hannah, now I have to answer the door with a hard on. Jackson will kill me for sure now.” He slammed the door listening to her laugh and he couldn’t prevent the grin that came to his face. Hannah was his—finally.
Chapter Two
Ben ran his hands through his hair and tried not to look like he spent all night in bed with his best friend’s sister. He plastered a polite smile on his face and opened the door, expecting an angry Jackson Hawthorne. Instead it was Dorothy Anderson. “Great,” he muttered. He’d rather deal with Jackson than this woman who had been chasing after him for months now.
“Dorothy, this is a surprise,” he said in his polite sheriff’s voice, not wanting to deal with her right now. Dorothy was a hairdresser in town who had been pursuing Ben for a date for months now. She was attractive, with short black hair and brown eyes, slim and tall and close to his thirty years of age. He had turned her down repeatedly because Hannah had been the only woman he wanted in his bed, but Dorothy was tenacious, never giving up, and following him everywhere.
“I wanted to come by personally and see if everything was okay.” She smiled at him, running her hands up his chest in a suggestive manner that made him uncomfortable, but he always strived not to be rude to women.
“You broke our date last night because of work and I wanted to make sure I got a rain check, Ben. I worked hard to get a yes out of you. I thought maybe we could spend the day together,” she said suggestively.
Ben groaned with regret and stepped away from her roaming hands by casually stepping back. He was an idiot for sure. What had possessed him to say yes to a date with Dorothy? He knew it was his depression over Hannah not talking to him and now he had Hannah here and he had to get rid of Dorothy fast, but how? He couldn’t be rude. He was the sheriff of Bear Creek, after all. It wasn’t Dorothy’s fault that he had made such a stupid mistake.
* * * *
Hannah had been lying in bed impatiently waiting for Ben to come back and make love to her again. She knew it wasn’t Jackson because Grace, her brother’s girlfriend, knew she was coming out here to spend the night with Ben and she wouldn’t let Jackson come out here to cause a scene. Suddenly she heard a woman’s voice and curiosity got the better of her. She got out of bed and put a T-shirt of Ben’s on and tiptoed down the hallway quietly. Was Ben dating someone else? She knew she had a suspicious mind but she couldn’t help it. Rumors about Ben and his one night stands ran rampant around town. People were always trying to guess who he was sleeping with and it had always burned Hannah up inside because she had wanted it to be her. She tried hard not to listen too closely because if she did, she knew it would hurt.
She stood in the hallway and listened, unashamed that she was eavesdropping on a private conversation. It was Dorothy Anderson and she was telling Ben she wanted a rain check on their broken date last night and she was rubbing her hands all over his chest. That jerk, he was dating someone and still slept with her? Wiping the angry tears from her eyes, she stomped back into the bedroom and started getting dressed while cursing Ben and all men in general. What a fool she was.
Ben came in to the bedroom, looking at Hannah pulling her clothes on in an angry manner and he knew Hannah had heard Dorothy at the door. He had taken the coward’s way out and gotten rid of her by saying he’d call her later because he was still trying to sleep after a late night of working.
“Hannah, it’s not what you think.” He began to say desperately but she interrupted his speech by lifting her hand and signaling him to stop talking.
“Save the lies, Ben. You should have told me last night you had a girlfriend and I would have left you alone,” she said, softly trying her best to hold her tears in and not let them out in front of him. Her heart was breaking and the pain was unbearable. She felt humiliated and hurt and needed to get out quickly before she broke down in front of him, letting him know exactly how much he had hurt her. Her pride couldn’t handle that.
“Dorothy is not my girlfriend,” he denied in a grim voice. “She’s been chasing me around for months. She caught me at a weak moment when I was depressed over you and I said yes to a date, but I swear I had no intention of touching her—ever. The only woman I want in my bed and in my life is you.”
“Well, you’ve had me, Ben. Now you can move on to Dorothy or whoever is your next notch on your bedpost,” she said, glaring at him angrily. Once she was done dressing she went to walk out of the bedroom. Ben grabbed her arm, stopping her angry exit from his room.
“Let’s talk about this, Hannah, like sensible adults. I am serious about you and only you,” he stated angrily. “After all these years of knowing each other, don’t you have any trust in me at all?”
Hannah looked up at him with wounded eyes, ignoring the pain in her chest. “If you are serious about being with only me, then why are you dating Dorothy, too? How can I blindly put my trust in you with that kind of information? I know you as a good sheriff to this town and as a good friend to my family, but not as a lover, Ben.”
“I made a
huge mistake saying yes to her, I admit that. I regretted it instantly and was going to cancel anyway, but there was a car accident and I worked all day yesterday and late into the night.”
Hannah didn’t say anything for a minute then she whispered sadly. “Bye, Ben. I should have known better. You’re such a playboy and always will be. You always have some woman following you around and you seem to like it. What do you need me for?”
Hannah ran out of his house and for her truck while wiping the falling tears from her eyes. She heard him yelling her name out but she ignored him and started her truck and drove away feeling sick to her stomach. She pulled over to the side of the road as soon as she was a good distance from his house. She put her face in her hands and cried as if her heart was breaking, and it was. Hannah didn’t trust easily. Her own parents had never been happy in their marriage, always fighting and arguing. Her first lover in college had cheated on her, cementing her idea that love and faithfulness just didn’t exist. Jackson’s girlfriend, Kelly, had cheated on him and sent him into a downhill spiral of depression until he met Grace. Grace was different. She had her own problems with love but she was honest and truly loved Jackson. It gave Hannah hope that she had been wrong all this time, so she finally gave into getting involved with Ben despite all her fears. Ben always had the single ladies of the town surrounding him and stroking his ego and Hannah had always sworn she would not be part of his harem and yet here she was. She would have given anything for a love like her brother shared with Grace, but she realized it wasn’t going to happen for her. It had been foolish to even try.
Chapter Three
Hannah sat alone at the break-room table at the animal shelter she managed in town. She was a licensed veterinarian and divided her time between the Bear Creek animal shelter and the family ranch, the Lazy J. She had always loved taking care of the animals on the ranch and once she got her license, she started the shelter in town. She had dreamed of opening the shelter most of her life. People could come in and give abandoned animals a chance for a loving home or get medical treatment for the pets they already had. Now if her personal life could run as smoothly as her chosen career, life would be great.
The shelter was closed already but she stayed behind to be alone and think. She had the lights dimmed low and it was quiet, a little too quiet. But she couldn’t think at home surrounded by her family. She loved her aunt Ida, Jackson, and Grace but it would be hard to hide her upset, and emotionally she felt fragile right now.
Her head was still reeling from the pregnancy test she had taken this morning. She was pregnant with Ben’s baby. She put her hands on her flat stomach and hugged the knowledge to herself, deciding that she would keep the baby no matter what. Men couldn’t be trusted, but she’d have a baby to love and take care of. It had been six weeks since that morning she argued with Ben over Dorothy. She went home that morning and cried on Grace’s shoulders. Grace had wanted to go and sick Jackson on Ben but Hannah didn’t want that. Jackson and Ben had been close friends since they were children, with Hannah always trying to tag-along behind them. Hannah didn’t want to ruin that for her brother by involving him in her problems and making him choose sides. He had always looked after her along with Aunt Ida after her parents died when she was a teenager. She was a big girl now and it was her mistake. She had resisted Ben’s flirting with her for over a year and had given in despite her doubts. She had envied the strong bond between her brother and Grace and wanted something like that for herself.
She had always had a crush on Ben but had gone through great pains to pretend indifference to him. He was kind-hearted and handsome and she had dreamt of him often and still did. Only now she didn’t have to imagine how it felt when he touched her body. She knew exactly how amazing his fingers felt on her body and how a simple kiss could melt her insides faster than a nuclear meltdown. All she had now was a one night memory, but it would remain private. She would never be like those other women in town bragging about sleeping with the sheriff.
After moping around the house for two weeks, Grace had finally convinced her to give Ben another chance to explain about Dorothy. Hannah went to the sheriff’s station feeling happy, with lunch for the two of them from Flo’s Café. She missed him so badly and couldn’t sleep at night thinking about their lovemaking. She would spend most of the night staring out her bedroom window and wondering if Ben missed her or had he moved on. She wished she had stayed and talked things out with him that morning but she had felt humiliated thinking he had slept with her while dating another woman.
She had walked in feeling hopeful and who did she see there? Dorothy sitting across the desk from him in a tight, silky blue dress, heels, perfect hair and face full of make-up. She was leaning toward Ben’s desk, flirting and giggling with him and Ben was sitting back in his chair looking happy and relaxed. He was eating some chocolate chip cookies out of a tin and laughing at something she said.
He obviously hadn’t been suffering or missing her at all and that hurt the most. He looked up when he heard the bell on the front door ring and looked at Hannah with surprise in his eyes, then winced when he saw her blue eyes glittering with anger and hurt.
“Hannah. I am so glad to see you, baby.” He stood up from his chair and walked toward her with an awkward smile. The station was empty and quiet, everyone had gone to lunch except him.
“Obviously,” she muttered, looking at Dorothy’s smug smile and then at Ben’s guilty look. All of a sudden she felt self-conscious about her plain jeans and old college T-shirt, her long hair pulled up in a ponytail. She couldn’t dress like she had stepped out of a fashion magazine, not with her messy job. “I came to surprise you with lunch, but I see you have company already, so I’ll just leave,” Hannah said rudely.
She threw the lunch in the trashcan by his desk and walked out in a heated rush, her face red with anger. At least Ruth, the secretary, hadn’t been there to see her humiliation or it would have been all over town in an hour. Ruth’s favorite pastime was gossiping on the phone to anyone willing to listen.
Ben caught up with her outside before she reached her truck parked in front of the station. “Hannah. I didn’t invite Dorothy here. She showed up to give me some homemade cookies. I told her I didn’t want to go out with her but she doesn’t give up. Stay and she’ll get the hint and leave.”
“You obviously didn’t make it clear enough to her since she is here with you flirting and you looked pretty happy about it. Now she feels obligated to feed you, too,” Hannah observed angrily, getting in her truck and slamming her door closed so hard it made him wince. “I’m done being a fool over you, Ben. You obviously have all the attention you need.”
“I was trying to think of a way to get rid of her without being mean,” he explained, knowing it sounded like a lame excuse but it was the honest truth. Dorothy was a nice, lonely lady and he didn’t like being rude. “I’ve missed you but I was waiting until you had a chance to calm down before I went to see you.”
“Whatever. I’m late for work. See you around town, sheriff,” she stated in a tone full of disbelief.
Ben had called her a few times but she was tired of hearing excuses so she refused to talk to him. She’d get over him much quicker if she just avoided him. A clean break was best. It would be hard since they lived in such a small town together where they would run into each other often.
She knew Jackson wanted to interfere but she told him things just didn’t work out between her and Ben and to leave it alone. He wasn’t happy about it, but he agreed to it to keep Hannah from getting more upset.
This last week she had started feeling nauseated at different times of the day and had felt light-headed, too. She had just started taking birth control pills before sleeping with Ben and didn’t know enough about them to understand why they hadn’t been effective. She couldn’t blame Ben, she had told him she was on the pill and it was true. But no matter how it happened, this would be her baby. She didn’t need a man to complicate her life. They would
be okay, just the two of them.
* * * *
Ben sat on the porch with Jackson Hawthorne at the Lazy J. He was petting Roxy, one of Hannah’s dogs. Roxy was a friendly black and white border collie who loved attention. Hannah hadn’t come home from work yet and it was getting dark. He had driven by the shelter often, looking into the big picture window just to see if he caught a glance of her. She refused his calls and the one time he had been brave enough to go into the shelter, Amy, her assistant, had glared at him rudely and informed him in a cool voice that Hannah was much too busy to come up to the front.
“You think she’s okay, Jack?” he asked for the fourth time, looking at his watch, impatient to see Hannah. He had explained to Jackson about the misunderstanding with Dorothy and how Hannah avoided his calls, so he finally came out here in person to force her to talk it out with him. He would even let her yell at him if it would get them talking again. Hannah in a temper was a scary sight but he needed her. Tonight they would talk it out once and for all. He missed his golden temptress and couldn’t stop remembering her in his arms that night. He wanted a chance to prove to her that she was the only one for him.
“She’s been staying late at the shelter lately. She says they have been busy. I’ve been trying to get her to hire more help, but she is stubborn and says she can handle it. I’ll have Grace call her and see if she is still there,” Jackson said, getting up and going inside the house to talk to his girlfriend.
“Will you put in a good word with your mistress, Roxy? Tell her I am not a bad guy,” Ben asked the dog with a sad face and Roxy barked as if saying yes.
Jackson’s girlfriend, Grace, came out of the house a few minutes later. She was a young, petite woman with long, curly red hair and big brown eyes. She had been through hell in a previous relationship but had survived and found love with Jackson. Ben was so glad Jackson finally found someone kindhearted to love. She looked at Ben with sympathy and sat on the porch swing. “I called Hannah. One of the dogs is going into labor. She might be there a while.”
