Home Sweet Home

by Melanie Shawn

  Take what she was doing at the moment, for instance. Grabbing a quick and fun lunch with Sam. They hadn't had time enough on their lunch hours to do a whole lengthy sit-down-and-order-and-have-to-wait-for-the-check production of it, so they had grabbed some pre-wrapped sandwiches at Two Scoops and were sitting at a sidewalk table eating them and catching each other up on their lives.

  Sure, it wasn't what most people would consider the height of excitement and glamour, but hey – good food, good friends, and the distinct absence of anything or anyONE who was aggravating and annoying her? Lauren would take it.

  “So, Sam,” Lauren asked with interest, “What has it been like working side by side with your hot man day after day? It seems like you guys would be too distracted to get any actual work done.”

  Sam was one of the two ski pros at Mountain Ridge Outdoor Adventures. The other one was her fiancé, Luke, and the two of them were still firmly in the 'honeymoon' phase of their relationship, even though they hadn't yet gotten to the actual honeymoon. Which is to say, they were pretty much obsessed with each other.

  Sam smiled a dreamy, twitterpated smile. “Oh, you know,” she said, “We do manage to get a thing or two done now and again. And, you're right, it is pretty exciting to be around him all the time. All day long I feel like there's this electric current running through me.”

  “That's lust,” Lauren informed her with a small grin.

  Sam laughed it off. “Oh, scoff if you will,” she said, “but I have a feeling that pretty soon I'm going to be asking you that very same question.”

  Lauren looked puzzled, “What do you mean?”

  “Oh, I don't know,” Sam said loftily, “Host Boy sure seems taken with you, and – sorry, Laur, but it's true – you seem awfully taken with him, as well.”

  Lauren crinkled her forehead.

  “First of all, if you define 'taken with me' as treating me like utter crap, then – yes, I suppose he is quite taken with me. And as for me being taken with him? Well, I'm not even going to touch that statement with a ten foot pole, except to say that you are dead wrong.

  “Not to mention the fact that, even if we did like each other, your question still makes no sense, because...in what possible way would we be working together?”

  Sam shrugged, unphased by Lauren's criticism of her argument.

  “Oh, I don't know, I mean...you're a real estate person, he's a real estate person. I figured you'd be doing, like...real estate things together. Stranger things have happened.”

  “Not much,” Lauren shot back.

  “Whatever,” Sam smiled serenely.

  Lauren felt the need to push the point, though, to make Sam understand the error of her logic. She explained, “You know, not all people in the same profession end up working with each other at some point in their career. What if a person was a cop in Montana? You wouldn’t ever just assume that they might someday be walking the beat alongside someone on the NYPD, would you?”

  Sam considered this. “Depends,” she finally decided.

  Lauren crinkled her forehead in consternation. “On what?” she queried.

  “Do they look at each other the way that you and Ben look at each other?”

  Lauren laughed and threw up her hands. “I give up!” she surrendered. She realized that there would be no use in further attempts to get Sam to come around to her side in this argument. Regardless, she couldn't stop herself from at least giving it one more shot. When she opened her mouth to continue to try, however, she saw Sam glance just over her shoulder at something that caused a sly smile to creep across her face.

  “Well, speak of the devil,” Sam said quietly, and Lauren felt tingles run up and down her neck.

  Before she could turn and confirm her suspicions of what (or rather WHO) Sam had seen over Lauren's shoulder, she heard Ben's smooth voice from just inches behind her.

  “Hello, ladies,” he said, approaching the table and, just as casually as you please, placing his hand on Lauren's shoulder.

  She wanted to be angry. Hell, she wanted to be infuriated. But she just couldn't seem to muster up any outrage over the competing sensation raging through her – butterflies.

  Butterflies, for God's sake! She was so not a butterflies kind of girl. But there it was. Undeniable.

  Without being too obvious about it, Lauren twitched her shoulder just enough so that Ben's hand was cast off of it. From the looks of the smile on his face, and how it wavered not at all, however, he was completely unaffected by this small rejection.

  Ben sat down at their table, taking the empty chair.

  “Oh, please. Feel free to join us,” Lauren deadpanned.

  “Thanks, I think I will,” Ben replied smoothly, as if she had been utterly sincere, “Those sandwiches look delicious. I believe I will go and get myself one. Be right back, ladies.”

  And with another flash of his brilliant smile, he had disappeared inside of Two Scoops, joining the queue of people waiting to be served.

  As soon as he was out of earshot, Lauren turned to Sam and, in a harsh whisper, said, “Why didn't you tell me he was coming towards us? I can't believe he had the nerve to just invite himself to join us! And did you see his hand on my shoulder? Not OK!”

  Sam was quietly amused, “Was it really, though? Was it really not OK?”

  Lauren shook her head, “It was so presumptuous, so familiar...”

  “So hot,” Sam finished.

  Lauren shook her head, and Sam – who had been giggling softly through Lauren's entire diatribe – burst out laughing.

  “I don't see what's so funny,” Lauren said demurely, with a raised eyebrow.

  “Your face,” chuckled Sam, “If you could have seen the way you flushed when I said it was hot...oh, wait, just grab a mirror! You're doing it again!”

  Just then, Sam's phone chimed and she brightened visibly, pulling it out of her pocket. “It's probably Luke,” she chirped happily, swiping at the face of her phone.

  Her grin spread even wider at the information her fingers had uncovered. “It is!” she trilled, laughing as she then read the text.

  “Oh my God,” she said, amused, “He loves to text-flirt, all throughout the day. I think I'm finally getting the hang of it. I found out that I can actually be sassy if I try.”

  “Kind of like how you can be funny if you try?” Lauren inquired dryly. Sam's corny attempts at humor were well-known and lovingly ribbed in their group of friends.

  Sam stuck her tongue out and retorted – yes, Lauren had to admit, somewhat sassily, “LUKE thinks I'm hilarious. And that's all I really care about. So, there.”

  After this retort, however, she became completely absorbed in typing her reply to Luke, her face a mask of focus, her thumbs flying over the small qwerty keypad.

  Ben came over and rejoined them, unwrapping his sandwich. Lauren felt as tight as a high wire, all tension and jangling nerves. After less than a minute, it became simply too much for her to handle, and she began to gather up the remnants of her lunch.

  “Sorry to have to rush off like this,” Lauren said in hurried voice to Ben, making an excuse. Anything to get out of there. She felt as if she couldn't breathe, like she was a tightly coiled spring about to snap. “Sam and I really have to get going.”

  At the sound of her name, Sam's head popped up from her text message composition. “Hmm?” she asked, distracted.

  “I was saying that we really have to get going,” Lauren clarified for her, hoping she would pick up on the cue and just go along.

  Sam wrinkled her brow in puzzlement and exclaimed, “I haven't even finished my sandwich yet!”

  OK, so...too much to hope for, then.

  “Well, eat it in the car, then. We have to go,” Lauren said urgently.

  Sam shrugged in acquiescence and wrapped up her sandwich, stowing it in her purse.

  “Bye, Ben,” Sam said cordially as she got up from the table and began to move away, down the street.

  “Nice to see you. I'm glad you
came to have lunch with us.”

  Ben laughed. “I think that makes one of you,” he joked, winking at Lauren.

  Lauren stood up straighter, her spine stiffening. “Well, it's not as if I was expecting you,” she said defensively.

  “Oh, I know,” came Ben's languid reply, which he paired with an equally frustrating knowing smile.

  Lauren added, “I'm not leaving just because you're here.”

  Ben laughed, “Darlin', I never thought that.”

  “Good.”

  “Until you brought it up, that is.”

  Lauren's eyes narrowed. She didn't want to let him have the last word, but she couldn't think of anything to say. Her brain was short-circuiting. He was doing that to her intentionally, with the way he was looking at her!

  His lazy yet appreciative assessing gaze, his slow and sexy smile...but the thing that got to her the most about the way he was looking at her is that his smile seemed to be hiding some amusing truth, something that he, and only he, was privy to. Something that he wasn't about to let her in on.

  And. It. Drove. Her. Up. The. Wall.

  She didn't like his 'cat that ate the canary' attitude. She didn't like it one bit. But, neither did she want to get into an argument with him, right in front of Two Scoops.

  She settled for maintaining her dignity and simply bade him goodbye, turning on her heel and striding toward her car. Before she reached it, though, she heard him call after her, “Oh, and, by the way...Lauren?”

  Determined to maintain her dignified bearing, she turned to face him, back straight, countenance placid.

  “Yes?” she asked politely.

  That damn 'cat that ate the canary' grin spread even wider.

  “You have mustard on your mouth.”

  --- ~ ---

  By the time Lauren and Sam pulled into the parking lot at Mountain Ridge Outdoor Adventures, Lauren had worked herself up into a self-righteous state of indignation. After they had left Two Scoops, they had stopped by Samantha's house so that she could grab some papers she needed that afternoon, and then Lauren had driven her to Mountain Ridge because she needed to stop by and see Amanda anyway, about some investment properties that she and Justin were thinking of purchasing.

  The entire time that the two of them had been in the car, Lauren had done nothing but vent to Sam about the nerve of Ben Stevens, or variations on that theme.

  “I mean, the way he just sat there with that self-satisfied little half smile as he said,” she lowered her voice to mock his inflection, “Oh and, by the way, Lauren, you have mustard on your mouth. I mean, come on! How is that supposed to make me feel?”

  Sam shook her head and, although she was more focused on the screen in front of her, dryly intoned, “Shocking.”

  Lauren looked over at Sam as they pulled into their parking space. She still hadn't raised her head from her smart phone.

  Lauren laughed, “OK, Sam, we're here now. You can actually go flirt with him in person.”

  Sam looked up, as if from a trance, and saw where they were, and exclaimed, “Oh, good!”

  Lauren smiled, “Glad someone's happy.”

  Sam laughed, “Oh, Lauren. You'll come around on Ben.”

  Lauren crinkled her forehead, “That's not where this is headed at all!”

  Sam shrugged, “There's a thin line between love and hate.”

  Lauren snorted, “Well, that's a line that I definitely won't be crossing,” she said firmly.

  Sam grinned broadly. “We'll see,” she said airily.

  “We sure will,” Lauren said, grimly and with conviction.

  As they got out of the car, Lauren was supremely annoyed to see that, a mere two cars over from the space where she and Sam had parked, Ben was climbing out of his rental car at the same time that she and Sam were getting out of her Mercedes. He spotted them over the tops of the vehicles which lay between them and smiled broadly, just as Sam was hugging Lauren goodbye and striding off quickly toward her office.

  “I just can't shake you today,” he teased, “Tell the truth now. Are you following me, Lauren?”

  Lauren's arched eyebrow reflected the coldness in her voice as she replied, “Hardly.”

  “I don't know,” Ben persisted in his lighthearted banter, “It kind of seems like you are. Although, it's not like I could blame you. You wouldn't be the first woman to be so overwhelmed by my charms that you couldn't get enough.”

  Although she was usually too reserved for such displays outside the company of the Fabulous Four, Lauren couldn't help herself – she rolled her eyes. Instead of doing what she knew she should do with this kind of foolishness, which was simply to ignore it and refuse to engage, she responded, “It would be somewhat difficult for me to be following you, considering that at both places we've seen each other today, I arrived first. The more likely scenario is that you're following me,” she finished flatly.

  “Oh, now why would I be doing that?” he continued in the same playful tone, “That would take all the fun out of wondering when and if I might randomly run into you, and hoping that it would be soon.”

  Lauren's eyes widened slightly. Beneath the light tone, she recognized the ring of sincerity. Was this true? Was he actually hoping that he might run into her?

  “Oh, I...” she trailed off, and then finished lamely, “that's nice.”

  Ben smiled a small, sweet, seductive smile. “It is nice,” he confirmed, “Seeing you is really nice.”

  Ben's soft and yet flirtatious words put Lauren off her game more than any amount of taunting or teasing ever could have. Verbal barbs she could handle. She could deflect and return those all day. But, sexiness? Coming from this man, the one that she was trying to resist being attracted to at every turn? That just about undid her.

  Lauren turned and started up toward the offices, deciding that simply leaving the situation was the only way that she could gain the upper hand – or even remain steady on her feet, for that matter. Her tactic was in vain, however, as Ben merely fell into step behind her.

  Lauren decided that speed was the thing – she needed to get out ahead of him. But this plan backfired, as well, as she quickly found out that her four-inch heels were not made for walking quickly in the light dusting of snow that coated the parking lot.

  The heel of her right foot sank down unexpectedly, upsetting her balance, and with little to no control over her extremities and no way to stop it, Lauren felt herself begin to fall, hurtling quickly towards the ground at a frightening pace.

  In her mind, she knew that any second she would be flat on her ass in the snow, but there was literally nothing she could do about it except for try to brace herself for impact. It was simply going to happen, no matter what her feelings about it.

  And yet...it didn't.

  The instant before her derriere hit the white stuff, she felt strong arms catch her up from behind and lift her neatly back onto her feet. For a moment, she couldn't move. The feeling of Ben's arms around her overwhelmed her completely. After she was finally able to control her muscles again, though, she let out a shaky breath and thanked him politely.

  It was ironic, she thought to herself grimly, but the feel of this man's arms around her had frozen her body more completely than landing in the snow ever could have.

  --- ~ ---

  Ben reminded himself yet again to keep his head in the game. He was at work, and he needed to keep his mind on filming.

  Honestly, he couldn't even believe that this was something he needed to remind himself of. Maintaining laser-sharp focus was never something that was a problem for him, in fact, aside from the ability to immediately read people and ascertain what approach they needed in order to close a deal, it was probably his single biggest professional asset.

  When it came to work, whether that work was real estate agent related or television reality show hosting related, there was no one more focused than Ben Stevens.

  That is...until this week. And particularly until today. Why today? Because today
was the day that they were filming introductions and pick ups all around downtown Hope Falls. Which meant that they were filming in the two block radius surrounding Lauren's office.

  In fact, they were currently filming right across the street from her door.

  Which was the source of Ben's current distraction.

  It seemed he simply could not stop glancing over at the large glass window which fronted her storefront office, hoping to catch a glimpse of her. Every time he caught movement in his peripheral vision, it took everything he had not to whip his head around toward her door, to see if she was coming out, hoping that the movement he had glimpsed would be Lauren, stepping out onto the pavement in all her refined beauty.

  He felt completely pathetic, however, it seemed he could not stop. If all of his glances had yielded nothing, then possibly he could have quashed his impulses, but that hadn't been the case. Nope, his efforts had not been entirely in vain. He had been rewarded several times with glimpses, through the window, of her impeccably styled blonde hair as she moved about inside.

  That had been a while ago, however. He had not caught even the smallest glimpse of her since he had seen two clients walk into her office nearly forty-five minutes ago. He assumed that she was meeting with them in a portion of the office which wasn't visible through the storefront window.

  Ben was actually glad of this. He did not know if he could have even functioned if the entire time he had been standing here, the sight of her was one mere, tantalizing head turn away.

  He didn't really understand why he was acting like this. He wasn't 'interested' in Lauren. She was far too much trouble for him.

  Not only did he not enjoy girls who made him work too hard to be in their lives, he didn't even have time for it. So, this wasn't a matter of wanting to actually make a play for her. He just found himself powerless to keep his eyes off of her.

  That was normal, right?

  Ben was certain that the reason he was having such a hard time keeping his mind on work and his eyes off of Lauren right now was simply because he hadn't seen her in three whole days.