Yours for the Taking Page 28

  They held each other for a moment until Ben took a deep breath and kissed her head. “I’m so glad you’re here. I don’t know what I would have done without you.”

  She looked away and slid to the side—anything to get some much needed distance. “You would have been fine without me.” Okay, she lied. He really did seem to need her.

  Ben shook his head. “No, I haven’t been fine since you left. I’ve been a mess.”

  God, she couldn’t handle this right now. “Come on. Drink up and let’s get you something to eat. We’ll deal with one disaster at a time.”

  Ben nodded and took her hand. “As long as we can talk about us later.”

  She was afraid to look at him, and fought the urge to run. She didn’t know which was worse, being away from him or being with him and waiting for the next shoe to drop. “Okay. We’ll talk after we know Gramps is out of the woods.”

  “Thanks.” Ben bent his knees so he was eye to eye with her. “I just need one more thing.”

  Gina opened her mouth to ask what when he swooped in and kissed her, pulling her hard against him. She dropped her purse and pressed her hand against his chest, not that it made much of a difference. His beard brushed her chin as he nibbled her lips. The feel of his lips against hers, his arms holding her, and his heart racing beneath her hand had every nerve-ending standing at attention along with few other things. She stilled, trying not to melt against him, and failing miserably. Kissing him had become second nature. She drowned in him, took comfort, and lost herself for a moment. Now what? She’d just set herself up for another heartbreak.

  When reality intervened, she ended the kiss and Ben stepped back. “God, Gina, I’ve missed you every second of every day we’ve been apart.”

  Gina closed her eyes; she didn’t want to hear this. She wanted to stick her fingers in her ears and sing to herself like she used to when she was a kid to drown out something or someone. When she opened her eyes, Ben was staring at her. “Let’s go get something to eat.”

  “I’ll be fine with this.” He held up the Gatorade.

  “Oh no, you heard Mike. Besides, I don’t want to answer to Kate if you pass out and end up needing your own hospital bed. You really do look like you could use a meal. It’s going to be a long night.”

  He took her hand in his and plied their fingers. “I’ll eat if you eat.”

  Gina shook her head. “That’s blackmail.”

  Ben tugged her away from the wall and up against him. “Yeah, I know. I’m a desperate man.”

  Ben wasn’t stupid. He wasn’t about to say that she didn’t look very good either. She was hiding it well, but she was as upset about Gramps as he was, she just handled the hospital thing better.

  While they waited for the elevator, he drank the bottle of Gatorade.

  Gina watched him with a smirk on her face. “Feeling better?”

  He tossed the bottle in the trashcan between the elevator doors. “What are you talking about? I’m fine.”

  “You looked as if you were about to pass out next to Grandpa Joe’s bed.”

  “What did you expect? I’d just run ten miles on an empty stomach. It wasn’t my brightest move.”

  “No argument here.” The elevator dinged.

  He put his arm around her and stepped through the open doors. “I’ve done a lot of stupid things lately.”

  He cursed under his breath when Gina’s phone rang giving her the perfect excuse to ignore him. “Hello?” she nodded. “As far as I know it wasn’t a heart attack. They took him to ICU for more tests.” She looked at Ben. “Yeah, he got here about a half hour ago. We’re just heading to the cafeteria to get a bite to eat.”

  The elevator stopped at their floor and they stepped out.

  “Do you want to talk to him?” Ben stepped closer to take the phone and she shook her head. “Okay, I’ll tell him.” She looked away. “Good, what time will you be landing? Ah huh. You’re flying into Kennedy? Okay, I’ll have Carlos pick you up. You can just leave your things in the cab and he’ll take them back to my place.” She shook her head. “Don’t be silly, I have plenty of room for everyone. I’ll see you in a few hours. Yeah, I’ll tell him.” Gina disconnected the call.

  “Kate didn’t want to talk to me?”

  “She said she loves you and she’ll be here soon.”

  “She couldn’t tell me that herself?”

  “I guess not.”

  “There’s a lot of that going around.”

  “What?”

  “Women not willing to tell me they love me even when they do.”

  Gina swallowed hard, stuffed her hands into her jean pockets, and looked at the floor. “Kate sounds as if she’s having a difficult time keeping it together. It’s hard when you’re so far away and someone you love is hurting.”

  Ben put his arm around her and kissed her temple. “Tell me about it.” They walked into the near empty cafeteria and looked around. Ben checked the clock. “I guess 4:30 at the cafeteria isn’t a busy time.”

  “Yeah, I hope it’s not just because the food is bad.”

  They each grabbed a tray. Ben took the first sandwich he saw and groaned when Gina put a salad on his plate too. “I’m not hungry.”

  “Tough. You look as if you haven’t eaten in a week.”

  She was right. He couldn’t remember the last time he had really eaten anything of substance. “Fine. Is that enough?”

  She shrugged and picked up a yogurt with granola and a salad. Ben didn’t say anything about the way she looked. As long as she was eating, he wasn’t going to complain.

  When they got to the cash register, he reached for his wallet only to remember he was still wearing his running shorts.

  Gina opened her purse. “I’ve got it.”

  Ben didn’t have much choice so he stood back and let her pay. He took their trays to a table by the window while she got them coffee.

  Ben watched her walk back to the table and held her chair. She rolled her eyes. “Would you just eat?”

  He sat and pulled the wrapper off the sandwich. It didn’t look appetizing—nothing did but Gina. He wanted to talk to her, but he wasn’t sure what he could say that wasn’t off-limits. “How’s Jasmine?”

  “She’s good. She’s getting bigger every day, and she’s doing well with potty training.” Gina stirred her yogurt and added granola.

  Ben picked at his salad. “Good, she’s a smart puppy.”

  Gina nodded and licked her spoon. Ben tore his eyes away from her mouth and looked back at the salad.

  “When did Joe come out?”

  He was tempted to say the same day she’d thrown him out of his own house, but thought better of it. “He was waiting for me when I got home from your place last week.”

  She nodded. “This is really awkward. Maybe it would be better if we just didn’t talk.”

  Ben reached across the table and placed his hand on hers. “Or we could stop avoiding the big white elephant in the room and talk about us.”

  Gina’s phone vibrated on the table and she ripped her hand from under his to reach for it. “Dr. Glass is ready to talk to us. Grab your food and let’s go.”

  Ben stood. “Okay, but this conversation is not over.”

  ***

  Several hours later, Gina flipped through a three-month-old People Magazine trying hard to ignore Ben sitting beside her. His big body practically took up the entire couch. Whenever she moved away, he moved closer until she was jammed against the arm. A lot of good trying to ignore him did. She noticed his every move. She checked her watch for the thousandth time knowing Kate and the family would be there any minute, and thanked God because she didn’t know how much more of this togetherness she could stand.

  Ben threw his arm around her shoulder and slid even closer. Soon he’d be on her lap. “People have angiograms every day. Gramps is strong, you heard Dr. Glass. Maybe they can do that balloon thing.”

  She looked up from the magazine she hadn’t been reading. “Did you ev
en look at Dr. Glass?”

  Ben turned to face her. “Yeah, sure. Why?”

  The man was clueless. “Dr. Glass and Mike both think Joe needs bypass surgery. It was written all over their faces.”

  “It was?”

  Gina blew her bangs from her eyes, tossed the magazine on the next chair, and got up to pace. “Yes. They have to do an angiogram, and maybe they’ll be pleasantly surprised and find an angioplasty will do the trick, but I wouldn’t bet the ranch on it.” As soon as she said the words, she winced. Damn it. When she turned to make another pass, Ben stood in her way.

  “I know how strong Gramps is. Either way, he’ll bitch and complain, but he’ll come out of it fine. Maybe now Kate will get him to follow his diet.”

  She gave Ben a long look. “You sure look a lot more confident since you ate.”

  Ben shrugged. “You were right, it was low blood sugar.”

  “I’m right about a lot of things.”

  Gina turned to continue pacing and stopped when Annabelle floated into the waiting room. Any woman who could seemingly float while carrying a baby seat complete with baby, baby bag, and a duffel bag had to be a freak of nature—and Gina meant that with the utmost love and respect.

  Gina liked Annabelle, but if Annabelle wasn’t so nice, Gina would really have to hate her. Annabelle was everything Gina was not—tall, long-legged, and social. But even in Gina’s unhappy state, she had to admit that Annabelle deserved all the happiness she and Mike had found. It hadn’t come easy.

  Mike returned to the waiting room carrying more coffee and shook his head at his wife. “What are you doing here?”

  Annabelle gave Mike a kiss before setting the baby carrier on a chair. “I brought Ben his wallet, phone, and a change of clothes.”

  Ben gave Annabelle a brotherly hug. “Thanks, Belle. Is Becca at the gallery?”

  “Of course.” She twitched her nose and shoved a duffle bag at him. “You need to take a shower and change. Mike, why don’t you show Ben where he can take a shower?”

  Mike didn’t look pleased to know Annabelle had been elbow deep in Ben’s underwear drawer. It was obvious he still hadn’t forgiven Ben for proposing to Annabelle. It didn’t seem to matter that Annabelle had never said yes, or that Ben and Annabelle were nothing more than friends.

  Oblivious to or possibly ignoring the tension, Annabelle unstrapped three-month-old Maria. God, she was cute with her Kewpie doll stand-up mahogany hair the same color as her mama’s with the most amazing blue eyes, and dimples everywhere—on her cheeks, her knees, elbows, and chubby hands.

  Gina tickled Maria’s tummy. She wore a onesie that said, “If It’s Drama You Want, Here I Am” with an embroidered jean skirt and little pink socks that matched her top. “Look at how pretty you are.”

  Annabelle plucked Maria out of her car seat. “Here. You don’t mind holding Maria for a minute, do you, Gina?” She threw a burp rag over Gina’s shoulder and handed her the squirming infant.

  “I, um…” Maria was thrust into Gina’s arms. She had no choice but to cradle the baby against her chest. Maria’s chubby little hands grabbed the edge of Gina’s blousy top giving the world a show. Gina rubbed her chin against Maria’s stand-up baby-fine hair while disengaging her hand. She tried to pull her blouse down while balancing the baby between her arm and shoulder.

  Annabelle smiled. “Maria, meet your Auntie Gina.”

  It had been forever since Gina held an infant, probably since Rafael, but it was like riding a bike, or so she assumed, since she’d never actually learned to ride a bike.

  Maria grabbed Gina’s nose, so she took her pudgy little hand and kissed it. When she looked up, she caught Ben staring at her with a faraway look in his eyes. She didn’t want Ben to get any ideas, but she wasn’t interested in handing Maria off either. Holding her was nice—she had that wonderful baby powder smell and everything about her was soft and cuddly. She was comfortable, and the way Gina felt right now, comfort was appreciated.

  She turned her back on the three adults and concentrated on Maria who looked as if she was used to being the center of attention. It must be nice to have parents who so obviously loved you and know there were people everywhere willing to give you whatever you needed. “You are one lucky little girl.”

  “Oh yeah, and she knows it.”

  Gina turned to find Annabelle standing right behind her. “I just came over to relay a message. Ben said he’d be right back. He ran down to grab a shower. How is Joe doing?”

  Gina waited for Annabelle to take Maria back and was relieved when she sat in a nearby chair. Gina rocked the baby, not quite ready to give her up yet and shrugged. “It wasn’t a heart attack per se. They’re going to do an angiogram in the morning. From there they’ll see if they need to do an angioplasty or bypass surgery.”

  Annabelle nodded. “Joe is strong as a bull. Either way, I’m sure he’ll be fine.”

  “I hope so. The rest of the family should be here any minute.”

  “Family? What family? Ben’s an only child and his parents are dead.”

  “Yeah, but he has Kate and his cousins.”

  Annabelle raised her eyebrows. “So, you got close to Ben’s family while you were on your pseudo-honeymoon, huh? And from the looks of things, you got even closer to him.”

  Gina shrugged and moved Maria to her other arm. “His family is great.”

  Annabelle touched Gina’s hand and gave her that no-nonsense look Rosalie had down pat. It must run in the family. “Ben and I have been close friends for a few years now and I’ve seen a myriad of women come and go.”

  “Annabelle—”

  “Don’t interrupt me. This is something you need to hear so just listen and nod until I’m finished.”

  If Gina wasn’t holding Maria, she really would have stuck her fingers in her ears and started with the “la la las” because this was one conversation she most definitely did not want to have.

  When Annabelle was sure she had her full attention, she put her hands on her skinny little hips. “You broke Ben’s heart. I’ve never seen him like this before. He spent the last week stomping around the loft like some kind of weird zombie. He wouldn’t eat, he wouldn’t talk except when Joe yelled at him, and he’s been drinking heavily. He never does that.”

  “Yeah, well, it hasn’t been all fun and games for me either.”

  “Then you need to do something about it.”

  “What?”

  “Fix whatever it is that’s broken, and move on.”

  “Annabelle, I really appreciate what you’re trying to do here, but I can’t fix it.”

  “Why?”

  She jiggled Maria who had started to fuss. “Because I’m what’s broke. I don’t do relationships. I’m not good at them. It would be better for both of us if we just ended it.”

  “Oh really? Then why are you here?”

  “Because—”

  Annabelle held up her hand. “That was a rhetorical question. You’re not supposed to answer, you’re just supposed to nod and listen, remember?”

  “How much longer are you going to lecture me?” Maria rested her head on Gina’s shoulder, found her own thumb, and sucked.

  “As long as it takes. Now stop interrupting and listen.” Annabelle’s hands went into motion. “I’m gonna tell you why you’re here. You’re here because you’re just as in love with Ben as he is with you. And you’re not broken, you’re just a little battered and bruised. The only thing you need is to get your head out of your ass long enough to see the writing on the wall, Gina. You’re miserable without Ben, and Ben’s miserable without you. You’d both be a lot less miserable together. You’re already married, so just suck it up, and solve your problems instead of avoiding them.”

  “Is that what you did?” Gina cradled Maria in her arms.

  “Yes, and look how well it turned out.”

  She lowered her voice when she saw Maria was having a difficult time keeping her little eyes open. “Mike didn’t leave you.�
�

  “You’re wrong there. He did leave. But Gina, the thing is, he came back. If you had stuck around long enough, Ben would have too. When you left Idaho, he sat in the park for a week waiting for you. That has to count for something. If he didn’t love you, he never would have worked so hard to get you back.”

  “He didn’t. When I told him I wanted a divorce, he said he’d give it to me.”

  “No, he told me you wanted him to live up to the stupid deal the two of you made. That’s different. It’s a guy thing. Good men never go against their word. He may give you a divorce, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to stop trying to get you back.”

  “It doesn’t?”

  Gina set the sleeping baby back in her car seat and kept an eye on the hallway waiting for Kate and the others to arrive to save her from Annabelle.

  “What are you looking for?”

  Gina turned to face her. “Ben’s family. They’re supposed to be here any minute, Kate, Trapper, Hunter, Fisher, and Karma. Though I’m not sure if Fisher can make it.”

  Annabelle’s eyes went wide. “You’re kidding me, right? Karma, Trapper, Hunter, and Fisher? Who would pick out names like those?”

  “I did.”

  Chapter 19

  Gina heard Kate’s voice and smiled at Annabelle before turning. “Kate! I’m so glad you’re here.” She hugged her and held on tight. Once she let go, she turned and got hugs from Trapper, Hunter, and Karma too. “Annabelle Flynn, this is Kate, Trapper, Hunter, and Karma Kincaid. Everyone, this is Ben’s partner and good friend, Annabelle Ronaldi-Flynn, and her darling little girl, Maria.”

  Karma smiled and moved toward Annabelle. “So, you’re the one Ben proposed to right before you married that doctor.”

  Annabelle’s eyebrows rose. “Yes, that would be me.”

  Gina never noticed it before, but Karma looked like a blonde version of Annabelle. It might explain why Annabelle and Ben were never anything but friends.

  Trapper brushed his cowboy hat against his thigh. “So, how’s Grandpa Joe?”