Five Ways to Fall (Ten Tiny Breaths, #4)(108)

“Reese?” I hear Wilma’s voice from somewhere in the back of the house.

“Tomorrow, Mama!” Ben’s already moving up the stairs.

“Benjamin, you bring that girl down—” The house is thrown into darkness as the lights cut out, distracting Wilma from her scolding, leaving me dangling upside down over Ben’s shoulder on a staircase, in the pitch black.

“Shit.” Ben stops to pull his phone out and set the flashlight app before he continues, not putting me down until he has climbed a very narrow set of stairs up to a third-floor room in the attic. “We’re sleeping up here tonight,” he announces. My feet hit the wood floor just as a dull glow fills the room, the by-product of a small battery-operated lantern that sits on a simple wooden table.

“Wow.” I can just make out the space. It’s quite large, though most definitely only a fraction of the attic’s full size. Everything has been painted white—the floors, the slanted walls, the trim—which makes a nice backdrop for all of Ben’s dad’s wooden furniture, including a rather stately bed, covered in a colorful quilted duvet. The two large dormer windows must offer ample light in the daytime. Right now, though, they’re protesting noisily against the winds and pelting rain. “It’s so cozy up here. Very cottage-like.”

My knapsack sails through the air past me a second before strong hands grab my shoulders and spin me around. I find myself facing Ben’s giant grin. He doesn’t hesitate to lay a heavy kiss on my lips and I don’t hesitate to lean into it, the feel of his tongue against mine intoxicating. When he finally breaks free, his arms still coiled around my waist, he murmurs in that low crackle, “This was a fantastic surprise.”

“Really? Because I’ve been known to surprise people in rather unpleasant ways,” I tease, though inside I’m a basket of live wires. I let my hands rest on his broad chest as I fall into it to inhale his clean, soapy smell. I can’t believe how much I’ve missed it.

He chuckles as he rests his cheek on top of my head. “That’s one of the things I love about you.”

I’m not sure whose limbs stiffen first but as soon as that sentence—that word—comes out of his mouth, there is definite tension shooting through both of us.

Ben relaxes first, his groan making me curl into him again. “You know what I meant by that, right?”

“That you’re madly in love with me, of course.” We’ve joked about it so many times. Now I’d give anything for it to be real. My breathing feels shaky as I force my head back to meet his gaze, hoping he doesn’t see the truth I’m struggling to veil.

That I have accidentally developed real feelings for him.

But he does. Instantly. Or he sees something, anyway. His knuckles graze my cheek as wariness flickers over his features. “What’s wrong?”

I open my mouth to respond—to say what, I have no idea! How the hell am I going to broach this subject without scaring him away?—but I’m saved by an incoming call on his phone. Ben holds the phone up and I see Mason’s name. “Did you tell him you were coming?” Ben asks.

“Yeah.”

“I’d better get that, then.” He drops a quick kiss on my head as he breaks away to answer. “Hey, Mace. What’s up? . . . Yeah, she just made it . . . Huh . . . No . . .” He glances at me and then takes a few steps away. “Okay.”

I listen absently as I unzip my bag and dump the contents out onto the bed, including the simple black dress for tomorrow that’s going to need ironing after sitting rumpled on the back of my bike for almost three hours. I almost beat the rain. Thanks to the torrential downpour that hit as I was riding up the driveway, along with Ben’s leisurely caveman stroll to the house with me slung over his shoulder, every stitch of clothing on me is soaked through. I’m freezing, and the lower temperature up here certainly doesn’t help. I unzip my jacket and toss it onto the back of a chair. My boots and socks come next. I’m intent on getting my pajamas on, even if it’s only for the short term.

“Are you sure this is . . .” He heaves a sigh. “Okay . . . yeah, I guess . . . See you tomorrow, man.”

I frown. “What’d he want?”

Ben’s arm drops heavily to his side, an unreadable expression turning his face eerily calm. There’s a long pause as he very obviously drifts off in thought, his eyes rolling over me, my bag, and all the clothes that have spilled out, and then back to me.

“You’re kind of freaking me out, Ben. What’s wrong?”

I hear the tiny exhale he releases before he tosses his phone onto the table. “He was just worried about you getting here with the storm, is all.”

“Are you sure? Because he was acting really weird tonight. He hugged me.”

Ben smiles as he walks over to where I’m standing. Dipping his face into my neck, he lets his mouth linger there, sending shivers through my body. “What, like a big bear hug?”

“More like he was hugging a porcupine.”

Ben chuckles. “Mason’s a weird guy. Weird guys do weird things.”

“Stop talking about my stepbrother while you’re doing that,” I mumble, letting my head fall back as the rumble of his voice tickles my skin.

“Fine.” He disappears suddenly. I turn in time to see him make a sweeping move across the bed, scattering everything onto the floor.