Need Me (Broke and Beautiful #2)(41)

When he noticed her staring at him, he raised a dark eyebrow. “Yes?”

That familiar mannerism and tone reminded her of how Ben spoke to students in his classroom, and a subsequent flare of lust ignited in her belly. Oh boy. This was bad. Very, very bad. “What am I supposed to tell my parents about you just showing up here?”

He gave her a serious look as he backed the truck out of its parking spot. “I can only tell you what I’d like you to say, Honey. That I’m your boyfriend who couldn’t last a full week without you. The second half is already true. We’re just working on the first half.”

Don’t throw yourself at him. Don’t. “You have to stop saying things like that.”

“Why? Is it getting to you?”

“Not ready to say yet.” Ben pulled the truck to the edge of the parking lot, and she directed him to take a right. “What was your plan if I told you to go jump in a lake? Not that I haven’t ruled it out,” she rushed to add.

“For tonight, my plan would stay the same. Take you home and check into the motel in town. Tomorrow would be a little more challenging, since I’d have to convince you to change your mind.”

“Motel?” She shot up in her seat, wincing at the flash of pain in her backside. “Are you trying to give me a permanent twitch?” When he only looked confused, she clarified. “This is the South, Ben. My mother would just as soon dance naked in our front yard than let a guest stay at a motel.”

“Even if you’re still angry with me?”

“Especially if I’m still angry with you. ‘Keep your enemies close’ might as well be the state motto.”

He slid her a heated look. One that told her exactly what was on his mind. But not hers. Definitely not hers. “Well, this makes things considerably easier.”

“ ‘Easy’ isn’t the word I would use.” She encompassed her body with a circular hand gesture. “This here is Fort Knox. Especially with my father around. Unless you want to go back to New York minus testicles.”

“It’s not on my top ten list.” Honey tried not to be miffed that he didn’t appear bothered by the lack of nookie on the table. It made her wonder if he had a plan cooking behind those scholarly looking glasses. “Who was Elmer to you, Honey? Please note that I’m speaking in the past tense.”

“My high school sweetheart.” She pursed her lips. “You jealous of ol’ Elmer, Ben?”

“ ‘Jealous’ is too common a word. His existence is a threat to my sanity.”

Lordy. If her heart kept fluttering to her throat, it was going to get good and stuck. “Well. It doesn’t feel good, does it?”

His eyes closed briefly. “It wasn’t my plan to arrive with Viv on Friday, Honey. I ran into her down the street and saw an opportunity to—”

“Let me down easy.” Viv. She hated that he shortened the woman’s name. Hated it. She shook her head while directing him to take a left turn onto the dirt road leading to her family’s farm. “I don’t understand. Nothing has changed since then.”

Since there was only one residence on the dead-end road, Ben correctly pulled to a stop outside the old white clapboard house. Inside, she could see her mother’s silhouette moving in the kitchen window. Shadows being cast on the walls of the living room, where her brother watched television from his permanent position laid up on the couch. Home. Only now she was seeing it through an outsider’s eyes. She pictured him, with his education and a professional athlete for a father, in a brick town house with ivy crawling up the side. What would he think of her country family and their country ways?

When the silence stretched, she looked over at Ben, who was watching her closely. “You’re wrong, Honey. Everything has changed.”

BEN HAD NEVER met a girl’s parents before. Ever. He’d dated a single mother once, which technically meant he had met a parent. Just not a parent of the person he was dating. Don’t get ahead of yourself, you’re not dating her yet. But somehow, by the grace of God, he was going to be sleeping under the same roof as Honey tonight, when he’d flown here fully expecting to sleep in some form of the Bates Motel. Those expectations, combined with his ferocious hangover, had led to some pretty disturbing dreams on the flight to Kentucky. More specifically, someone yanking aside his motel shower curtain and tossing live guinea pigs at him. Which was only slightly less daunting than meeting Honey’s parents. Because he’d never met a girl’s parents. He didn’t get a test run, however, and this wasn’t just any girl.

It certainly didn’t help that as they climbed onto the porch Honey tensed up beside him and looked like she might be pondering a sprint in the opposite direction. As young as she was, she’d probably only brought home one lucky guy to meet her parents, and he couldn’t think about that. It made him want to break things, and that probably wouldn’t make the best first impression. Nice to meet you, Mrs. Perribow. Smash vase.

What had Russell said about meeting parents? Never bring chocolates for the mother because it implies you think she’s unhealthy. Never discuss baseball with the father over dinner because it inevitably leads to indigestion and he’ll associate you with a sour stomach for the rest of his life. Right. Not much help there, since he hadn’t expected to meet Honey’s mother tonight and was thus chocolateless. Dinner had long since passed. He was on his own.