Forever Mine (32 page)

As if she swam under water, the nearby conversations dimmed. The Mariachi music faded to a brassy whisper. Now that Ben had her full attention, he seemed to have trouble articulating. Seconds dragged on, and she waited for him to crack the silence.

He continued to stare, which gave her time to collect her thoughts. She discounted any danger from Dave. Had the threat been real, Ben would never have wasted so much time jerking around Mr. Chicago.

Ben placed his hands around her waist and lifted from the rail. “Let’s get out of here.”

He took her hand and ran interference through a wall of people, pulling her along behind him. Once down the short flight of steps, leading to the beach, he guided her away from the restaurant.

The evening had cooled once the sun slipped beneath the horizon. A refreshing breeze ruffled Allie’s hair. Ben dropped her hand. His gaze seemed focused far out to sea where the moon silvered the water’s surface.

“I’m not sure where…how to begin.”

His declaration shocked her. She had never imagined him to be unsure about anything. She took advantage of his hesitancy, which emboldened her. Away from the commotion, her scattered thoughts finally coalesced into something whole and that seemed to make sense.

“Why don’t we start with what brought you down here?”

His cheek twitched, producing the dimple.

“You,” he said and turned his gaze to her.

“Oh.” Allie’s heart flip-flopped.

He nodded but fell quiet again.

Fingers interlocked, Allie’s palms pressed against her chest. “How did you find me?”

Her question brought a hint of a smile. “I’m a detective. I follow clues.”

Puzzled, her brow crimped. Then she remembered the phone call from Michaela in which she and Allie discussed the trip to Cabo. Ben had overheard their conversation.

His smile gave way to a serious expression. He shook his head slowly. “I made the worst mistake of my life the day I walked away from you. I never wanted to hurt you. I nailed myself pretty good, too.”

Allie’s heart jumped.

“You were willing to take a chance on me. I don’t know if you still feel the same way, but I flew over a thousand miles and combed just about every hotel and bar in Cabo looking for you, so I could find out.”

Allie brushed an invisible speck of lint off his lapel. There was so much she wanted to say to him, but something the size of a Volkswagen seemed wedged in her throat along with the pineapple residue from her drink.

“I won’t minimize the personal problems that come with my job,” he said. “But I can learn to live with the guilt, if you can deal with the disappointments that are certain to crop up.”

“Are you always so hard on yourself?”

He nodded. “Yeah, probably.”

“Do you think you can lighten up on it a little?”

He let a few seconds pass. His eyes latched onto hers. “I’ll sure as hell try.”

She released a deep sigh. “What more can a woman ask?”

“So…” He took her hand and intertwined his fingers with hers. “If you’re willing to give a relationship a shot, then I am, too.”

She’d give him the rest of her life if he asked for it.

“If you need time to think about it, I understand. Maybe I should have waited until you got home.”

“You waited a week. Don’t you think that was long enough?”

“Way too long.” He brushed aside the long wispy strand of hair that lay against her cheek. “I guess this isn’t the worst place to tell a woman that being without her is the most rotten kind of torture.”

“Torture, huh?” Allie had also learned a lot about misery over the past few days.

“Yeah.”

She reached for his other hand. “I guess we’ll have to do something to change that.”

He did a quick survey of the beach. “Hmm…any ideas?”

She gazed into his eyes. “Offhand, I can think of a few.”

He smiled. “Does that mean you’ll take a chance…give it a good shot?”

“The best I have to give.”

He moved in closer, cupped her face in his hands, and brought his lips to hers. She sank against him and curled her arms around his neck. She was certain he’d proved that, in the future, there would be no more backing away.

About the Author

Carolann Camillo is a recipient of the Coffee Time Reviewer's Recommend Award for her historical romance, “Moonlit Desire.”

A native New Yorker, she lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her college professor husband. She is also the author of two contemporary romances, “The Very Thought of You” and “Southern Star,” the latter co-authored with Phyllis Humphrey.

Carolann
loves to talk to her readers and can be found at http://www.carolanncamillo.com.

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