“He may have made that inquiry,” she evaded.
“And was it answered?” I asked, though the evidence it was was pushing away from his Explorer. It was then I knew why Cindy was wheeling me to the doors and not a nurse’s assistant or an orderly. She didn’t want to miss this or miss reporting back to the girls.
“Mm,” Cindy mumbled her evasion this time.
I couldn’t get pissed at this. Not because it wasn’t worthy of being pissed at, but because Benny was moving in our direction, we were moving in his, and all my attention was taken in concentrating on watching him move.
He moved well. He looked good. He was tall. He worked on his body and this work was extremely successful. He had a lot of thick, messy black hair. And he had a face that was movie star handsome in a way that, without a doubt, launched a million wedding fantasies, even from women who just caught a glimpse of him walking down the street.
My eyes remained locked on him as the doors swished open, and we trundled through at the exact same time Benny arrived at our location.
I opened my mouth to say something but didn’t get a word out, because Ben grabbed my bag from my lap and thrust it Cindy’s way with a murmured, “Could you hold that, darlin’?”
Cindy took it and I again opened my mouth to say something and, again, didn’t get a word out because Ben bent, shoved a hand under my knees, one around my waist, and lifted me into his arms.
But gently.
There was pain, but it was minimal. Mostly because it came with his strength and warmth and the smell of his aftershave.
Shit!
I said something then. It was loud, but it was lame.
And what it was was, “Ben!”
He didn’t even look at me. He turned to Cindy and said, “I’ll take that now.” She must have given my bag to him because he immediately went on. “Thanks, beautiful. You’ve been great. Got it from here.”
After delivering that, he turned and started walking to his SUV.
I glared around his shoulder at Cindy.
Cindy stood with hands on the handles of the wheelchair and grinned at me.
“I’m canceling that big bouquet of flowers and three-layers-deep box of Fannie May I ordered for the nurse’s station!” I yelled.
She pulled her phone out of her scrubs, lifted it, and I knew she took a picture while Benny opened the back door to his SUV in order to toss my bag in, because she called, “That’s okay. I’ll share this shot with the girls.” She looked from her phone to me. “This’ll be all the thanks we need.”
I had more to say to my now-ex-nurse Cindy, but I lost sight of her and couldn’t retort when Benny deposited me (gently, God!) into the front passenger seat.
I turned my glare to him.
“You aren’t taking me home,” I declared.
“You’re right. I’m not,” he replied, attention on the seatbelt.
He wasn’t?
“I am in your truck, Ben,” I pointed out.
His eyes came to mine, and I was glad he had his shades on because he had beautiful eyes. Amazing. A rich dark brown that could dance with laughter and warm with feeling, both having the capacity to melt your heart.
Unfortunately, his eyes also looked good hidden behind his silver wire-rimmed shades.
“I’m not takin’ you home. I’m takin’ you to my home,” he clarified.
I blinked. I stared. I totally forgot about how cool his sunglasses looked.
Then I lost my mind.
“I’m not goin’ to your house!” I shouted.
“Yeah, you are,” he replied, attention back to the seatbelt he was pulling around me, shoulder strap yanked way out to clear my head.
This was thoughtful. I didn’t need that strap pressing against my body. It would kill.
I ignored his thoughtfulness and declared, “I’m goin’ to my house.”
“Nope. You aren’t.”
“I ordered a taxi,” I told him.
“Found him. Gave him a twenty. Sent him on his way.”
He was leaning in to latch the seatbelt, and since he was that close, I got a good whiff of his aftershave. I also got a good view of the back of his head with his thick, black, wavy hair.
It was hair you’d run your fingers through just because. Any occasion granted you, you’d take it.
If you were standing close and talking.
If you were lying around, tangled up together, watching TV.
If you were kissing.
I closed my eyes.
God really, really hated me.
I opened my eyes. “You can’t send the taxi away. I gave them my credit card. They’re gonna charge me anyway.”
I heard the belt click and he adjusted his position so he was facing me. He was still leaning into the cab of the truck. He was still close. And I could still smell his aftershave.