He turns his head. “Like what?”

“Like you are hiding something from me.” I frown. My shoulders drop a little. “Ben, what’s going on?”

Christ, what now? And why would any part of this be amusing?

He grabs my hand and brings it to his mouth, kissing the back of it. “I’m taking Nolan over there tomorrow after I get off work. Their visit will be brief. Angie knows that. I don’t know if she had a lot to say or not. I said my piece and hung up.”

Confused, I stare at him. “Okay.”

He laughs a little. “I’m not fighting a grin ‘cause of that, Angel. Believe me. I don’t want to deal with this shit. I’d rather keep Nolan away from Angie, but I know this will keep things more amicable and in the end, it’ll only benefit us. I’m sorry. Don’t think I’m happy about anything involving her. I have other things on my mind I’m thinking about. Things involving you and me. I’m excited. I can’t help it.”

I blink.

He’s excited? Things involving him and me? What things? I want to be excited about something.

Leaning into his shoulder, I glare at him, pursing my lips and fighting my own smile. “Care to share, Officer?”

“That would ruin the surprise, wouldn’t it?”

“It’s a surprise?”

He grins. Those two massive dimples appear.

I exhale sharply.

Sheesh. How are dimples even sexy? They’re supposed to be cute. A quirky abnormality. But on Ben, they’re downright lethal. Dangerously alluring. I can barely think straight when he smiles at me like this.

And him smiling right now is the only response he’s giving up. He isn’t going to tell me anything about this surprise of his.

Well . . . two can play at this game.

Sitting up a little taller, I steal my hand back and turn my head, looking out into the yard. “I have a surprise too. A kinky surprise. It’s epic to the nth degree. Probably illegal.” I smirk when I feel his eyes on me. “Not telling you anything about it either.”

“When is this surprise going down?”

“Tomorrow.”

I pinch my eyes shut, clenching my teeth and growling, annoyed with myself for not holding to my previous statement. A little annoyed with Ben for getting information out of me so easily.

Pathetic. I can never keep anything from my husband. Just being in his presence is like taking a shot of truth serum. And this is a good surprise! It should be kept secret.

Come on, Mia. Play the game well or don’t put yourself in it.

“That’s all you’re getting,” I promise. I actually sound convincing.

Ben leans further into me. His nose brushes against my hair. “This surprise have anything to do with that sexy as fuck slip you were wearing today when I was pushing inside of you?” he asks quietly, even though there is no way the boys can hear us right now. They are too far away and being too noisy themselves.

Still. Whispered words have a bit more indecency to them than things spoken at normal octaves. And Ben is all about the indecency.

I tilt my chin. My cheeks burn.

Damn it.

“I have no memory of such thing,” I lie.

He laughs darkly in my ear. “Which part, baby? Your ass in my hands while you fucking owned my mouth, my fingers stretching you until you begged me for more, or my cock filling that tight pussy. You telling me you’re forgetting some of that?” He grips my thigh. My entire body shudders. “‘Cause I’m betting you remember every second of it, pretty girl. I’m betting you’re getting wet right now just thinking about what we did.”

Blushing, I turn my head and bring us nose to nose, expecting to see desire pooling in Ben’s eyes. Hunger, but only recognizing love. Strong and steady love. That warmth he has inside of him, pouring out onto me.

His motive becomes clear.

“Are you trying to distract me, Benjamin Kelly?”

“Maybe.”

“Why?”

He reaches up and moves his knuckles over my cheek. “‘Cause I don’t like seeing my girl upset. If I can change that, make you smile somehow, I’m going to do it. I don’t want you worrying, Mia. Ever. This shit with Angie is going to be handled. I know me telling you that you have absolutely nothing to worry about with Nolan isn’t going to stop you from sitting out here and thinking the worst. I see you doing it, baby. I thought maybe I could take your mind off of it for a minute. Get you thinking about something else. Did it work?”

Of course Ben plays dirty when it comes to distraction. I wouldn’t expect anything less.

I couldn’t appreciate anything more.

Nodding, I hold onto his wrist. “Yes. It did. Thank you.”

“I don’t want you thinking you’re ever alone, Mia. What you feel, I feel. Anything that upsets you, tears me apart. It’s always been like that.”

“Always? Even before?” I ask, fighting tears again, smiling at my own absurd question and the tender look he’s giving me.

Even before . . . He knows what I mean—when we both hated each other. When Ben had nothing but mean things to say to me and I had nothing but awful thoughts filling my head about him. When I associated the name Benjamin Kelly with every curse word I could think of, and he barely spoke mine without tacking on a few of them.

Did it tear him apart upsetting me back then?

I know the answer. And I know the one he’s going to give me too.

Because this is Ben. My Ben. The man who convinces me every day without realizing it that my life was always his.

Even before.

“Yeah, Angel,” he answers with nothing but honesty in his voice, trusting those words and breathing meaning into them, enough so that I’ll accept his certainty and forget the one I was sure of.

We choose to believe what we want to believe. I choose Ben. He is my truth.

Sighing, I press my lips to his, kissing him slowly and moving my fingers along his cheek.

“I love you,” I breathe into his mouth.

He drops his forehead against mine. “That’s all I need, Mia. All I’ll ever need.”

I close my eyes.

God, what did I do to deserve this man?

Leaning back, I study his face. His dark eyebrows and the freckle under his left eye. The day-old stubble coating his jaw.

“Is there really a surprise?” I ask, poking the spot on his cheek where his right dimple appears.

He nods. “You?”

Nodding, I kiss him once more, smiling against his mouth, wanting so badly to tell him what I have planned for us tomorrow.

But I don’t. And I’m not going to, as long as he doesn’t ask me anything else about it.

Letting my hands fall away, I turn and look at the boys.

Chase is flinging sand everywhere and Nolan is filling up a pail.

“We should tell Nolan now, that way you aren’t springing this on him tomorrow. Give him a little time to think about it. You know?”

I have no idea how Nolan is going to take hearing about Angie wanting to see him. I know he’s asked Ben about her in the past, wondering what happened to her and why she isn’t around anymore, but I haven’t heard of him bringing her up recently.

Unless Ben isn’t telling me.

“Yeah. Good idea.”

Ben stretches his legs and stands from the step. He grabs my hand and tugs me to my feet, walking with me across the yard.