She sniffled. “London? Why on earth are you going there? And on such short notice.”
Ben honestly didn’t know how much longer he could remain upright at this point, scrubbing a weary hand over his face. “I’m going there to meet the crew,” he told her, not especially caring at this point how she would take the news. “They’re flying to London from Chennai and staying there overnight until they can get a flight back home the next day. And I’m going to meet them there, make sure everyone is all right after the ordeal they just went through.”
“Why?” asked Elle, looking confused. “You told me everyone was okay. Why do you have to go all the way to London for what sounds like barely a day, and then turn around and fly back here?”
“Because I’m responsible for them,” Ben told her firmly. “They could have died today, Elle, they came within five or ten minutes of being on that flight. And I need to be there for them. For my sake as well as theirs.”
“You mean for Lauren’s sake, don’t you?” asked Elle bitterly. “You’re only flying there to see her, Ben, not the others.”
“I’d be going regardless, Elle, no matter who it was,” he replied tiredly. “Look, I’ve got an early flight and I really need a few hours of sleep. Can we please finish talking about this when I get back?”
Elle straightened her spine, lifted her chin proudly, and gave him a decidedly unpleasant look. “If you go to London tomorrow, Ben, then don’t bother talking to me ever again,” she told him coldly. “You make your choice right now – me or her.”
Ben shook his head sadly, then threw a few more things into his duffle before picking up his laptop bag. “I’m sorry, Elle,” he murmured. “I never meant for it to happen this way. But there’s really no choice to make anymore.”
He placed his keys on the dresser before walking down the stairs and out of her life.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Heathrow Airport, London
“I’m not sure which one of us looks the worst right now,” Chris commented as the crew began to slowly make their way towards baggage claim.
Lauren looked at her three co-workers, then at her herself, before giving a little shudder. “I’d call it a four-way tie, Christina. All of us look like we’ve been through the wringer, and then tossed around awhile for good measure. And we all need a shower the minute we get inside our hotel rooms. Thank God Nadine booked us someplace close by.”
Their rooms had, in fact, been reserved at the Hilton right here at the airport. And according to the detailed email Ben had sent to Karl, there would even be a private hire car waiting to take them to the hotel. It seemed, thought Lauren wryly, that coming within five minutes of being killed in a plane crash had its perks, for the higher-ups at the magazine seemed to be going out of their way to cosset the crew after their ordeal.
Karl sighed tiredly. “Yeah, a shower sounds pretty damned good right about now. So does a hot meal and about twenty straight hours of sleep. We haven’t had any of the above for more than forty eight hours. And as much as we all want to get home and see our loved ones, we really need this little layover for once.”
George, who still looked like he was about to collapse from illness and sheer exhaustion, nodded eagerly in agreement. “After an eleven hour flight here from Chennai, I’m not sure I could have handled another eight hours or so to New York without having a break in between. I guess it was a blessing in disguise that Nadine couldn’t find a flight home for us until tomorrow.”
Lauren thought that the delay in their return to New York was proving to be a blessing for a very different reason – at least for her. She hated to admit it, but she was more than a little terrified at the prospect of seeing Ben again, especially after she’d finally taken the plunge and sent him that soul-baring email minutes before leaving the hotel in Port Blair. When her email service had finally come back up just an hour or two before they had flown out of Chennai, she had forced herself to check her in-box for messages. But there had been no reply from Ben, which really shouldn’t have surprised her. He’d been busy, after all, dealing with this whole episode, and she’d sort of figured that the subject matter addressed in her email probably called for an in-person response.
But exactly what that response might be had left her uncertain, on edge, and more than a little jittery ever since she had boarded the flight in Chennai. The thought that she would have at least another day or two’s reprieve before facing the truth had brought a sense of relief.
A relief that was very short-lived, however, as the escalator continued its long descent down to the baggage claim area, and she instantly spotted the man waiting at the bottom. He caught and held her gaze, and the sides of his handsome mouth slowly began to curve upwards into a wide smile. Lauren’s heart began to beat a little faster as the escalator brought her that much closer to him, and she could only stare back in bemused wonder. She noticed that he was wearing what appeared to be the exact same outfit he’d worn the very first time they had met – well worn jeans and a faded T-shirt, though his old biker boots had been replaced with a pair of trail running shoes.
But it didn’t matter what he was wearing, because what really mattered was that he was here – now – and she knew instinctively that he was here for her. He’d come for her, she could tell by the gleam in his eyes, and the tenderness of his smile. And suddenly, just like that, all of the fatigue and stress she’d endured over the past few days simply disappeared as she realized he was waiting for her, had come to her when she needed him the most.
“Hey, what’s Ben doing here?” asked George in surprise. “Karl, did you know he was going to be here to meet us?”
Karl nudged George in the ribs. “He isn’t here for us, dummy.”
“What – oh.”
But Lauren didn’t wait to hear what else George or the others might say next. Instead, she wormed her way down the last few steps of the escalator, dropped her bag, and flung herself into Ben’s waiting arms. Her legs wrapped around his waist as he boosted her up, and then, not giving a damn if the entire world watched the show, she kissed him with every bit of pent-up love and lust and passion inside of her.
Ben kissed her back just as fiercely, his tongue tangling with hers demandingly. There was no finesse whatsoever to this particular kiss, nothing the least bit smooth or practiced about it. This was a kiss of raw, desperate hunger, shared between lovers who’d been parted for far too long, and for whom this was a homecoming, a reawakening of a passion that had never died.
When he eventually broke the kiss to come up for air, he whispered raggedly, “By the way, I got your email. Thought I’d deliver my reply in person. Oh, and in case you didn’t realize it, I love you, too. Always have, sweetheart.”
Lauren actually giggled, a very undignified sound that she probably hadn’t made since she was about three years old. And then her giggles turned to squeals of delight as Ben spun her around, both of them oblivious to the indulgent smiles directed their way by the other passengers, or to the shocked expressions on the faces of two of their co-workers. The third – Karl – merely stood back a ways and observed the whole scene with a very satisfied grin.
Ben set her down reluctantly as he greeted each of the guys in turn, giving them enthusiastic hugs and pats on the back. But once he’d spoken to each of them, he pulled Lauren to him once more, his arm firmly around her shoulders as though he was afraid she’d slip away. Lauren smiled to herself as she rested her head against his strong, comforting shoulder, because she knew that if it was left up to her she would never budge from this particular spot ever again.
Clueless, naïve George obviously had no idea what was happening, though Chris had seemed to figure things out rather quickly. As they waited for their luggage to arrive, George was still shaking his head.