Page 3 of Waiting for Him (Trident Security #3)

Katerina shrugged and tried to break eye contact, but he wouldn’t let her. “ Answer me, Kitten , because, in my opinion, you’re the most beautiful girl I’ve ever known.”

“ Oh , please.” An eye roll punctuated her sarcasm. “ You and Alex have dated every gorgeous girl in your class and mine. I can’t even begin to compare myself to most of them. My chest is too flat, my ass is too big, my legs are too skinny, and my eyes are too far apart.”

When she finished rattling off what she believed were her worst attributes, Ben wasn’t sure if she was kidding or if she really thought those things about herself.

It only took a few seconds before he realized she was serious, and his eyes narrowed in anger.

“ Kitten , there is nothing about you I would change. Your eyes are so expressive. Sometimes , I can’t stop looking at them, especially when you laugh.

Your chest . . .” his hand closed around her left breast again and squeezed just enough to make sure he had her attention, “. . . is the perfect size—not too small or too big—it’s just right. ”

He moved his hand down to her denim-covered hip and squeezed again.

“ Your ass . . . jeez, do you have any idea how many guys check out your ass when you walk by? Especially in these sexy shorts of yours. And your legs are a mile long. Baby , men drool over legs like yours, and most women would kill for them. If I ever hear you put yourself down again, I’ll spank your sweet ass. Do you hear me?”

Apparently , she thought he was joking about smacking her backside because she giggled, and he relaxed a little.

Wanting to prove how desirable she was, he leaned down and retook possession of her mouth.

This time, he wasn’t as gentle as before but was still cautious.

He knew he had to walk a fine line here—the one between scaring her by moving too fast and making her see how good they could be together.

Her hands began pushing his T -shirt up, and he reached back, grabbed a handful of blue cotton, and stopped kissing her just long enough to yank it over his head and toss it aside.

Her hand scorched his chest when she timidly touched him.

As his lips found hers again, his fingers explored her breasts through her bikini, but he knew he couldn’t go much further.

He wanted her first time to be special—not out here on a giant rock where anyone could drive up and interrupt them. She deserved better.

Ben was about to pull away from her mouth when his fear happened. He heard the car a moment before a bright flood light hit them, and they both jumped up into sitting positions. Damn . A cop had to pick this moment to check out the popular party spot. At least they were both still decent.

Instead of getting out of his patrol car, the lazy cop blared his air horn once. In other words— get in your truck and drive away, jackass, because you’re not getting laid here tonight.

As they scrambled for and threw on their shirts, he gave the officer a quick wave of his hand, letting him know the message was received and understood.

Taking Kat’s hand, he helped her down from the rock, and they headed for his dad’s pick-up, grabbing his cooler on the way.

He opened the passenger door for her and lifted her into the high seat, then emptied the cooler of its leftover melted ice before stowing it in the truck’s bed.

Hopping in the driver’s seat, he started the engine and grinned when she broke out in a fit of giggles. “ What’s so funny?”

“ Your shirt is on backward and inside out.” She looked so cute covering her mouth as if she’d accidentally spilled the beans about something.

He glanced down, saw she was right, and laughed along with her.

Before putting the truck in drive, he pulled off his shirt, flipped it around, and then put it on correctly.

The last thing he needed was for her dad or brother to see that and put two and two together.

He would need to eventually tell Alex he planned on dating Katerina , but not yet.

As he drove down the dirt road that led out to the highway, he reached across the center console and took her hand in his.

He squeezed it, then set their joined hands on the armrest between them.

Driving her home was the last thing he wanted to do, but if he kept her out any later, her parents, Ivan and Sylvia , would be ticked off.

At seventeen, Kat still had a curfew. The only reason she’d been allowed out until two a.m. was because school was over, and she was with Alex and Ben .

That and it was a special occasion since it would be a while before Ben would get a chance to come back home to visit.

Aside from the low music on the radio, a silence had fallen over the inside of the cab, and at the last second, he pulled into the elementary school lot just up the road from her house.

Putting the truck in park, he turned to look at her.

“ I . . . I’m sorry we were interrupted back there.

It took me by surprise. I never thought . . .”

She pulled her hand from his and stared out the side window. “ It’s okay, Benny . We’ll pretend it never happened. I mean, it’s not like we actually did anything.”

Taking hold of her chin, he turned her head until she faced him, but her eyes remained downcast. “ Kitten , look at me.” He waited a moment, but she still didn’t look up. “ Kat , please, look at me.”

His heart almost broke when he saw the unshed tears in her eyes.

Crap . She misunderstood him, and now she was on the verge of crying.

He did his best to embrace her despite the center console between them and kissed her on the top of her head.

A shudder passed through her, and he hugged her tighter.

“ Shhh , baby, you didn’t let me finish.

Just because I never thought you and I would .

. . you know, get together . . . doesn’t mean I’m not happy we did.

I’ve been thinking about you and me since we danced those slow dances together at the prom.

For the first time, I realized you’re more than my friend.

You’re also a very beautiful woman who I suddenly found myself attracted to.

I was just surprised you felt that way about me too.

” He froze for a second. “ You do feel that way, don’t you?

I mean, it wasn’t just an experiment for you, right? ”

She pulled away so she could look up at him again. “ I’ve felt that way for a lot longer than you have. I was so happy when you asked me to the prom even though I knew it was only because you and Mary Jo Dwyer just broke up, and everyone else was already paired up for the most part.”

He at least had the decency not to deny it. That was the reason why he’d asked her, but he wouldn’t have done it at all if he hadn’t thought they’d have a good time together—which they had.

She took a deep breath and blurted out, “ I didn’t want to stop tonight.”

Her face turned beet red as the implications of what she said sank into his brain. Was she telling him she would have given him her virginity tonight if the cop hadn’t interrupted them? Holy shit! What was he supposed to say to her?

With any other girl, he would have been all over her without a second thought.

He knew he could be a dog sometimes. He’d lost his own virginity two months before he turned fifteen.

And like every other typical, red-blooded American male, he rarely said no when a girl offered him a roll in the sack or the bed of his truck.

But he needed her to be sure this was what she wanted, and it wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment thing because he was leaving.

He couldn’t . . . wouldn’t do that to her.

Kissing her had already changed the dynamics of their relationship, but having sex with her would put them in another orbit.

And he knew it wouldn’t be just sex. With Katerina , it would be making love.

“ Baby , do you know what you’re saying?”

She nodded and then babbled nervously, “ I wanted you to be my first . . . you know. I still do. I mean, I know you’ve been having . . . you know, sex for a long time now. I mean, everyone at school talks about who’s doing who, but I haven’t . . . you know . . .”

“ You’re still a virgin.” He’d meant to say it as a question, not wanting her to know he’d overheard the conversation with her friends, but she didn’t seem to notice.

“ I know it’s silly, but . . .”

He cupped her cheek with his hand. “ It’s not silly, Kat .

Not at all. But as much as I want to say yes to you .

. . to us, I think it would be better if we waited until I finish basic training and find out where I’m being stationed.

I don’t want to have one or two nights with you and then end up on a base on the opposite side of the country. It’s not fair to you.”

He covered her mouth with his fingers when she tried to interrupt him.

“ But I’ll make you a deal, baby. If this is what you want .

. . if you’re sure, then I’m willing to tell every woman I run into from here on out that I have someone special waiting for me back home, and she’s the only one I want.

Will you wait for me, Kitten ? Will you be my girlfriend and wait until the time is right for us? ”

“ Yes , Benny , I will,” she whispered. “ I promise. I’ll wait for you . . . forever.”

Alex was going to kill him.

* * *

Rick Michaelson stood between his wife and child at the cemetery and kept his hand on his grieving son’s shoulder.

His boy was on the verge of entering the military and becoming a man, but his life had been turned upside down in the blink of an eye.

They watched as the funeral director’s crew unloaded scores of colorful arrangements from four matching hearses and placed them beside the caskets.

The area around the grave sites was filling up with close to two hundred people who’d known one, two, or all members of the Maier family and come to pay their respects.

A somber priest stood at the head of the graves to give the deceased their final blessing. Ivan and Sylvia would be buried side by side, just as their children, Alex and Katerina , would be in the plot next to them.

The Sunday after Ben’s going-away party, the family had taken off on an hour-long afternoon drive to visit Ivan’s mother and sister, but they never arrived.

A fiery crash on a lonely stretch of highway snuffed out the lives of four people and left many others, like Ben , struggling to find a reason behind the terrible tragedy.

Rick knew although his son’s overwhelming grief would one day become bearable, losing his best friend and the young man’s family would forever change Ben’s life. He just hoped that, when his son emerged from his grief, he would come out on the right side.