The Baker

Chapter 17

A/N: If the last chapter was bad, I do apologize, as it was 3 a.m. when I wrote it. Hopefully this one will be better! Enjoy and thanks again for reading!

-Author

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What was going on? He really wasn't sure. Even their waiter (as Ben finally got a glimpse of his name tag, seeing his name was Mike), so even Mike didn't know. Cassie wasn't moving, speaking, or even blinking. It's been a solid two minutes, but to Ben, it seems like forever. A forever waiting doom. Mike had just come over to set down their plates, but noticed something off about this pretty lady he's been oogling all night. Ignoring Mike and everyone around him, except Cassie, he started to explain, “Now, hear me out. I know we’ve only known each other for a short time, but…my God, Cassie I can’t help myself falling for you. You’re beautiful, funny, smart, and you’ve really got me in deep with your body.” Mike cleared his throat and tried to see if there was a less awkward way to get out of this. “I don’t expect you to say anything, but I just wanted you to know where I stand.” Cassie smiled widely, but he apparently he was clueless to what it meant, because he kept going on. “I mean, look, I know I sound crazy. Falling for a girl I met in a coffee shop, chatted with for three minutes, bought her coffee, and then asked her on a date. And now, here we are, in this place, we've had mind-blowing sex several times, and now it just seems like…” “Ben.” “…I mean, god, what is this? You put some sort of spell on me…” “Ben!” “…and now I’m rambling because I’m nervous, and this tends to be a flaw with me, but let’s face it, I’ll talk enough for the both of us—.” “BENEDICT!” Ben stopped and looked at Cassie with wide eyes. Mike started to slowly back away, but then, to both the men's surprise, Cassie stood up out of the booth. Ben immediately thought that she was going to leave and walk out of his life forever because he had escalated things too quickly. He should learn by now that that's not a very good thing to do. But, very, very much to his surprise, she didn't leave. Instead, she pushed past Mike, slid into Ben's side of the booth, and kissed him. Hard. He moaned into the kiss, grabbing the back of her head, and pulling her in more. When they pulled back for a breath, Cassie told him, "I love you, too." Ben smiled and laughed with complete and utter joy. He leaned his forehead against hers and whispered, "How crazy are we?" She giggled and whispered, "We're insane." Blocking out everything and everyone, they started kissing again. Ben couldn't resist the urge to look up at Mike and smirk into the kiss. Mike just rolled his eyes, set their food down and walked away. Ben broke the kiss, then slid the long black box to her. "This is just a little something I got for you. Something that, whenever you see it, you'll know I love you, no matter how far away in the world I am." Cassie bit her lip, urging herself not to cry. She already felt like the least fancy one in the place, she didn't need to feel like the ugliest, too. 

She picked up the box and slowly opened it. She gasped and put her hand over her heart. The silver heart necklace was beautiful. It was a heart within a heart. Now it was really hard not to cry. Ben rubbed the back of his head in nervousness as she stared at it. "D-Do you like it?" He asked timidly. "If not, I can always get you something else," he added quickly. "Ben," she softly gasped and looked at him with tears in her eyes. "I love it. And I love you. Thank you."

The rest of the meal, they sat next to each other, but only because Ben didn't want her to leave his side. They ate and laughed, earning stares from other tables, but that just made them laugh even more. They shared some dessert, had a few more glasses of champagne, and eventually left about an hour later. They ended up at Ben's place, since it was closer. As soon as they entered the house, they were all over each other. Kissing frantically, tearing at each other's clothing, and soon, they were naked in his bed. Ben was on top of her, kissing her sweetly, when he pulled back and said, "I'm going to make love to you, tonight, Cass. All right?" "Okay," she breathed. And so their night of continuous love making began. It was slow and sensual. They took each other in and savoured each touch, kiss, and thrust. They ended, tangled in each other's sweaty limbs.

"I love you," Cassie whispered against Ben's chest. Ben smiled and kissed her head. "I love you, too. More than you know."