Free Unstoppable (A Country Roads Novel) by Shannon Richard Page B

about just as soon as he came back from the bathroom.
    But Bennett was walking back down the hallway about ten seconds after he’d disappeared, and he looked like a man on a mission, a man on a mission to get the hell out of her house.
    “Everything okay?” she asked, standing up.
    “Yeah, I just have to go. I didn’t realize how late it was, and I have to get up early tomorrow.”
    Mel’s eyes flickered to the clock on her wall. They normally hung out until around ten and it was only eight thirty. She didn’t really know when that was ever considered late, but all right.
    “I’ll see you later,” he said, then turned and hightailed it toward the front door. Mel followed. When he stepped out onto her porch he turned. “Thanks for dinner.”
    “You’re welcome,” she said, still uncertain as to what was going on.
    “Have a good night,” he said before he turned and walked out to his truck.
    Mel watched him for just a second before she shook her head and went back inside. She closed the door and locked it, then leaned against it, listening to his truck start up and back down the driveway.
    “Well, that was delightful.” She pushed off the door and went into the kitchen. She’d drunk a little bit too much wine tonight in an attempt to calm her nerves, and she needed some water. She filled a glass and sipped at it as she walked through the house turning off the lights.
    What the hell had happened? Bennett hadn’t even gone to the bathroom. She’d never even heard the door shut before he’d come back down the hallway looking panicked.
    Had he just figured out he wasn’t interested in her or…
    Mel froze when she got to her bedroom. The door was open, and she knew for a fact she’d closed it. As she peered into her room, her eyes settled on the reason why Bennett had freaked and promptly peaced out.
    He’d seen the stupid teddy bear.

The Healing Powers of Friends…and Wine, Lots of Wine
    O kay, so Bennett was a coward. That resounding fact kept repeating over and over again as he drove home. There were few things that freaked him out these days. But when he’d seen that bear on Mel’s bed it had scared the shit out of him.
    The thing was, it had scared him so much because he’d liked seeing it there. He’d liked that something he’d given her was so close to her at night. That it meant something to her. That he might mean something to her.
    He liked her. That much was obvious. And she apparently liked him.
    But things wouldn’t be casual with her, and when it came to a relationship he was incapable of doing anything serious. Really he’d been an idiot to think that something with Mel would be anything less. She wasn’t a one-night-stand kind of girl. Not that he’d wanted a one-night stand with her. Bennett didn’t work that way, not anymore. He’d been a little wild when he’d first joined the military, picking up girls in bars whenever he was on leave. But then the next morning would roll around and he’d feel more than a little empty.
    He’d dated a couple of girls semiseriously over the years, but the relationships had always ended when he’d been transferred to a new base or when he’d been deployed. Bennett had never been in love with a woman before. So whenever he’d left, he’d never looked back. Never had any regrets.
    But Bennett knew he’d have regrets if he kissed Mel, if he walked her back to her bedroom and done all of the things he wanted to do…for many, many hours.
    He was a bad man. Mel was too sweet for him, too innocent and vulnerable. Kind of like Bambi. The very last thing he wanted to do was hurt her. Who would want to hurt Bambi? Yeah, he needed to stay far, far away from her.
    Which was going to be a bit of a problem, because he would be working on this project with her for the next three months. If Bennett was anything, he was a man of his word. So he was just going to have to suck it up and deal. Act like a man. Be a man.
    She was just a pretty girl. Nothing