Lia waited up as long as she dared the night before, keeping an eye on Ben's house. She had gone over and knocked on the door. Then, on the off chance that he was ignoring her and sitting in the dark, she had used her key, but he hadn't been home. Silas told her he had sent Ben home, but he must have changed his mind along the way.

Now, after a long shift that had been made longer by worrisome thoughts, she was home, sitting in her kitchen, and trying to get up the courage to walk over to Ben's house and confront him. She called for Huck who ignored her, but when she said Ben's name he jumped up and raced to the door.

Ungrateful beast, she should just give him to Ben and be done with it.

Taking a deep breath, she attached Huck's leash and then opened the door. She could do this, he had been mad at her before and she had survived. She could survive this too. Part of her couldn't help but wonder what had changed to make her dread his anger so much. No, not anger, disappointment, she corrected herself. If she was honest that's what she was worried about the most. She was worried that he was disappointed in her.

She walked across to his house, noting a car she didn't recognize parked out front. Maybe she shouldn't go, now wasn't the time, but then again, he couldn't be really nasty to her if he had company.

Huck made up her mind for her and charged for the dog door, he was a smart dog about some things, but he still hadn't realized that Ben had nailed it shut, and he kept running head first into it in his attempt to get into Ben's house.

There was a resounding thunk, and Huck sat back on his haunches dazed, looking at the door in confusion. He was not happy, and he started to bark. He wanted Ben and he couldn't get to him.

"Hush Huck!" Lia scolded while trying to pull him around to the front door, but he wouldn't budge. "Come on you stupid dog, we'll go this way."

"Huck!" She heard behind her, and she spun around to see Ben standing on the porch watching them. He had come out the front door when he heard the commotion Huck was making. Lia guessed he knew who was making it.

Behind Ben was a beautiful blond, she was tall with perfect everything, including long legs that Lia immediately envied.

"Sorry, I didn't know you had guests," Lia said with a polite smile. "We'll just go and come back another time." She tried to pull Huck in the opposite direction, but he pulled back, charging Ben, and Lia couldn't stop as she careened into him. Ben's arms automatically came up and caught her before she fell, but Huck wasn't done. He was so happy to see Ben that he started to run in circles and wrapped the leash around her and Ben, cinching them tighter together.

"Let go of the leash Lia," Ben hissed as he felt her entire body flush against his.

Lia's eyes met his and she was lost. She didn't hear him and couldn't follow his directions as she heard a whooshing in her ears. It was as if she had just been struck by lightning, she loved this man with her entire being, that was why she cared what he thought so much.

He reached for her hand and pried the leash out of it without taking his eyes from hers. He unwound the leash and Huck started to dance once more as he was given more room to move.

"Huck!" Ben commanded, making Lia jump, breaking the spell.

She blinked, looking over Ben's shoulder at the beautiful woman who was watching them. "I'm sorry, I didn't know you had-"

"Guests," Ben finished for her, "so you said, but the car is out front, and I find it hard to believe that you didn't see it."

"I saw it," Lia said becoming angry at the way he was embarrassing her. "But maybe it belonged to the people across the street, how should I know where the person who owns it was visiting."

She saw the muscle in Ben's jaw jump and she shut her mouth. It probably wasn't the best time to pick a fight with him.

"Lia, this is my agent, Kimberly Harrison." Ben introduced. "Kimberly, this is my fiancé, Lia Haven."

"Fiancé," she said with a strained smile, but Ben missed it because he was too busy watching Lia as she stepped forward to shake Kimberly's hand.

Lia didn't miss it, and she read it as shock, anger, and disappointment all rolled into one.

Kimberly took her hand, barely touching Lia's as if the idea of shaking her hand was off-putting. "Congratulations Ben, I didn't know."

"I wanted to introduce you last night, but Lia already had plans," Ben crossed his arms, his eyes narrowing as they focused in on Lia.

"Yes, sorry," she said, blushing because of the guilt she felt.

"I'll take Huck over to the apartment until you're done here, I didn't mean to interrupt." She looked from Ben to Huck who had begun to circle Kimberly, sniffing her eagerly. Kimberly had stepped away, but Huck followed.

"Huck, come," Ben ordered unwilling to take any chances as he picked up the leash that he had dropped earlier.

Huck walked over to him and sat on his foot, looking up at Ben adoringly. It was the way Lia wanted to look at him.

"It's alright, there is no need for you to go Lia. I was on my way out, and I'm sure you two have plenty to discuss now." Kimberly said.

Ben handed the leash to Lia, his fingers brushing hers, sending a jolt up her arm, and then he put his hand in the small of Kimberly's back and escorted her down the steps and towards her car.

Lia watched as he talked to Kimberly, made her laugh, gave her a kiss on the cheek, helped her into the car, and then waited until she pulled away from the curb before joining Lia back on the porch. They stood next to each other until she was out of sight then Ben grabbed Lia's arm and pulled her into the house slamming the door behind him.

Lia yelped and dropped Huck's leash as soon as they were in the house, and he took off for the kitchen once he was free.

Ben crossed his arms, staring Lia down, waiting.

"I'm sorry," she wailed. "I didn't know what to do!"

"You could have talked to me, told me what was happening!" he shouted.

Huck barked from the back of the house as if he wanted his voice heard too.

"I was scared!" Lia yelled back.

"Of me!" he demanded, still yelling.

"No!" Lia shook her head. "I was scared of what you would do to Connor, scared you would do something you shouldn't!"

"Like kill him!" his voice was softly menacing.

"Of course not, but it would be like him to use me to lure you into a fight then press charges and make you look guilty once more." Lia's eyes grew wide as she looked at Ben. "Do you think that was what he was trying to do?"

"Who knows, I stopped trying to guess that man's motives a long time ago."

"If that's the case then I'm glad I didn't tell you," Lia insisted, getting her stubborn look. "In fact, I might have saved your ass."

"Do you think I lack self-control? What have I done to show you that I lack it." He moved towards her slowly, and for every step he took forward, Lia took one back until she was pressed against the wall. "If I lacked it, I would have broken my promise to you a long time ago. Trust me, it is much harder to control myself around you than it is Butler." His hands were to either side of her on the wall, but he wasn't touching her.

Lia swallowed hard. "You dislike me that much?" she asked.

"Now you're deliberately misunderstanding me," he whispered in her ear, making her shiver and giving her goosebumps.

She ducked under his arm and quickly darted to the other side of the hall, but he didn't follow her as she expected, instead, he turned to face her, leaning against the wall, watching her through narrowed eyes.

"Do you want to tell me what he told you? I'm guessing it was about me."

Lia nodded. "I don't want you to be mad at me, or disappointed in me Ben," she whispered softly. That seemed to break his anger and he closed his eyes taking a deep breath.

"I'm upset that you felt you couldn't come to me, that you felt you needed to keep this from me, but most importantly I'm upset that you put yourself in danger, but at least you had the good sense to take Silas with you."

Lia shrugged, fighting off the need to run to him and kiss him for all she was worth. "I asked him what to do, and he said that I had already made up my mind because I ignored the other two options."

"Which were?" Ben asked, moving to sit on the bottom step.

"Either to tell you or not to go," she explained as she joined him. He gave a huff of resignation and Lia continued. "Silas offered to go with me because he said if the situation was reversed that he would hope you would go with his loved one or something like that," Lia said, knowing she had messed up his explanation, but Ben's closeness was making her forget things.

His leg was pressed against hers and his shoulder was brushing hers. She could feel his warmth and smell the scent that was distinctly his. She looked up at him and everything stopped. She wanted him to kiss her, she wanted to kiss him. She licked her lips and he followed the movement with his eyes. Lia started to lean in, reaching her hand up to his neck, her lips were almost on his when there was a loud and long crash from the kitchen, scrabbling nails on the wood floor, and then a flour covered Huck raced past them and into the parlor.

"Your damn dog," Ben growled before he reached for Lia pulling her close and capturing her lips with his. Lia sighed and leaned into him as he deepened the kiss. When she heard the music box she froze, her lips on his, tensing. "What?" he asked, his voice low and gravelly.

"Do you hear it?" she asked. Huck did, and he suddenly appeared pushing between them on his charge up the stairs. He covered them both with flour and made Lia fall backward as he started to bark.

"Huck!" Ben yelled with no success.

"It's the music box!" Lia said, chasing after Huck.

With a sigh, Ben stood and followed them, bumping into Lia as he reached the room. The music box was open and playing 'Love Me Tender'. Lia walked towards it and gasped when she saw a beautiful ruby ring laying on the blue velvet.

"Ben," she turned towards him, her eyes wide. "Where did you find it?"

Ben walked up next to her frowning. "I've never seen that before in my life." He reached in and picked the ring up, looking at it.

"Put it back!" Lia hissed, grabbing it from his hand and placing it back in the music box.

He looked at her like she was crazy. Huck was standing in the middle of Ben's bed and he gave a bark as if in agreement with Lia.

"Off!" Ben ordered.

Huck looked at him tilting his head.

"Oh no, that's never a good look," Lia said, closing her eyes, afraid to see what was coming next.

Ben walked towards Huck with purpose and as soon he reached Huck, Huck shook with all his might and covered, Ben and his bed in flour then dropped to his back and began to roll all over Ben's sheets. Ben had a look of such horror that Lia had to fight hard to keep from laughing. When she looked over at Ben and saw his white beard, she couldn't control it any longer and she began laughing to the point that she was snorting.

Ben walked towards, her grabbing her, and she fought him as best she could.

"No, I insist on sharing, just as your dog did," Ben said as he pulled her in for a kiss, covering her in more flour.

Lia stopped laughing, stopped moving, and stopped breathing. When Ben started to move her towards the bed she pulled away, shaking her head.

"Not yet," she put her hand on his chest, licking her lips, and breathing hard.

"We still need to sort a few things. I'm not saying this won't happen, but if-"

"When," he growled.

"If this happens, I want to be sure, and I want you to be sure."

"Sure of what?" he asked, freezing at her words.

She had said too much, she had almost told him that she loved him.

"Sure that it is both what we want." she insisted.

"Oh, I think we both want it," he insisted as he ran a hand from her ear to the top of her scrub top, watching her shiver.

"Sure that we are both willing to accept the consequences." She tried again.

That made him take a step back. "What consequences?" he asked.

"Look, I'm going to take Huck home and get us cleaned up, why don't you get cleaned up also and then join us for dinner. We'll talk about it."

"Alright," he agreed, "and we'll talk about what Connor said to you."

Lia nodded grabbing Huck's leash, thankful for once that he followed her without objection.