There was no way Ben could stop her, it was Saturday so there were no workers at the house, and he wasn't due home until later that evening. Meaning, if she worked hard, she could get the Christmas lights up before he arrived. Lia had a disagreement with him via text the night before. She had mentioned putting a few Christmas lights up on his house and he had told her not to bother. She had insisted it was no bother and he had told her no.

He should know by now that the word no was like waving a red flag in front of a bull.

So, here she was, on his roof once again, hammering in nails to hold the lights. The new roof looked good and she took a minute to admire it before she got to work, humming a Christmas song while she worked.

Lia was halfway down the backside of the house when the upstairs window flew open, but she didn't hear it.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!" Ben's tired voice called.

Lia stilled, her hands starting to shake as she looked up at him, trying to control the goofy grin that wanted to take over her entire face. His hair was mussed and his beard had at least a week's worth of growth. He looked like her Ben.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" she insisted as she began hammering another nail into place. The window slammed shut and she kept going, only a few more and the backside of the house would be done. She was on the second to last one when she heard his voice from below.

"Get off my damn roof!" he called.

"Only one more to go!" she called, hammering for all she was worth. Her hands weren't all that steady, so she missed the mark a few times.

"Lia!" he warned.

"Alright! You're not due home until this evening, what happened?" she asked as she threw her leg over the top rung of the ladder.

"I got in very late last night and was hoping for a few hours of sleep," he said, watching her descend.

"So, you would rather sleep then see me?" she asked, stopping halfway down the ladder to look at him, hurt that he hadn't sought her out immediately.

"I was tired, and I needed a nap because I don't think that we will be sleeping anytime soon, not if I have anything to say about it," he growled

Lia felt a little thrill course through her, and she started back down the ladder her knees a little weak at his admission. When she reached the bottom, he placed his hands to either side of her, trapping her against the ladder and burying his face in her neck, inhaling deeply. She gave a shaky sigh, letting the ladder hold her up as her legs gave way.

"You smell so good," he pulled her close as one arm wrapped around her waist. "You feel good too."

Lia spun around and wrapped her arms around his neck. "So, you missed me then?" she asked, in part as a joke, but also because she needed to hear the words.

"Missed you is an understatement." His lips landed on hers in a heated kiss. His hands were everywhere and Lia wasn't objecting. Her body was enjoying every touch, but when a car horn honked it broke the spell. Ben held tight and didn't let her go. "Your place or mine?" he asked.

"Mine," Lia said, not recognizing her own voice. Ben grabbed her arm and started to pull her across the alley.

"Ben, the ladder!" Lia objected.

"I don't care about the ladder!" he almost shouted.

Lia stopped, pulling away to take care of it herself. "It's not mine!" She had just reached it when Ben came up behind her and made quick work of folding it and dropping it to the ground.

"I'll store it later," he said, grabbing her arm and pulling her across the street without wasting any more time.

When they entered the apartment, Huck was all over Ben barking and howling, he was just as pleased to see him as Lia was.

"Look, Ben, he missed you," Lia said, and something about it made her tear up a little. Ben patted Huck, told him he was a good boy then grabbed Lia and pulled her down the hall to her room, closing the door on a grumbling Huck.

"Ben, you should spend some time with him, at least for a few minutes." Lia insisted.

"Are you trying to kill me woman!" he asked grabbing her and pulling her to him.

"No!" she denied as his lips found hers once more. Lia was sure she was going to explode and was just as eager as Ben, so it was unexpected when he pulled away with a curse.

"We have to talk first," he said, pushing her onto the bed, which wasn't hard to do since her legs were weak.

"Now you're trying to kill me!" Lia sighed, closing her eyes as she tried to control her need.

"No, but there can't be anything between us the first time." He started to pace, gathering his thoughts.

"Well that is the general idea," Lia joked, but Ben wasn't listening.

"I did miss you, Lia. I missed you so much I wouldn't let myself call you often because I was afraid I would come running right back here at the sound of your voice. I didn't realize it was possible to miss someone as much as I have missed you. When I found out that the tour had been extended, I made Kimberly set up a date here in Savannah so that I could see you. I figured with a crowd it would be easier to control myself. I reserved enough tickets for you and your friends then sent the photo overnight to Faye and told her to put it in the envelope with your ticket. I don't know how it happened, but I'm guessing that Chance somehow got his hands on those tickets by taking your envelope."

Lia nodded. "I asked Faye and she said that she set them on the nurse's station with our name on them and she guessed that I had picked mine up when it wasn't there. She didn't know that you hadn't told me about the event. Chance was watching for me at the event and cornered me, telling me all about his plan, but he made a mistake. He gave me the photo."

She and Ben exchanged a look that let Lia know that they both understood what the photo meant. "I was afraid you wouldn't come because I had been lax in calling you. I was hoping that Chloe and Faye would put you on the spot and force you into coming, if for no other reason then to save face." He noticed the music box and looked over at it, then he walked towards it and opened it. Lia had put the photo inside and he picked it up, looking at it.

"These were the people that you dreamed about?" he asked.

"I still dream about them, I have every night since you've been gone." She stood up and joined him, looking at the photo. "It says Ben and Leigh, who were they?"

"They were my grandparents, Mom gave me the photo when I sent her a picture of the ring. Ben bought the house for Leigh in the late 50s when the property in this part of town was inexpensive. She died young and he never got over it, he couldn't bear to change anything in the house because it all reminded him of her. "

"Even the roof?" Lia asked softly.

Ben smiled. "It sure did look that way." He placed the photo back in the music box and pulled out the ring. "This was her ring." He held it out to Lia. "Now I want it to be your ring. Will you marry me, Lia? No more fake engagement. I want you by my side for the rest of my life, and if I ever have to do another book tour, you're damn well going with me."

Lia looked at the ring he held out, happy tears on her face, but she couldn't say yes quite yet.

"I love you, Ben, I have for a while now. When you were away and rarely contacted me, I felt like you were ignoring me, out of sight out of mind, and it hurt."

Ben shook his head stepping towards her. "You were on my mind almost every minute, you were the first thing I thought about in the morning and the last thing I thought about at night, but I had a job to do, writing is how I make my living. I have a good team behind me, but I must carry my end of things, and if I had heard your voice, even imagined it while I read a text, I would have been back here in a minute. That was why I made sure that I was only in Savannah for a few hours last week. The dates I had in Los Angeles were very important. I even had a meeting with a producer about the rights to one of the books."

"But did you deal with Ilianna's ghost?" Lia whispered.

"It was never her, it was me. I was young and weak. I'm not that person anymore. I wasn't even hurt when I found out she was pregnant with another man's baby, that's how dead I was inside, but you changed that." He took a shaky breath.

"The last thing I expected to see when I looked out my window one morning was a beautiful little blond in tight blue jeans hammering away on my roof. You were so intense, your vibe, aura, whatever you want to call it, pulled me right in and woke me up. It was a little like when your leg falls asleep and then tingles as it wakes up, that was how my entire body felt when you reached the bottom of the ladder." He reached for her, pulling her close. "I was mad because you woke me up, but I was also mad because you had caught my attention. You were the first woman to do that in almost three years. I was numb before you."

Lia wrapped her arms around him. "I felt the same, it was like an electrical charge, it was like nothing I had ever felt before." She placed her hand on his chest. "I still feel it," she whispered with an awed voice.

"I love everything about you Lia, and I promise to be with you through all of your crazy adventures, even if I'm telling you off in the process. Will you marry me?" He held up the ring once more.

Lia smiled and held out her hand, watching as he placed the ring on her finger.

"I love you too, Ben, just the way you are for better and worse. Even when you're grumpy and yell at me and Huck, you know that, right? I don't ever want you to change."

"Prove it!" he demanded, walking her towards the bed.

"You first!" she insisted before she lost herself in Ben's kisses.

Lia broke away, but only for a moment, and as she looked into Ben's eyes. The love that she saw there was everything she had dreamed of having. He was finally hers, and she would never let him go again.

*******Thanks for reading everyone. I hope you enjoyed Lia and Ben's story. The next one in the series will be Faye's story. Will she catch her man and could that man be Silas? If you're interested in reading the next one, be sure to add this story to your library so you will know when I post the next story."

Thank you all for your continued support!

Sarah-