Seventeen Minutes

“What would you do if I said I love you?”

Jezabel filled her cup at the water cooler and turned toward the barely familiar voice. He stood there, the guy from the mail room with the tousled dark hair. What the hell? His eyes were pink with emotion, and they were boring a hole into her soul. Well, this is awkward. She couldn’t think of anything else to break the weirdness, so she put out a hand. “I’m Jezabel.”

His hands slid into his pockets. “I know.” He lowered his chin and chuckled under his breath.

Address the elephant in the room. “Um… so… you love me, huh?” She gave him a smirk. “Bill, is it?”

“Ben.”

Cringe, cringe. “Sorry.” He didn’t seem embarrassed or even disappointed that she’d gotten his name wrong. He seemed completely comfortable.

“I’ve loved you since you walked into the office two months ago wearing your green dress and that funny beret.”

“You didn’t like my beret?” Way to avoid the L word, Jez.

“No.”

Ass. “Well, I dress for me, not for anyone else.”

“I know. I love that, too. You’re incredibly classy in a quirky, funky way.”

“Except for the beret.” Walk away, Jez! What are you doing? Time to disconnect. “Well, nice chatting, but I have to get back to work.”

“You have seventeen minutes left on your lunch break.”

“Well, that’s creepy.”

He smiled warmly. “Nah—I have the same lunch break as you. That’s why I’m here. I had a dream last night. The message was: Today’s the day. So here I am, introducing myself.”

“You didn’t introduce yourself. You said you love me.”

“Look—I know you’re out of my league. But a connection means something. Sometimes a connection means everything. Even if it’s one-sided. I owe it to the universe to at least let you know I exist.”

“A connection is two-sided.” Jezabel turned her back to him.

“Yes. That is the dream.”

She sighed and turned to face him again. He was like a puppy in the rain. No… actually a happy puppy. He seemed strangely at ease. “You can’t love me. You don’t know me.”

“Well, it’s true, I am not an expert in love. I’ve never had a crush before, never been in love before. Never had my heart race over someone before. Until I saw you that first day. It hit me like a truck. I was so grateful.”

“Grateful?”

“Yes. I always thought my heart was faulty. I mean—my entire life, when all my friends were talking about girls and sex and hotties, when they were being shallow and crazy, I’d just smile and think—I’m waiting for ‘the one. I’ll know her when I see her.’ It didn’t happen in high school. Didn’t happen in college. Now, here I am, an intern, and I have prospects, and suddenly I see this green dress. And I knew.”

“That I’m the one.” He was kind of cute in a geeky scientist sort of way. And he was buff. And brash as hell, without acting… well… brash as hell.

“So your aspirations are to be the mail room guy?”

“Told you. I’m an intern. So I do some errands, like hand out the mail. I could use a coffee. You?”

Damn. He knows my weakness. “Yeah… but…”

He swept his arm toward the breakroom, and Jezabel found herself leading the way. “Just to be clear, you fell in love with my green dress.”

“Yes.”

She raised an eyebrow, and he laughed, easily and comfortably.

“I fell in love with your smile first. You are ridiculously beautiful. I’m sure you hear that all the time.”

Jezabel pulled her wavy red hair behind her ears. She looked okay. Pretty, maybe. But beautiful? No. At least she’d never thought so. Still… it was surprisingly nice to hear. “And then?”

“And then your laugh, and your kindness. You’re nice to the temps at the front desk and always make people feel good about themselves.”

Her eyes widened. “How do you know that?”

“Mail delivery. You rarely saw me. But I see everyone in the office, every day. I pay attention to people. Especially you.” He handed her a coffee, black.

“You know how I drink coffee?”

“Mm hmm.” He poured a cup for himself and added cream and sugar.

Jezabel sat down at a small table, and Ben joined her. His hair fell across his eyes, and he pushed it back with his fingers. And she caught her breath. She… felt something. An attraction. Or maybe it was his frankness. His honesty was actually a breath of fresh air.

He somehow caught it, though she hadn’t broken her stoic expression. His eyes warmed, and he leaned forward.

“Did you feel a glimmer, just now?”

Lie! Lie! She couldn’t. This was too… pure. What a strange thought. But it did feel innocent and safe. He felt safe and vulnerable, and she couldn’t lie. “Maybe—there is something.”

“Have you ever been in love?”

She shrugged. “I had lots of crushes in high school and dated a few duds in college. I suppose I thought I was in love, but looking back…” she slowly shook her head. “No. I’ve never been in love.”

“And now?”

Jezabel laughed. “You are bold! My god!” He leaned closer. His eyes were a piercing blue. They were stunning.

“I just mean—is there a glimmer? A hint of potential? That someday, maybe way in the future, you could conceivably have feelings for me?”

She studied the hope written across his face. He was… sweet, for sure. His mouth was pulled into an expectant grin. He had a scar on his chin that was… well, it was adorable, somehow. She felt a warmth emanate from her body. And she did something completely crazy. She turned her hand over, palm up, and held it out to him.

He looked surprised. But he reached out his fingertips and placed them on hers, then slid them around her hand.

Holy bajeezers. Sparks flew. She felt her face flush. She felt embarrassed, knowing her cheeks were turning pink. But wait—she wasn’t really embarrassed. She was glad. She wanted him to see that she was having a physical reaction—a big one—to his touch.

But this had gone far enough. She tried to pull herself out. “I should go.” She let go of his hand and stood up.

He didn’t blink. He simply nodded. He looked happy. Genuinely happy. Over the moon happy. “Do you like horses? I have a ranch. I go riding a lot.”

Jezabel slowly sat down again, shocked. “I love horses. When I was a little girl, I dreamt I was married to a cowboy. It was so real, and I had that dream over and over.”

He grabbed both her hands. “Here I am, Jezabel. I knew we were destined to be together. I dreamt of you, too.”

It was crazy, and stupid, and absurd, and…so right. And that’s when she knew. She knew without hesitation. She knew, from the core of her being, from her soul, which was flooding her with pure, unadulterated joy. “This is… insane.”

He squeezed her hands. “No. This is the most sane thing that’s ever happened on the face of the planet. Two people finding each other. Two people choosing happiness. Two people saying ‘Yes’ to a gift from the universe.”

There were no doubts. No looking back. And so, she dove in, headlong. “What would you do if I said I love you?”