Whatever Ben had been expecting upon entering their apartment, maybe Anna frantically cleaning out their closet or cooking dinner or watching television or not at home, it had certainly not been what confronted him at that very moment.
His girlfriend, daughter of a former President of the United States, dancing around to Flo Rida while he told her that she spins his head right round when she goes down. He didn't even know where she would have gotten the music - it certainly wasn't her usual style and he was almost one hundred percent certain that she didn't even know who Flo Rida was - and he was also certain that, in most circumstances, Anna would be offended by the lyrics and talking about misogyny and the like.
So he stood frozen in shock in their hallway, he'd say front hallway but they only had one, and watched his girlfriend slither around their living room. He wanted to laugh, knew he shouldn't, so he just stood there and watched and waited.
He knew the moment she saw him, loved the way her eyes got big and her hand covered her mouth in embarrassment. So he watched, amused, as she shimmied over to him, a mischievous glint in her eyes. It was the same look he'd seen a million times before, usually right before she ran off, with him in tow of course, on some crazy adventure. It was a glint he'd fallen in love with but it was also a glint which he knew to be slightly wary of.
"Whatever it is, the answer is no, Anna."
"You don't even know what I'm going to say!"
"I know you and I know when you're going to suggest something that will, most likely, get one of us killed."
"You're no fun, you know that, right?"
"I'm plenty of fun, I just take your safety seriously. You do remember that I saved your life about 10 times in the first 10 hours of knowing you which, if I'm correct, is exactly-"
"Once per hour, I know, I know."
She pouted, her arms crossed across her chest, and he tried, manfully he'd say, to resist her. He knew she'd win the battle. He also knew she knew she'd win the battle. Right now it was all a matter of keeping some of his manly pride intact by resisting her all too alluring charms.
"Flo Rida?" Change the subject, always a good plan. "I didn't know you even knew who he was."
"A friend from school played it for me - and don't think that changing the subject will work, I know all your tricks."
"And I know all of yours." He grabbed her arm then and pulled her towards him. She went without a struggle, stopping just before him and resting her hands on his shoulders. "I missed you."
"You too."
She kissed him then, soft and sweet with a hint of heat behind it. He felt her sink into his chest, wrapped his arms around her waist and held her to him. They broke apart and she smiled up at him, her fingers curling lightly into the hair at the base of his neck. He knew he was lost but, at that moment, he didn't quite care.
"What do you want, Anna?"
"I was just thinking about the song."
"The song?"
"You know, the whole you make my head spin round when you go down thing?"
"What about it?"
"I was just thinking maybe we could test it out."
"Test it out?"
"I was thinking maybe we could see how far your head spins round when I go down." With that she skipped out of his arms with a giggle and headed towards their bedroom. "Coming?"
"Oh god I hope so."
Ben had not been expecting what he'd stumbled upon when he'd gotten home from work that evening but, in his humble opinion, surprises weren't always such a bad thing, at least not when Anna Foster was involved.