Fighting for the Forbidden: Forbidden Series #3

by Lorraine, Tracy

  Our eyes hold and our stare continues for the longest time. I can practically hear his voice begging me to give him a chance to just hear whatever it is he’s made all this effort to say.

  Eventually, he moves and closes the distance between us. The pain in doing so is clear in his eyes, but I’m frozen to the spot, unable to help in any way.

  The stares of the others around us make my skin tingle. We really should be doing this in private, but I’m also aware of what happens the moment we’re alone together—although his broken body might be enough to put paid to that right now.

  I flinch when his warm palm covers my cheek. He steps right up to me until our foreheads are pressed together.

  “Please don’t go,” he whispers, his eyes pleading with me. “I need you.”

  His words are like a baseball bat to my chest, and I fight to drag air into my lungs.

  “Ben,” I breathe, “I can’t—”

  “You can,” he argues. “You can, and you know it. You know this is where you should be.” I bite down on my bottom lip, knowing he doesn’t mean this country or even this city, but in his arms.

  I lose track of time as we stand connected, my body trembling as I try to decide the right thing to do.

  This is the final call for passengers travelling to Rome on flight BA439. Please make your way to the gate immediately.

  “I’m sorry, but are you getting on the plane?” one of the attendants at the desk asks, dragging my focus away from Ben.

  “Uh…”

  “You two go. You’ve got a ticket, right?” Danni asks Ben.

  “Yeah,” he responds, not taking his eyes from mine. “Up for it?”

  Realisation of what Danni’s just suggested has me pulling back from Ben to look at her. “But you’ve planned everything.”

  “I think you two spending some time together and sorting this shit out is more important than my itinerary, don’t you think?”

  “I—”

  “I’m sorry, but if you’re boarding, you really need to move,” the attendant presses.

  “Come on.” Ben threads his fingers through mine and pulls me towards the tunnel I was so desperate to go down only moments ago.

  I look back at Danni, who has a wide smile on her face. “Are you sure?” I ask, hating the idea of leaving her here.

  “Of course. You two go. Just promise me you won’t spend the whole time arguing and that you’ll tell him the truth.”

  I know her words have Ben turning to look at me. My skin tingles with awareness, but I can’t look at him. I daren’t.

  “Lauren?” he asks, prompting me to move.

  “Okay,” I say, but I’m not sure if it’s for him or Danni. I guess it doesn’t really matter because, in seconds, Ben moves and pulls me towards the aeroplane, albeit slowly.

  All the other passengers are already seated and ready to go when we make our way up the aisle to find our seats. The two that were reserved for Danni and I are immediately obvious; the flight attendant pointing to them while looking a little harassed isn’t necessary.

  The doors were shut behind us the moment we boarded, and the second our bums are on the seats she scurries off to start her pre-flight checks. The engines roar and we start backing up. Any chance I had of changing my mind about this are long gone as I sit beside Ben, who has my hand clutched firmly in his.

  He’s staring at me, and my skin tingles with awareness, but I keep my focus out of the tiny window beside me at the airport we’re about to leave. I’ve no idea if this was a good idea or not. The butterflies in my stomach won’t abate, and my heart’s still racing.

  “You’re going to have to acknowledge me at some point, you know?”

  “This is insane, Ben,” I admit, still keeping my eyes on outside.

  “It is. But I also think it’s pretty perfect.” He leans in, his breath tickling the skin at the base of my neck, and he lowers his voice. “It means I get you all to myself for three whole days.” Goosebumps prick my skin and heat floods my core. It’s not the reaction I want, but it’s no less than I expect when we’re in close proximity.

  “We’re going to spend the time arguing,” I state, but my voice comes out all breathy and needy. From the slight catch in his breath, I know he hasn’t missed it.

  “I could think of worse ways to spend my time. After all, you know what comes after the arguments.” His nose runs around the shell of my ear and my entire body shudders.

  “Ben, stop,” I beg.

  “You’re going to need to say it with a little more conviction if you want me to believe you, baby.”

  “I’m all for talking and hashing everything out properly between us, but that’s it. I’ve already made enough mistakes with you.”

  “Whatever you say.” He chuckles, and his arrogance has me turning to him.

  My breath catches once again when I get a look at his bruised face. “I’m deadly serious. Plus, it’s not like you’d be able to anyway.”

  “Trust me, a couple of broken bones wouldn’t stop me from giving you what you need.”

  Christ, this was such a bad idea.

  Thankfully, my torture is paused when the flight attendants start doing their safety demonstrations.

  I hold my breath once they’ve finished and wait for what’s going to fall from his lips next. But I’m met with silence. When I glance over, I find out why. His head’s resting back, and he’s fast asleep.

  Chapter Seven

  Ben

  Danni’s parting words repeat in my mind the whole way to Rome.

  Tell him the truth.

  I intended on asking her once we were in the air and she had nowhere to hide, but the moment I rested my head back, my exhaustion took over. The effort it took to find her wiped me out. It was only the relief that flooded me when I saw her at the gate that kept me going.

  The second she turned and looked into my eyes, I knew I had her. She can tell me as much as she wants that there’s no longer anything between us, but it’s all lies. She needs to remember that although it’s been six years, I know her. I know her like no one else, and I damn well know when she’s lying.

  “Ben. Ben.” Her soft voice and warm hand on my forearm bring me around. “We’re about to land.”

  Blinking a few times, it takes me a couple of seconds to register where I am and what’s going on. The last time I woke up I was in a hospital bed, and this time I’m on an aeroplane.

  Looking into her kind but tired eyes, something settles inside me. I was on edge from the moment I realised she’d left me in the hospital, but now, with her beside me, I feel right again.

  “Thank you.” Her brows draw together in confusion. “Thank you for agreeing to this. Thank you for sitting by my bedside and being there when I woke. You’ve no idea how much that meant to me. I could have done without the ear bashing you gave me moments later, but I can’t deny I probably deserved it.”

  “Of course you did. You hit Joe.”

  “Uh…no I didn’t.”

  “You did, right before you went down. He’s got a black eye to prove it.”

  Twisting so I can look at her, I cry out as pain radiates from my ribs. Everyone around us turns to look and I hate the sympathy in their eyes when they take in the state of my face. I’ve yet to see it properly; I only got a hint of how bad I look in the reflection in the taxi’s window.

  I suck in a couple of deep breaths before reaching out and taking her hand in mine. She tries to fight me, but I feel so much better when I have some kind of contact with her, so I persist until she gives up.

  “Lauren, my memory of what happened is still a little hazy, but I know for a fact that I didn’t hit him. I damn well wanted to, but I’m his boss. I can’t.”

  “But—”

  “I swear to you, Lauren. I didn’t hit him.”

  “So why would he tell me you did?”

  “Because he doesn’t want us together.”

  Lauren sits back, I can almost hear the cogs turning in her head
where she’s thinking so hard.

  “What did Danni mean earlier when she said that you needed to tell me the truth?” Discovering whatever it might be moments before we disembark a plane isn’t ideal, but the fact that she’s been lying to me is eating at me.

  “Not now. Let’s get to the hotel, and then we can talk.”

  I don’t want to, but I find myself agreeing because it’s the right thing to do. She obviously doesn’t want to talk about it, so I can’t imagine having the conversation in front of a few hundred people in a small, enclosed space is the best idea.

  * * *

  “At last,” Lauren sighs as she moves towards the luggage belt to grab her case.

  “Let me.” Leaning forward, I wince in pain and totally miss her bag. Having predicted what was about to happen, Lauren is a few feet in front of me and easily reaches out and lifts it.

  “I know you’re trying to be all chivalrous, but I’ve got it,” she says with a laugh. I watch as she pulls the little handle out and starts walking towards the exit.

  Resting my head back in the taxi, I try to push aside the pain, but the throbbing is starting to get too much. My vision blurs a little, and it’s aching all down my face.

  “Are you in pain?” Lauren asks, looking over and seeing the tension on my face.

  “I’m fine.”

  “You’re lying.” Leaning forwards, she asks the driver to stop at a pharmacy on the way to our hotel.

  She picks me up the strongest painkillers they will allow her to buy over the counter. I’m not sure they’ll quite cut it, but at this point, anything is better than nothing.

  I swallow them down with the bottle of water she also picked up for me, and we continue our journey to the hotel.

  “How did you know where to find me?” she asks, looking out the window at the passing city.

  “Your emails.” Turning back to me, she narrows her eyes in question. “I heard snippets of your conversation planning this trip. I knew whoever you were talking to had sent the confirmations over, so it wasn’t all that hard to find out.”

  An unamused laugh falls from her lips. “I should have known I wouldn’t be able to escape you.”

  “Oh, baby, you’ve no idea.”

  The taxi pulls to a stop outside a swanky looking hotel, and I’m reminded that Danni’s family business is probably doing better right now than mine is. I really shouldn’t be here chasing Lauren halfway around Europe. I should be a home fixing the business like I set out to do before my world came crashing down, quite literally.

  “Are you okay? You’ve gone really pale.”

  “Yeah, I’m fine.” She doesn’t look convinced, but she lets it go and gets out of the car.

  “Hi, we have a booking under Daniella Abbot.” The receptionist clicks about on her computer for a few seconds before agreeing. “I was wondering if it’s possible to make it two rooms instead of one?”

  “You’re shitting me?” The receptionist’s eyes widen at my outburst, but she quickly rights herself.

  “I’m sorry, Ms Abbot, but we’re fully booked.”

  “Right, okay. Well, thank you for checking.”

  Lauren reaches out and swipes the key card from the marble counter, collects her things, and marches towards the lift after the woman has given her some brief instructions to find our one room.

  “Do you need to look so smug?” Lauren asks once we’re in the lift.

  My lips twitch up at her frustration, and she huffs out another breath.

  “Well, that’s disappointing, although I reckon we could push them together. What do you think?” I ask when we step inside the room and find two single beds.

  “I think they’re staying exactly where they are, and you need to stop getting any ideas. Nothing like that is happening. And anyway, you need to rest.” She drops her bags down on the first bed. “This one’s mine. It’s closer to the door in case I need to escape.”

  I stalk towards her, and she casts her eyes away. I don’t stop until there are only millimetres between us.

  “You’re not going anywhere, and you know it,” I say, breathing in her scent. My fingers twitch to reach out and pull her to me, and my cock swells. “You might tell yourself that you can say no, but we both know you can’t. This thing between us…It’s too powerful to deny. If it wasn’t, we wouldn’t be here right now. I wouldn’t have been fucking you when you’re meant to belong to someone else.”

  “Fuck you,” she spits. Her hands land on my shoulders in an attempt to push me away. Unfortunately, all it achieves is to cause me pain. “Fucking hell. You need to rest.”

  “Wrong. What I need is you,” I admit through gritted teeth as I will the ache in my ribs away.

  “Ben, please. Just stop.” The fight’s left her voice, leaving her sounding tired. “I’m going to go and get us some dinner. You try to make yourself comfortable or something.”

  “Are you going to be my nurse? I hope you packed your uniform.”

  Her stare hardens and she slips away from me. “This is going to be a long three days,” she mutters as she reaches for her handbag and quickly leaves the room.

  Blowing out a long stream of breath, I gently climb on the bed she didn’t claim and attempt to get comfortable. What I really need is a shower, but I know I haven’t got the strength for that. I might tell Lauren that I’m okay, but it’s far from the truth.

  I must have drifted off again, because the next thing I know she’s walking back through the hotel room door with two giant pizza boxes in her hands. My stomach grumbles right on cue and it reminds me that I’ve no idea how long ago it was that I actually ate something.

  “Hungry?” she asks with a laugh and I delight in seeing a genuine smile on her face.

  “Famished.” I go to sit up, but every muscle in my body screams for me to stay still.

  “Let me help.” Rushing over, Lauren puts her hands under my arms and helps me to sit up. She’s too tiny to do much, but if it makes her feel like she’s helping, then I’m happy. Plus, it means I get her hands on me. It might not be exactly how I want them, but I’ll take it. She finds some spare pillows in the wardrobe and uses them to prop me up before placing one of the boxes on my lap.

  “That smells incredible.”

  “You can’t beat authentic Italian pizza.”

  “I guess I’m about to find out.”

  I moan in ecstasy when I take a bite and the tomato sauce and mozzarella hit my tongue. Lauren’s gaze snaps over and her eyes darken as she stares at me.

  “Good?”

  “So good. Much better than the shitty hospital food I probably would have been served tonight.”

  “You weren’t meant to leave, were you?”

  “I wasn’t staying.”

  “That’s not an answer.”

  I shrug and inhale another slice of pizza.

  “You’d left, so I had no reason to stay.”

  “The broken bones weren’t enough, huh?”

  “Being away from you hurts more.”

  “Stop, Ben,” she sighs.

  “I’m only telling the truth.”

  Guilt floods her features as she realises that I now know she’s hiding something from me. “Tomorrow. We’ll talk tomorrow.”

  “Stop putting it off. We should have talked days ago.”

  “Don’t blame all this on me. You’re the one who showed up unexpectedly and turned my life upside down.”

  “I’m not blaming anyone. I just hate this. It should be me and you, baby.” I try to fight my yawn, but I can’t. Now that I’ve stopped and the adrenaline of finding Lauren has worn off, I’m exhausted.

  “You need to sleep.”

  I’m too tired to argue, so I allow Lauren to take the empty box from my lap and then help me find a somewhat comfortable position to lie in. I think I fall asleep before my head hits the pillow.

  * * *

  I wake with a gentle breeze blowing across my face. Glancing to the side, I find Lauren’s bed slept in but
empty. The doors at the other side of the room are open, and the light curtains are blowing in the soft wind.

  Taking a couple of deep breaths, I prepare to attempt to roll out of bed. The pain hits me like a truck, and any hope I had of it reducing overnight vanishes.

  I see her the moment I get to the doors. She’s sitting on one of the chairs with her feet propped up on the balcony and her head resting back with her eyes shut. She’s bathed in sunlight, and my mouth waters for a taste of her flawless, tanned skin. She’s much more breathtaking than the city before us.

  I stand there for the longest time, just taking her in. She’s even more beautiful than I remember from all those years ago. Her hair is just as blonde, and her curves are even more sinful than they were back then, but it’s her eyes that fascinate me even more now. They hold so much inside them, a wisdom that wasn’t there before. It kills me to know it was the pain I caused her that put it there, but I find it sexy as hell nonetheless.

  I don’t move or make any noise, but somehow she knows I’m here. She looks over her shoulder and her eyes find mine. The intensity in them almost knocks me on my arse.

  “So it wasn’t a drug-induced dream. I really am in Rome with you.”

  “So it seems.” Her face is serious, but I can see in her eyes that she’s at least a little bit happy about it. “How are you feeling?”

  “Sore.”

  “I’ve got those painkillers in my bag, if you’d like some.”

  Getting up, she gives me an incredible view of her body wrapped in only a thin, white summer dress. It’s cut low enough to give me just a hint of cleavage, and the obvious puckering of her nipples clues me in to the fact that she’s not wearing a bra. My mouth waters as I take my time running my eyes over every curve, wishing it were my hands instead.

  “Don’t get any ideas.”

  “Oh, baby, I had those years ago. Now I know exactly what I want.”