Sidestepping me, she heads back into the room. “Here, take these.”
“Thank you.”
“I went out first thing and got you some stuff.”
Pulling my phone from my pocket, I blanch when I see it’s lunchtime. “What did you want to do today? I don’t want to ruin your time here.”
Shrugging, she drags her eyes away from me. “I didn’t come here for the sightseeing, Ben. I just came here to get away.”
“You want to go and see stuff though, right?”
“I think it’s probably better that you rest.”
Nodding, I can’t help but agree that a day out wandering around Rome is the last thing I need right now, but if it’s what she wants, then I’d do it without question.
“You need to wash. You stink. There’s a bath and shower; I don’t know what will be easier,” she says, pointing to the door at the other end of the room. “I’ll be out there if you need me.”
She’s gone before I get to say anything else, but I can’t argue with what she’s saying. I can smell myself, and it’s not pleasant.
Walking through to the bathroom, I weigh up my options as I have a pee and use the still packaged toothbrush to freshen my mouth up. I don’t want to put too much thought to when the last time I did this was.
Thinking the bath might be my best bet if I want to keep my cast dry, I lower the plug, run the tap and pour in some of the bubbles sat on the side.
I manage to drop my jeans without too much fuss, and I discover that I can slip my socks off without wanting to scream in pain if I sit on the closed toilet seat. Attempting to remove my t-shirt, though, is another matter entirely. After a few minutes fighting, I give up after getting a much better idea. Pulling the door open, I poke my head around the corner. “Lauren, could I get some help?”
It’s only seconds before she appears in the doorway. The sight of her in that white dress with the sun shining behind her confirms what a good idea this is. As she walks towards me, I can see every single curve of her body, and my cock swells.
“What’s up?”
“I’m struggling. Could you help?” Pulling at the hem of my t-shirt, she drops her eyes.
“You’re serious?”
“Deadly. Will you help get me naked?” Raising an eyebrow, she crosses her arms over her chest. “I’m serious. I can’t get it off, it hurts too fucking much.”
A little sympathy flashes through her eyes, and after letting out a sigh, she follows me into the bathroom, kicking the door shut behind her.
The tension crackles between us the second I turn my stare on her.
“I’m just helping with your shirt, and then I’m going back outside.”
Her fingers grasp the fabric and she starts lifting. “Yeah, that’s why you shut the door. So you could make a hasty escape.”
“It was habit,” she argues as I slip my non-broken arm free. Her presence helps to dull the ache in my ribs.
“Yeah, whatever you say, baby.”
Lifting up on her tiptoes, she goes to push the fabric over my head. Her breasts brush against my chest, and I can’t help my good arm reaching out and wrapping around her waist.
Her movements pause as she sucks in a breath, and when the fabric clears my eyes, I find her staring up at me, desire flooding her features.
I know that if I were to drop my head now, I could take her lips, but some fucked up part of me is enjoying this game we’re playing where she pretends she’s not interested. I want to keep it going a little longer; that way, when I do break through the façade she’s trying to maintain, it’ll be explosive.
“All done.” Her voice is a breathy whisper. Her obvious need has my cock almost at full mast.
When she steps back, she takes in the bruising covering my side. Her fingers reach out and she gently touches the purple and green skin. I suck in a breath at her contact.
“Shit, I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. It doesn’t hurt.” It’s a small white lie, because it always fucking hurts. My reaction was to the electric shock that shot through my body the moment she touched me. My hand wraps around her wrist to hold her in place, but she quickly tugs it away.
Tucking my thumb into the waistband of my boxers instead, I start pushing them down. I’ve got no qualms about getting naked in front of her; sadly, she seems to have other ideas.
Turning on her heel, she heads towards the door.
“Ow, fuck,” I complain, slightly exaggerating, as I go to sit in the bath.
“Are you okay?” She’s back in a flash, holding my good arm and helping to lower me into the water. I just about manage to keep the smile off my face. She’s so easily played.
“Aw, that’s good,” I moan as the hot water surrounds my aching body. Lauren’s cheeks burn red and she looks anywhere but directly at me.
“Are you okay…with the rest?” she asks, awkwardly standing above me.
“It would be easier if you stayed.”
Her eyes find mine, and I’m convinced that she’s going to tell me where to go and walk out, but to my surprise, she grabs her pink shower puff and a bottle of shower gel and settles herself on her knees beside me.
I watch as she dunks the puff in the water and then squeezes on a generous amount of soap before she gently starts washing across the top of my chest and shoulders.
My head falls back and my eyes close as I revel in the sensation of her taking care of me. She moves lower and very gently brushes my ribs.
“Is that okay?”
“So good,” I moan.
Her movements still for a second. “What really happened up on that scaffolding?”
“We were just hashing out some issues.”
“Issues?”
“Yeah. He seems to think he’s got something that belongs to me.” Cracking my eyes open, I glance over at her.
“I don’t belong to anyone,” she grumbles. “Not him, not you. I’m a person, not a thing.”
I allow her to vent, because at the end of the day, we both know she’s mine. I know for a fact that she’s got me in the palm of her hands, and I’ll willingly admit that to anyone.
“So there really were no punches thrown?” she asks again, like she didn’t believe me the first time.
“No, although it was getting close and I’d have liked nothing better than to knock the smug fucking look off his face as he taunted me.”
“Don’t,” she snaps.
“What? He can’t mean all that much to you; I’ve been inside you twice since I’ve been back.” I know my words are crass, but talking about that fucker riles me up.
“I’m done here,” Lauren says, throwing the puff down on my chest, standing and going to storm out.
“Wait. I need you to help me out.”
Her shoulders drop as she lets out a giant breath. “Of course you fucking do,” she mutters, and I can’t help but smile. “Come on then.” She stands over me, waiting for me to shift so she can help.
Once I’m sitting, she puts her hands under my arms and does very little to help me, but it’s not her help I really want.
I hold back the groan that wants to rumble up my throat as I try to stand, but knowing she’s here helps.
“Slowly, Ben,” she soothes when I go to step out and catch my toe on the edge of the bath. Her gaze drops, but I’m pretty sure she doesn’t make it down to my toes, because my cock is still jutting out in front of me.
Once I’m back on two feet, I reach my good arm out and wrap it around her waist, pulling her up against me.
“Ew, Ben, you’re wet.”
“I bet you are too,” I whisper in her ear. She fights gently to get away, aware that she might hurt me, but I hold tight. “See, you’re not even denying it. You know as well as I do that if I were to run my fingers up your thighs, you’d be desperate for me.” My cock twitches between us at the thought.
Lauren’s eyes darken as she stares up at me, her breathing becoming heavy.
Slowly, I lower my hand.
It runs over the curve of her arse until I find the bottom of her dress. My balls ache when my fingers connect with the hot and smooth skin of her legs. I just get to the juncture of her thighs when reality hits her.
“No,” she says, jumping back, but she doesn’t sound all that convinced.
“Spoilsport.” Reaching for a towel, I make a show of rubbing it over my head and across my chest. I make no attempt to cover myself up, because even without looking at her, I can feel her eyes burn into my skin.
“I’m going to look at the room service menu. I’m hungry.”
She leaves the room to the sound of my laughter. I’m getting to her, and she knows it. I fully intend on her being mine once again by the time we leave this hotel, and so far it seems to be going exactly as I’d hoped.
The moment she slips from the room, I lean forward against the basin and suck in a few deep breaths. Getting in and out of that bath was much more painful than I tried to let on, and it’s still coursing through my body now.
Once everything’s eased a little, I wrap a towel around my waist but fail to make it stay put, so I end up holding it.
“Where are you going?” Lauren’s standing with her handbag over her shoulder when I walk out of the bathroom.
“I don’t fancy anything on the menu. I saw a little deli down the street so I thought I go and get us some sandwiches.”
“Okay, sounds good.” Walking past her, I go to the bag she left on the sideboard earlier.
“A-are you going to be okay?” she stutters, a little taken back by my dismissal.
“I’m a fully grown man, Lauren. I think I’ll be fine.”
She hovers for a few seconds before eventually turning and disappearing.
I don’t get a chance to pull out one of the new pairs of boxers she bought for me this morning, because my phone starts ringing on the bedside table. Shuffling over, I pick it up and smile when I see Liv’s happy face looking back at me.
“Hello.”
“Hey, how’s it going up there?”
“I’m in Rome.”
“Rome? As in Italy?”
“The one and only.”
“What?”
“It’s kind of a long story.”
“I’ve got all day.”
Walking out to the balcony, I try to sit myself down without groaning in pain, but I’m unsuccessful.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, just give me a few seconds.”
“Ben, you’re worrying me.”
Once I’ve caught my breath, I give Liv the short version of the events of the past thirty-six hours.
“You should be in fucking hospital, not chasing Lauren to Rome.”
“All right, Mum.”
“I’m serious. You need to look after yourself.”
“I’m hoping Lauren’s going to do that for me.”
“Ugh, you’re such a pig.”
“It’s part of the reason why you love me.”
“Hmm…yeah,” she mumbles.
“Is everything okay down there? I miss the beach.”
“Everything’s pretty much as it always is, just without you. You should bring Lauren to visit.”
“I intend to. If I ever make her see sense.”
“That’s kind of why I’m ringing.”
“To make Lauren see sense?”
“No. Yes. Kind of.”
“You’re going to need to give me a little more than that, Liv.”
“Okay, well, I’ve been looking into stuff, and I’ve found something you might find interesting.”
“Go on.”
“I’m going to send you some pictures over.”
I pull the phone from my ear, put Liv on speaker and wait for her messages.
My phone vibrates and I open the first picture. It’s a photo of a newspaper article about locals helping out to fix their community centre roof. Frowning, I zoom in and suddenly it makes sense. Image above: Nick Davis and Joseph Kingsman (aged 6) after donating their time to fix the roof.
Nick knew Joe prior to him being friends with Lauren? Questions start spinning around in my head as my phone buzzes again.
“I just thought that was interesting, but it’s the next one you really need to see. Ready?”
The three little dots bounce and my impatience grows as I wait to see what’s coming next.
It’s fuzzy when it first comes through, and it takes a while to load, but when it does, my eyes widen and my chin drops. “Holy fucking shit.”
Chapter Eight
Lauren
I told myself when I agreed to this trip with him that I wouldn’t do anything stupid. I’ve already made enough bad decisions when it comes to Ben to last a lifetime. But then I find myself arm-deep in his bath water, gently cleaning his broken and bruised body. I know he wants me; the evidence was pointing directly at me when I helped him step into the tub. I need to get my head together. We need to talk and find a way for us to continue to be around each other if he stays, which seems likely now he’s taken over the business.
I’m not all that hungry after making the most of the continental breakfast the hotel had to offer this morning while Ben was still fast asleep, but it’s the only excuse I can think of to get me out of that tiny hotel room and away from him before I do something I’m going to regret. He’s not happy about it—he made that obvious when he appeared with bubbles and water droplets still running down his sculpted body and a towel barely covering his still erect cock. One glance at it and I knew I needed at least a few minutes break; it was calling to me like a fucking ice-lolly.
The second I step foot outside the room, I feel like I can breathe once again. I spend the short walk trying to come up with how I’m going to explain everything properly to him. Thanks to Danni dropping me in it yesterday, desperation to know the truth pours from his eyes every time I look at him. I’m amazed he’s allowed me this long without demanding to know what I’m hiding, but I know that’s soon to come to an end, and it’s got to be better coming from me willingly than him having to drag it out of me, right?
I can’t be gone any longer than twenty minutes, but as I walk towards our hotel room door my nerves get the better of me. Sucking in a few deep breaths, I prepare to tell him something that could change everything for us. Depending on how he takes it, I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to hold back. I know I should be stronger, should stand up for what I believe is right, but this is Ben I’m talking about. I’ve never been able to let my head lead the way where he’s concerned.
The room’s silent and deserted when I walk in. Dropping my handbag on my bed, I continue towards the open French doors with the bag from the deli in my hand. I find Ben sitting in the chair I was in earlier, staring down at his phone. He’d have heard the door shutting, so he knows I’m here, but he’s yet to turn to me and that has the nerves that are fluttering in my belly exploding.
Something’s wrong.
Eventually, he lowers his phone and slowly turns his face my way. Anger pulls at his features, his eyes hard with accusation.
“W-what is it?”
“I think you need to start explaining, don’t you?”
“Shaking my head, I try to figure out what he’s talking about, but I’ve no idea what could have possibly happened in the short time I was gone.
“I’ve no i-idea what—”
“Don’t talk shit. You know exactly what I’m talking about. Danni knows exactly what I’m talking about. She already warned me.”
My stomach drops and my hands tremble. I guess me wanting to get in there first has been shot to shit.
“I suggest you sit down.”
“I…I’m good.”
“Sit,” he barks, and my body does as it’s told.
“You remember Liv?” I nod briefly. She was the one who came over before I even knew who she was and told me that Ben still loved me. I kind of wanted to punch her in the face at the time, but I know she was only trying to help.
“Yeah.”
/> “Did you know she’s a journalist?” I shake my head, my heart racing. “Well, she is. And do you know what journalists are good at?” Shaking my head again, I wait for him to say the inevitable. “Would you like to be honest, or do I need to drag it out of you?”
Tears burn my eyes as he stares daggers at me. I knew he’d be angry if—when—he found out, but I didn’t quite appreciate the level of anger I’m looking at right now.
“Joe and I…” I trail off, not really knowing how to put it.
“Yeah…?”
“We’re not together,” I admit, looking down at where my fingers are playing with the hem of my dress.
“Good. And why not?”
“Because he’s…not interested in me,” I whisper, feeling the weight of the lie I told pressing down on me.
“Now, that wasn’t that hard was it?” he spits. I sniff as my emotions start to get the better of me, but his stare doesn’t waver. “I fucked you, thinking we were betraying another man. You allowed me to believe that what we were doing was wrong. But the whole fucking time, you were mine to take.”
“I’m sorry, I—”
“What?” he snaps.
“I thought it would keep you away.” The laugh that falls from his mouth has a shiver running down my spine.
“Keep me away? Fucking hell, Lauren. You should know that nothing would have kept me away.”
“But it did,” I scream. “My dad kept you away for six fucking years. Six fucking years, Ben. You just disappeared and I had no fucking idea what to think. I had no choice but to get on with my life, and Joe was like a breath of fresh air when I met him. He listened to me in a way no one else did. He understood in a way that no one else could, and by some miracle he brought me back to life.”
“He threatened me, Lauren. Threatened you. If I didn’t leave, he was going to take everything from both of you. I did what I thought was the best thing for you at the time. I was young, naïve, and I thought I was doing you a favour. I don’t give a fuck about Joe, Lauren. You lied to me.” He stands, and I hate the feeling of him looking down on me like I could be less than him.
“You left me,” I fume, standing, holding his stare. “I risked everything for you and you fucking left.”
Fighting for the Forbidden: Forbidden Series #3 Page 7
