by C. M. Owens
“You came out of the bathroom, took one look at me, and suddenly you looked as guilty as I felt for eavesdropping. Then you disappeared downstairs without saying a word. I figured it was like all the times before—after you woke up from being drunk, where you regret getting handsy, only this time you also confessed something you didn’t mean.”
He studies my eyes, then his gaze rakes over my face. “You’re painfully beautiful in the mornings,” he says randomly. “Especially when you’re on my bed, looking lost and expectant.”
He blows out a breath, his lips brushing mine again. “I don’t say the right things, or you’d have been in my bed even when I had a bad beard.”
I laugh, caught off guard by that confession.
He smirks. “So I figured I’d get everyone out of the damn house and show you exactly how good this could be between us. I didn’t want to risk saying the wrong thing.”
I grin like an idiot. Oh, now I get why Delaney likes this dating thing so much. I’ve never been much of a goofy grinner until this moment.
“Well, not saying anything at all was the wrong thing too.”
He snorts, then rolls his eyes. “So I’ve noticed.”
He pushes up off the bed, and I lean up on my elbows to watch him as he tugs off his untied boots. My heartbeat gets faster as he pulls his shirt over his head, and my eyes hungrily rake over his body.
I can feel him watching me as I watch him shove his sweats down to his feet. No boxers. Yay!
Oh!
Wow…
“I hope you’re on birth control,” he says.
Remember how I thought Liam was freakishly gorgeous? Well, Benson is freakishly physically perfect. Like, even his penis is a work of art.
I almost don’t understand his words, because I’m staring at that very hard, very large, perfect penis.
“I am,” I murmur dumbly.
He stalks to me, and my breath leaves when he jerks my shorts down my legs, surprising me with his roughness. When I look up, I see the desperation in his eyes, and it matches mine.
As he drags my shorts off my legs, I throw my shirt over to a corner, baring myself completely to him. He comes down on top of me, his lips finding mine again as I buck against him, searching for that perfect penis.
“Fuck, I can’t believe this is finally happening,” he groans against my neck, spreading my legs wider.
Trying to form a response becomes impossible when his head suddenly dips and disappears between my thighs. One swipe of his tongue has me forgetting the English language.
Two swipes of his tongue has me forgetting my name.
Three swipes of his tongue has me only remembering his name.
When he fastens that incredible mouth around my clit, I become a writhing, wild animal beneath him. He growls against me, holding my hips down, and the vibrations only add to the stimulation that is driving me wild.
My hips try to buck, but he continues pinning me to the bed, forcing me to feel every incredible bit of what he’s doing. It’s been three years since someone other than myself worked me toward orgasm, so I’m not ashamed when I come like an unpracticed virgin within barely a few minutes.
My hands grip his hair, trying to push him back as my entire body shudders over and over.
He finally caves and starts kissing his way up my body, and my mind idly wonders why I couldn’t have slept on top of him sooner. We could have been doing this all along.
His tongue circles my nipple, and then he shows it a little more attention when he sucks it into that talented, relentless, giving mouth. I mumble something like praise, gripping his hair and forcing him closer as my legs come up around his hips.
I’m strong, but not strong enough to force his body down to mine. His cock teasingly brushes my thigh as he keeps our bodies separated, moving his blessed mouth to the other nipple to show it some attention.
“Never hide that mouth again,” I moan, causing a small chuckle to escape his lips.
His lips leave my nipple and find my lips again, and I kiss him hungrily, desperately, needing all of him.
His hand snakes between us, and my breath hitches as he lines us up in the best possible way and thrusts in. Considering how wet I am, it’s not hard for him to sink almost fully in me with that one thrust.
He breaks the kiss to groan, his body going tight, then thrusts again, pushing the rest of him inside me as he shudders.
“I just realized how long it’s been since I’ve been with anyone,” he murmurs through strain. “Very possibly longer than three years.”
I grin, actually loving that confession.
“Hence the reason you don’t have a supply of condoms on hand,” I say, though the words sound breathy and winded.
He kisses me again, withdrawing and thrusting back once more. His body feels so tight, and I know he’s struggling. I break the kiss, smiling as I tug his head back.
“I’ve had an orgasm. Stop worrying. We can have sex more than once,” I say with a smile, while he narrows his eyes in challenge.
“You can have another one with me.”
His hand slips between us, and my smile dies, making room for my lips to form an “o” as his thumb finds my clit and starts making lazy circles as he thrusts in again.
My hands go everywhere, trying to touch him, mark him, feel as much of him as possible, as he continues to set a rhythm that borders on mind-blowing.
It passes that border when my next orgasm crashes through me like a tidal wave, hitting every nerve in my body as I cry out. He thrusts harder and harder, dragging out my orgasm in the best possible way as he puts both hands beside my head to leverage himself up.
I’m still rambling in some foreign language, when suddenly…an ominous creak, pop, and snap tries to warn us. But we’re both too wrapped up in each other to even react as the bed plummets, crashing into the floor.
Benson doesn’t even stop thrusting as the bed frame collapses around us, falling into the walls and thankfully not us. It actually turns me on more, especially when I watch his face.
It’s sweet agony that would have been hidden from me if we’d done this in the past when his face was a mystery. I’d never want to miss that expression, because it makes me feel powerful, entranced, and possibly intoxicated.
This man has an incredible “o” face.
His body shivers against mine as he stays at the deepest point inside of me, and he drops to me when his arms give out. I wind my arms around his neck, kissing the side of his cheek that I can reach, as he pants for air.
“You’re perfect,” he says softly.
“You too.”
I grin like a fool, and he kisses a spot on my neck near my ear.
I’ve had sex. I’ve had emotionless, hot sex. But never before have I felt anything like what I’m feeling now.
I was wrong to think I could live without something like this. Something real. Something worth more than a little fun.
And it’s worth everything that will follow. Hopefully.
“Benson!”
We both go stiff, and Benson lifts his head to stare down at me, still inside me, as horrified humor lights his eyes.
“Benson Nolans!” Killian calls again.
Then Hale adds, “Get your cherry-popping ass out here right now! It’s time to suffer.”
Chapter 11
Wild Ones Tip #23
If a Wild One is screaming, just walk away. Trust me, we’re not dying.
LILAH
I walk out after cleaning up, tying my robe as I glare at my soon-to-be dead brothers.
Killian is tapping a bat’s end into his palm, and Hale is propped up on a shotgun.
“I’ll give you one minute to get back to your cabin. One minute before I grab the BB gun. Then I’ll have no mercy,” I warn them.
Killian’s eyes narrow.
“He took your virginity right next door! We heard you!” Hale shouts.
“I wasn’t a virgin, you creep!” I groan.
“
Yes. Yes, you were. And you will be again, as long as you don’t have sex for a while,” Hale says with so much conviction that I honestly believe he thinks it’s the truth.
“My hymen will never grow back,” I dryly remind them.
They both turn pale. “Sick! Stop talking about that,” Killian groans.
“Me?! You’re the two baboons who are in my front yard, assuring me that I’ll be a born-again virgin after admitting to eavesdropping on me having sex!”
“You scared the entire forest! We weren’t eavesdropping! Hell, we had pillows over our ears when you were making those nightmarish sounds that will forever haunt us!” Hale barks.
Okay, now that’s kind of embarrassing.
Benson walks out, fully dressed, and they both tense as he pinches the bridge of his nose. “You guys are seriously going to pay for ruining this.”
“You’re going to pay for de-flowering our baby sister!” Hale shouts.
Killian nods as though he agrees with that ridiculous declaration.
“I’m two minutes older than you,” I say to Hale. “And one minute older than you,” I go on, gesturing to Killian. “I’m the oldest.”
Hale sniffs, shoulders straightening. “It’s a man thing, Lilah. Step aside.”
My eyes narrow, but a hand clamps around my mouth before I can say anything. Benson’s body presses up behind me, and I struggle to remove his damn hand.
“Even you two assholes can’t possibly think your sister is always going to be single,” he tells them. They exchange a look as he continues. “She’s beautiful, smart, independent, and she’s honest.”
Okay, I admit I stop struggling to remove his hand for a minute so I can swoon. But it’s brief. I go back to trying to pry that hand off again, realizing just how strong Benson is when it’s a vain attempt.
“And you can’t be oblivious to the fact I care about her. And I’m never leaving Tomahawk. Until now, she’s never been intimate with anyone from Tomahawk. Would you rather her find someone not in this town? Someone who might take her away from it permanently?”
To this, they both pale, as if they hadn’t considered the fact I might ever leave them. Which I wouldn’t. They drive me crazy ninety-nine percent of the time, but they’re still my brothers, and they love me in their own unusual way, just as I love them. I’d never abandon them.
However, Benson is making a point, and my brothers are less aggressive and more passive in the moment. Which is a first.
“That’s what I thought,” Benson says, his lips twitching as he removes his hand. “So are we going to have any more problems?”
Again, the duo exchange a look, doing that silent communication thing they do. Sometimes I’m in on it with them, but usually it’s me silently shouting no at whatever destructive plan I can see brewing.
They look back at Benson, and their eyes creepily narrow in unison. “We’ll have a big problem if you hurt her,” Killian says.
Hale makes a point of slashing a finger across his neck. Benson’s lips twitch.
“Understood.”
They both toss me a glare before walking back to their cabin, but Hale turns around and points at us before he fully retreats.
“No more sex in your cabin. And we’re not fixing that bed again. He broke it this time.”
Then they turn around and leave us in peace.
“Well, that went better than expected,” I say in surprise.
“I cheated by playing on their worst fear,” he says, smirking as he rests his elbows on my porch railing.
He looks sexy on my porch.
Benson Nolans is actually the epitome of sexy, by my definition.
I lean up against him.
“I’d never leave them.”
“I know that now. I didn’t used to, but I do now. You’re true to Tomahawk until you die.”
He flashes a grin at me.
“You too?”
He nods, wrapping an arm around me.
“The worst is yet to come,” I say on a sigh, and his eyebrows furrow. “Aunt Penny is going to find out about this. Then…the pressure begins.”
He rolls his eyes. “It can’t possibly be that bad.”
Chapter 12
Wild Ones Tip #369
A Wild One is always right. Unless they’re wrong.
LILAH
“Oh, the wedding should be here. At the house. It’s where you two met, after all,” Aunt Penny is saying, while I force a straight face.
Benson is surprisingly not ruffled by the thousand and one wedding details Aunt Penny has been rattling off for the past hour. We’ve literally been dating for two days, and she has our wedding planned.
Told you.
“I bet all of Tomahawk would come out to see these two tie the knot,” my uncle chimes in before taking another drag off his pipe.
The pipe tobacco is permeating the air, even though we’re outside. At our picnic table. I’m leaning against Benson as I’ve done for years, but it means something different than it used to.
And his arm is around me, because we can’t stop touching. It’s even worse than when we were just friends. I don’t think we’ve stopped touching each other in some way unless bathroom breaks were required.
Benson’s lips find my forehead, and I close my eyes, soaking it in. Until there’s a terrifying squeal.
We both look at my aunt, who is clutching her hands together and staring at us with hearts in her eyes. That weird sound was apparently her vocalizing her excitement and not the sound of a cat losing its tail.
“You’re so beautiful together. It’s just lovely. It takes me back to when Bill and I first got together. I can’t wait to see you in your mother’s dress.”
My heart thumps, and I tense, but Aunt Penny keeps on talking.
“I can alter it, if you want. But I don’t think we should make any major changes. It would look so beautiful on you just as it is.”
I offer her a tight smile in response. This pressure is only going to get more suffocating.
“I think we’re just going to take it one day at a time for a while,” Benson says, trying to keep the wedding planner at bay. “We’ve only just started dating,” he reminds her, like a sane, rational person would.
She bats a hand. “You two love each other. You’ve been friends for years. You wouldn’t be in a relationship now if it wasn’t the real thing. I never thought it’d happen unless I kept trying to fix her up with guys.”
To this, Benson and I look at each other, confused, before glancing back at her.
“Say what now?” I ask.
Her mischievous smile spreads, and my uncle laughs under his breath before he answers that question.
“She knew you weren’t interested in anyone she brought out. She kept picking all those pretty boys for a reason. Benson wasn’t making a move, but you two would practically be in each other’s pockets when a potential suitor was involved. Your aunt figured she’d push Benson along, hoping he’d finally break.”
Benson frowns. “That’s not what happened.”
“In a way it was,” Aunt Penny says, delighted with herself.
“Actually, it was my brothers wrecking my bed that did it.”
Her face falls, and I feel like I’ve stolen something from her.
“That was what did it for her. For me, it was Liam coming into the picture,” Benson lies. He’s already told me the real moment he started having feelings for me that crossed the friendship line.
But it perks my aunt right up, and I want to kiss him for giving her that. My uncle winks at him like he knows what just happened too.
And I want Benson to myself for a while now so I can reward him properly.
“We need to go. I have some jobs to finish up,” I tell her, tugging at Benson’s hand.
He’s quick to leap to his feet, ready to get out of here too.
“Oh, I’ll make some wedding cake samples to see which is your favorite!” Aunt Penny calls out as we hurriedly make our way to the boat.
“Sounds good,” I say over my shoulder, not slowing down.
As soon as we’re pulling away from the dock, I look over at Benson. “Told you.”
He laughs under his breath. “It wasn’t as bad as you made it sound.”
“I’ll remind you of that when we come over for dinner one night, only to realize it’s a surprise wedding and she’s shoving us both down the aisle.”
He laughs, but I’m not kidding. It’s totally something she would do.
I watch him as he grins, relaxed in his seat like we didn’t just endure an hour of wedding plans after two days of dating.
“You know my family so well, and I know nothing at all about yours,” I say over the roar of the motor.
His smile disappears instantly.
We coast to his dock, and he starts tying off. I wonder if he’s about to dismiss me the way he usually does when I pry.
“My family isn’t like yours. Your brothers may drive you crazy, but they’d never hurt you or wrong you in any way. They have your back no matter what.”
I finish tying off the back of the boat, and he lifts himself out before turning to offer me a hand.
“Are you saying you have a brother?”
He nods slowly. “Our relationship is likely beyond repair, but for a few weeks out of every year, we pretend we don’t hate each other for the sake of our mother. Those are holidays that I go home, vacation weeks they come out here, and special occasions when I go to visit them.”
My stomach flips, because it’s the first time he’s ever shared anything about his family. I knew he visited them, because I always go through withdrawals when he leaves Tomahawk.
Seriously, I don’t know why I didn’t consider my feelings for him sooner.
He looks around, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck. He grabs my hand, and he doesn’t meet my eyes as he guides me onto the bank then up those fifteen steps to his door. But he talks while we walk.
“I moved out here because I needed a change, something that didn’t remind me of everything that had happened. Hell, I wasn’t here hardly five days before your uncle showed up, introduced himself, and told me there was a beard challenge. Then he informed me of the consequences if I didn’t accept.”
