He breaks the kiss and looks me straight in the eye. The hand that was cupped around my jaw presses against the bed as he uses it for leverage to hold himself up. The one on my stomach slips down to the button on my jeans and his nimble fingers unbutton and unzip, then slip underneath.
My lips part as his fingers slide over my folds. I hear the rumble of his growl in my ear and I whimper, “Ben.”
“Are you wet for me, baby?” His fingers delve between my legs and the sound of his satisfaction makes my pussy clench in anticipation.
Then he presses against my clit with his thumb and moves in such ways that causes my breath to catch in the back of my throat. If I learned one thing after our night together, it was that Ben knows me almost better than I know myself. He understands from the pitch of my sighs and the restless way my fingers grip the sheets that I’m about to come. He watches as I twine the material around my hands and undulate against the play of his fingers. My desire reaches a fever pitch and he catches my low moan with his lips, his fingers flicking an insistent rhythm until I tremble against him in relief.
My muscles are so deliciously relaxed that I don’t realize Ben has even moved until I feel the rasp of my jeans sliding down my legs and the cool air curling around my now-exposed skin. My panties disappear along with my pants, and I don’t have a moment to adjust to my complete nakedness before his hands are spreading me wide and his mouth is on me.
The wet slick of his tongue against me sends a shock of pleasure along my nerves, short-circuiting any second thoughts I may have had. He presses against my legs as the flat of his tongue devastates me. He places one leg over his shoulder and uses his free hand to add the thick length of his fingers.
My hips lift, unbidden, and I moan through my second orgasm. I nearly scream through it, but Ben lifts and kisses me as his fingers help me through the aftershocks. His taste and mine mingle through the kiss, and I shudder underneath him.
His breath becomes ragged and a sense of urgency now underlies each of his movements. His fingers tremble as he undoes the button and zipper on his pants, so much that I knock his hands away to finish the job. I push his pants down his thighs with impatient fingers, dragging the cotton of his briefs along with them. He’s still wearing his customary black combat boots, so I don’t even consider shucking them the rest of the way off. That will take way too long, and I want him inside of me. Now.
His legs are pinned by the confines of his jeans, so his range of movement is significantly limited. The thick length of his cock springs free, and my mouth waters at the same time my pussy tightens. It’s been so long since I’ve even wanted to make love to anyone that my sudden and significant response to him surprises me. Though, it shouldn’t. The few moments it takes for him to slip on a condom feel like an eternity.
I scramble to pull him on top of me, needing the heavy press of his weight to assuage the need burning inside me. He spreads my legs and settles between them in a smooth movement, his lips taking mine for another kiss as he drives inside me.
We groan in unison and I remember how much I love the feel of him, the fullness of him. The rough material of his jeans abrades my calves from where I have them wrapped around his legs. He hooks his hands underneath my shoulders so he can hold me in place for each hard thrust.
He shoves his face in my neck and bites the skin there as I clench around him. Then he loosens a hand to press between us and I arch my neck in response. “Baby,” I manage between heaving breaths. “Don’t stop, that feels so good.”
Ben, the bastard, slows his movements in response, thrusting deep, holding, pulling out, then thrusting again even more slowly. “You want it?” he asks.
“Please,” I whisper.
“Are you gonna give this a shot?” he murmurs in my ear.
“What?” My voice hitches as he sits up and presses my feet into his chest so the head of his cock is hitting just the right spot.
“I’m here. You gonna be here with me?”
“Yes,” I gasp.
“Gonna give this a chance, Spitfire?”
I clench around him and relish the sound of his gasp in response. I adjust my legs so they’re wrapped around his waist and push up to roll him on his back. My hands clutch at his shoulders as I start to ride him. He slides his own up my waist to cup the weight of my breasts, his thumbs flicking over the hard tips of my nipples.
With each of my movements, he flexes his hips up to meet me and I nearly see stars the pleasure is so intense. My back arches, but he abandons one breast to cup my neck and force my gaze back to him.
“Watch me when you come, baby. I wanna see those gorgeous eyes.”
It’s just as beautiful as it was the first time. Just as all-encompassing, soul-shattering, and heart-breaking. It builds me up just to tear me down and starts all over again. In the end, my muscles are quaking with the need for release. I want to give in, but part of me is holding back, afraid.
His fingers and hips speed up, noting my heavy breathing and the fast pace of my hips.
“C’mon, baby,” he growls. “I want to watch you. I need to feel you come on me.”
The orgasm builds and my breath catches in my throat. He holds my legs still so he can take over again, meeting me with deep thrusts. The combination of his hard cock pulsing inside of me, the delicious tugs of his fingers on my nipples and the throaty commands he whispers in the darkness throw me over the edge with a savage force.
“That’s it, baby,” he says. “Oh, yes, just like that. I feel you around me. Yes, lay on me. Let me help you through it.”
He pulls me forward so I’m splayed across his chest, a languid heap of satiated flesh and bone. His hands grip the globes of my ass as he grunts. My orgasm rolls through me as he works himself to the end. His groans reach a fever pitch and end on one long, low note which sends shivers down my spine.
As the moment fades and reality returns, even after everything he’s said, I start to worry that my exhaustion will overtake me and I’ll wake up to another empty bed.
Ben shifts us so we’re lying on our sides facing each other. “You’re overthinking it already,” he tells me. Then, after a few seconds with no response from me—because, well, he’s right—he mumbles, “Give me ten minutes. I promise we’ll go again—and again, if I think you fuckin’ need it—until you’re not able to think at all.”
Ben
“You promise we won’t be gone long?” she asks, her hands fiddling with the hem of her dress.
I glance over at her out of the corner of my eye and smile. “Stop worrying so much. Cole will be fine. Mom’s raised a couple kids. She knows what she’s doing, I promise.”
“I hate to put her out this way. Melissa normally sits for me, but I told her I wanted to let your family get to know him and all.”
She checks her phone for the millionth time and I slip my hand around her leg and squeeze her thigh. “Stop worrying so much. He’s going to be fine. Mom has both of our numbers and she’ll call if anything’s wrong.”
“I know, you’re right. It’s just that your paranoia is rubbing off on me, I guess.”
“Well tonight isn’t about that. Tonight it’s just about us. Plus, I’ve got something to show you that I think you’ll like.”
“Are you going to tell me what it is?”
“No. Not ruining the surprise.”
“I don’t deal well with surprises,” she says, finally caving in and resting her weight against my side. I resist the urge to grip her tighter in satisfaction. About damn time she started giving in to me.
Chill bumps cover her legs as I brush her inner thigh with my fingers. Ever since we had sex again, I haven’t been able to keep my hands off her. “You’ll like this one,” I assure her.
Her breathing deepens the higher my fingers go and I start to wonder if I’ll ever make it to where we’re going, without wanting to stop and find that spot on the side of the road again where we could make full use of our night alone together.
Th
e road curves and the lights reflecting off of the dark ink of the lake come into view. Her leg stiffens underneath my hand and she sucks in a deep breath. She turns to look at me, lips parted and eyes wet with tears.
“What are we doing here?” she asks.
I pull into the driveway, headlights illuminating the empty porch and the swing I’d had installed with her in mind. I’d left the living room lights on so the place looks like home. Or at least my best guess of what she would think home would look like. I resist the urge to fidget as I wait to see her reaction.
“Closed on it today,” I say quietly. “It’s mine. I wanted to share it with you. I know how much he meant to you and I wanted to spend the night with you here. I wanted Cole to have the same memories you had, and even those that you didn’t, when you grew up here. I had a great childhood, so I can’t imagine not having one filled with the people you love. I know giving him a family, roots, is important to you. Whatever happens between us, I want you to know he’ll always have that.”
When she doesn’t say anything, I get out of the truck and rub my hand on my neck. Maybe it was too much. Fuck, I’ve probably gone and upset her. I move around the truck to the passenger side door and open it up to let her out and apologize. I’m barely able to get a word out before she vaults herself into my arms, her hands wrapped tight around my neck.
“Thank you,” she whispers brokenly. “Thank you so much, Ben.”
The knot in my stomach eases and I wrap my arms around her waist. “You’re welcome.”
She sniffles and pulls back, wiping her eyes. “That’s some surprise.”
“I just thought you’d like it.”
“It’s perfect.” She takes my hand in hers and drags me to the entrance of her dad’s old lake house.
“Now don’t expect much from the inside. I haven’t had time to furnish it, so it’s pretty bare bones right now.”
“I’ve learned that it’s not the things inside the house that makes it a home. It’s the people and the love they share.” She stops inside the doorway and turns to face me. “That’s what you’ve given me here. I don’t know how to thank you for it.”
I step closer and pull her to me. “You don’t have to do a thing. Just enjoy it with me.”
Her hands cup my neck and bring my mouth to hers. She brushes against me all heat and softness. I linger on the sweet taste of her until I remember that I didn’t bring her here for this and break away.
She looks disoriented. “What’s wrong?”
I rub a finger over her lips. “Nothing, I just didn’t bring you here for this.”
Her face falls. “You didn’t?”
That surprises a laugh out of me and I smile. “No, but don’t think I won’t take care of you later.”
Instead of biting back at me like she normally does, she melts into me with a breathy, “’Kay.” A part of me likes that even more than her attitude, that she trusts me to lead her anywhere.
I lead her through the empty, shadowed house and to the backyard where the overgrown path leads down to the lake. Her hand is clasped firmly in mine as we make our way down the dock, where I’ve set up a blanket on the sand. Haloes of light from the torches surround the spot and she gasps when she sees the setup.
“I thought it was the least I could do for missing out on so much. I know it doesn’t make up for the past year, but I thought I’d try.”
“I don’t know what to say. It’s beautiful.”
“I’m glad you like it.” I tug on her hand and lead her down to the blanket. “I figure since we haven’t actually been on a real date that we’re long overdue.”
She glances at me with a smile that makes me forget my earlier resolution to keep my hands to myself. “Are you saying that this is a date?”
“We’ve done everything else out of order, I didn’t want you to miss out on this, too.”
That adorable pink shade tinges her cheeks. “You’re being ridiculously sweet right now. Quick, do something possessive or arrogant.”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that. I save that for the second date.”
She stretches out on the blanket and my eyes catch on her skirt riding dangerously up her thighs. “Are you saying you want to go out on a second date with me?”
“Let’s just put it this way,” I nip at her lips and deepen the kiss until she’s breathless, “consider yourself unavailable, just in case any other guys come sniffing around you. I won’t go as quietly as little Chad did.”
“No talk about Chad tonight. Rule number one. No talk about shootings, or burglaries, or surgeries. No talk about me at all,” she declares.
“Sounds like a plan.” I ease back on the blanket, draping her over me so that we can look up at the stars. For the first time in a long time, the anxiety that buzzes under my skin is as quiet as the night around us.
“We can talk about you instead.”
I groan. “Let’s not ruin the night, Liv.”
“Oh, uh-uh,” she retorts, all sass again. “I’ve put up with you butting your nose into my life since you got home. I want to know what you’ve been doing. Where you’re going. I know you’re sensitive about it, but I want to know about your hearing. You don’t have to tell me about what happened, but I just want you to know that you can talk to me.”
I fight the urge to put some distance between us. “It doesn’t make for good first date conversation.”
“It does for us. I want to be here for you, like you’ve been for me. I know you try to be the big, strong man, but there is obviously something bothering you. You can lean on me, too, you know. I’m stronger than I look.”
“I know you are, Spitfire, but there are a lot of things you can’t know. A lot of things that I will never tell you.” Her hand finds mine and pulls it to rest on my stomach. “We were clearing a hill, trying to gain some territory. A lot of political bullshit that doesn’t matter. Anyway, our guys were getting smoked and we got called out. Our convoy was ambushed by rocket fire. I managed to save one of the guys before I was knocked unconscious. When I woke up with the worst headache of my life, they told me I’d never hear out of my right ear again and that, aside from the guy I pulled out, I was the only survivor. And I don’t even know if he made it. He was in critical condition last I heard, while I was in the hospital. It was crazy over-crowded so I couldn’t find out much else.”
“I’m so sorry you had to go through that, Ben.” Her hand tightens around mine.
“Don’t be. It’s what I signed up for. It was my job.”
“I’m so glad you made it home safely, though.”
“Sometimes I’m not so sure,” I murmur.
She sits up and leans on an elbow. “What does that mean?”
“Nothing.”
“No, tell me.”
“Look, there’s no way you can really understand what I’ve been through. To work with these men, train with them for months and then watch your men die while you live… It doesn’t feel like honor. I don’t feel like a special snowflake. When I think about the fact that they died and I lived, I don’t feel lucky. I feel like I should have gone down with them.”
She’s silent for a moment before clearing her throat. “This may make me sound like a horrible person, but I’m glad you made it. If you hadn’t, Cole would never have had the opportunity to meet you. To get to know the good man that I know you are.”
“I told you this wasn’t good date conversation.” I laugh hollowly.
Livvie presses a kiss to my jaw. “This is the best date I’ve ever been on because it’s with you.”
“I’m sorry, what’d you say?”
She looks up at me and says, “I said this is the best date—”
“I’m just kidding. A little deaf humor to lighten the mood.”
Her elbow makes sweet love with my rib. “That’s so not funny.”
“Sorry, sorry. Too soon.” She settles back down by my side and I search for a topic that doesn’t relate to me. “Have you had any luck with your bi
o parents?”
“Actually, Sof says she stumbled onto something. She’s supposed to email it to me at some point. After all that’s happened though, I almost don’t care. I’m just happy to have my two guys happy and healthy. Right now, that’s all that matters to me.”
She shivers against me. “Why don’t we head inside for a bit,” I suggest.
“Thanks for this. It was nice.”
I ball up the blankets and pull her to me. “The night’s not over yet,” I whisper against her lips.
Then she shivers for a completely different reason.
It almost feels like we’re teenagers again, sneaking away from the group of our combined families to neck underneath the lights of the Ferris wheel. I wasn’t worthy of her first kiss, and I’m sure as hell not good enough to have her look at me the way she does, but like the greedy asshole that I am, I take it.
I lay her down on the bed, a sexy sprawl straight from every dirty fantasy I’ve had about her over the years. Her chest heaves with shuddering breaths as I dip underneath the material of her dress. I find her wet for me, drenched, and I worry for a second that I’m going to end it before we even get started, so I pause to kiss her. Which doesn’t do anything other than fan the fire.
We break apart and I bury myself in her neck. Her hips rock under me and she takes my hand in hers to lead back down to the place between her thighs. My fingers stroke her deep, her walls clenching around me. I love how turned on she gets, how loud she can get, just for me.
“I wanna hear you this time,” I tell her, nipping her ear lobe for emphasis. “There’s no one around here but you and me. I wanna hear you every time you come for me.”
“Ben, I can’t…”
“Yes, you can.” God, and there she goes. Her muscles tighten—both inside and out—and her skin blushes everywhere. She wraps her arms and legs around me, using them to slide herself up and down my fingers as the convulsions reach a climax.
As she goes slack around me, I quickly roll on a condom. When I get her pregnant the next time, it won’t be left to chance. She looks up at me, the corners of her lips pulled into a pleased smile, and the thought of her full with my child strikes a hell of an attractive image.
First to Fight Box Set: Books 1-5 Page 32
