by Ruby Rowe
“He’s been a great friend. I didn’t want to screw that up.”
“Well, it doesn’t matter now. You two are perfect for each other.”
“You look happy, too.”
“I am.” Even though her green eyes are becoming watery, I know she means it. Her smile says it all. “Jason amazes me more every day. He’s thoughtful, sweet and attentive, yet he’s a lion in the bedroom. It’s hot.”
“Ben is surprising me, too. It’s exciting.”
“Then why do you look uneasy?”
Realizing I’ve been drawing circles on my jeans, I grip the couch.
“I’m scared I’m going to hurt him, but he wouldn’t let me deny my feelings any longer.”
“Stop trying to talk yourself out of this. You have a right to be happy. Getting drunk every weekend, and then sleeping with losers, doesn’t constitute happiness. Got it?”
I bump my shoulder against hers. “Got it. The four of us should start hanging out. Maybe Ben and Jason will become friends, and you and I will see more of each other.”
“That would be awesome, but right now, you need to be locking yourself away in a bedroom with that man. You two deserve it.”
“I guess we do.”
Ben
“I’m so over school,” Nick says as we slam our books shut. “Why did I let you talk me into taking Distressed Investing? I can’t keep my fucking eyes open during this class.”
“You agreed because you want to stay in Atlanta and work with me rather than go back to your hometown to manage your father’s tractor supply store. I can picture the Carhartt overalls and smell the horse feed from here. That’s not you, man. You’ll get bored.”
“I don’t feel like I have a choice.”
“It is your choice.”
“You met my hard-ass father. Would you want to tell him? He’ll never forgive me if I don’t go back home.”
“I think he’d eventually get over it, and I’ll tell him with you if you want. Maybe I’d bear more of the blame since it’s my family’s company you’d be working for.”
“Maybe… I need more time to think on it.”
We walk out of class and into the November Atlanta air. The trees are changing to a rust color, and there’s a cool breeze. It’s a nice change from the miserable heat we had this year.
“I have some news for ya,” I say.
“What’s that?”
“We were going to tell you together, but I don’t trust you not to say something to ruin the moment.” I glance over at him, and he looks at me, his forehead wrinkled with confusion. “Chloe and I are dating.”
Coming to a stop, Nick grabs my arm.
“Hold up. What now?”
“Chloe... I finally got her to admit she likes me.”
“Damn.”
“I know.”
“She better not break your fucking heart.”
I point at him. “That remark is exactly why I didn’t tell you in front of Chloe. You would’ve said it to her.”
Other students are shoving around us as we block the sidewalk, so we step onto the grass.
“Damn straight I would’ve, and she still deserves to hear it. She better heed the warning, too.”
“I don’t need you taking up for me. Chloe and I are getting closer every day, so give her a chance.”
He grins, and I see the mischievousness gleam in his light blue eyes.
“You’ve already fucked her.”
“It’s none of your business.” Not wanting to talk about it, I start walking, and he keeps up.
“Just tell me it was at least a sober fuck.”
I laugh.
“I knew it. You have slept with her. Is she as good as the image you’ve jacked off to all these years?”
“You’re a dick.”
“Come on. I deserve some intel after all the years I’ve watched you worship at her feet.”
“It’s better than I could’ve dreamed, and that’s all I’m telling you.”
“OK. That’s enough info to help me use my imagination.”
I shove his shoulder. “Grow the fuck up.”
“Ah, shit. This means I’ll have to see more of Megan.”
“Hey, you’re the one who accepts the dinner invites.”
“That’s only because I need food.”
“Right.”
“I’m happy for you, man. It’s about time Chloe wised up.”
“Thanks. I feel like a lucky fucker right now, and I hope she realizes I’m not letting her go. Maybe I need to make that crystal clear to her.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
Chloe
I examine the ceramic brown and orange turkey that’s been a holiday centerpiece on our table since I was a child.
It’s becoming outdated, but my mother is all about tradition, so I imagine I’ll still be looking at it in another twenty years.
Running my finger over the woven pattern on the tan tablecloth beneath my plate, I acknowledge that this is what I do when we’re sharing a meal with the Ashfords; I attempt to distract myself from the facade.
“You’ve been extra quiet today,” Ben whispers as he leans over to my ear at the dinner table. “I can’t lie; it’s scaring me a little.”
Squeezing his knee, I feign a smile his direction.
“I’m just nervous,” I say. “Telling our families makes it so…”
“Official? And possibly forever?”
“Do you feel like it could be forever?” Realizing I’m speaking louder, I glance around the table. Our family members are chatting between bites of their Thanksgiving meal while I struggle not to throw mine up.
Ben shakes his head. “How can you still ask me that?”
I shrug. “I don’t know. We haven’t exactly talked about the future.”
“For the record, us being together forever is a given in my mind.”
Seeing his panicked, frustrated expression hurts my heart, so I squeeze his hand, clear my throat, and say, “Hey, everyone. I have something to tell you…”
Our parents, along with my grandparents and sister, shut their mouths and stare at us. Megan must realize what I’m doing since she smiles at me. Seeing my hesitation, she widens her eyes and nods, encouraging me to continue.
“Ben and I have been dating a few weeks now, and we thought this was the perfect time to tell you that we’re officially a couple.”
I brave a look at him, and he smiles with pride, the relief evident on his handsome face. He plants his lips on mine, and I feel the rush of heat it sends to my cheeks. Knowing our families are watching causes my body to tremble, too.
Or, maybe I’m a wreck over the fact that we can’t pretend our relationship didn’t happen now. It’s no longer our secret, and when it all crumbles to a pile of shit, everyone will know I broke Ben’s heart … and my own.
The loud excitement exuding from those at the table heightens my nerves, so I grip Ben’s hand harder and take a deep breath.
“This will go down in history as the best Thanksgiving Day ever,” my mother says dramatically. “Well, unless next Thanksgiving you tell us you’re getting married.”
I resist an eye roll. This is what I’ve feared. My parents and Ben’s see our relationship as an opportunity to join our families, and that’s exactly what can’t happen. Not ever.
I feel Ben’s lips on my temple. “Thank you. I know that wasn’t easy for you to do. I’m not sure why that’s the case, but I know it wasn’t.”
I feel terrible that I can’t give every part of myself to Ben, but I feel even worse that he knows I’m still holding back. I wish the two of us could move far away from Georgia and be together. Maybe we can.
Ben
As I rinse my dessert plate in the sink, I hear music coming from the other room. Chloe’s playing the piano, and I wish she’d share her damn thoughts with me as openly as she does through those white keys.
Her parents pushed her to get a business degree, so Chloe said, “Fine, then I’ll use my busine
ss degree to open a music school where I’ll give piano lessons.”
That’s my girl. She’s smart, feisty and determined. I only wish she wasn’t so guarded.
After following the melancholic sounds, I rest my arms on the black grand piano across from Chloe and watch her. Shouldn’t she be smiling today? Shouldn’t she be playing a more uplifting tune?
Hell, if I could, I’d bump the world news anchors out of their seats and announce to the millions of viewers that I finally snagged the woman of my dreams, whereas Chloe acts like she’d prefer not to tell a soul.
She shuts the lid on the piano and looks at me.
“Baby, what are you thinking?” I ask. “Talk to me.”
Standing, she grabs my hand. “I don’t want to talk, but I do want you to fuck me.” She pulls me behind her and toward the staircase that leads to the second floor. I glance around to see if anyone spots us heading up, but the coast is clear.
I figure Chloe’s taking me to her childhood bedroom, but instead, she pulls me into the hall bathroom and locks the door.
She flips on the switch to the light, along with the one to the fan, which creates a sound that I imagine she’s hoping will hide what we’re inevitably going to do in here.
“Unbutton your jeans,” she says as she removes her panties from underneath her silky burgundy dress. She hops up on the long vanity, and as I reach for my wallet, she grabs my arm. “I’m on the pill. Just fuck me already.”
She lifts her dress up to her waist, and as soon as I see her pink waxed pussy, I unbutton and unzip my jeans at lightning speed.
I should care that our families are one room below us, likely gossiping about Chloe and me being together, but my brain’s tired of thinking and overanalyzing.
I pull C.C. to the edge of the counter and slam into her. Her head flings back, and her nails dig into my back. She lets go and gives herself to me physically, her amazing tits bouncing between us.
As I drive into her fast and hard, she begins to moan and leans over to bite my shoulder. The pain only intensifies my craving and creates a need to be rough with her.
I bring her closer and fuck her slick cunt, slamming into it repeatedly. She clamps down on my cock with her sweet pussy, and her heels dig into my ass cheeks as I squeeze hers.
“Fuuuck,” I groan. She comes on my dick, and I bite back a growl, my teeth grinding away some of the aggression seizing me. My orgasm owns me next, and I come deep inside her.
We’re sweaty and gasping for breath as I ease out of her. Chloe’s long, trembling legs drop, so I grab her to prevent her from falling. She scoots back on the vanity and adjusts her wavy blond hair and her wrinkled dress.
It hits me as I help clean her up that the only kind of sex Chloe and I have shared has been dirty and sweaty. Every time is hot as hell, but not once has she let me be gentle with her. That needs to change.
I help her to the floor and hug her. My senses are in overdrive as I smell her hair and the scent of sex in the cramped room.
I feel her pounding heart against mine, and I see the back of her slender body in the mirror as I swallow her up in my arms.
My Chloe…
Pulling back, I point at her heart.
“Let me in here, too.”
She nods. “Let’s move away after graduation. I’ll go anywhere you want, and we’ll start a life there together.”
I scrunch my forehead. “I can’t move away. We’re about to grow the business, and our families are here. This is home. Why in the world would you want to move?”
Shrugging, she looks away. “I thought it would be exciting.”
I tilt her chin. “As soon as we can afford it, I’ll take you anywhere you want to go. I know you enjoy traveling, so we’ll do it as often as possible.”
“You’re too good for me,” she says before she leans her head against my chest.
“No, I’m right for you, the same way you’re right for me.” As I hold Chloe against me, I realize I haven’t said the most important words of all to her.
CHAPTER NINE
Chloe
“Dinner was lovely, but I hope you don’t feel like you have to wine and dine me. We’re broke college students, remember?” I giggle, and I think it’s more from my nerves than anything else.
“I do need to wine and dine you. We’re in a relationship now, and you deserve the royal treatment,” Ben replies as he helps me out of his truck.
I release his hand to straighten my snug navy dress. “Besides, Dad pays me well,” he adds. “I’d rather spend my money on spoiling you than on anything else.”
“It’s sweet, so thank you.” I look around. “Is there a reason you wanted to hang out at your apartment tonight?”
Clutching my waist, he pulls me close and kisses my neck.
“I want your scent on my sheets,” he whispers seductively.
“You’ll have to wash them eventually.”
“That’s OK. It’ll only mean you need to sleep on them again.” As he skims his lips along my ear, I shiver.
“What about Nick. Is he here?”
“He won’t be home until late, and I do happen to have a bedroom door that shuts and a stereo that may muffle your moans.”
Raising up, he grins at me, and my heart races over the way his facial expressions tell a story. His thin lips only make his smile broader, and the way he squints his eyes while admiring me makes the man I know inside and out a bit mysterious.
I can’t help but touch the late day stubble on his defined jaw.
“You’re becoming too hard to resist,” I say.
“I was hoping you were done tryin’.” He cracks another smile, but it’s not bright enough to blind me to the nervousness shrouding his eyes.
“Let’s go inside,” I murmur.
I’m happy when he chooses to drop the subject. Instead, he takes my hand and walks with me to his second-floor apartment that’s only minutes from mine.
I step into the living room and glance around. It’s cleaner than usual, and it leaves me smiling. I’ve known for years that Ben can be messy, so I find it humorous that he wants the place clean now that we’re dating.
Turning back to him, I grin. “You cleaned your apartment for me. I’m impressed.”
“Hey, now. You haven’t been here in a long damn time. I’ve changed, and Nick … well, I gave him the third degree that his room is the only one he can trash.”
Squeezing my hand, he brandishes a devilish, spine-tingling grin while swiping his hand over his buzzed hair. “I think I need to show you how clean my room is. Especially my bed.”
“You’ve never been good at subtleties.”
“You love my honesty.”
“I do.” Tiptoeing, I kiss him. “I want to see this clean bed before we dirty it. How’s that for honesty?”
His smile disappears. “We did dirty a couple of days ago in one of your parents’ bathrooms. As fantastic as that was, I want to slow things down tonight.” Ben kisses my forehead, my cheek and my lips in the gentlest way.
“While staring into your gorgeous honey eyes, I’m going to rock back and forth between your sexy legs. I’ll make love to you slowly and steadily until you can’t hold my gaze a second longer. The gradual buildup of your orgasm will be stronger than any you’ve felt before.”
Kissing my cheek again, he moves his mouth to my ear. “You’ll have to close your eyes from the pleasure, and as I watch you unravel around my cock, I’ll lose control, too. The sight of you will be all it takes to make me come.”
“Shit.” I squeeze his waist to balance myself. I’m suddenly lightheaded and breathless as my pussy develops a heartbeat of its own. “Take me to bed, Benjamin.”
Ben
Chloe turns her back to me as she stands by my bed. I unzip her dress that’s clinging to every curve of her luscious body.
Kissing the back of her neck, I lower the fabric over her shoulders, and she pulls her arms free from the long sleeves.
She’s not wearin
g a bra, which I picked up on earlier tonight, so I slip my hands around her waist and massage her tits. I love how they fill up my hands, but I love more how it makes her feel when I play with them.
Moaning, she leans her head back against my shoulder, so I knead her tits harder and nibble on her ear. My stiff cock presses against her ass, urging me to remove the clothes that are separating our hungry bodies.
Chloe reads my mind, and we both begin yanking them off. In no time, I have her underneath me in my bed.
More nights than I can count, I’ve dreamed of Chloe being right here, naked against me and leaving her scent on my sheets.
I latch on to one of her nipples, and as she runs her hands over my hair, I think about how I might have to grow it out so I can feel her fingers travel through it and so she can pull it while I go down on her.
Speaking of… I move my body south, leaving kisses on her stomach and pelvis. She grabs the sheet at each side of her as I find her clit with my tongue.
Her long moan fills my room, and it only urges me to pleasure her more. I lick between her lips languidly, teasing Chloe to utter more of her provocative sounds.
She shoves her body against my mouth, so I clench her thighs and lick and suck on her pussy, eating her out and finger-fucking her until she convulses against my scorching mouth.
As I raise up, I wipe my lips and absorb the sight of her lost in the ecstasy.
“Fuck, I could do that to you all day.” I move between her legs and sink my cock right into her soaked cunt. Damn, she feels incredible.
Lowering to my forearms, I admire her flushed face and long eyelashes. “I want to see you looking back at me while I do what I promised.”
She opens her eyelids lazily and stares at me. The honey halo surrounding her irises is illuminated by the lamp on my nightstand, and I’m getting fucking emotional during sex. “I love you,” I say.
I rock forward and back, letting the pleasure build slowly. Chloe holds my gaze, and while touching my cheek, she says, “I love you, too, Benjamin.”
