He needed to stay the course. But he didn’t know which course to stay. The one where they stayed friends and ignored their needs, or the one where they maybe stayed friends and relieved each others’ needs.
“Um, Ben.” She glanced over his shoulder. “Mrs. Dankirk is watching. Do we need to do anything, or is it enough that we’re sitting close on the blanket?”
Relief washed through his body in a warm, welcomed wave. A legitimate reason to kiss her. Had all his brain cells been firing, Ben would’ve realized his libido had compromised his logic. Too bad he wasn’t thinking with his northern head.
He cupped her face and brushed his thumb over her trembling, lower lip. “I’m going to do what I’ve been wanting to do. All. Damn. Day.”
She nodded, and stopped his heart when her tongue snaked out to touch his thumb. With a groan rumbling in his throat, he captured her lips in a kiss that was too long overdue to be tender. His hunger for Lea was fierce. There was no taking it slow. Not even close. He jumped right to intense, demanding, taking as he plundered all she had to give. Kid gloves were off. No playing around. No pretending. No thinking of her as his younger sister’s friend.
She was a woman. A very desirable woman who matched his hunger, meeting his tongue’s demands, taking what she wanted right alongside him.
He told himself his need was born from not being with a woman for the past few weeks. No Charisse. No casual hookups as of late. It was as if he was getting bored. But there was no denying his increasing hunger for the woman in his arms.
Pressing her into the blanket, he ran a hand down her side, brushing her breast, sweet curve of her waist, down to her thigh, then slowly back up, slipping under her shirt to stroke her skin just under her bra.
So damn soft...
He rocked against her in a show of need and half-expected her to put a halt to his advances, but she had a hand clamped to the back of his head, holding him in place while the other snuck under his shirt to trail heat up and down his back from her roaming fingers.
If his brain hadn’t registered the giggling from some nearby teenagers, Ben had no idea how far he would’ve gone.
The thought scared the hell out of him.
He stilled. He’d never lost control like that. Ever. Slowly drawing back, Ben recognized the same confusion he felt flashing through Lea’s eyes as breath rasped in and out of her lungs. Rolling to the side, he removed his hands from her soft, warm flesh and inhaled long and deep in a show of solidarity. She wasn’t the only one knocked on her ass.
“I should apologize for letting things get out of hand,” he said, voice a little hoarse because he was still a lot hard.
She sat up and stared straight at him, gaze clear and open and unpolluted. The woman was too damn sweet for someone like him.
“Don’t you dare apologize.”
Surprised by her reply, he was now faced with the challenge. The question. The unspoken invitation in her words and direct gaze.
He was too damn jaded and set in his ways for someone so fresh and open and giving. She could do so much better. She shouldn’t waste her time on the likes of him.
The light dimmed in her eyes. “I see. That was for show again.” She made to get up, but he caught her arm and waited for her to meet his gaze.
“Lea.” His heart hammered an unrecognized cadence in his chest. She was killing him. “I wasn’t acting.”
She studied him, caution clouding her baby-blues.
“That was raw need,” he added.
With his admission, her smile returned, and warmth rolled through his bewildered heart with the force of a Humvee.
“Me, too.” She rose to her feet and glanced down at him. “They’re starting another baseball game. Perfect for channeling this pent up energy.”
Without waiting for a reply, she turned on her heels and headed toward the others, not once asking him for any kind of declaration.
Ah hell, he was so out of his league.
As Lea got ready for bed that night, she contemplated what had changed that day. Because something most definitely had.
Last night, she not only made a batch of comfort sangria, she’d made a vow. Today she would act her usual self around Ben. She’d play it cool. Socialize with the others. Not hang all over him. She was proud of herself for following through. She didn’t mislead him or make the first move. All the warnings Lea had given him about being watched had been truthful.
And fruitful.
Damn the man was hot.
The kiss they’d shared nearly caught the blanket on fire. He’d initiated it. Devoured her. Curled her toes inside her sneaks. He was the one who kept staring at her all day, and if he didn’t have a quizzical expression on his handsome face, a frown creased his brow. It was as if he was seeing her in a new light, but didn’t exactly know what to do.
She had a few yummy suggestions, but knew the man had to come to them all on his own if she were ever to have any shot with him. Now, if she could just find the strength to wait and not make another fool of herself, she may just survive the weekend.
With that thought in her head, she came out of the bathroom in her T-shirt just as Sgt. Hotty entered the room. All the nerve-endings on her body stood at attention. His gaze was dark and delicious, and when he closed the door behind him and started to walk to her, nervousness set in.
“H-how was your meeting?” When the women had headed upstairs for the night, the men had gone to the study to shoot pool and talk shop.
“Too long.”
A giggle escaped without permission. “But you’ve only been down there ten minutes.”
He stopped in front of her, gaze deliciously dark with a determined heat that stoked her to a slow burn.
“Ten minutes I could’ve had up here with you.”
She couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think. His presence was all consuming. Finally. Finally, the man was saying things she’d longed to hear for forever, and here she was, a trembling puddle of need, leaning against the wall for support. If only one brain cell would fire up and give her something witty to say.
She had nothing.
Chapter Five
Lea attempted to suck in some air, but it clogged her throat the second Ben palmed the wall by her head and lifted a finger to trace a path from her ear to her jaw.
“I was trying to keep from crossing that friendship line, but you and I both know it is now so damn blurred it’s a permanent smudge.”
With her voice still on hiatus, she nodded.
“No matter how I calculate it, this leaves us with a problem, Lea,” he said, voice deliciously low and oh so sexy she shook.
“I-it does?” she squeaked.
He nodded, finger now skimming her lower lip, sending jolts of heat straight to all her good parts.
“Yes. I can’t get your taste out of my head.”
“Good.”
Oh, his eyes darkened on that one and jaw clenched tight. “No, it’s not good, because I really want to take you against this wall. Right here. Right now.”
“Do it.”
His other hand hit the wall as he muttered a curse, closed his eyes and sucked in a breath. “You’re going to be the death of me.”
What the heck did he think he was doing to her? Proclaiming he wanted to take her against the wall, then doing nothing. He was killing her.
Opening his eyes, Ben stared down at her, gaze dark with need, yet clouded with restraint. “I’m not long-term, Lea.”
“I know.” Finally regaining control of her limbs, she lifted a hand to palm his solid chest while her other gripped his hip. “You’re married to the military.”
He nodded, still making no move to touch her. “And you still think this is a good idea?”
She smiled. The very fact he’d asked that question signaled he was coming around to her way of thinking. “Yes. I do.” And to prove it, she snuck both hands under his shirt and skimmed his hot flesh all the way to his pecs, and was rewarded with a hiss of breath when she grazed
over his nipple. “You know I’m hoping to leave in a few weeks to work in the city.”
He nodded. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“I know. And you won’t. Unless you leave this room again.” Her heart pounded out of control, taking her breath, leaving her throat dry. He blinked as if trying to comprehend her words. Her meaning. So she clarified, “Why can’t we have fun this weekend?”
A glorious palm touched her shoulder, then skimmed down the front of her, brushing lightly over her breast. “This weekend, huh?”
Heat rushed between her legs, and heaven help her, she arched into his touch. “Yeah…” Her voice was soft and breathy, but hell, at least she still had one considering his thumb lingered on her peak, brushing it back and forth, exploding brain cell after brain cell.
“Okay, I had to be sure.” He pressed her against the wall with his rock hard body before he shoved his hands in her hair and kissed her without restraint.
A real honest-to-goodness Benjamin Wyne kiss.
Long and deep. Thorough and complete.
Holy smokes, the man could kiss.
Her mind was fogged and body throbbed with need. Gone was his self-discipline. She sent up a silent Allelluia to the proof he no longer saw her as a little sister. He kissed away her sanity. She couldn’t even pick out a Picasso from a caricature at the moment.
On and on, he devoured her strength, his tongue stroking hers, his hands skimming down her torso in a blaze of heat. When they came up for air, she stared at him, trying to grasp onto a coherent thought, but they dissipated in the steam need created in her head.
Dragging in air, he cracked a sexy smile she caught with her heart. Damn, he looked scrumptious. Shirt undone and hanging open to reveal the dusting of hair her fingers were still stroking. The sight of the ridges in his abs did funny things to her breathing, which wasn’t steady to begin with, and the fact she’d somehow managed to unbutton his shirt and unbuckle the top of his jeans without realizing proved she’d lost her equilibrium.
Off kilter and out of her league, she was loving every damn minute of it. He pushed her boundaries, took her out of herself, just as she’d always known he would. With luck, she was doing the same to him.
She set her forehead against his collarbone. “Wow. I’ve been missing out.”
He slipped a hand under her shirt to stroke her back and the other into her panties to cup her ass. “So have I. But no more.”
His hand dipped lower, and fingers brushed the part that ached the most for his touch.
“Ben.” His name ripped from her throat in a voice full of hunger and need as she spread her legs in a welcomed gesture.
He needed no instruction. “Wet and sweet.” He caught her mouth in a hot, hungry kiss as he stroked her again.
Lea saw stars and every damn planet in the universe. Possibly another galaxy. But she really needed to have him naked. And in her. She pushed his shirt all the way off, then stood there trembling as he bunched hers up to her ribs and stopped to gaze at her purple zebra printed panties. Thank God she’d had the foresight to only pack the bikinis that made her feel sexy.
The raw need deepening his gaze to moss green made her sweat in secret places.
Ben lifted her shirt higher, and she watched mesmerized as his gaze darkened further at the sight of her bared breasts.
He let out a rough groan. “Killing me.”
That was good. She hoped. Because she was dying.
“I need—Oh…that.” She moaned when he drew her nipple into his mouth and teased with his tongue. “Yeah, that works—” He transferred his delicious attention to her other breast, and she gripped his arms, closed her eyes and sucked in a breath. “That—works really—well.”
Whether it was her hitched breathes or rushed words or both, something spurred him on because he had her shirt up and over her head and panties off before she opened her eyes.
“Beautiful.” He stared at her nakedness with the same hunger scorching her veins.
His turn. She unzipped him, then tugged until his clothes fell to his ankles where they caught on his boots. But his fundamentals were free. And, oh Lordy, she was going to have fun with his damentals. Inches more than she’d ever had, he was big and hard and thick, and she needed to touch him pronto.
But he dropped to his knees and gently spread her legs. Before she could blink, he leaned in and put his mouth on her, stroking her with his tongue.
She sucked in a breath that sounded strangled and needy to her ears, but she didn’t care. He was magic and on a mission because he added a finger, sliding it inside her as he flicked his tongue over her aching center.
Her gasped turned into a moan, and both echoed around them. This seemed to spurn him on. He upped his pace and zapped her strength. With legs reduced to liquid, she dug her fingers into his head and used him as an anchor as he continued to take her out of this hemisphere. Unable to control her hips, they rocked against him in slow, erotic circles. She was on the edge, teetering.
“Ben,” she said, half-questioning.
He glanced up, gaze delectably dark with a fierce hunger and determination that was nearly her undoing. He responded by sucking her gently into his mouth.
That was it. She was done. All those years of wanting, wishing, waiting to be with him came to fruition at that very moment. Lea burst, and Ben used his expertise to prolong her pleasure as he held her hips and kept her from falling to the floor.
When the ringing subsided in her ears and her vision returned, she rediscovered her legs. She let out a sigh and smiled down at him. With eyes blazing pure male satisfaction, he released her to dig a condom from the pocket of the jeans bunched around his ankles. His body vibrated with a tension she felt clear to her core. Needing to have him inside her, she reached out and helped roll the condom over the length of him.
He uttered a curse, breathing heavy, a sheen of sweat breaking out across his brow. “Killing me.”
Feeling inspired, she smiled and leaned in to flick her tongue over his nipple. He cursed, lifted her up and, thunking her against the wall, entered her in one, delectable thrust.
The man filled her so completely she was nearly brought to tears. This was what she’d wanted for so long. But since she knew tears were a no-no when it came to sex, she blinked them away.
“You okay?” He stared, concern replacing some of the heat.
“Yes. Absolutely. Please, don’t stop.” And to prove she meant it, she wrapped her legs around his back and locked her ankles.
This drew him in farther, and their sounds of approval mingled in the air.
“Damn, you feel so good.”
He began to move, and she moaned again, clutching at his shoulders. Over and over, he withdrew and returned, holding her against the wall for his slow, exquisite thrusts.
There was no doubt now, he was killing her. He had control. His grip on her hips prevented her from upping the pace. He was in command, and heaven help her, she loved it.
As if his vigilant, purposeful thrusts weren’t enough to drive her out of her ever loving mind, he bent forward to capture a nipple in his mouth. She cried out, her eyes rolling in the back of her head as he made his way to the other. The incredible, mindless pleasure took her right up to that blissful edge, again.
“Ben.” She clutched his shoulders.
“I know,” he said, voice rough as he kissed her neck and continued to stroke her with those fierce thrusts. “Me, too.”
Knowing he was just as lost in the mindless pleasure was all it took to send her off the cliff into her second foray with the man who’d so often ruled her dreams. But dreaming of him and being with him were two entirely different things Lea discovered as she clung to his heated body while their shared release shook them to their knees.
Nothing could compare to the real deal.
The weekend had been a success.
As Ben drove them home from the colonel’s on Sunday afternoon, he breathed a sigh of relief. He’d dodged the bullet that w
as Mrs. Dankirk. He’d also been privy to information from the higher ups on upcoming moves. It was always good to have advance warning rather than have work sprung on him and told to make it happen.
Yeah, the weekend had definitely been a success.
Then there was Lea.
He glanced sideways at the silent woman who sat staring out the passenger window in a pretty, frilly, purple sundress. Silky hair fell past her shoulders to settle on the ample chest he’d had the pleasure to taste hours before. She’d been an unexpected surprise. He’d only wanted her to pretend to be his girlfriend to deflect the colonel’s wife. But he’d gotten a whole hell of a lot more.
More than he should have…more than he deserved.
His gut tightened.
Last night, he’d woken up, exhaustion still weighing down his limbs, thanks to the woman curled into him like a pretzel. Her head had rested in the crook of his arm while she tossed a leg across both of his and placed a hand on his chest. When he realized his hand covered hers, and the other covered the sweet curve of her ass, his body had gone hot…then cold.
The urge to leave, to carefully untangle himself from the sleeping beauty and retreat to his spot on the floor had been strong. He never went to sleep with women. Sure, he went to bed with them, just never fell asleep. That was asking for trouble, showing the slightest bit of commitment, which he never did. Not even with Charisse. They never slept together. Ever. Just had sex, then depending on where they were, one of them left.
No strings. It was all good.
With his chest tight and breathing a chore, he’d needed to leave the bed, put things into perspective. Interject a distance so she didn’t get attached. But then the beauty had moved, and opened her eyes, and smiled a sleepy smile.
“Hi,” she’d said, hugging him closer. “Mmm…If I could feel my legs, I’d so do you right now.”
His heart had cracked opened, just a little, just enough for him to kiss her nose, tighten his hold on her succulent ass and tell her he’d take her up on it, but his legs seemed to have waltzed out with hers.
Wyne and Dine (Citizen Soldier Series Book 1) Page 8
