“I’m sorry about all of this,” she murmured, because she couldn’t stand the silence. And…what was he thinking? That it’d been a mistake sticking up for her? That she wasn’t worth a facial wound? “It was stupid. I never should’ve gone out with him. Then you never would’ve gotten hurt…” And she’d be at home. Alone. Instead of aching over this man in Elsie’s kitchen.
His lips turned up into that irresistible grin. “You’re worth it.” He didn’t say more, simply gazed at her in a way that made tingles spread down her neck, across her chest. It was a feeling long forgotten. A feeling that had been submerged with disappointment and plans and dreams and goals. But she recognized it. It came rushing back, as strong as the river on a class-five section. Desire. Need.
Ben remained still but his eyes lured her closer. She felt the warm glow of his breath against her mouth.
His hand reached up, those rugged fingers, trailing a gentle line down her cheeks, but he still didn’t move closer. He only stared at her. Like he had all the time in the world to watch her.
Such a sweet heaviness settled on her chest that she felt like it might cave in. Was she breathing? Could she breathe?
Her heart seemed to swell, sending signals, waking up her body. Her eyes closed and her lips collided with his, drowning her in a delectable warmth. His mouth was firm and demanding against hers, and the sensuality of his skilled touch weakened her legs.
His hands slid low around the back of her waist and he pulled her into his lap, her legs straddling him, tightening around his waist with the wonder of what his tongue was doing to hers, stroking and caressing and erasing every doubt.
He kissed her slow but hard, sure of himself, sure of them. And she was sure, too. So sure. Never more sure of anything because it had never been like this with anyone else. Powerful and real. So real it made her ache in a way no kiss ever had.
“Ben,” she whispered against his lips.
He didn’t answer, just stood, hands cupping her ass, and moved her to the island, settling her on the counter in front of him, looking her over. Every part of her, it seemed. Her neck, down to her chest, down to her waist. His hands clasped on her ankles and he worked his way up her shins, massaging, caressing, higher, higher, up her thighs, over her waist.
Her body trembled and her lungs burned. This was different. Not fast and sloppy in the backseat of a car. Slow and sensual. Like she was worth the extra time…
Ben’s lips drifted to her neck, right below her ear. “I love the way you smell.”
The whisper hit the right spot, bringing out a shiver followed by goose bumps prickling every inch of her skin.
“The way you taste.” His tongue slid down her neck, forcing her to grab a fistful of his shirt. Suddenly her skin felt this heightened sense of awareness. The slightest brush of his lips against the tender spots on her neck tightened her grip until her knuckles hurt. He went back to her lips and they fit together so perfectly. “I want you, Paige,” he panted in a hoarse whisper. “I want you like I’ve never wanted anyone.”
Okay. Didn’t have to tell her twice. But she couldn’t say so. She couldn’t utter one syllable…
He pulled away, looked around. “This is Elsie’s kitchen,” he said, his eyes shifting like he was afraid she’d planted hidden cameras.
Paige laughed. He had a point. “Um. Yeah.” She licked her lips. Couldn’t seem to form a cohesive thought.
He leaned his forehead against hers. “We can’t do this here.”
Her mouth opened to protest. They could. Technically, they could do it right then and there. No one was around…
Except he was right. Elsie would kill her. She’d drag her to confession or something…
Ben looked at her forever without speaking. Then he lowered his head to her eye level. “Do you want me to take you home?”
She knew exactly what he was asking. Did she want to end this now? Before it was too late? Before they couldn’t go back?
“I’m not lookin’ for a one-night stand,” he warned her, his eyes solemn. “I’ll drive you home right now and leave. If that’s what you want.”
No. She didn’t want to go home. Not alone, anyway. She wanted to know how it felt to be loved. No one had ever been able to show her that.
No one.
“Let’s go.” Ben pulled back, seeming to have misread her silence.
“No.” She planted her palms on the counter behind her to hold herself up. Every part of her felt weak. “I don’t want to go home.” Because she’d hidden for too long.
His expression went from solemn disappointment to surprised, open-mouthed grin. He lifted her off the counter and set her feet on the floor. “Then come on.” He linked her arm through his. “There’s somethin’ I want to show you.”
Half floating, half walking, she let him lead her out the door.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Body still shuddering with what that woman had done to him, Ben whisked Paige out the kitchen door and down the patio steps. No one sat around the fire pit, and even though the warm glow beckoned, he urged her past it, down the last of the steps, past the pool—though that would’ve been fun, but a little too cold.
He dug his phone out of his pocket and lit up the flashlight app, shining it over the ground until he found the little path he’d discovered on a hike the day before.
There.
“Right this way.” He nudged her into the darkness of the thick pine trees, and threaded his arms around her from behind, bringing their bodies closer, their steps in-line. They eased down the trail carefully, slowly, moving like one being. The perfect fit of her body against his reignited the flame of want, so he eased more space between them, but didn’t let her go.
“Where are we going?” she whispered, as breathless as she’d been in the kitchen.
“You’ll see,” he murmured into her ear because he knew exactly what that did to her.
They hiked down a small slope, curved around a rock, and they were there, the oasis he’d discovered yesterday—a hammock right next to the soothing creek.
The waxing moon provided enough light for him to see a smile alter her face. “I always knew Bryce had a secret spot.” She tugged on the hammock as if testing the reliability. “Seems pretty sturdy.”
Ben slid behind her and sank his weight into it, pulling her down with him. It bent at the sides, cocooning them together.
Paige shimmied until they lay face-to-face, chest-to-chest, thigh-to-thigh.
They swung slightly. The trees creaked. Above them, stars burned and it felt like they’d done this a thousand times, wrapped in each other’s arms, staring up at the unfathomable sky…
“I told Gracie to back off,” he said because he didn’t want her to think he was sneaking around. Looking for a fling. “She won’t bother you anymore.”
Paige gazed up at him. “She does make some good points.” A concerned look gathered her eyes at the corners. “I mean, I want nothing to do with politics, Ben. Or the spotlight. That’s not my scene.”
Maybe that’s why he loved her so much. Because she didn’t care about fitting a certain mold. She never wanted to be someone she wasn’t. “It’s not exactly mine, either,” he admitted. Or at least it wouldn’t be if his life had gone differently. If Julia’s life had gone differently.
“What is your scene?” she asked, weaving his fingers with hers. He loved her hands, petite but strong and skilled.
“What if you don’t get elected? What would you do then?”
The question stumped him. What would he do if he didn’t get elected? He hadn’t even considered it. He hadn’t let himself. Julia had spent hours researching health care, insurance, alternative therapies for people with disabilities. She’d spent so much time writing that bill…
“I’d work at the ranch.” Saying it made him feel like an ass, but Paige would understand better than anyone. Being outside. Having your hands busy. Feeling free…
“Then why are you doing it?” she demanded, t
hat fire flashing in her eyes. “Why are you killing yourself to run for senator if it’s not what you really want?”
“It’s where I can do the most good. For Julia. That’s what I want.” He’d let her down once. He couldn’t do it again. “She’s writing a bill. To help other accident victims get more coverage for alternative therapies. Once I’m elected, I’ll get it passed.” Then all of J’s suffering would matter. It would make a difference for others.
Sighing, Paige rested her head against his shoulder. “She’s lucky to have you, Ben.”
He smoothed her hair. It was so soft. Silky. “So have you ever considered moving to Washington, DC?” he asked, even though he already knew the answer.
Her smile strained. “I belong here. In Aspen. With my family.”
His head tilted over hers. Her family? He searched her eyes. “I didn’t think you were that close.”
With a heavy sigh, she rested her head down against the fabric. “My mom has MS. I found out today…” Even in the dark, he saw the whites of her eyes grow brighter.
“Oh, god. Paige…” He wished he could wipe the pain out of her eyes. “That’s awful.” Especially after what she’d told him about her grandmother…
“So I can’t leave,” she whispered. “I don’t want to leave.”
He rested his head against the hammock’s pillow so he could stare into her eyes. “You don’t have to leave.”
Her eyes searched the sky. “So one night, then? That’s all?”
He slid his fingers under her chin and turned her face back to his. “I don’t think one night’ll be enough.”
“I don’t either,” she admitted with a small smile that made him want to ease that shirt up and over her head.
“We’ll figure it out.” He wrapped a leg over her and brought her body against his, feeling the fullness of her breasts against him, that perfect fit of her body and his. But he fisted his hands so they didn’t wander. Not yet.
“So you saw your mom today?” he asked, breathing her in.
She snuggled against him. “Yeah.”
“How’s she doing?”
“She seems okay. Still in shock, maybe.” Paige looked into his eyes fully, no longer afraid. “I guess I don’t really know how she’s doing. We’ve never been close.”
He stroked her arm. “Why not?”
“She was forty-five when I was born. My next-oldest sibling was ten. It was like she had no idea what to do with me.”
“Things’ll change now.” At least, it seemed something had changed for her.
“I hope so.” She pressed her hand against his, fingers stroking his skin. That small touch, that intimate contact made him groan. Damn, he wanted her. The way his body was responding at the moment, you’d think he was an eighteen-year-old kid.
“My brother asked me to come back and work at the restaurant,” she said quietly.
“What?” He half sat up. “You’re not gonna do it, are you? What about the therapy program?”
“I don’t know.” She shifted to her back and stared up at the sky again. “I feel like I should. Bryce has been dragging his feet for a year. Who knows if we’ll ever get it started.”
“You can’t give up on it.” He lay back down next to her. “God, Paige. You saw Julia out there. That changed her life.”
She shook her head. “It’d take years for me to find the funds. Not every family has a reserve like yours.”
“I’ll talk to Bryce.” Shit, all he’d have to do was show him the pictures of Julia strutting around the meadow like she’d found the Holy Grail.
“Bryce warned me about you, ya know.” Paige stabbed a pointer finger into his chest.
He gave her a questioning look.
“About how you are with women.” Her expression was playful, but there was a hesitancy there, too. “About how you’re a player. Love ’em and leave ’em.”
Well, that was great. His buddy was really doing everything he could to help him out. “That was true. Once.” He was man enough to own up to his past. “College was tough for me.”
She lifted her head. “Because of Julia’s accident?”
“Yeah.” Crazy how Paige already knew more about him than most people. “I wanted to escape. From everything.” And he had for a while. “Then my dad got sick. Cancer. He fought it for years. But we lost him last summer.”
“That’s terrible.” Paige’s free hand rested on his chest. “I bet you miss him.”
“Yeah. The man was a saint.” He narrowed his eyes. “He had to be to put up with Gracie all those years.”
“Amazing, isn’t it?” she asked. “How some couples make it work no matter what? I thought my parents were the only ones who’ve stuck it out.”
“She didn’t make it easy on him, that was for damn sure. But Dad fought for her. I guess she fought for him in some ways, too.” She’d royally screwed up in those early days, apparently, but she was fiercely loyal to the end. Trying to atone for it the rest of their marriage, he supposed. “I guess you take it one day at a time.” He touched a kiss to Paige’s neck. One arm niggled its way under her waist and the other wrapped around to meet it at her belly button.
“One night at a time.” She kissed his mouth with that feisty smile.
“I like the sound of that,” he murmured as he wrapped her in tighter and held on.
* * *
Ow. Oh, ow. Whoa. Damn it. Paige tried to free her foot from the twist in the hammock. The thing swung madly, swaying the trees above them.
Laughing, she pulled away from Ben and untangled herself. “I’ve never made out in a hammock before.” Chest still heaving, she gasped in a breath. Never made out with a man like him before, either. Good night, the man made kissing an art form.
“Always a first time for everything.” Raising his eyebrows, Ben shimmied Paige’s shirt up, up, caressing the exposed skin on her stomach. “Making love in a hammock might be tough, but I’m up for the challenge.”
His lips lowered to hers again, but a breath caught in her throat and nearly choked her. Making love…
Her body went stiff. She looked away from him, tried to inhale, to calm her nerves. How could something from five years ago still haunt her?
“Paige?” Ben rolled her shirt back down, his eyes questioning her. “What’s up?”
She opened her mouth to tell him it was nothing, to tell him to keep going, that she would be okay, but she couldn’t trust her voice.
He rolled off of her and rested on his side, head propped up on his hand, looking at her, waiting…
Busted. She forced herself to look back at him, even though humiliation pricked her cheeks. “Um…well…” Her fingers fidgeted with the hem of his shirt. Okay. This was hard. Much harder than she thought it would be. Her eyes raised back to his. “I’ve only been with one other person.”
He seemed to consider that, then raised one shoulder in a shrug. “So?” He brought his face close, a soft, caring expression tugging at her heart. “That’s a good thing, Paige. Trust me. It should be about commitment, love. When it’s not, things get complicated. You’re better off without the baggage.”
“But it wasn’t a good thing.” Tears nipped at the corners of her eyes. “It was…humiliating.” Her shoulders shuddered and she couldn’t tell if it was from the cool breeze or from the buried emotions that had started to surface. “I mean, I didn’t want to have sex with him. But he made me feel like I had to. And it was horrible.” Three minutes of sharp pain. He hadn’t said anything afterward. He’d hardly even looked at her, like she was some big disappointment. They’d silently gotten their clothes on and then he’d driven her home, dropping her off on the curb without even a kiss goodnight.
“That’s why I never…” She gulped a painful swallow. “…let anyone else get close enough. So I didn’t have to do that again.”
Ben stared at her unblinking, his cheeks rigid, his mouth pulled with anger. “Paige…” he whispered, his fingers reaching up to brush her cheek. “That neve
r should’ve happened. It should never be like that.” He drew his lips close to hers, but didn’t kiss her. “I’ll be right back,” he said, then eased off the hammock. “Wait there.”
She propped herself up on her elbows, the hammock swinging beneath her. “Where are you going?” To kick Jory’s ass? She hadn’t told him his name, had she?
Ben leaned over her and kissed her forehead. “I’ll be back. Ten minutes, tops,” he said, backing away. “Don’t move.” He turned and disappeared into the darkness.
She didn’t mind being alone in the wilderness. In fact, usually she preferred it. But without Ben’s warmth next to her, something about the echoing quietness felt lonely. She sat up and turned her body so her feet dangled over the side of the hammock, and made it more like a swing. Pushing off the ground, she swung herself gently, listening to the sound of the rushing creek, the breeze rustling the pine needles, trying not to count the minutes as they passed.
When she was sure it had been three hours, footsteps thudded nearby. Please let that be Ben. Because she was cold and she wanted to be in his arms again.
Sure enough, he appeared out of the trees, now wearing a headlamp and carrying a huge cardboard box.
“What’s that?” she asked, trying to get a glimpse of what was inside.
“Never you mind.” Ben turned his back to her and kneeled, setting the box on the grass. He pulled out a bottle of wine and two glasses, then used a corkscrew to pop the cork. He filled both glasses and handed one to her. “This is a 2006 Jasper Hill Emily’s Paddock shiraz. We drank it the night you danced with me at the gala,” he said, swirling his glass, then taking a sip.
How could he remember that? She sipped, too, inhaling the minty tea-like scent, remembering the smooth velvety taste. But she never would’ve remembered what it was called.
“You were wearing a long red dress with a fitted bodice,” he continued as he unpacked a blanket and spread it over the ground, smoothing a second fuzzy, thick blanket on top of it as though building a cozy nest under the stars.
Her heart picked up, but he wasn’t done.
Something Like Love Page 20
