“How recently?” I asked curiously.
“The last girl that I was serious about was probably a year or so ago,” Ben said. “But that was still… It was serious enough to leave me a bit shaken up afterwards, I'm not going to lie.”
I shook my head. “You're so open with your feelings,” I told him. “I like that about you, but I also just...”
“I don't see any reason to hide them,” Ben said with a shrug, grinning down at me. “I think that good communication is the only way to maintain a healthy and successful relationship, so I try to be upfront right from the start.”
“I appreciate that,” I said simply.
It was sad to leave the cabin at the end of the weekend, even though Ben assured me that we could come back whenever I liked. In fact, he was already planning on bring me up here towards the end of the semester break, so that we could go snowshoeing and cross-country skiing—if we got enough snow that year, anyway.
“So when do I get to see you again?” I asked as we drove back into the city after an uneventful drive.
Ben glanced over at me, a wry smile on his face. “Well, now that you know what I do, I can at least be a lot more frank with you about that,” he said. “Things are starting to calm down at the vineyard now that we've finished up with the harvesting. We're still in some discussions, and I'm anticipating another trip to Europe before Christmas, although I don't know exactly when. But for the winter season, things are going to be a lot less hectic.”
“Which means what, exactly?” I asked.
“It means that I get to move back to my apartment, for one,” Ben said, sounding relieved at the prospect. “Don't get me wrong, I love being back at the villa, and the thing is big enough that it's not like I have to interact with anyone that I don't want to interact with. But at the same time, it's nice to just...have my own space again.”
“You have an apartment here in the city?” I asked, even though that probably should have been obvious. I shook my head. “Of course you do.”
“You're welcome to stay over sometimes,” Ben said, winking over at me.
I laughed. “Wish I could say the same for you,” I said. “But I'm never really sure when Alex is planning to come home or not… We probably wouldn't want to spoon in a twin-sized bed anyway.”
“Probably not,” Ben said. “I'm not sure you would fit.”
I stuck my tongue out at him but then broke down into laughing. “So we could...get brunch again next weekend?” I asked tentatively.
“We could,” Ben agreed. “I'd like to see you sooner than that, though—if that's okay with you.”
“Yeah,” I breathed. “Yeah, that would be nice.” If I was being honest with myself, I didn't really want to part with him right now. The past four days had been so perfect, and somehow, it had never felt strained or awkward, even when we were just sitting there in silence.
“I could meet you for lunch one day,” he suggested. “Or you could come to dinner with me at my parents' place on Thursday.”
I blinked over at him, surprised by the suggestion. “Dinner at your parents' place. With your parents?”
Ben laughed a little, although he sounded a bit nervous—and he was tapping his fingers against the edge of the steering wheel, a clear sign of nervousness. “Yes,” he said. “With my parents.” He shook his head. “You don't have to. I know it's fast. But I just… Well, I'd like to show you the vineyards, and I think my parents would like you. Plus, you could speak French with my dad, and...”
“Isn't it...a little soon?” I asked uncertainly. “I mean, we've only known each other for a couple months now, right? And to be honest, a lot of that time, you've been pretty distant.”
“Yeah, I know,” Ben said. He frowned and then shrugged. “But to be honest, I haven't really felt this way about a girl before. I'm not really sure what I'm doing either, not any more than you are. And I'm not saying that this is a forever commitment or anything—I'm not asking you to marry me. Just, I'd like you to know them. They and the business are such a big part of my life...”
And I had to admit that put like that, it kind of made sense.
“All right,” I found myself saying. “All right. Thursday night. Should I dress...nice?”
“Yeah,” Ben said, grimacing a little. “I'll be wearing a suit, to give you some idea of what my mother expects at family dinners. No tie, but definitely slacks and a jacket and a button-down shirt.”
I hummed a little in response, trying to think through my wardrobe and see if there was anything I already owned that I could wear. I was probably better off buying something new, though—so I'd have to figure out sometime to do that over the course of the week as well.
“You don't have to come,” Ben said again as he parked the car. “But I promise you, it won't be as bad as whatever you're thinking. My parents are great; they're really easy to get along with, and they always keep the dinner conversation going. Granted, you're probably going to learn more than you ever wanted to know about the life cycle of a grape because my da just doesn't know when to give up, but...”
“That sounds nice,” I said quietly.
“Good,” Ben said, and his dopey grin was enough for me to feel like I'd made the right decision in agreeing. I leaned over to kiss him one last time before I got out of the car.
Chapter Twenty
Driving up to Ben's parents' house was enough to make me wish I'd changed my mind, though. I stared up at the looming mansion—villa, as Ben kept calling it—and wondered how a person could manage to live in a house that big without getting lost—or without losing track of everything that they'd ever owned.
I whistled lowly. “You weren't kidding when you said you guys were comfortable,” I said in awe.
Ben grimaced, and when he glanced over at me, I could see something in his expression that I didn't like.
“I'm not a gold-digger,” I said, even though it really should have gone without saying. But I understood, I supposed, if he needed that extra bit of reassurance. “I'm just saying, that's the biggest house I've ever seen. If you played hide-and-seek here, you'd never find everyone. Hell, if you played Marco Polo here, you'd never find everyone.”
Ben grinned a little at that. “Yeah, it's honestly a bit absurd,” he said. “But it came with the vineyards, and Mum had a really hard time with the idea of tearing it down—she grew up in a place like this, back in Italy. Of course, there, they had three generations of a large, Italian family all crammed in there together. Here, it's usually just the three of us. But she...hopes that'll change.” Suddenly, he paled, looking over at me. “Oh god, I hope she doesn't say anything to you about that tonight. I mean, in the future, we can talk about kids and all of that. But don't let her pressure you or lead you to think that I'm looking to settle down and have kids right now or anything like that.”
I laughed a little. “No, we've already kind of had that conversation, remember?” I asked.
Ben looked only marginally relieved, and I wondered if he was starting to think of all the reasons why he shouldn't have brought me here, to dinner with his parents. It was kind of a funny role reversal, since he'd been so positive about it all week. Still…
“It's going to be fine,” I said confidently, reaching over and squeezing Ben's hand where it rested on the gearshift.
Ben sighed and then finally smiled back at me, leaning over to plant a peck on my lips before got out of the car and approached the front door.
We were still relatively early, and the sun was just starting to set. The place was gorgeous, and Ben had already told me on the drive over that things were more pretty out back. He was hoping to take me out there for a little tour before dinner—but first, he planned to introduce me to his parents.
I swallowed hard as he led me into the house.
“Mamá! Papá!” he called out, his voice echoing around the expansive foyer.
His mother swept in first, followed by his father. His mother was everything that I might have expected: t
all and lithe, with flowing hair and flowing scarves. She struck me as an artsy type, while Ben's dad was more down-to-earth and squat.
“Mum, Da—this is Rachael. Rachael, these are my parents, Lucia and Henry,” Ben said, his hand warm in the center of my lower back as I stared nervously at them, wondering if I was supposed to shake their hands or—
Well, apparently we were going to embrace and kiss one another's cheeks. I might have guessed that, given that they were European. I botched it a little, but I didn't think it was too noticeable.
“It's wonderful to meet someone that Ben is so fond of,” Ben's mother said, pinching Ben's cheeks. “He hardly ever brings home friends, let alone girlfriends...”
I laughed a little. “Well, I'm glad to be here—thank you so much for having me.” I held out the flowers that I had brought—for obvious reasons, I hadn't thought it was polite to bring a bottle of wine with me. Ben had laughed about the flowers, even, but I'd insisted, and his mother seemed to appreciate them at least.
“I want to give Rachael a little tour of the grounds before it gets too dark,” Ben said. “Is that okay?”
“Of course it's okay!” Lucia said warmly. “Why don't you take Patches with you, though? He could use the exercise.”
Ben grinned. “Sure,” he said. He led me through the house, and before long, we had an adorable furry companion with us. “Patches is my mum's pride and joy,” he said, rolling his eyes a little. “She got him when she went through her empty nest phase, and I swear she loves him more than she loves either my brother or I.”
I laughed. “I doubt that's true,” I said.
“Oh, she'll never get over the fact that we both chose to move away from here,” Ben said, shaking his head. “It's worse that I've done so, since I still work for them and am going to one day take over this whole place. She doesn't think there's any reason for me to have my own apartment.”
“Do they not realize the irony of the fact that they moved all the way across an ocean away from their families and you've just moved about half an hour's drive away?” I asked, amused.
Ben shook his head. “Don't even mention that to them,” he said. “Trust me, I've tried. To no avail.”
I laughed and took Patches' leash as he passed it over to me. I saw why he had done it as he draped his arm around my shoulders, drawing me in close to him as we set out across the fields.
“So like I've mentioned, this is the dead season for us, so there's not that much to see out here at the moment, but I can at least give you an idea of what it all looks like when we're operational. But you'll have to come back.” He winked over at me. “Anyway, it's shaping up to be a beautiful sunset...”
Chapter Twenty-One
We went back inside for dinner, and I was surprised to find that it was just as easy as Ben had led me to believe that it would be. His mother wanted to know everything about me, and once they found out that I was studying French, his dad became very chatty as well, seemingly glad to have someone that he could speak French with. Ben watched the two of us with an amused smile on his face, his thumb stroking the back of my hand underneath the table.
Afterwards, Ben and I retreated upstairs so that I could see Ben's room.
“God, I'm full,” Ben said, falling back across his bed. “I swear, I'm only gone for a week and my mother seems to think I must have lost 50 pounds. She doesn't seem to realize that I am, in fact, perfectly capable of feeding myself...”
I laughed a little at that. “Well, imagine how it feels to be me right now! I think I just ate 50 pounds worth of food—and it was all so delicious!”
Ben smiled over at me. “So you don't regret having come over here with me?” he asked.
“Not at all,” I said cheerfully. “Your parents were great. I had a lot of fun. And the vineyards are beautiful; I can only imagine what they must look like during the summer.”
“You'll see them at some point,” Ben said confidently. It was still a bit strange that we were talking like that already, making so many plans for so many months in the future. But at the same time, if it felt right…
And this felt right.
Ben rolled towards me, smiling. “Do you have to go to your classes tomorrow morning?” he asked, a bit of a whine to his tone.
I laughed. “Yeah, I shouldn't miss them,” I said. “I mean, there's nothing really important happening; it's not like I have tests or anything like that, and midterms just finished so this week has been pretty easy, but...” I shrugged.
“But you have perfect attendance,” Ben groaned. “And you can't give that up for one day.”
“It's already been a short week!” I laughed. “And I spent all last weekend with you...”
“I know,” Ben said, sounding almost mournful. “But I just can't get enough of you.”
I blushed and let him pull me into a sideways kiss. When his hand came down to rest against my hip, I couldn't help sighing and pressing closer to him, until there was almost no space between us except for where our clothes were.
Suddenly, it seemed as though we were wearing too many clothes.
I froze for a moment, hesitating. I knew what was going to happen if we started stripping off our clothes—I knew exactly what was going to happen. But at the same time, I couldn't really find it in me to care.
Although I should go to my classes tomorrow, and I doubted either of us were going to want to make the drive home afterwards.
“I can practically see the gears turning in your head,” Ben said, sounding amused. He brushed back a lock of my hair, tucking it behind my ear. “So what have you decided?”
And suddenly, I knew exactly what I wanted.
I ducked my head a little, looking up at him through my eyelashes. “Could you...” I trailed off.
“You're going to have to tell me what you want,” Ben said, but his voice was gentle and encouraging rather than teasing. “What do you want?”
“Could you make love to me?” I asked. I didn't know why, but it just seemed...right. Maybe there could have been something more special, a better time for it, but at the same time, this felt pretty special in and of itself. Ben and I were open with each other, and we were leading towards some sort of a future. I could only think that…
“Are you sure?” Ben asked quietly.
“Yes,” I whispered back, with no hesitation.
Ben nodded and then leaned in to kiss me. The kiss was firmer than many of the kisses that we had previously shared, but it was no less tender. Instead, it was just...more heated. His fingers slid along my body and then back again, tracing arcane patterns against my skin where my shirt was riding up.
I broke away from him with a gasp. “Naked,” I said, the only word that I could get out. “Please.” Another word.
Mostly, I just focused on sitting up and stripping off my dress, bra, and panties, waiting impatiently as Ben began to strip as well. By the time he was finished, I had positioned myself back on the bed and was waiting for him. He paused for a moment, just looking at me. “You're gorgeous,” he said, shaking his head. “Absolutely gorgeous.”
I grinned at him, lazily tracing my hand along my skin in a half-hearted attempt to stimulate myself in the ways that he knew best. “You are too,” I told him. “But right now, you are way too far away.”
Ben laughed a little. “Impatient, are we?”
I giggled. “Just a bit,” I admitted. I shivered with anticipation as he crawled across the bed towards me, his hands stroking up my legs and coming to rest on my hips.
Then, he leaned in and kissed me again, a burst of lust rushing down to sit in my groin. I could feel myself slickening already, preparing for his entrance—and the thought that he would actually be entering me this time made me groan out loud.
Ben smiled against my lips as though he were thinking the same thing, and his fingers slipped down between my legs with very little foreplay—I wondered if he was just as impatient as I was. “Usually, I'd like to get you off a few times before I made lo
ve to you,” he said, as though reading my train of thought. “But this time… Well, to be honest, I'm not sure how long I'm going to last.”
I shook my head. “That's okay,” I said. “I don't know how long I will either...”
Ben grinned and added another finger, testing my girth. I gasped and rocked down against him. It was almost too much, but at the same time, it felt so good to be full, to have him there around me, framing my body with his, but also inside of me.
That feeling only intensified as he slid his thick cock inside of me, moving inch-by-inch to allow me plenty of time to adjust. I sighed as he fully seated himself inside of me, pausing for a moment so that we could both get used to the feeling. “God, you're tight,” he groaned, his voice sounding strained.
Take Me Away: A College Romance Story Page 9
