by Honor James
“Well of course, heaven knows that we wouldn’t and couldn’t do without a walk-in pantry,” she teased and then moved to his side. “I think that you should likely let me in on just how much you eat?” She was a small woman, but at times had a massive appetite, at times.
“Darling, I burn four times the calories you do on an average uneventful day. Imagine what I burn when I’m running, working on a project or”— he grinned down at her—“making sure my mate is duly thrilled with me. All the appliances are hidden, giving a nice clean look to the kitchen,” he continued before leading her from the room. “Semi-formal dining room since there is the breakfast nook in the kitchen, living room, very non-formal since I hate the stuffy furniture and much prefer the comfort over the status looks.”
“Yes, you make your mate very thrilled with you,” she mumbled and looked at the rooms. “I hate very formal living, so I’m glad that you didn’t make one room in your home like that. I think I would have likely torn it apart if you had.” She had one when she was married. She wasn’t allowed in that room unless she was on all fours and naked like a dog. When he had been arrested and she got out of the hospital, she went into that room and tore it apart from ceiling to floor, and it still sat in shambles, the one room in the house she didn’t show Ben.
“Honey, if anything doesn’t feel right to you, feel free to change it. I have more money than I know what to do with even with all the charities I give to, so you can revamp the whole house if that’s what you want. This is your home, too, darling, if it isn’t what you want, change it,” he told her simply. Shrugging slightly at her look he grinned. “I’m a simple man, Angel mine, if something doesn’t work fix it.”
She snorted and shook her head. “I guess that me winning the largest lotto really helps things, too, doesn’t it?” Laughter bubbled up inside of her and she nodded. “No, I love your house, honey, our home. It makes me all kinds of happy not to have something formal, to have it simply be for us.”
“You better not be spending your money on this place.” He waved a finger at her with a narrowed-eyed look even as his lips curled in a slight smile. “That money is yours to do with as you wish as long as it doesn’t ever reside in this house as an inanimate object. You need something for our home use my money,” he said tipping her chin up slightly before stroking his finger over her cheek. “I know it’s silly, stupid and backassward, but please, promise me that you won’t.”
“I promise, Benedek.” She gave that to him easily. It meant a great deal to him and she would always relent where he was concerned. “I would like to buy a new car with the money. Would you like to go car shopping with me and make some salesperson’s day when I hand them a cashier’s check for cash?”
“All right.” He grinned at her. “Sounds like fun, I love watching their eyes go all buggy at the size of a check.” He chuckled. Kissing her lightly he tugged on her hand. “Come on, darling, let’s go look at the rest of the house so you can’t say I didn’t show it all to you.”
“Right, there is more?” she asked and sighed. “Oh lord, it’s going to be hell to keep this palace cleaned.” She squeezed his hand to tell him she was teasing, mostly. “I’m going to have to clean from sun up to sun set, you poor man, you will never get to have intimate relations with me again.” She tried for the forlorn southern sounding bell and fell flat on her face with the tone.
Snorting at her words he shook his head. “Darling, I have a cleaning service come in two days a week to do all the cleaning. We just tidy up and they do the bulk of the work. I do too many hours at the store to do it any other way. Cause, honestly, do you think a bachelor, even a Wolf, could keep this place looking as immaculate as it is?” he asked with a grin.
He had a damn good point and her gaze narrowed on him. “Now that is just bad, Ben. You knew I would be thinking the worst and yet you let me prattle on and on.” She shook her head. “Nasty, bad, bad of you.” But she was grinning ear to ear as she tried to give him a set down.
Grinning unrepentantly at her he shrugged. “I found it amusing,” he admitted even as her face went through a collage of expressions. Chuckling he aimed her for the stairs. “Come on, darling, let’s take a peek in the basement and then we can do whatever you’d like.”
She stopped moving and shook her head. “Uhm, no thanks. I think that I will stay up here.” She nodded emphatically and started to backpedal. “Yes, staying up here is very good, Benedek.” She knew that he was nothing like the monster she had been married to, but some nightmares didn’t go away overnight, not when you lived fifteen years in them.
Catching her hand before she spilled over a chair, Ben pulled her closer to him slowly. “What is it, Evangeline?” he asked softly. He wanted her to tell him her nightmares so he’d know what was going on with her. He couldn’t fight what he couldn’t see and, despite what some might claim, a Wolf couldn’t read minds. Body language definitely and hers was screaming fear, but he didn’t know the reason behind it.
“Basements are bad,” she whispered and swallowed. “Please don’t ask me to go down there.” There were tears in her voice and her skin had gone cold, “I love you, Ben, and I trust you, I believe in you, but some ghosts never go away. Please, this is my ghost that will never go away.”
Cupping her face gently in his hands he looked into her eyes, her fear a living breathing dragon in the room, so pungent he could smell it without even trying. “I will never make you do anything you don’t want to do, love, I swear that to you,” he whispered. Kissing her forehead lightly he shifted and wrapped his arms around her. “I never meant to make you afraid, love, I’m so sorry.”
“I know, and it’s not you.” She didn’t know how to explain it. “You don’t make me afraid, you make me feel safe.” She chewed her lips at the contradiction she was giving. “But basements, I can’t be in a basement, ever. There were too many horrible things happened to me in a basement and I don’t think I will ever, ever be able to be in one again.”
“Then you won’t ever have to go into one, love,” he said softly rubbing her back. “All I care is that you are happy, Evangeline. If you can’t do something then you won’t be forced to do it, especially by me. I love you, Angel,” he told her gently pressing a kiss to her crown.
“I love you, too, Benedek,” she mumbled against his shirt front and simply held onto him for a very long time. Finally she felt a little less cold, a little less stiff. “All right, I’m ready to see the rest of the house now, honey.”
“Soon,” he told her, hugging her closer to him. “I need to hold you a little longer,” he said moving his head so that he could brush her cheek with his lips. He needed to know that she was truly all right. There was still a hint of fear in the air and he hated that he’d done anything to cause that fear. It wasn’t intentional, he knew that, but he’d been the cause of the added pain she was feeling and that just wouldn’t do.
She wasn’t about to argue because truth be known, she needed to be held. Head back on his shoulder and arms around him, she simply held onto him and soaked in the essence of him, the strength that surrounded him.
Rubbing his hand up and down her back gently, he breathed her in, taking all that she was deep into his body and into his very soul. For long moments he just held her, eyes closed as her scent soothed his inner beast. Finally, though, he pulled back. “Come on, Angel, let’s go and check out the back of the house and the solarium, too.”
“Mmm hmm” was the committal reply even when she simply just sat there holding onto him. “Do either of these places go near the kitchen? I only ask because I am actually getting very, very hungry and food wouldn’t be turned down right about now.”
Pausing he looked to her and smiled. “Sort of,” he told her. “But we could make a small detour to get you some food if you’re at all interested,” he threw out there with a casual wave of his hand.
“Let’s finish with the house tour and then food.” That way she could take her time in eating and not have to fee
l rushed because of needing to see the rest of it.
“You sure?” he asked softly leaning back to look at her. “We have all the time in the world, love. We can grab something to eat and after we can finish the tour because, quite frankly”—he smiled—“if I get you within a foot of the bedroom we won’t be coming back for food.”
“Then we will have to detour around the bedroom.” She grinned and nodded. “I’m sure. I want to take my time eating because I want to be able to just enjoy the moment with you. So we will finish the tour and then.” She shivered as she thought about him eating off of her, the image coming unbidden from somewhere in her subconscious. “Then we will go and eat.”
Lifting a brow at her odd reaction, Ben nodded and took her hand in his as he stepped back. Guiding her through the rest of the house, he indicated the bedroom, which she had seen earlier, but he really wanted her back in there for a lengthy purview. Walking with her back to the kitchen his curiosity had him asking, “You going to tell me what that shiver was about earlier?”
“If I tell you, will you make it happen?” Her eyes danced with mirth and happiness. “I had the thought of you eating off of me, feeling your mouth moving over my belly, breasts as you gained your sustenance. That was what that shiver was all about.”
He was tongue-tied, no doubt about it. Clearing his throat he looked to her and then the table as they walked past it already imagining her laid out there. “Oh hell yeah,” he breathed with a smile. “I think we could arrange that, my love.”
“I take it you really like the idea as much as I do?” Her eyes were on the table and there was another shiver. “You will have to feed me, too, but I have full confidence that you can not only feed yourself, but me as well, love.”
“Oh I’m very sure that we’ll both come away from the experience fully satisfied,” he murmured in a tone that was as close to a purr as a wolf could come. Licking his lips he moved closer to her, backing her toward the counter before caging her with his arms. “I think we’ll need to decide just what foods will cover you though, I don’t want to burn you with anything, but something with juice wouldn’t be amiss. Licking something sweet from something sweeter, wherever the juice may flow, would be pleasurable.”
“Fruits.” She felt her whole body lighting to the idea. “Whipped cream would be nice, to feel it around my nipples, having you take a small lick here or there?” Her hand came up to his chest as she spoke. “Could always make a steak and then cool it down some before you place it on my belly, let you lick it the juices even as you munch the steak?”
Growling softly he lowered his head as he nodded slowly. “I’m liking this plan,” he whispered against her lips. “Anything else you think we might want for our meal?” he asked her softly as he fought for some control over his suddenly ragging hormones.
“Chocolate, you have to have chocolate.” She was going to burn up and die in a spectacular flame with the way her body was reacting. “How soon can we have our meal ready? You cook and get the sides ready and I will go and shower.” Leaning in she kissed him. “I will be right back, Ben.”
He watched her race off and then he frowned. “You’re showering now?” he called after her and shook his head. “Women,” he muttered moving to the fridge to collect what would be needed for their meal. Chuckling at what was to come he moved happily around the kitchen, he had the steak on already and cooking since it would need to cool before it went anywhere near her flesh. The fruit he was cutting while he kept an eye on that. Luckily he’d found a container of whip cream in the back of his fridge. God only knew when that was from but the date on it said it was fine so he was going with it.
She came back, skin pink and shiny from where she scrubbed it and a towel wrapped around her head and one around her body. “God I can’t wait for this,” she muttered and snagged a grape while he pulled the steak off. “Am I sick for being so excited about this?”
Turning he shot her a look and shook his head sharply. “Don’t ever think that, Evangeline. Whatever we do together as two consenting and fully knowledgeable adults is not wrong as long as we enjoy it. This is no where near being wrong, hell it’s been a weird custom in…Japan”—he scrambled trying to remember—“for like ever.”
“And I’m Asian, not Japanese but…” She knew her ancestors would kill her for this. “It doesn’t really matter. You’re right. Anything we do together is right and good.” Nodding she added, “Are you sure that you’re up for this?” She was more than ready. Her whole damn body was burning up with need.
Glaring at her, he rolled his eyes. “Honey, if I get any more up I’ll be in space,” he muttered shaking his head. “You may want to put a towel on the table or a blanket so you don’t get cold from the wood,” he said as he kept slicing the fruit.
“I brought one of the bath sheets you have in the bathroom warmer. It’s nice and warm and sitting on a chair in there.” She grinned at him as she added, “God you are amazingly handsome, Ben. I am one lucky woman.”
“Flattery will get you everywhere with me, woman,” he told her with a wink even though he was slightly embarrassed at her words. Shifting he flipped the steak over on the rack to let the other side cool a bit and for the juices to settle back toward the center.
“What can I do?” she asked watching him. “What would you like me to do to help out, love? Is there anything that I can cook or cut up that you haven’t already?”
“You can drain some of the maraschino cherries if you want,” he told her with a grin. “A little chocolate sauce, some whip cream, and a cherry on top,” he rumbled at her as she got close. “I’ll let you think on that and just where I should put my dessert.”
“Oh I know a nice pert peak that would love to have your mouth suckling and licking on it for a while.” Her nipples were hard in anticipation. “What else?” she asked after draining the cherries and placing some on a small serving bowl.
“Keep some of the juice aside, too,” he told her as he cleared his throat. “I might feel of the mind to dribble some in interesting places just so I can lick and flick you clean.” Good god, what the hell had gotten into him? If his brothers ever heard about this…he’d never live it down.
“This is just for us, Ben.” She saved the last of the cherry juice in the jar and looked at him. “I don’t think I would be able to face your siblings if they knew about this, so this is just ours, okay?”
“I won’t be telling,” he assured her with a sense of relief but had to wonder, if only for a moment, how she read him so easily. Smiling at her softly he reached over and touched her cheek. “I think you should get ready. I’ll need some time to do the layout of the dinner buffet.”
“Right, I will be right there, love.” She winked and turned. “Please don’t keep me waiting, baby. I will be on the table all cold and waiting on you, sweetheart, so please hurry?”
“You won’t be cold long,” he promised with a look of pure unadulterated need. Licking his lips slowly he smiled as he inhaled the scent of her need increasing. “Lay down, love, I think I can put out most of this now,” he added before lightly touching the steak. He’d have to cut it and let it finish cooling but he’d do that once he had the rest of it organized to further elevate her awareness of what was coming and increase the anticipation.
Spreading the bath sheet out on the large table, she moved and lay herself out on top of it. She pulled the towel from her head and allowed the one around her body to fall at the sides. Rubbing her hands through her short hair to help it dry, she watched him approach and felt the urge to shout in joy. Her hands were palm down on the table and her legs were spread wide in hope, anticipation, and wait.
Walking around her and the table a couple times, he just watched her, his eyes skating over her form leisurely. “You ready?” he asked as he paused at her side setting things out. Smiling at her eager nod he chuckled. “All right then.” Very carefully he laid out an alternating row of watermelon, cantaloupe, halved grapes, orange slices, pineapple, and
strawberries from her collarbone, between her breasts, and down her belly to the soft hair between her legs.
Each time the cool fruit touched her body she felt herself clench, quiver, and sigh slightly. Biting her lip she watched him, watched the intense look on his face as he laid the feast he had prepared out on her body and finally when he was down to just the steak she grinned. “Where do you put that?” Her stomach was bare, so she knew where it would go, maybe.
Winking at her he laid a path down both legs and then another down each arm going end to end with the slices but with a good two inches between each. When he only had a couple left over he placed one on her throat, one on each nipple and then the last four pieces, two each side of her belly just out of the way of the fruit juice.
“God, Benedek.” So far she was ready to scream in the pleasure just from the fruit touching her, the meat on her skin and the knowledge of what he was going to do. “Please, start?” she whispered slowly, watching him and appreciating the wolfish look on his face, the one of pure need.
Smiling down at her he wiped his hands and put the plates and bowls aside. Leaning on the table, a hand to each side he leaned down, his breath moving over her skin as he moved up and down over her body as though trying to decide where to start. Grinning as she squirmed he shot her a look. “Don’t be upsetting our meal, love,” he said softly before lowering his head and taking the strawberry from her belly button. Chewing slowly he swallowed and then licked at her flesh.
“And are you going to feed me while you eat as well?” Her voice cracked in a whisper of sound as she spoke. “That feels so very good.” It felt more than good. It felt amazing and was something that she would want to do again.
“Of course I will, my love,” he said softly with a grin. Picking up a piece of steak in his teeth he moved so that he was face-to-face with her. Wiggling his brows slightly he leaned down and let her take it from his lips. “Good?” he asked licking at a tiny bit of juice that escaped the corner of her mouth.
