But Ben was here. In my bed. His body warm and hard and feeling so much like home that I ached.
“Hey.” His voice was husky and coated in sleep.
I traced his jaw, loving the shadow of stubble beneath my fingers and when he opened his mouth to say something else, I couldn’t help it. I needed him. I needed to feel him. To touch him. To taste him.
I slid my lips against his and my heart rate shot up when he groaned and sank his hands into my hair. His mouth opened beneath mine, hot and wet and aggressive. He tasted like heaven and he felt so good that I let the sensations of need and want roll over me. I welcomed the familiar pangs of desire that erupted between my legs and sat low in my belly.
My nipples were hard, my breasts ached, and when his tongue slid into my mouth—when he licked and suckled on my bottom lip as if he was starving—I lost it. I fell down into the chasm that was Ben Lancaster and I don’t think I cared if I ever made it back out.
We kissed forever it seemed, as if we were feeding on each other’s soul and when we finally came up for air we were both breathing heavy.
His hands were still tangled in my hair and Ben tilted my head back slightly, tracing a line of fire down my neck where he kissed me so tenderly it brought tears to my eyes.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
“You don’t have to apologize.” His hands now cupped my face and he moved so that we were nose to nose, his dark eyes intense as he stared at me. “I love you, Georgia. You don’t have to apologize. I was a dick. A fucking dick. I should have been more sensitive I mean, God, your parents and…I had no idea. I’m the one who’s sorry.” He traced my mouth with his thumb and I leaned into him. “I fucking love you.”
Holy shit he said the L word!
His breath was ragged. “I don’t know if that freaks you out more or if I should keep that shit to myself but I can’t fucking live without you. I can’t. I—”
Something hard burst inside my chest. Something bright and hopeful. I silenced him again, my mouth on him as if he was my lifeline. I kissed him, worshipped him, and pushed him until he was forced to roll onto his back.
Our tongues danced together, his hands in my hair, mine cupping his jaw to hold him in place because I could not break this connection. He was everything to me. He was my lover. My friend. My life.
I broke the kiss because I had to explain this to him. I had to make sure he understood the depths of what I was feeling. Because I was so afraid. So afraid that once he knew the real me his feelings would change.
I straddled his hips and shifted a bit, closing my eyes when he groaned. He wore a thin T-shirt and his black board shorts that he swam in. I felt his erection burn between my legs and I knew how affected he was. “Ben,” I said softly. “There’s so much you don’t know…about me and I—”
“Do you love me?” He interrupted and sat up, settling his hands onto my hips.
I couldn’t escape his eyes. And I couldn’t lie anymore.
I nodded and barely whispered. “Yes.”
“Say it.”
“I. Love. You.” I said each word slowly, savoring them on my tongue. They were words I’d never said to anyone other than family. Never. Not once.
“Good,” he said as a slow, wicked grin crept over his face. “That makes us even.” He paused. “Now take your top off.”
The dynamics changed in an instant.
“You first.”
He yanked his shirt over his head and then did the same to mine. I wasn’t wearing a bra and his tongue flicked over my nipples, as his hands worked their way into my sleep shorts.
“Fuck, you’re wet,” he growled against my chest as I leaned into him and gyrated my hips. His fingers were already there, inside me, stroking and setting off all kinds of chaotic things.
“Only for you,” I whispered hoarsely, hissing as he hit that sweet spot, the pad of his long finger stroking me into an orgasm within seconds. That’s what Ben Lancaster did to me.
I shuddered against him, moaning as he continued to suckle my breasts, pulling and tugging—each suck tearing through me and hitting me in that sweet spot all over again.