by Taylor Berke
It was his father, however, who got Ben back to sanity for the moment. “Sit down on your ass, boy, or by all that’s holy I swear I will turn you over my knee and whoop your butt like I did when you were a child!” Bill whispered furiously at his middle son.
Both Jackson and Ben looked incredulously at their father after his threat. Bill was a very mild-mannered man normally and it suddenly became obvious where they had gotten their tempers from.
Ben felt like he was taken down a peg, but still had enough fury in him to hiss back at his father.
“I am an adult now, damn it!”
“Then act like it,” Bill whispered back without blinking an eye.
Their exchange was interrupted by a booming megaphone.
“We want to see Ms. Carmichael if she is in there. We want to see her now.” Nat’s voice was strong and confident, fitting as that was his whole outward persona.
All the men could see movement from inside the building, as the lights came on in the offices upstairs. The blinds in what was Theodore Davis’s office were drawn slightly apart, revealing the tallest of the unknown men. Yelling from inside could be heard, making Ben shift with his impatience to get at his love. A whistle was heard from Sly and seventeen rifles were raised as figures of men appeared by the front door. The men, apparently either unaware of the sheer number of weapons pointed in their direction or uncaring of it, proceeded to walk outside with Mr. Davis between them. Ben gave his father and friends around him a quizzical look as no one could figure out what the men’s intentions were. Suddenly the most beautiful vision in the world appeared. Lizzie walked out, apparently more aware than the kidnappers were as she gasped in fright at seeing all the town’s men with weapons aimed in her direction.
Suddenly, as if in slow motion, Ben shot up and ran for her, not even attempting to slow down as he grabbed her. The speed and sheer force he used propelled both Ben and Lizzie into the giant planter that sat in front of the bank, filled with dark dirt. He heard a grunt of pain from Theodore Davis as he hit the pavement hard, having been knocked out of the way from the man acting like a professional linebacker. Ben rolled to shield her body with his as they fell and then rolled on top of her, successfully mashing her into the wet soil.
“Benjamin Powell, have you lost your gorgeous ever-loving mind? What do you think you are doing?” Lizzie whispered furiously in his ear.
“Not a sound, baby. Just wait and let us handle this,” Ben tried to whisper back but his voice carried. Ben turned his head to see what the men holding Theodore Davis were going to do now that they were cornered and had lost their main bargaining chip.
Instead of looking startled, scared, or even enraged at being caught, the men looked downright shocked and perplexed. They scanned the group of armed Stony Creek inhabitants with looks of disgust.
“Um, Sheriff, what the hell is going on here?” the tallest one asked.
Sly bravely stood and held his nine millimeter aimed at the tallest one’s brawny chest. He yelled back, “Put your hands in the air and step away from Mr. Davis please, all of you.”
The men looked at each other and shrugged, placing their hands in the air and taking two steps back. Theodore Davis just stood still looking plain miserable and like he was about to cry.
“I think we can explain if you just calm down and give us a moment, Sheriff.” the leader spoke again, amusement starting to replace his previous expression.
“You can explain after you are in custody, sir,” Nat yelled back, coming to stand besides Sly.
At the word custody, Theodore Davis began to tremble and everyone could see the fat tears that were running down his nauseating face. Ben looked down at Lizzie and then up again in confusion. What the hell was going on here?
The leader started laughing and the other two men with him followed suit. Apparently they were having themselves a fine old laugh except no one had any idea of why.
“The suspect is in custody, Sheriff! If you care to check our front pants pockets you will find our badges.” The leader laughed in Sly’s direction.
Sly shifted only his eyes briefly in Nat’s direction, probably a long-practiced unspoken communication, and walked forward to the leader. Making a grimace as he had to reach in the man’s front pocket pretty deeply, he pulled out a very official-looking badge and ID.
“Who the fuck are you guys?” Sly asked in his trademark deep, controlled tone.
“Sorry for laughing, Sheriff, but you all look like you are ready for the next shootout at the Stony Creek OK Corral. We are FBI and have been working on this piece of shit for two years. He is in our cuffs and our custody or was until Rambo over there knocked him over,” the leader explained.
“Hey, dumbass! I was protecting my fiancée no thanks to you all putting her near that asshole Davis. He has been threatening her for over a year and now she will be traumatized that you somehow included her in your messed-up investigation,” Ben angrily retorted to the so-called FBI agent.
“Ben! I am not traumatized. If you would just let me explain…” Lizzie tried to get out her answer.
“Ssh, baby, I got you. Just let me take it from here,” Ben condescendingly answered her.
“But, Ben, you don’t understand!” Lizzie tried again.
“Baby, I love you but you are going to get yourself another spanking if you don’t lay there and be quiet now.” Ben’s embarrassing threat was heard by all present.
“Is he always like this?” the lead FBI agent chuckled to Lizzie.
“Worse but I love him for it.” Lizzie’s muffled voice was barely heard from under Ben’s enormous body. During the exchange, Nat had given a signal of some sort that had all the armed townsfolk lowering their weapons, and he was now moving forward to check the other agents’ IDs as well. Sure enough, Mr. Davis was in cuffs and now crying like a baby.
Ben was pulling Lizzie up out of the mud and proceeded to do a full-body check on her, ignoring both the shocked and embarrassed expression she wore as well as the mud coating her form. Oblivious to the fact that everyone was watching, he ran his hands from the top of her muddy hair, over her breasts and past her rear, even squeezing her lightly as though something may have gotten lodged in there. Well, something had several times, he thought with chagrin, but not right at that moment. Later was going to be another story, he thought furiously.
When he realized that she had suffered no permanent injury, whether at the hands of the FBI, Theodore Davis, or his “rescue attempt,” he lowered his hungry mouth to hers and began to devour her in his kiss. Instead of being annoyed at his high-handedness, she apparently reveled in the emotion of his devastating kiss as he slanted his mouth over her soft lips again and again, unable to get close enough to her. He thrust his tongue around hers in a sensuous dance, both tasting her and running his hands over her mud-slicked body in an intimate caress. He heard male appreciation and laughter at the show he was unwittingly putting on but could care less as he sipped at her lips and allowed some of the anxiety and tension to leave his body every time he ran his hands over her ass.
A series of slaps shocked him but not enough to halt his possession of his love. He recognized the handiwork of his mother, aunt, and Julia from their previous attempts at correcting his wayward behavior.
He didn’t even lift his head as he heard his mother wail to Bill, “I did not raise him to maul women in public like that, William Powell!”
“What do you want me to do, honey? He is over thirty, six foot five, and believe it or not, I did just threaten to put him over my knee. My choices are limited here, Lillian!” Bill answered his wife with matching frustration.
His focus was eventually pulled from his woman, who was responding so cooperatively to his attack, by the conversation and explanation of the situation. It appeared that Theodore Davis had been siphoning money from his accounts for the last fifteen years by skimming money off the interest they earned. In addition, there was the direct involvement of Lizzie that was revealed and verified by
phone taps where he had overinflated the interest owed not only on her house but the restaurant as well. Apparently, he took that extra money and was tapping it into his personal account at the bank. The arrogant bastard hadn’t even tried covering his tracks as he figured there would be no one interested in checking on a small-town banker.
The FBI had tapes of evidence confirming his lies but also his intent to force Lizzie into a sexual relationship in order to keep her holdings before Ben got involved. There was pile after pile of photos featuring Lizzie at his home, confirming his long-standing perverse interest in her. After Ben made Lizzie safe from financial ruin, Mr. Davis had hired men to kidnap her so he could extract revenge for his embarrassment. He felt that Lizzie “owed” him for allowing her all those months of late payments and then spurning his offer of salvation with another. With her traitorous turn to Ben, as Theodore had put it, he was going to get a taste of her, one way or another. Luckily, the men hired for the job were none other than the three present.
Those very same men shocked her to her foundation as she had been sure that she was being thrust into a desperate situation. The FBI had just picked Lizzie up and explained everything to her in the car while the rest of the town had been mobilizing their rescue. Lizzie had torn her mouth away from Ben’s intoxicating kisses long enough to hear how Millie had given a detailed description of the agents, their car, and physical forms that would have impressed even the toughest of seasoned officers. Gus had been right. She was better suited for the FBI than the agents in front of them were.
It suddenly dawned on Ben that his mother and the other matrons had rifles in their hands, too. What the hell? Damn it, Lizzie had single-handedly taken down Theodore Davis with his help and now his mother and the Ladies Guild were part of the Stony Creek Militia. There was no way he was going to let these slick ladies get the upper hand on the men of the town. No way, he was going to cook their goose.
With a grin of naughty intent, Ben turned in the direction of Donny and his father. Not releasing his hold on his mud-slicked model of femininity, he got a mischievous tone in his voice.
“Oh, Dad, fellas! Did anyone happen to notice that the ladies are armed? After today, we all know that they can handle the guns and themselves but if I go down, who is next to follow, hum?” Ben said almost sweetly. He felt Lizzie cringe as he watched the expressions on the men’s faces go from mild interest to marked disapproval. His own father walked over to Lillian, gave a quick kiss, and pulled the gun from her hands. The action was repeated by Gus and Donny who were whispering some things rapidly in their respective ladies’ ears.
“Why did you do that, Ben?” Lizzie whispered up to him, looking shocked. The FBI, Sly, and Nat appeared to be wrapping things up at present with talk of doing annoying paperwork all afternoon and transporting Theodore to a government jail. Ben took a brief look in the former banker’s direction. He wanted ten minutes alone with him. He saw actual rage at the thought of how close that man had gotten to almost hurting his woman. It was Lizzie, however, who turned the tables on him by being the one who was able to bring Theodore Davis down with her testimony.
It didn’t sit well with him that he hadn’t been the one to at least throw a punch or do some sort of damage to protect the love of his life. Ben felt caged in by his own skin and the riot of intense emotions that were flooding his system. He needed to be close to her. He needed to calm his inner fear that he could have lost her when he had just started to figure things out.
Ben was shaken from his morbid thoughts by the very sweet soul that he was currently focused on.
“There is no way that I am going to have you, Mom, and the rest of the women of this town trying to save us every time something goes wrong, Ms. Carmichael!” he bellowed, looking down at her.
Lizzie had pulled herself out of his embrace and stood like a muddy avenging angel. Her gorgeous hair was matted down with a huge smear of mud going down the side of her face. The beautiful outfit was now a lovely shade of light and dark browns, with her firm thighs looking like he had smeared the mud on himself while caressing their soft inner surfaces. Perhaps he had unconsciously. Well, in his defense, she was plastered deliciously under his body for several minutes. What was a man to do?
“Listen up, Mr. Powell!” Lizzie raised her voice back, eliciting an eyebrow raise from him. “Not only was it me who gave a deposition to all that I knew about Mr. Davis, but it was Millie Braxton who was the only one aware enough to sound the alarm! Not one of the men even noticed those three hooligans take me right off the darned street!”
Ben opened his mouth to respond as he heard the matrons all murmur their agreement, but was cut off as Lizzie started to advance on him with a murderous expression.
“Oh, and by the way, I don’t recall agreeing to be your fiancée, buddy! The traditional manner of engagement involves something involving getting down on a knee and asking, you huge, arrogant brute! How dare you assume that I would just accept and fall into your arms? Who do you think you are? Oh, I know, you are a Powell male. Arrogant and possessive! Sorry, Lillian.” Lizzie finished her tirade with an apology to his mother for insulting her men.
Lillian surprised her, however. “Oh no, honey, you keep going. So far you have got it pretty darned accurate if you ask me!”
“I couldn’t agree more. Just assuming she would say yes, the nerve!” his Aunt Florence finished.
Ben flinched slightly under the onslaught of nodding heads and disapproving expressions from the rest of the ladies. Okay, perhaps he could have handled that a bit better.
“Sly, are we done here? I need to take Lizzie home.” Ben tried to clear the storm clouds that were descending directly on his head. Seeing Nat nod, Ben tenderly lifted Lizzie’s hand to his lips and kissed her muddy knuckles and then turned it so his lips could graze her palm. He felt her shiver and smiled into her hand.
“Come with me, baby, let me take you home,” Ben murmured to her softly.
Lizzie must have been drained from the events of the previous hours as she lost all her bravado and leaned into him exhaustedly. She even allowed him to lift and cradle her lush form in his arms as he thanked everyone that he walked past and loaded her up into his dually.
After he climbed in on his side and was about to drive away, he felt her loving gaze and heard her whispered confession. “I can’t believe you actually did come for me. I didn’t know that anyone actually saw what happened.”
Putting all the love he felt for her in his own eyes, he answered her simply.
“I will always come for you, protect you, baby. The whole town loves you and they know that we love each other. You are never going to be alone again, this I promise,” Ben said as he drove them out of town.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Ben held Lizzie’s hand the entire drive back, unable to relinquish some level of physical contact with her body. For the second time in their relationship, he had felt fear, consuming terror that she was in danger and he might not be able to save her. This go-round, or rather fiasco, turned out not to be the violent kidnapping that was suggested, but that didn’t calm his inner beast one bit. His need to dominate was riding him hard and he was fighting an inner battle with himself to make tender love to her as opposed to what his brain was telling him he needed to do to gain his control back.
“Ben, where are we going? You just passed my road, honey,” Lizzie asked in question.
Ben gave her a soft smile, all he could manage at the moment really.
“My house, darlin’,” Ben replied simply.
As he made the turn onto Rugged Hill Ranch, he felt himself relax as they drove in past his mother’s beautiful artistry with the gate landscaping. The familiar helped take the edge off his needs slightly but it wasn’t enough to stop them. As they drove past his Aunt’s house and the main house, he heard her sigh.
“Your ranch is just so beautiful, Ben, so peaceful. I understand why you love it so much,” Lizzie said in awe of his home.
“Bab
y, I do love the ranch but I love you more. I hope you are starting to understand that.” Ben tried to make her understand what he was having difficulty putting into words.
His shiny silver trailer was tucked almost charmingly into the foliage that came into view. It was hidden from the main ranch road and Ben had attractively planted trees that draped around the front and sides, giving it an almost urban chic look. Lizzie had commented the last time they spent the night here that he was a man of many hidden talents. He had several new ones that he planned on showing her, starting right now.
As he parked the truck and unbuckled his seat belt, he half turned in the seat to explain to Lizzie what he was feeling but as usual, she already knew.
“Ben, honey,” she began, with her eyes downcast but not in upset. He immediately recognized her submissive position and felt his body surge in anticipation and arousal as he took it in.
“I would like for you to tell me what you need me to do,” Lizzie said softly, reading his mind.
Ben leaned over and scooped her up, pulling her out on his side without answering. He walked up to the front door, knowing that the next time the door opened for them to walk back out, things would be different, better.
* * * *
Lizzie stood just inside the entryway in Ben’s very airy and very messy home. She quelled the urge to start straightening up, as usual, and didn’t move until her gave her leave to do so. The cool air from his AC felt delicious in comparison the increasing temperature from anticipation. Ben was walking around to her back, leaning over to softly kiss her dirty face, cuddling into her neck as he ran his fingers ever so lightly over the distended peaks of her breasts. She could feel her respirations increase as he fit himself right behind her and slipped his meaty arms around her, enfolding her in a comforting embrace.