Chapter 29
Hannah had taken a cab from home to come and see me after I’d called her instead of driving the rental her insurance had provided her. I knew how she felt, remembering how terrified I’d been to drive after my accident. Panic attacks threatened me constantly every time I got behind the wheel, at first.
Not having my car, we cabbed it to the fire station to fetch my ride.
“Are you sure you don’t want to be on your own today?” she asked. “It’s okay if you do.”
“Get in the car, Hannah,” I said. “I’m taking you home with me.”
She smirked. “Now that just sounds like you’ve got some sort of sexy agenda.”
“Honey, if it’s all I cared about, you’d be lying on the flat of your back with your legs around my waist right now.” Where the hell did that come from?
Her cheeks pinked. “Well that was blunt! Self-assured much?”
“Nope!” I grinned. “If I were, I would have moved on ages ago and fucked every sensible bitty that I could get my hands on.”
“But you’re not that type of guy,” she said softly as we turned into my driveway.
“No,” I parked the car and turned the engine off, “I’m not. I’d rather find someone who challenges me in a good conversation, someone who can take a joke and hold her own, someone who chooses to see the best in people.”
“I think I know someone like that.”
“Oh yeah? Who?”
“You. But I’m pretty sure you can’t date, marry, or screw yourself.”
That got me laughing. “That last one is debatable, depending on how you look at it.” I made to exit the car.
After giving Hannah the grand tour of my house, amazing her with the grandeur of my kitchen – which is where I left her – it was high time I did something about the smell of smoke and layer of grime that stuck to me.
An assortment of noises downstairs, followed by a shriek, then a crash of broken glass, graced my ears as I exited my bathroom.
Chucking my towel onto the floor, I slid my jeans on and did them up, slinging my t-shirt over my shoulder, and rushed downstairs. Hannah was face down on the floor.
“Holy shit!” I hurried to help her up, shards of glass scattered everywhere. “Are you okay, what happened?”
“Would you believe that I like your floor so much I wanted to kiss it?” She got to her knees, laughing.
Her giggle cut short when her eyes settled on my bare chest, then widened.
“No, but I’d believe that you have two left feet.” That seemed to get her to look up at my face. “What is all this?”
“I figured that you’d be hungry so I made you something to eat.”
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Ego’s a little bruised, but that’s it.”
I kissed her forehead before heading for the closet. “Stay there.” I came back with the broom only to find her crouched down, picking up pieces of food, as well as some of the larger pieces of glass, and setting them on the tray she’d been using to carry everything.
She tried to take the broom from me and put a hand on my chest. “It’s my mess. Let me clean it up.” She paused, her fingers rubbing lightly over my skin, and just as quick, snapped her hand back, mumbling, “And put a shirt on.”
I smirked down at her. “It’s not my fault you scared me half to death that I never finished getting dressed.”
“Here.” She passed me the tray. “I’ll start over when I’m done here.”
She turned and started sweeping the floor with more force than necessary. I set the tray of spoils on the side table, walked up behind her, and wrapped my arms around her waist in a hug. Her surliness was endearing.
“Are you mad?” I dropped my chin onto her shoulder.
She huffed. “No!” I gave her another squeeze. “Well, yeah. Sort of. You’ve been taking care of me non-stop over the last few weeks, and I figured I’d take care of you for a change, but I’ve gone and mucked it up.”
“So you wanted to take care of me?” I murmured. Had she not been paying attention? She had been doing just that without even trying since we’d met. Just having her around listening to what I had to say made everything better.
She gave me a small nod before she turned around to face me. She found herself nose to bare chest again and looked up with an arched brow.
I chuckled. “You know you like it.”
“I can’t say that I don’t.” She got up on the tips of her toes, pecked me on the cheek and relinquished the broom by shoving it in my hands.
In the end, I swept while she went back to the kitchen to fix me more food. It may have been a sandwich, but it was one of the best ones I’d ever tasted. She did me one better and I found a bowl of fruit and berries with what looked like a simple syrup poured on top.
Hannah hadn’t fixed herself anything to eat, so I asked, “Aren’t you hungry?” She shook her head. I picked up a few pieces of fruit from the bowl with my fork and put it in front of her mouth. “Open up.”
“I made that for you.”
“And I share.”
The day passed by in a flash and when the last movie of the night ended, I was sandwiched between the back of the couch and a sleeping Hannah, who had an arm wrapped around my torso and her head on my shoulder. She looked so comfortable that I didn’t want to wake her, but we couldn’t spend the night on the couch. Well, she couldn’t.
I shuffled her legs over mine and sat myself up. When I had her in my arms properly, I got up and carried her to my room. I laid her on the bed and covered her with the comforter, bending over to kiss her forehead, where she released a sigh.
I smiled as I made my way back downstairs, taking my shirt and jeans off and laying them on the armrest of the chair beside the couch, which was where I was spending the night.
I laid back, covered myself with the throw and closed my eyes, finding myself imagining what it would be like to spend a proper night in bed, cuddled with Hannah in my arms, before I drifted off.
Chapter 30
The road was dark and rough. Karen had been crying non-stop for the last hour and it didn’t matter that we’d changed her diaper and fed her. She wasn’t taking her soother, and it was clear that the car ride wasn’t working as it normally did.
Candace was beside herself with frustration, and to be honest, so was I.
We’d been arguing, which in my opinion was why Karen was so hysterical at the moment, sensing her parents’ joint frustrations.
My wife had been distant over the last month and I worried that she might be coming down with post-partum depression, despite her insisting that it wasn’t an issue.
“Sue me, Candy,” I said hotly. “I care. I worry. Am I not entitled to that as your husband?”
Apparently that hadn’t been the right choice of words. She went off on another one of her tangents and all I wanted to do was get us home so I could put this latest squabble – this day – to rest.
After what must have been the tenth time of Candace leaning over the passenger seat to put Karen’s soother back in her mouth, she unbuckled herself and flung the seatbelt to the side, its buckle hitting the passenger-side window with a loud clunk. With her rising temper, her patience was at a loss.
I peered at her from the corner of my eye in annoyance because of her petty behavior. Sometimes she could really rattle my nerves with her tantrums.
“Would you just give it up already?” I said. “You know she’s just going to spit it out.”
“I need quiet. I need to think, Benjamin.”
“What is there to think about?” I asked. “Karen needs you at home. We’re trying to get everything in order to open the damn bar! I’ve been working on this deal for months. I can’t do that for us and carry a baby with me all day long because Chris says he needs you in New York. You agreed to take six months off and here you are, already working for the guy after two.”
“Ben-”
“No, Candace. Had he called a week ago, m
aybe we could have worked something out. I can’t reschedule these investor meetings, you know that. Do you not want to do this anymore? You said it was your dream as much as it’s mine.”
“Ben…” Karen’s crying grew louder. “Dammit, Karen!”
I took my eyes off the road and turned my fiery gaze at my wife, growling, “Don’t you dare take it out on her!”
“I’m going to New York, Ben,” she said. “And we need to talk when I get back.” She finished putting the soother back in Karen’s mouth and turned to face forward, not bothering with her seatbelt.
My eyes were still fused to my wife in shock at what she’d just announced, rather than anger.
“Ben…” she said. I heard her, but I wasn’t really listening.
What the hell is going on with her? I was trying to figure out why this supposed talk needed to wait until her return. Better yet, what could she possibly want to discuss?
“Ben…” Her tone seemed different now, but I was too busy juggling my thoughts. I still hadn’t peeled my eyes off of her either. “Ben, watch-!”
By the time she repeated my name a third time and I registered her panic, it was too late.
“Fuck! Hold on!” I gripped the steering wheel, jerking it hard to the right.
I managed to avoid the oncoming vehicle, but when I veered back to the left to get back onto the road, the SUV hit a rut and we were sent careening into a culvert. Candace’s scream shrilled in my ears one second, then everything was dead silent the next.
“Ben,” I heard as everything faded away to black. “Ben! Wake up, it’s a nightmare.”
I sat up abruptly and took in my surroundings. Hannah was sitting on the edge of the couch beside me, her hands cradling my face as I tried to catch my breath.
“Hannah,” I choked out.
“I’m here, Ben,” she said. “Look at me.”
I did just that. I grabbed her forearms and squeezed to assure myself that she was really there.
Through choppy breaths, I whispered, “She was going to leave me. I remember now.”
“What do you mean?”
I explained, my voice finding a bit more strength. “I remember why we were in the car. I remember the crash, the look on Candace’s face, but for the life of me,” I swallowed, “I haven’t been able to remember what we were arguing about. I think she was going to leave me.”
Hannah pulled me to her and wrapped her arms around me as I did the same with her. Her hand moved in a soothing pattern while the other massaged the nape of my neck as she cooed soothing words into my ear.
After a few minutes, I felt lulled enough to let her go. How’d she do that?
The sides of our faces rubbed against the other as I backed away. Her hands slid so she barely cradled my neck, but the skin-to-skin contact was still there. She pressed her forehead to mine and rubbed the pads of her thumbs in a circular motion over my temples. My eyes were fused to hers.
“Ben?” she whispered.
I kissed her. And not like all of our other friendly pecks, either. I went in hard.
Sliding my arms around her, I cradled her head with one hand, while the other pulled her into me, forcing her to straddle my waist. Hannah’s purr of satisfaction fueled me further as her hands tangled themselves into my hair.
She held my head as I descended kisses onto her jaw, to her ear and down toward her collarbone.
“Don’t stop,” she begged in a breathless voice, and I pulled back to look at her face.
With a shy smile, she lifted her arms above her head. My fingers played with the hem of her t-shirt and she nodded to encourage me further. I lifted it over her head and groaned at the sight before me.
When my eyes were done taking her in, I looked into her eyes. I didn’t see an ounce of hesitation or shyness. I saw a woman who knew exactly what she was doing, what she wanted. That was a major turn-on.
“I’ve always known you were beautiful, but-” Before I could continue, her lips captured mine.
She kissed a trail down to my jaw and back up to my ear. I hissed when she took its lobe between her teeth and gave it a light tug. “I told you that you should have kept your shirt on.”
On a husky laugh, my palms glided over her back, reaching her shoulder-blades as my lips trailed down her collarbone. When she arched back, I took advantage and began to kiss lower, toward the valley between those luscious mounds of hers. She let her hands fall from my head and trailed them down over my shoulders until they halted on my biceps.
I nipped the tender skin that edged the lace of her bra, eliciting what I will testify as being the sexiest moan I had ever heard. I pulled back and waited for her to look at me.
“Don’t stop!”
“Are you sure about this?” She nodded. “Then we’re doing this right.”
Without another word, I picked her up, her legs wrapping around my waist, and carefully took the stairs that led us to my bedroom.
I laid her down and covered her body with mine. She pulled away in shock when she realized that I was in nothing more than my boxers.
I shrugged my shoulders. “I can’t sleep in clothes.”
She cupped one of my butt cheeks as a rebuttal, and smiled up at me. “I’m not about to complain. The less, the better. Now, hurry up and take my pants off.”
I laughed. “Nope.” Her breath hitched. “I think I’ll take my time.”
“Be careful. You might be privy to the same treatment the next time around.”
“Next time?”
“I’m not going anywhere.” She lifted her hands to pull my head down toward hers, her eyes ensnaring me. “You need me, Ben. And I need you.”
The taste of her was as sweet as her words. I couldn’t get enough.
Delivering random kisses to her stomach, I peeled her jeans off.
“Don’t look at my legs,” she was quick to say.
I ignored her. They were still mangled from the accident, but I didn’t give a shit about the scrapes, scabs and fresh scars. She could have been covered in lacerations from head to toe and she’d still be beautiful to me.
In order to maintain her ease however, I made sure to move on. I got to her underwear and ran my hand over her pelvis. She arched into my hand.
I climbed my kisses back up and she wrapped her arms around my shoulders, while arching into my chest as I kissed her neck. I took that opportunity to undo the catch to her bra, divesting her of it.
Straddling her hips, and leaning over to fetch a condom in my bedside table, Hannah thought it wise to have some fun of her own. Her mouth and hands made contact with my abs, making the muscles tense and ripple beneath the feel of her. Everywhere she touched set my skin to a slow burn.
I let her have her way for a short while, until her hands made a grab for my boxers to pull them off.
Stilling her hands, I said, “Not yet, sweetheart.” I shimmied down her torso to kneel between her legs.
“Why do you call me that?”
“You don’t like it?”
“I do, but-”
“It just seems fitting because it’s who you are to me.” I brushed the back of my fingers over her cheek. “You’re sweet. You’re beautiful inside and out. You’re special.”
My lips met hers in a long drugging kiss before I headed for her underwear. My fingers trailed over the damp spot that was there. She drew a sharp breath when my knuckle made contact with her bud through the thin material.
In one swift pull, her underwear was gone and she was exposed. I took the opportunity to push my boxers down and slide on the condom before I got down to business.
“Oh my God, Ben, no!” she said as my mouth made contact with her wet core. I gave her slit a few licks before I sucked on her clit. She moaned and writhed under me. “God, don’t stop!”
I laughed internally, having given myself a new challenge. I was going to make this little spitfire beneath me find a new appreciation for what a mouth, teeth, and tongue could do.
I licked her slit wi
th smooth long strokes, coaxing that little jewel of hers out more before wrapping my lips around it and sucking again.
“Ben!”
I added fingers to the mix, delving in one, and then adding a second digit, as I curled them to tap that sweet spot inside of her. Her hips automatically lifted off the bed and into my face.
Perfect.
“Oh God, Ben! Yes! Don’t stop, please don’t stop!”
In the next moment, Hannah’s hands found my hair, and pulled as she screamed her release.
Without hesitation, I moved up her body, her hands locking behind my neck and bringing me straight to her mouth for a heated kiss.
I guided myself slowly inside her, plundering her mouth with my tongue, relishing the feel of her heated depth with my cock. I could feel her contract around my shaft as her velvet softness convulsed with the remnants of her orgasm.
I withdrew from her slowly with a hiss. “You’re so tight.”
“Deeper, Ben,” she panted.
And so I gave it all to her in one swift thrust.
To my surprise, the woman broke all over again, moaning her release into my neck. I began to thrust, my balls already tightening up, making me slow my pace. It’d been so long that there was no way I was going to last much longer.
When Hannah’s hips began to meet mine, I was a goner. I pulled back to watch her face. She graced me with a smile, her hands gliding up my chest as she lifted her head to kiss me. Hannah sighed into my mouth.
No longer able to hold off, I exploded, sending her into a final tailspin. Her arms clutched at my shoulders, while I brought us down from our carnal heights. Her face was flush with a look of pure bliss, and I smiled knowing I had put that look there.
“Candace wouldn’t know a great lover if his dick hit her right between the eyes,” Hannah mumbled into my neck.
To Forgive & Hold Safe (The Broken Men Chronicles Book 4) Page 9