by Jessica Wood
Our eyes met, and at that moment, I saw the face of the older brother who, up until recently, had always been there for me. I couldn’t imagine a life without him in it.
“But you found Katherine—” he began.
“That doesn’t mean you’re less of a brother to me, Trent.”
He looked up with pained eyes. “How can you still see me as a brother after all the shit I’ve put you through?”
I smiled. “Because I remember all the times you’ve been there for me as a brother, and I want to believe that he’s still in there somewhere.”
“I’m sorry for everything, Blair. I don’t know what to say.”
“Say that you’ll stay as Acting CEO. With Dad still unable to move or speak properly, I need your help managing this place.”
He finally smiled and nodded in agreement. “Thank you, Blair. Not just for letting me stay at Parker, Inc., but for letting me stay in your life.” His voice cracked as he continued, “I know it will take time for you to trust me again, but I’m still the same brother that was always there to protect you.”
“I know. I believe you.” I wasn’t sure why, but I knew I could trust Trent. Some of the tension that’d taken hold of my body in the last few months disappeared.
“So,” he cleared his throat, “how is everything?”
I frowned as I was reminded of the other things that had been bothering me lately.
“I’m not sure,” I said honestly.
“What do you mean?” He looked at me in concern.
“I don’t know. I just get this feeling that something’s wrong with me and Ben.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. So, I met Katherine for the first time a week ago,” I said cautiously as I watched Trent’s reaction.
“Right.” He tried to hide his discomfort on his face, but I could see the pain in his eyes.
“Well, Ben and I were supposed to hang out later that evening, and Katherine thought it’d be fun to surprise him, so I invited her over. Well, Ben had this romantic night planned for us, and I think he wasn’t expecting me to bring a third wheel. I could tell there was some tension between the two of them, and neither of them seemed to really like the other. Anyway, things seemed to be a little off since then.”
“Hmm.” Trent frowned as he took in my story. “Have you talked to him about it?”
I shook my head. “Well, I’m not sure if I’m just overreacting. I know I wanted their first meeting to be perfect, and it didn’t turn out that way. I think Ben was disappointed that his plans for a romantic night for just the two of us was ruined, and then he had to get back to the office for an urgent project.”
“Have the two of them hung out since then?”
“No.”
“Well, it might just have been an awkward first meeting. I know you, Blair. I know how you are when you want things to go perfectly. And I know they’re going to be two important people in your life and you want them to get along, so you’re putting a lot of pressure on it.”
I sighed. “You’re probably right.”
“Why don’t you plan another get-together for them? I’m sure things will go better if they know what to expect.”
I beamed at Trent. “Thanks for wise advice, big brother. You always know what to say to make me feel better.”
He smiled back. “Thank you for giving me a second chance at being a big brother to you.”
***
I woke up just a little past dawn. My lips spread into a smile as I registered Ben’s warm, protective arm curled around my body. I’d never met a man who made me feel as safe and wanted as he had. I slowly pried Ben’s hand off my waist and quietly slipped out of the bed.
Ben was usually the one to make us breakfast, but today I wanted to surprise him. I walked to his kitchen and started making his favorite breakfast: French toast with a side of bacon.
Twenty minutes later, my phone vibrated against the kitchen counter.
“I’m already here,” his deep, raspy voice came from behind me. His lips moved gently down the side of my neck as he wrapped his arms around my waist.
“Ben, you startled me!” I cried out between giggles.
“Damn, my baby made my favorite breakfast.”
“See, isn’t this better than just coffee?” I grabbed a piece of bacon and fed it to him.
“Depends on what coffee we’re talking about.” He winked at me. Then a devious smile curled his lips. “You know what’d taste even better than this piece of bacon?”
I arched an eyebrow at him. “I’m afraid to ask.”
“Well, there’s a certain sweet honey that I just can’t get enough of.” He cocked his head and eyed me.
I inhaled sharply as his hand brushed the spaghetti straps of my camisole off my shoulders, causing the silk fabric to fall to the ground, exposing my naked breasts.
“Well, good morning to you too,” he chuckled as he lowered his mouth onto one of my breasts and began to suck on it. Suddenly, he grabbed my waist and pushed me on top of the kitchen counter.
Through my cries of pleasure, I managed to push some of the plates to the side to make room for my naked body as his teeth and tongue bit and soothed my nipple in alternating intervals, sending jolts of electricity down below where a pool of wetness was developing in anticipation.
“Ben, what about breakfast?” I managed to ask between my pants and cries as my hands ran through his hair in frenzy.
He paused and looked up at me swollen breasts with a wide, sinful smile across his lips. “Baby, I’m having my breakfast right now.” I saw the raw hunger in his eyes and the wetness inside me began to drip down my thighs in anticipation.
As if he had a sixth sense of how turned on I was, he went down on his knees and disappeared between my legs.
I gasped as I felt his hot tongue lick up my wetness along my inner thigh. “Can’t let this sweetness go to waste,” he groaned as his mouth slowly moved toward my epicenter of my pleasure. “And jackpot. Breakfast of champions.” His voice was ragged and wild as I felt his mouth linger at the entrance.
“Oh God, please, Ben!” I begged as I arched my hips toward his mouth.
“Baby, I aim to please, and I’m ravenous,” he growled in response.
Suddenly he grabbed my hips with both hands as his mouth engulfed me. I let out a scream and threw my head back as an onslaught of pleasure crashed through me. As his hands tightened their grip against my flesh and he pulled me against his mouth, his tongue moved deeper and deeper inside me. Within seconds, I reached my breaking point and my entire body began to quiver around his mouth.
“Come for me, baby. Come all over my mouth.”
I cried and gasped uncontrollably as his tongue pushed me over the brink of sanity, where several long seconds of earth-shattering pleasure thundered down my body.
“Oh my God, that was incredible,” I panted.
“And delicious to the last drop.” He appeared between my legs and flashed me a wide grin, his face covered with my wetness.
“Well, that was certainly a pleasant surprise.” I beamed at him.
Suddenly he picked me up and threw me over his naked, broad shoulders.
“Where are you taking me?” I squealed as I half-struggled to get off of him.
“You didn’t think I was done with you yet, did you?”
“What?” I pretended to protest.
“Baby, we just had some strong coffee, courtesy of yours truly. But now it’s time for the main course, and as you can feel,” he grab one of my hands and moved it under his boxers and on top his rock-hard erection, “I’ve worked up quite an appetite.”
I could picture the sexy smirk on his determined face as he carried me into the bedroom. As much as I wanted to resist him, I knew I couldn’t. He was the first man who’d made me feel this sexy, free, and safe, and the more time we spent together, the more confident I was about the fact that nothing would change the way I felt about him.
chapter four
Ben
The pure euphoria that swallowed me when I came inside Blair was all that seemed to push the problem of Katherine from my mind lately. If I had the power, I’d have whisked Blair away to a secluded island and made love to her for the rest of my life. The idea of how incredible that would be floated around in my mind as I came down from my last release.
“You know, Mr. Chase,” Blair’s dreamy, soft voice broke though my thoughts. Her fingers laced and intertwined with mine as they methodically moved up and down the length of my fingers, sending tingles of pleasure down my chest and toward my tired but excited cock that was quickly responding beneath the sheets.
“What’s that, Ms. Parker?” My voice was deep and hoarse. I met her gaze and couldn’t help but to smile.
“I didn’t think it was possible to orgasm three times in an hour’s time, but you sure proved me wrong.”
She was lying next to me in the bed and I turned to face her and gazed into her warm emerald eyes. My hand slowly trailed up and down the outline of her arm. “There’s a lot of things I intend to prove you wrong about, Ms. Parker.”
She raised an eyebrow and shot me a look. “I’m not often wrong, dear sir,” she challenged. “I still remember the very first time we met at that grocery store—”
“By the fruit stands,” I finished.
“Yup. If I recall correctly, I said to your face that you were one cocky guy.”
“And I said that I had a lot to be cocky about.” I winked at her.
She giggled. “Well, you weren’t wrong there.” Her eyes glanced down at my cock, which twitched the second it was mentioned. “But my point was I’m rarely wrong. We weren’t even talking about whether or not you were.” She laughed. “And the fact that you turned the conversation back to you proves my point: you’re one cocky guy.”
I threw my head back in laughter. “I sure am.” Then I grabbed the nape of her neck and pulled her to me. Our lips met in a slow, lingering kiss, our tongues darted in and out of each other’s mouths, and our lips playfully nipped and kissed.
As we finally pulled away, my lips curled into a wide grin.
She cocked her head and eyed me suspiciously, “What are you smiling about?”
I feigned an innocent look. “What? Can’t a guy smile at his girlfriend adoringly?”
She punched me lightly in the arm. “Spill it.”
I laughed at how well she could read me. “Well, I was just laughing at the fact when you were saying you’re rarely wrong about things, you actually said something that was, in fact, wrong.”
She glared at me and pouted. “And what exactly did I get wrong?”
I flashed her a smug smile. “Well, you said that the very first time we met was at the grocery store.”
“And how is that wrong?” she challenged.
“It’s wrong because the first time we met was at that speakeasy bar in the Financial District.”
She frowned. “I never met you there.”
I chuckled. “You did.”
“Well, you must not have been that memorable, then, if I can’t remember,” she challenged with a smile.
“Oh, I’ll show you how memorable I am,” I shot back as I reach over to tickle her.
She squealed as she tried to squirm away from my threatening fingers. “Okay,” she managed to get out between her uncontrollable giggles, “Tell me what happened.”
I finally stopped, feeling childishly triumphant like I had just won something. “Well, that was actually the very first time we met. You were walking through the front door while I was walking out. I didn’t see your face, but I had smelled that perfume of yours that seems to drive me crazy.”
She shot me a doubtful look. “I’m not the only person that wears Jo Malone’s Nectarine Blossom & Honey perfume. How could you be sure if it was me if you didn’t see my face?”
I reached for her wrist and turned her palm up to face us. “I also saw your long, beautiful hair and this infinity sign tattoo.”
“Oh.” She laughed. “I can’t believe you still remember these details. So on top of being cocky, you’re also a stalker.”
“Ha ha. Joke all you want, but let’s not be derailed from the point of this story—you are wrong.”
She rolled her eyes. “Don’t be so smug. For a lawyer, you know it’s all in the semantics. I said the very first time we ‘met’ was at the grocery store. We didn’t ‘meet’ each other at the bar when I didn’t even know you existed and you didn’t even see my face. Your argument is weak and doesn’t hold water.”
I laughed at how much of a smart-ass she was and how much I loved that about her. “You’ll never just let me have the last word, will you?”
She beamed at me. “Nope,” she said, causing her lips to make a smacking sound.
I turned my attention back to the infinity tattoo on her wrist. It was an infinity sign with four small birds flying in a line around a portion of the infinity sign. On another portion of the infinity sign was the word “Always.” My thumb traced the lines of the infinity sign. “So when are you going to tell me what this means?” I teased.
She smiled. “Are we telling each other our deepest secrets now?” she teased.
Her question was like a punch to the gut, and I felt the guilt that’d been following me around during this past week suffocating my airways as she looked up at me with those gorgeous eyes, drawing me into her world. I wanted to tell her then about my history with Katherine, but as her naked body gently brushed against mine, I couldn’t seem to get myself to confess what’d been weighing on my mind since I saw Katherine and found out who she was.
“You know I was only joking, right?”
“What?” I searched her face, confused by what she was talking about.
“You asked me about my tattoo, and I was just joking about it being a deep secret. You just didn’t respond just now, so I thought maybe my dry sarcasm didn’t make that clear.”
I forced a chuckle. “Oh, sorry. I knew you were joking. Not sure why I didn’t respond. I was just a little preoccupied.”
She studied me. “Yeah?”
“Nothing important. Just work,” I reassured her, instantly feeling like shit inside as I heard the blatant lie escape my mouth. You’re a fucking coward, Ben, I thought to myself. “So what does the tattoo mean?” I changed the subject, desperate to take my mind off anything related to Katherine.
“Well, it’s an infinity sign, which means endless or timeless—something that goes on forever. The four birds represent my dad, my mom, me, and Trent. The tattoo represents that we’ll always and forever be a family.”
I saw her eyes glisten with moisture as she looked at the tattoo. “That’s a cool tattoo.”
“I got it when I turned twenty-one. That was before I knew about Trent and Katherine.”
“How are things with Trent?” I tried to steer the conversation away from the Blonde Bitch.
She brushed away a tear and smiled. “Actually, pretty good. Now that everything’s out in the open, he’s back to being the protective older brother that he was before his mom passed away. I mean, things aren’t prefect yet between us. I’m still learning to trust him, but it’s on the right track.”
I squeezed Blair’s arm affectionately and kissed her gently. “That’s really great. I’m so glad to hear that.”
“Ben?” She paused and looked into my eyes.
“Yeah? What is it?” I sensed a wave of anxiety laced in her one-word question.
“I’m sorry about last week.”
“What are you talking about?” I was confused by her comment and wasn’t sure where it was coming from.
“Well, the night you met Katherine for the first time…you seemed upset with me. I’m really sorry I ruined the special night you planned for us.”
“Blair,” My face twisted in anguish as guilt gnawed at my insides when I realized what Blair must have thought. “Baby, you did nothing wrong, and I can never be upset with you. You didn’t ruin anything.” Katherine did,
I thought to myself.
“I thought it was just a low-key night,” she continued, “and Katherine thought it’d be fun to surprise you.”
“I bet she did,” I said under my breath.
“What do you mean?” She frowned.
“How much do you really know about Katherine, Blair?” I asked, the question seemed to slip out before I knew I had asked it.
“What’s that supposed to mean, Ben? I just met her a week ago, but I think I’ve gotten to know her pretty well in a week’s time.”
“And does she seem genuine to you?” My body stiffened, shocked by my line of questions.
Blair glared at me. “Why would you ask that? Do you know something I don’t? Did something happen in your bedroom that night?” Fear spread across her face.
“No! Nothing happened that night, Blair. You got it all wrong.” I took a deep breath, knowing this was the right moment to tell her. “I’m sorry, I should have told you that night. Katherine and I—”
Just then, Blair’s phone vibrated. Katherine’s name popped up as the iPhone screen lit up.
Blair reached for her phone and giggled.
“What is it?” I tried to hold back the anger that was raging inside me. Once again, Katherine interrupted us at the worst time possible. Does that bitch have “best time to interrupt Ben and Blair” radar?
Blair put her phone down and flashed me a happy smile. “So I’m completely free this Saturday. What are you doing that night?” She bit her lips, knowing how much that turned me on.
I chuckled and immediately forgot about Katherine. “Spending time with you, of course,” I played along.
“Great! That’s what I want to hear.”
Then my stomach lurched when I saw her reach for her phone again and began to frantically text Katherine back.
“What exactly do you have in mind?” I tried to keep my voice calm and level as I waited anxiously for her response.
She swung her arms around my neck and smiled up at me. My heart melted at how beautiful she looked when she was in a completely happy mood. “Well, I was thinking we could have a game night. I feel like I’ve really bonded with Katherine in the last week, and I really want my amazing boyfriend and my long-lost big sister to get to know each other. I want you to see why she’s so fun and cool, and I want her to see how amazing you are as a boyfriend.”