I shook my head. “I kind of appreciate that,” I said. “Although it almost sounds a bit...stalkerish.”
“Hey!” Ben said.
I stuck my tongue out at him and then, without warning, took off down the road. With Ben's longer legs, though, it wasn't long before he caught up. We ran side by side up through campus. But where I would have turned off to head over into the arboretum, Ben led us around to the right, behind campus and up a steep hill.
When we got to the top, I was panting for breath. I was in shape; I ran nearly every day, but I usually stuck to flatter places. Running up hills was a challenge that I wasn't really prepared for.
“Sorry,” Ben said when we reached the top and he saw how winded I was. “Probably pushed things a little too far there, hmm?”
“Yeah, I see what you mean about pushing it when you're running with someone else,” I said with a grimace.
“Are you all right, though?”
“Yeah,” I said, shaking my head. “I'm not stupid; if it was too difficult, I wouldn't have kept pace with you the whole way. Just give me a moment to catch my breath and...” I trailed off, suddenly catching a glimpse of the view back over the city. “Oh wow.”
Ben grinned, looking proud of himself. “Wow,” he agreed. “Have you ever been up here before?”
I shook my head. “Usually I stick to the trails behind the arboretum if I'm looking to go up hills,” I told him.
From our current vantage point, the whole city was spread out beneath us. I hadn't realized how high we had climbed, although I supposed it made sense given how tired I was after the hill. But we were looking down at jets that were taking off from the airport to the north of the city. And it felt like you could see forever from up there.
“Yeah, I found this a few years ago,” Ben said. “It's been one of my favorite runs ever since. Especially on a good day, it's just..breathtaking. There's some great camping up on this side of the national park, too—and mostly untouched, because like you said, most people stick to the trails back behind the arboretum.”
I laughed a little. “I honestly can't even remember the last time I went camping,” I confessed. “I must have been about ten or so.”
Ben gaped at me. “You're missing out,” he finally said.
“Yeah, I'm sure you do so much camping in England,” I said, rolling my eyes, even though I honestly didn't know what camping in England might be like.
“Well, no,” Ben said, smiling at me, “but that's mostly because I haven't lived in England for about six years now.”
“What made you come over here anyway?” I asked curiously. I assumed it had to do with the whole work thing; maybe this was a way to get him to open up about that.
Ben smirked at me, though. “The beautiful women,” he said.
Before I could reply to that—or even start to feel offended and jealous, maybe—he took off sprinting back down the hill, and I had to push myself to even come close to keeping up with him.
Chapter Six
I didn't really know how things had gotten to this point, but at the same time, I wasn't complaining as Ben's hands slipped down my naked sides, dipping down beneath the waistband of my shorts and tugging at them, a clear question in his eyes.
Slowly, I brought my hands down to his and helped him guide the elastic material over my hips. The shorts fell to the floor, leaving us both standing there totally naked.
It was exhilarating to see Ben like this. Everything about him turned me on, from those chiseled abs to the way he was grinning cockily down at me. And then, there was his manhood between us, thick and heavy, curving up towards his stomach, a clear display of his interest in me.
I reached out a nervous hand and experimentally wrapped it around his dick, giving a couple firm tugs, looking up to see his reaction. It was everything that I might have hoped it to be: his eyes were dark with lust, and he groaned softly. He couldn't seem to keep his hips still; he pushed forwards into my fist, rocking up into my grip like he needed more.
I needed more as well. I needed him to guide me backwards, to push me down against the bed, to mount me and to slot himself deep inside of me. I needed him to pump his hips back and forth against mine, to thrust into my folds and to lick kisses down the soft skin from my jawline to my collarbone. I needed him to claim me as his own, to do things to me that I had never allowed anyone else to do to me before. I needed him to…
I came awake with a startled gasp, blinking out into the blackness of the room and trying desperately to figure out where I was and what had just happened. I blushed brilliantly when I realized it was all a dream and that instead of feeling Ben sliding inside of me, I actually had a hand down between my legs and was responsible for the stimulation myself.
I glanced over towards Alex's bed, holding my breath, hoping that I hadn't woken her up with my noises. But it appeared that she hadn't come back that night after all—which was becoming a more and more regular occurrence. She was being very secretive about whoever it was that she was dating, to the point where I had started to wonder if maybe it was a teacher or something like that.
Whoever it was, I was incredibly grateful to them at the moment since it meant that I was alone in the room in the aftermath of my dream.
At the same time, I was also feeling incredibly unsure. I couldn't help but want to continue, but I wasn't sure if that was weird or not. Ben and I hadn't fooled around at all yet—we hadn't even kissed, much to my surprise. I wondered if it was just that he wasn't sure I was on board with it, or maybe I had read him wrong from the start and he wasn't the kind of guy who collected girls' numbers left and right.
Or maybe he thought we'd be better off as just friends.
I shivered a little as I shifted my hand. Although initially, I had planned on removing it from my panties and trying to fall back asleep—even though now I was feeling pretty keyed up—the way that it dragged over the velvety folds between my legs was…
I swallowed hard and thumbed lightly at my clit, moaning wantonly as the feeling sent sparkles of pleasure to my core. It would only take a moment to bring myself off, I reasoned with myself. And it wasn't like Ben or anyone else ever had to know.
I continued to play around a little, stroking at the skin and imagining that it was Ben's firm, strong fingers down there instead, that he was bending over me, kissing his way down from my neck to my breasts. I rolled my perky nipples between the fingertips of my other hand, imagining that he was tonguing at them, nibbling at them, playing with the smooth flesh even as his hand worked between my legs.
I gasped as I slid my fingers back inside of my entrance, tugging at the skin there. I shifted a little to give myself better access and-
I moaned, back arching and eyes falling shut as suddenly my orgasmed rocked through me. It was almost unexpected in how strong it was, although I knew that the dream had got me very near to the point of orgasm already. Still…
I lay there panting against the sheets for a long moment, unable to bring myself to move or even to open my eyes. Finally, I managed to drag my fingers away from my pleasure zone, although doing so sent another little shudder of overstimulation through my body.
I swallowed hard, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. As I stared up at the ceiling, I couldn't help thinking that maybe I was getting in over my head. I had never felt this into a guy before. And there were so many other things that I had to focus on, like my classes and work.
But all the same, I knew that the next time Ben called me—if he called me, some small part of my mind reminded me snidely—I would be going along with whatever it was that he wanted to do.
Chapter Seven
I had a message on my phone Friday afternoon when I got out of my Ancient History lecture. I pressed the phone to my ear, trying to listen to it as I navigated the crowded campus quad. It was one of what would probably be the last nice days of fall for the year, and as such, there was a makeshift carnival set up outside for the local kids, plus barbecues and t
hings like that for the students and older local residents. There would be live music in a little while, I remembered also, having seen the flyer a few days earlier.
Probably not the best time to listen to my message, but when I heard that it was Ben, I was too impatient to wait until I was to the other side of the quad.
“Hey Rachael, this is … been very busy lately, but … if you wanted to? Anyway … Cheers, and talk … soon.”
I frowned and pressed the button to replay the message, even though I knew I was going to have just as difficult a time hearing it on the replay as I had on the initial listen. Finally, though, I made it to a quieter part of campus and was able to hear the whole thing through:
“Hey Rachael, this is Ben… In case you couldn't already tell. Sorry I haven't called; I've been very busy lately, but things should calm down soon. I'm in the city on Tuesday and we could get lunch, if you wanted to? Anyway, I should at least give you back the sunglasses that you left in my car. Let me know if you're free. Cheers, and talk to you soon.”
I couldn't help the silly smile that had broken out across my face. Even just hearing his voice calmed down the worry inside of me that had sprung up over the past week or so since I'd heard from him. I'd kind of started to think that I must have done something wrong, that he had decided that he was no longer interested in me or something else. I'd thought that we could at least still be friends, but the longer it had been since I'd heard from him, the more I'd begun to wonder about that. Maybe it was all or nothing as far as he was concerned… Maybe once he was no longer interested in me, I would never hear from him again… That would be a shame.
But no, it seemed that I was just overreacting. He'd just been busy. I knew how that went.
I wondered if maybe I should wait before calling him back, but I decided that I wasn't patient enough for that, and I quickly called him.
“Hey, Rachael,” Ben said when he picked up the phone.
“Hey,” I said, sitting down on a bench and swinging my feet a little. “Tuesday works for me. For lunch. If you were still interested. In getting lunch.” I clapped a hand over my mouth, hardly believing the spew of words I had just spit out. God, could I sound any more idiotic? I should have figured out what I wanted to say before I got on the phone with him, but at the same time, I wouldn't have thought that I could make accepting a lunch offer into such a complicated thing.
Ben laughed, though, putting me at ease. “Lunch would be great,” he said. “I know this place-”
“Uh uhn,” I interrupted, shaking my head. “You got to pick the places last time. It's my turn to show you places that you might not know.”
“Oh really?” Ben said, a challenge in his voice. “Well, I look forward to seeing where you pick, then.”
I bit my lower lip, still grinning but now a bit worried about where I could take him for lunch that he might not already know. Granted, I knew the city well, but I didn't really have any idea about what places were well-known or not.
“So how's your week been anyway?” Ben asked. “I'm putting you on speakerphone, though, just so you know—I'm trying to get a few last things finished up here at work before I head home for the night.”
“No problem,” I said. I wanted to ask about his work, but I figured I should answer his question first. “Week has been all right. Got a bunch of tests back from last week and I did a pretty decent job on all of them. Not too worried about any of my classes for this semester, so that's good. Other than that...” I trailed off, shrugging a little. “Not much going on here. There's a barbecue in the quad tonight that Alex may drag me out to, if I let her.”
“That sounds fun,” Ben said. “The barbecue, not the classes.”
I laughed. “The classes are actually pretty fun too; that's why I've chosen them.”
“Must be nice, getting to study whatever it is that you're actually interested in, rather than just doing what your parents expect you to do,” Ben said.
“Is that what you did?”
Ben paused for a moment. “I mean, there was never any question of what I was going to do with my life,” he said. “I always knew that I was going to follow my parents into the family business. So I studied to do that. It wasn't like they ever came out and told me that I had to do that, but...” He trailed off, sounding uncertain.
“You shouldn't let them live your life for you, though,” I said, shaking my head. “I mean, if that isn't what you want to do, you shouldn't let them-”
“It is, though,” Ben interrupted. “It's hard to explain. When I was seventeen or eighteen, maybe this isn't what I wanted to do. I don't think I knew, back then, what I actually wanted to do. But the more I get into this industry, the more I enjoy it and all the perks that come along with it. And on top of that, I'm good at what I do. Not to sound like a twat, but it's true. How many people get to go to a job every morning where they can honestly say that they're good at it? I feel very lucky to be doing this.”
“Whatever 'this' is,” I said, rolling my eyes a little. “Do you realize how many times we've talked about work now, and you still haven't told me what it is that you do?”
“I know, and I'm sorry about that,” Ben said sincerely. “There's reasons for it, I can assure you. And I'll tell you all of it soon enough. Just for now…you need to let me have my secrets.”
I sighed and sank back on the bench. Every time it seemed like this might be too good to be true… “It's not anything illegal though, is it?” I asked. “You're not part of, I don't know, some sort of British mafia or a drug trade or anything like that, right?”
Ben laughed. “No, definitely not,” he said.
“All right,” I said. “So, lunch on Tuesday? I'm in classes in the morning, but I'm free any time after 11:30.”
“Perfect,” Ben said. “I'll try to get all of my meetings scheduled for that morning, and I should be able to pick you up around noon at your place. Maybe a little later. But that would give us the afternoon to do whatever it is that you're planning.”
“Guess I'd better plan something good,” I said, grinning a little.
“Guess you'd better,” Ben agreed, a smile in his voice.
“Anyway, I should probably let you go so that you can finish up whatever it is that you're working on at the moment,” I said, even though I didn't really want to get off the phone.
Ben sighed. “Yes, unfortunately, there's a lot of paperwork to get done at the moment—like I said, things have been busy here lately. But productivity is nice sometimes, I guess. Anyway...”
“See you Tuesday,” I said.
“See you Tuesday. Have a good weekend.”
“You too!”
Chapter Eight
Alex stared groggily at me from her bed, watching as I changed outfits for what felt like the thousandth time that morning. “What's gotten into you?” she asked. She looked at her watch. “Normally, you're gone for your run by this time, but instead, I find you...” She gestured towards the pile of clothes that had been strewn across my bed.
I frowned at myself in the mirror, shaking my head. Maybe if I just did something different with my hair… Or maybe if I changed out this red top for that black turtleneck that I had… But that wasn't the kind of thing that you would wear to a date, right? I should wear something more feminine and revealing, not a turtleneck of all things.
Problem was, I didn't really have many clothes that I would classify as feminine and revealing.
“You're going on a date, aren't you?” Alex suddenly asked, looking more alert. And amused.
I rolled my eyes. “Yes,” I said exasperatedly. “Ben and I are going to lunch, and I haven't seen him in nearly two weeks, so-”
“So you want to make sure that it's not another two weeks before you see him again,” Alex said simply. “No, that makes total sense.” She cocked her head to the side. “What about that silvery shirt that you have, with a black cardigan and black jeans? Casual, but you still look great in it.”
I shook my head.
“The neckline comes all the way up,” I reminded her. “And with a cardigan, it would just disguise my shape.”
“Oh,” Alex said. “So it's not just that you want to look good, you also want to look sexy, huh?”
I blushed a little but nodded. “We haven't even kissed yet,” I told her. “I'm starting to think that I'm being massively friend-zoned.”
Alex snorted. “I doubt that,” she said. But then she frowned. “Although, yeah, it is kind of weird that you haven't kissed yet and also that you haven't seen him in two weeks. Maybe he was waiting for you to call or something like that, though?”
“i mean, maybe,” I said. “But he said he's been really busy at work, and whatever it is that he does, I dont' think that he works in the city. I don't know where it is that he works, but...”
Take Me Away: A College Romance Story Page 3