Rolling her lips together, she said, “Um, Ben. What are you doing?”
“Getting ready for bed.” He didn’t look at her as he sat down on the side of the mattress and started untying his boots. Then he took them off along with his socks, unbuttoned his shirt, and tossed it on the top of the pile.
“I don’t understand.”
“I’m staying the night.” He moved back to his feet, undoing his belt as he turned to face her, and her mouth started to water at the sight of those hard, chiseled abs. “You can bitch and moan about it all you want, Reese, but it isn’t going to change my mind. Not when it’s clear that you can’t be trusted.”
“Can’t be trusted?” She forced her attention back on his rugged face and frowned. “What on earth are you talking about?”
Undoing the button-fly on his jeans, he said, “You didn’t call me when you got another message, even though I’d told you to. And then you went outside when you thought someone might be out there, with nothing for protection but a fucking hammer.” With his unbuttoned jeans hanging low on his hips, he made his way around the foot of the bed, not stopping until he was standing right in front of her. Instead of getting louder, his voice was becoming ominously quiet. “So I don’t give a shit if you want me here or not. Tonight, your ass is sleeping next to me, where I know you’ll be safe.”
“This . . . this is nuts!” she argued, throwing up her hands. “Of course I want you here. That’s not the issue. And the only reason I didn’t call you the second that text came through was because I don’t want you to think I’m clinging to you. I can’t think of anything a guy like you would hate more, even if you are in the habit of taking care of people. And I hate it that you think I’m some helpless, feather-brained little idiot!”
“I don’t,” he said roughly, the corner of his mouth suddenly twitching as he tried to hold back a smile. The frustration that had tightened his expression a moment ago was easing, the look in his eyes almost . . . tender. “A little naïve maybe. And too intrepid for your own good. But never helpless, Reese. You’re too fucking smart for that.”
She turned and moved to her side of the bed, then sat down with her back to him. “I wasn’t trying to piss you off. I just don’t want to smother you.” Her voice was small . . . tight.
Following after her, Ben didn’t stop until he was standing right in front of her again. Reaching down, he lifted her chin with his fingers, a wry grin on his lips. “If you’d stop arguing for two seconds and open your eyes, you’d see that I’m the one coming after you, Reese. Not the other way around.”
She blinked up at him. “Only because you think I need you here.”
“I want to be here,” he said, tucking a strand of that soft hair behind her ear, then sliding his hand to her jaw. “If I was only worried about your safety, I’d send you to stay with your mom or Connie.”
“Oh.”
“I’m here because I couldn’t stop thinking about you last night. Or this morning. You’ve been in my head all goddamn day, and it’s only gotten worse as the hours wore on. Mike ribbed me about it the whole damn time we were together tonight.” Cocking his head a bit to the side, Ben studied her through his lashes. “Just out of curiosity, who did you think I was out with?”
Her gaze skittered away. “I, uh, I don’t really know.”
Lowering his hand to his side, he said, “Well, it was just me and Mike and Alex, until some of the guys from work joined up with us. But I wasn’t out with any women.”
“I believe you,” she said, fiddling with a thread on the cuff of her shorts. “But it doesn’t mean that women weren’t still hanging all over you.”
He gave a frustrated snort. “And like I’ve said before, I’m not some horny twenty-year-old prick, Reese. I know how to keep my cock in my pants.”
Her gaze shot back to his. “You sleep with a different woman every week!”
“That’s bullshit. Yeah, I’ve been around the block a time or two. But I’m not a serial womanizer. Before you, the last time I slept with a woman was over two months ago.”
She looked stunned, and more than a little skeptical. “Why’d you stop seeing her?”
Shoving a hand through his hair, he said, “Because we were only having sex because we were lonely.” And because he hadn’t been able to get Reese out of his head. But he wasn’t going to admit that out loud.
“You were lonely?” It was clear from her tone that she thought he was feeding her a line.
“What? You think I can’t get lonely?”
She shook her head, that plump lower lip caught in her teeth. “Of course I don’t think that. I . . . I’ve just never thought of you that way.” No, she just pictured him as some kind of roving Superdick, ready to leap into any woman with a single bound. He didn’t know whether to be insulted, or to laugh his ass off. “I mean, it’s not like you’re hurting for opportunities, Ben.”
“Maybe not. But despite what you seem to think, I don’t sleep with every woman who makes me an offer. And when I say that I won’t be seeing anyone else while we’re together, I mean it.”
“Okay,” she whispered, her expression difficult to read. Before he could figure it out, she looked down at her hands as she rubbed them over her thighs.
“And?”
“And what?”
He bent down so that he could see her face beneath the fall of her hair. “You won’t be seeing anyone else, either. Right?”
She looked at him and frowned. “Are you serious?”
“I know I say this a lot, Reese. But just answer the damn question.”
“Who would I see?” she asked, the strap of her tank top slipping off her shoulder as she shrugged. “I don’t even know any other men here,” she added, tilting her head back as he straightened.
“Well, they know you,” he told her, remembering the comments that had come from a few of his deputies after Mike had let it spill that Reese was his new tenant. And Ryder had already known.
“What are you talking about?”
Feeling like a jealous fool, Ben said, “Scott Ryder was talking about you tonight.”
Her brows lifted with surprise. “The deputy?”
“Yeah. How do you know him?”
She looked a little flustered. “I’ve run into him a few times with Connie, when I’ve been here visiting. She’s friends with one of his neighbors. But we’ve only talked a few times. That’s so strange that he would remember.”
“Oh, he remembers,” he muttered under his breath.
She gave him an exasperated look and rolled her eyes. “It doesn’t mean anything, Ben.”
He shook his head, wondering when she was going to start getting it, the fact that she was beautiful and that men wanted her. Grabbing her chin, he said, “I want to make sure that we’re clear, Reese. While we’re together, we’re exclusive.”
She blinked and took a shaky breath. “Have you ever asked that of a woman before?”
For a moment, Ben considered refusing to answer the question, knowing it would only make him look like a jackass. But he wanted honesty between them. And there were already so many things he wasn’t willing to give her. Christ, the truth was the least she deserved.
Shaking his head again, he said, “I haven’t. I’ve been asked, but I’ve never agreed.”
“Then why now?”
He rubbed his thumb along the tender swell of her lower lip, watching her through his lashes. “Because for as long as this lasts,” he said quietly, “I want you all to myself.”
A shiver moved through her, those big eyes dark with emotion. There was surprise there in the deep blue, as well as wariness, and what was hopefully at least a touch of happiness. “Wow,” she whispered, her slender throat moving as she swallowed. “Talk about giving mixed signals, Ben. Saturday you dare me to have a raunchy sexual fling with you, and now you want me to promise that I won’t date anyone else?”
“You’re the one who called it a fling, not me.” He worked his jaw, his body hard
with tension. “And I’m giving you more than I’ve ever given any other woman. Can’t we just leave it at that?”
For a moment, she simply stared up at him, making him feel as if she were seeing right through him. As if she could understand this maddening need twisting him up inside even better than he could. He was starting to sweat, thinking she was going to tell him to take his commitment-phobic ass out of her house and never come back, when her lips finally curled in a small, soft smile. “Yeah, we can leave it there for now.”
A ragged breath of relief burst from his lungs, and he pulled her to her feet, wrapping her in his arms as he buried his face against the side of her throat. “You’re not going to regret this,” he vowed in a low, determined voice. But he wasn’t sure which one of them he was trying to convince. Him? Her? Both? Shoving the irritating thought from his mind, Ben focused on getting her where he wanted her. Which was under him, open and soft and wet, coming so hard she saw stars or God or whatever a woman saw when she was screaming the fucking roof down.
“And now on to the night’s entertainment,” he whispered, nipping her tender earlobe.
She stifled a giggle. “Oh yeah? What’s that?”
He drew his head back so that he could see her face, his hot gaze locking with hers. “First, you need to get naked. Because I’m getting ready to lay down another dare.”
Her brows lifted. “You know, I thought I was the one who was supposed to be using you.”
Ben moved his hands down to her firm little ass and squeezed. “You’re supposed to be having fun, getting off, coming so often you can’t think straight. And since I know what it takes to get you there, we’re not going to argue about who’s in control tonight. Understood?”
She nodded, looking . . . intrigued. Flicking her tongue over her bottom lip, she asked, “So what’s the dare?”
“Not really what you would call a dare this time,” he clarified, gripping the hem of her tank top and slowly pulling it up. “I just want to see how many times you can come in a man’s mouth.”
He couldn’t see her face as he pulled the top over her head, but he could hear her gasp. And looking down, it was clear her nipples had just pulled tight beneath her stretchy little strapless bra. Tossing the shirt aside, he reached for the button on her shorts. “You got any stockings?”
She blinked, going adorably pink. “Um, yes.”
“Where?”
“Top right drawer of my dresser,” she said, stepping out of her shorts and panties after he wrenched them down. For a second, her hand fluttered in front of the sexy ringlets at the top of her mound, as if she wanted to cover herself. Ben opened his mouth, ready to stop her, when she took a quick breath and reached behind her back instead, undoing the bra.
“Lie down in the middle of the bed,” he said in a thick voice, his granite-hard dick somehow getting even harder as he stared down at her pale, beautiful body. He had to force himself to move away and head to the dresser, his mouth already watering at the thought of getting her under his tongue.
Minutes later, Ben gave a low growl as he knelt between her sprawled thighs, knowing damn well that he’d never seen anything this provocative in his life. He’d tied a black silk stocking to each of her delicate wrists, then secured her right wrist to her right ankle, repeating the process on her left side. Now, she was naked and bound, completely at his mercy, but she wasn’t panicking. Her dark blue eyes smoldered with heat as she watched him through her thick lashes, her pink-tipped breasts rising with each of her excited breaths.
“God, you look beautiful.” He leaned over her, sucking hard on each of those plump nipples until they were shiny and wet, then pulled back to admire the view. With his pulse roaring in his ears, Ben lowered his gaze over the feminine curves of her body, until he was staring at the lush, glistening folds of her cunt.
“I haven’t been able to stop thinking about this,” he rasped, running his index finger through her slippery folds, before pushing her open with his finger and thumb, completely exposing the delicate, intimate details. “You’re very pink, Reese.” He stroked the callused tip of his finger over her swollen clit, then slipped it down to her vulva, circling the plush, tiny opening. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything that comes close to being this pretty. And you smell so fucking sweet.”
She gave a throaty moan, a voluptuous rhythm to the way she was rolling her hips, teeth sunk into that succulent lower lip as a rush of color rose up under her skin. She was vibrating with desire, the look in her eyes carnal and hungry and dark, so goddamn beautiful it made him ache. He pushed two big fingers up inside her, her snug sheath clinging to him . . . pulsing, and her voice cracked as she gasped his name.
“That’s it,” he groaned, already settling down on his elbows. “I want to hear your voice shake like that when I’ve got my tongue shoved up inside you and you’re coming all over my face. You understand?”
“Yes!” she cried, and with a wicked smile on his lips, Ben gripped her ass, lifted her to his mouth, and licked her. She arched, straining against the bonds as he worked his way higher, lashing her clit with his tongue, then suckling it soft and slow, before lashing it again. His chest shook with a gritty laugh when she started cursing under her breath, saying things he would have been willing to bet she’d never said before. Unable to wait any longer, Ben lifted her higher, thrusting his tongue deep in her cunt, eating at her like he was starved. She gave a breathless cry, then started coming in a sweet, warm rush, trembling so hard she shook the bed.
“So fucking incredible,” he growled, pressing his face closer, wanting to feel every second of it, his tongue thrusting deep, trying to take in as much of that slick juice as he could get. He stayed with her until the very end, putting his mouth back on her clit, rubbing it hard with his tongue, before going lower and pushing back inside. He could eat her like this forever and still not get enough, something about the act with Reese wiping his mind, until the only fucking thing he knew and needed was her. A scary-ass feeling, but he couldn’t pull away, still licking and sucking, until she finally tried to buck him off, gasping, her voice shivering as she said, “Wait! Just . . . give me a second. It’s too much.”
“I can’t. Your taste is fucking unreal.” He touched his tongue to one of the freckles close to her clit, and gave another growl. “Christ. Even your freckles are sweet.”
“Ben, seriously, please. I just need . . . a . . . second.”
Nowhere near ready to stop, he frowned as he lifted his head, wiping his wet mouth on his shoulder. He didn’t say anything as their gazes locked. Hell, at that moment, he didn’t trust anything that might have come out of his mouth. The woman had blown his goddamn mind. But there was still a small shred of sanity that reminded him to untie her before she got too uncomfortable.
“Thanks,” Reese whispered, watching as he unknotted the first stocking, then reached for the second one, his hard expression etched with hunger. A husky moan slipped past her lips as she stretched, and the next thing she knew, Ben’s powerful body was pressing her into the mattress, his hands buried in her hair, and his mouth crushing hers.
She could taste herself on his lips, salty and sweet. The erotic exchange was melting her down, layering heat on heat as her body burned for him. She was molten and needy, thighs already spreading wide for him, ready to give whatever he wanted from her . . . to accept whatever he wanted to do to her. She was aching and empty, just waiting to be filled . . . completed. She’d never had sex like this, had never even known it existed. That it could happen to her. That she could feel like this. But she reveled in it, loving the way it made her feel about him . . . about herself.
“Where are you going?” she asked, when he suddenly pulled away from her and climbed off the bed.
“Condom.” His voice was hard . . . raw, biting with urgency. “Get ready, because I need to fuck you.”
She nodded, even though he wasn’t looking at her as he headed for the bathroom, where he’d left the box. She wondered if he wa
s feeling as shattered as she was, then lost the thought as she watched him walking back into the room, to the foot of the bed. All day long, she’d been convinced that she must have been embellishing him in her mind whenever she’d thought about yesterday, but no. No way. He really was that freaking beautiful.
He’d already stripped down to a tight pair of black boxers that left little to the imagination. Reese blinked, staring at the blatant proof of his hunger, the black cotton hugging his heavy testicles and rigid cock. Then he tossed a foil packet onto the bed and dropped the boxers, and she dropped her jaw. He was so breathtaking, standing there all hard and rugged and muscled, that she damn near forgot her own name.
Unable to resist, she crawled to the edge of the bed on her hands and knees, leaned forward, and ran her tongue over his massive cock from root to tip.
“Jesus Christ, Reese!”
“Sorry. I couldn’t wait anymore. I wanted to know what you taste like,” she whispered, wrapping her hand around his thick base and going back for more. She loved the rough grunt that he gave, his breath catching as she wrapped her other hand around him, pulling the heavy shaft toward her, so that she could cover the swollen head with her mouth. He was so big, so hard, that it wasn’t easy. She stretched her lips, determined to take more of him, and focused on breathing through her nose as she rubbed the underside of his burgeoning flesh with her tongue. Somehow, the timing and technique all clicked together for her, and she was able to take another couple of inches. The veins beneath his soft skin pulsed as he cursed, his long fingers digging into her hair, curling around her head.
She’d never managed this so well with Drew. But then, she was starting to realize a simple truth when it came to sex: Want trumped duty any day. And she wanted so damn much from this man.
“Enough,” he grated, glaring down at her. “You’re going to make me come and I need to fuck you first.”
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