by RaeLynn Blue
“Yes, that would be nice,” he said, getting up to call room service. “Cream, sugar?”
“Both.”
Sure, it wasn’t what she had expected, but then Ben Wook Sun hadn’t been anything she expected.
Chapter Seven
Two Months Later
Winston-Salem, NC
Rain fell on the sidewalks outside a pizza joint on Fourth Street in downtown Winston-Salem. Still warm at the end of summer, the droplets felt lukewarm on Ben’s uncovered head. He’d forgotten to bring his hat from Houston. Inching back under the pizza joint’s overhanging roof, he waited for Jewel. The last two months had stretched out in slow agony. Those three days in Atlanta faded in his memory. He hadn’t forgotten Jewel or those three days of prowling around Atlanta and Buckhead, shopping, movies, and museums. He’d even met Jewel’s friends, Mikki and Nadia. It seemed like a dream, a waking one.
Although he’d spoken to Jewel every single day via Skype, cell phone, and emails, he missed the scent of her, the feel of her skin beneath his palms, and the tinkle of her laughter. He wanted to be in her presence, watching her eat in that systematic manner. Two months had been too long, but work kept him chained to Houston. The more he spoke to her, the more convinced he became that his initial gut reactions had been accurate.
He wanted her.
Now that want had morphed into a need so great, he had trouble sleeping at night, his pillow in his tight grip. Shaking his head, he put those dark, somber nights and the overwhelming loneliness away. He’d come to Winston-Salem to be with her. Now, waiting for her, he’d tried to push down his anxiety. He felt the velvet case in his pocket. His black slacks hid the box’s bulge from observers passing by. The fresh baked dough and tangy scent of beer wafted out the opened windows, just beneath the cloying odor of fresh rain.
“There you are,” came that voice—the very same husk that bowled through his alcohol induced state back at the bottom of the stairs in the Atlanta hotel’s bar. “Wet enough yet?”
He suppressed the smart comment, but he had to—Jewel walked up to him, a bright scarlet umbrella in her hand, and she was an angel underneath. Dressed in a deep, hunter green, he guessed the color would be, blouse that tied right under her breasts and billowed outward. She wore a skirt that skimmed down to her knees, and her smooth, shapely legs were on display. Her hair was pulled into a messy bun, but her face still stole his breath.
“I’m sufficiently dry,” he replied coolly, trying not to show her how elated he was to see her. He wanted to take his cue from her. Two months was a long time and he didn’t know how she would react to seeing him again—in her town. “You look wonderful.”
She smiled at that. “Thank you. You look yummy too.”
“Speaking of food,” he said and went to open the door of the establishment. “I’m starving and I want to hear all about the updates to the billing system.”
“You remembered.” Jewel lowered her umbrella, shook it gently away from her body, and then went into the pizza place. The surprise in her voice hurt him a bit. Of course, he remembered. She’d said it. Her job meant a lot to her.
Jewel shined despite the dreary day. Once they were seated, and with menus out, he waited patiently for her to tell him about her job.
“The job is going well. The problem of course, is the implementation of the new system. The older version had kinks in the text fields on the customer information screens, but now, in the testing version of the new system, the text fields are fine…”
Ben watched her as she spoke. Jewel enjoyed her work, and her pleasure. He liked the idea of seeing her come home every night, enthusiastic about her work, or frustrated by her next hurdle.
“What?” Jewel said, halting her conversation to ask that single question. She narrowed her eyes in suspicion, but the curvy smirk on her lips spoke to her amusement. “You’ve got a weird look on your face.”
“I was thinking about you,” he said. “I’ve missed you.”
She glanced down at the menu, and then back up to him. “I’ve missed you, too.” She reached across the table and he took his hand in hers. Like before, her hand fit his perfectly.
“I am thinking the mushroom and bacon toppings are tasty,” Ben said, his heart humming.
She missed him. With the heartfelt response out on the table, Jewel scanned the menu also. He couldn’t wait to be alone with her. Nestled in privacy, he could confess that over the last two months, he’d fallen in deep love with her. Her voice, her wit, her work ethic and her amazing optimism seemed to further anchor his growing love for her into his heart.
“Yes, I like bacon,” she said cheekily. “I am southern, after all. We eat all of the pig.”
“All of the pig?” Ben questioned, glancing up from his menu. “I fail to see how it connects to your birthplace location.”
She shrugged. “I’m kidding. I don’t eat chitterlings or pig’s feet. Bacon, though, yeah, I can do bacon.”
“Sausage?”
“Yes, of course. That’s the ying and yang of southern breakfast meats!” she exclaimed. “Don’t tell me you’re vegetarian.”
Ben shook his head. She was so cute when she spoke about her heritage. A proud, southern woman, Jewel often spoke of her rituals and habits as they related to her being southern. She asked if he was vegetarian as if it were a disease.
He couldn’t help it, he grinned at her question. Shaking his head, he added, “No, I’m not.”
“Evening! Welcome to Pizza Paradise! My name’s Sara. What can I get you?” asked a perky waitress. She wore thick glasses and pigtails. The grey Pizza Paradise tee-shirt and jeans spoke to the casual atmosphere of the pizzeria. “Drinks?”
Ben nodded at Jewel, encouraging her to go first.
“I’d like a Dos Equis and we’d like to split a bacon and mushroom medium pizza.”
“And for you,” Sara the grinning waitress asked.
“A Heineken,” he answered. He handed the waitress the menus and put his attention back on Jewel.
He didn’t mind her ordering for him, because he’d take care of her later. The last time he’d held back, making sure he didn’t botch the opportunity to be with her. He had been cautious, perhaps overly so, but he didn’t need to be cautious any more. After weeks of listening to her husky voice on the phone, watching her animated conversations via Skype, and hearing the loneliness when she said goodbye for the night, he understood that he had to put all his cards on the table today.
“So, how was your flight?” Jewel leaned forward, putting her elbows against the metallic table. “Houston still simmering with humidity?”
“Yes,” he said and fished the velvet black box out from his pocket. He sat it on the table in front of her. “I won’t miss that about Houston.”
She frowned at him and glanced down at the box. “What do you mean…”
He reached for her hand and she placed it in his. So soft and warm, her hand had a slight tremble.
“For you,” he said, coughing to clear the emotions clogging his throat. “Please accept it.”
“You shouldn’t have gotten me anything.”
“I want you to have it.” He raised her hand to his lips and kissed it softly. Lust had stirred inside him since he saw her strolling down the sidewalk, but he’d kept it tightly secured inside him. He couldn’t wait to be alone with her.
She took her hand from his and picked up the box. “Really, Ben, I didn’t get you anything.”
“You’ve given me so much already, Jewel,” he confessed, letting a little of his feelings out. “I know the distance between us has been challenging.”
“Well, I’d like to see you more often,” she agreed.
“Open it, princess,” he said, his heart racing. He prayed she liked it or else his big risk might backfire.
She did. The crank of the box popped when it had fully opened. Her eyes grew large and her eyebrows shot into her lightly tousled bangs. “A key?”
He smiled. “Yes, a key.”
She met his gaze with skepticism on her face and a fair degree of uncertainty. She hadn’t expected the key, and he liked how she handled the surprise of it. Cool with the right level of curiosity. He leaned forward and cleared his throat.
“To what?” she asked, lifting it out of the box and holding it up. She inspected it like she expected it to do something wonderful.
“My apartment.”
“Your apartment?”
“My apartment in Winston-Salem,” he explained, smiling as the words sunk in and Jewel realized the full impact of his words. “I meant what I said. I want you, not just for a few weeks, a few months, or a few years, Jewel. I want you period.”
Jewel’s full sensual lips slacked. She blinked several times until she said, “In Winston-Salem. You have an apartment here?”
“I do.”
“Is this temporary? I mean, I can’t believe you’d give up your dream job at NASA…”
“Believe it, because it’s true,” he said.
He sighed at the look on her face. Sure, so much could go wrong, but the gamble had been worth it―if he won her heart and her love. That had been worth the risk. Besides, he’d reached his limit at NASA. His new job had gotten him excited about working again and gave him opportunities to be creative. Something he couldn’t get with NASA.
“Wait, wait,” she said, putting her hands up. She took in a deep breath and released it. With the key still firmly in her grasp, she fell back in her chair and crossed her arms. “You left NASA to move to little ole Winston-Salem to be with me? Me? A woman you met once. That doesn’t make any sense. This isn’t some movie, Ben…”
“And I don’t make decisions lightly, Jewel,” he said calmly. Her pitch had risen when she spoke and he feared she had taken the responsibility of his actions personally. “I came here to be closer to you, but I realize the risk involved. I did the math, and princess, you are worth it.”
She gave this half smile like she didn’t believe she was worth it. Anger rose in his chest. She was worth this risk and a hell of a lot more. Now that’d he taken the job with Dr. Granger to help privatize spaceflight, he could live here and be closer to her. It would mean a lot of creativity, tight deadlines, and more pay.
With her eyes shining with tears, she whispered, “I just can’t believe you’d do this for me. To give up so much…you loved NASA.”
“Not as much as I love you,” he replied.
She gasped. “You love me.”
“Here you go, folks,” came the sing-song drawl of the waitress. “Medium mushroom and bacon pizza, one Heineken, and Dos Equis.”
After the food and drinks had been served, Ben drank from his beer. He needed time to absorb and she did too. They ate in silence, chewing on slices of delicious pizza and drinking beer. The only thing that would’ve been better is if they had been nestled together on a sofa at his apartment or in his bed. Strike that. He didn’t want crumbs in their bed.
“Jewel, I didn’t give you the key to my apartment because I expected anything out of you,” he said, stirring the tension between them. “I did it because I wanted to be closer to you. To see you every morning, to hold you close at night. I mean to have you, Jewel Isles. You’re my rocket.”
“Your rocket,” she repeated, sitting her beer down.
“I don’t need NASA when I have you with me,” he finished. “As a kid I always wanted to go to space, in a rocket. The feeling of freewheeling through space, being amongst the stars and frolicking above the Earth, enchanted me. Being with you gave me that feeling and more. So, I no longer needed a rocket to reach that freedom, I found it in you.”
“Your rocket,” she said. She wiped her lips with a paper napkin.
He nodded.
“I see.”
The waitress came and discreetly dropped off the check. He quickly placed two twenties on the table and got up. “Let’s go.”
Jewel got up, grabbing her purse and umbrella. She took his hand and together they walked out of the pizza place. The rain had stopped, but thick clouds hung overhead, making the evening sky darker than usual. As if someone had taken ebony velvet and strung it across the heavens. No stars, no moon, and no indication of anything but more rain.
When Jewel placed her head against his arm, he knew that gloominess would recede. At least with her.
Chapter Eight
Jewel could hardly believe it. Standing on the front porch of a townhouse in northern Winston-Salem, she felt Ben’s anxiousness. He’d taken a huge risk in quitting his job to move here. Why would someone do such a thing? She peered over at him. When his dark brown eyes met hers, her heart warmed. He loved her. In the months since their time in Atlanta, she’d fallen for him. Each night she hung up after her call with him, her heart would ache. She’d be lying if she didn’t acknowledge how often she wished him to be here. Closer, like he was right now.
“This is my new home,” he said and opened the screen door. He gestured to her. “Come on, princess, open it up.”
She smiled and took the key out of her pocket. “Really, Ben, this is your townhouse?”
“Yes, I came to Winston-Salem about a month ago, met with a realtor, and found this townhouse.”
She slipped her key into the slot and turned. The lock slid back and with a stomach full of butterflies, she entered with Ben right behind her. Soft light illuminated the narrow foyer. Scents of fresh cut flowers met her like a wall.
“You like it?” he asked, putting his hand around her waist and hugging her to him.
She stopped at the threshold to the living room, a curved wall separated the living room from the kitchen, a short narrow space filled with cabinets on one side and the stove and refrigerator on the other. He hadn’t been here long. Every counter top and wood surface gleamed as if brand new. It had the feel of a furniture store showroom.
“It’s beautiful. Italian leather sofa and matching loveseat; rich dark wooden tables and bookshelves filled with books and that flat screen television is fantastic. What is it? Forty-four inches?”
“Fifty,” he corrected. “I know it’s doesn’t feel lived in, but I just put the furniture in it and flew back to Houston. I haven’t had time to break it in. My personal things will arrive by the end of the week. They’re being moved.”
Deep inside Jewel tried to stem the rising bubbles in her belly. Her entire life she’d been used, discarded by men. Never valued. Never treasured. And here before her was a man who’d put his career on the line to uproot his life and travel across the country to her relatively small town just to be close to her. He said he loved her.
And she loved him too.
“Ben, I love you,” she said softly, turning to him. She turned her eyes to him and slipped her fingers along his button-down shirt. Her fingertips glided along the buttons. “I’ve missed you, a lot, Ben.”
His arms tightened around her, pulling her into his embrace. Flush against his tight muscles, Jewel felt the delicious body underneath and it made her stomach tingle. He lifted her chin, titling back her head until she saw deep into his eyes. When his lips touched hers, Jewel didn’t need any proof of the love, she felt it. Like electricity, it zipped down to the triangle between her legs. It made her hot and bothered.
When their lips parted, she smiled up at him. “Thank you.”
“For what?” he asked, his voice gravely and raw with mounting lust. Already his semi-erection pushed against her belly. “All of my kisses are free, for you.”
She laughed. “And they are all mine. I’m not into sharing.”
“Neither am I.”
He kissed her again. The rush of heat broke out all over her body. Ben’s soft lips pressed impatiently to hers, and her lips parted, welcoming his tongue. Her tongue met and wrestled with his and tasted the lingering spice of roasted tomatoes and the soft hint of cheese from the pizza. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him deeper into the kiss. His hands roamed down her waist to her buttocks and cupped them. They squeezed her ass, sen
ding chills skating down her spine, right to her clit.
“I want you, Jewel.”
She sighed at the need in his tone. The kiss broken, those delightful lips dropped kisses along her neck, making her nipples contract and her love button throb in wet want. She’d missed him so much. Wrapping her hands in his hair, she pulled him closer. He moaned and snatched her aggressively off her feet. He swept her into his arms.
“You sure about this? You sure you want me, princess?”
He pinched her buttocks, and she breathed out a “Yes!”
Carrying her up the stairs to his bedroom, Jewel noticed the strategically placed nightlights and the pictures of his family on the wall. She saw them in the shadows, caught glimpses of his life, and the things he valued. Family obviously meant a lot. She thought of herself in those pictures. A family, with kids and a beautiful home. She groaned at the sharp bite of Ben’s teeth on her ear.
He whispered, “Can’t wait to break this bed in with you.”
“A new bed, nice,” she replied as he gently placed her on the bed. Satin sheets stretched out across the king sized bed. Thick pillows lined the headboard. “So much space, all just for us.”
“This is ours,” he said standing. He gazed down at her with such desire and love in his eyes, she could absolutely feel it. “I meant what I said, princess. I’m not going anywhere and I want you with me. Me. Say you’re mine.”
“Yes, I’m yours.”
He unbuttoned his shirt, leisurely slow. “I didn’t hear you.”
She got up on her knees, the mattress giving in to her new position. He stood in front of her, unbuttoning his shirt, revealing smooth caramel flesh. Nearly hairless, Ben’s skin covered hard muscles. Once he reached the last button, he stopped, dropping his hands to his side.
“I’m yours,” she purred, leaned forward, and planted a kiss on his belly, right on one of those rippling abs. “Make love to me. Make me yours.”
“Hell, yes.”
He stepped back and kicked off his shoes. With quick fingers, he undid his belt and unzipped his slacks. His pants fell in a hushed drop to the carpeted floor. Standing before her, his glasses still on, he looked remarkable, like some geeky model for Calvin Klein. His boxers looked fantastic, a rich scarlet that complimented his skin tone.