by Tessa Layne
The gravel in his voice melted her.
And then he kissed her like she was the last drop of water in the desert. She was utterly lost to him, swept away on a wave of emotion. A groan escaped her as she poured herself into him, her tongue answering his, thrust for thrust. She rocked against him, seeking relief from the ache building in her pussy. Hope fumbled with the buttons on his shirt as he palmed her ass, encouraging her. He couldn’t lose his shirt fast enough. Pulling the tails from his jeans, she gave a tug and the last button went flying. Not that she cared. She’d sew it back on later if he asked.
Something like relief washed over her as she pressed her handss against his chest, reveling in the hard heat beneath her palms and the way his light covering of hair scratched at her. The thought of that coarseness scraping against her pulled her nipples into taut peaks.
She reached for her own buttons but his hand stilled her. “Let me,” he said gruffly, kissing along her jaw, and down her neck to her collarbone. He gave her a little nip there, then covered the spot with his tongue. Goosebumps skittered down her torso. He opened the top button, his mouth moving and licking down her chest as he exposed more and more skin.
When he reached the barrier of her bra, he moved his mouth over the swell, tracing the skin along edge of the material, while his hands continued opening her shirt. When he finished the last button, he leaned back and pushed off her shirt. A moment of self-consciousness flashed through Hope, but it dissipated as Ben’s intense gaze heated her skin. Good to know her plain-Jane undergarments didn’t seem to be off-putting. In fact, he didn’t even seem to notice. His dark eyes remained fixed on hers, full of unspoken words. And even though it was only her shirt that was off, she felt naked under his gaze.
Exposed.
Vulnerable.
Hope reached around to unclasp the strap, but he pushed her hand away. “Let me,” he murmured, still holding her gaze. With a flick of his fingers, he released the hooks then slowly slid the straps down her arms until she gave a little shake and tossed it aside.
His gaze swept downward, and she sat a bit taller, letting him see the effect he had on her. He gave her a crooked, sad little smile. “As perfect and lovely as I remember.”
Her heart twisted at his confession. Ben looked downright regretful. His mouth set in a determined line.
He brought his hands up, embracing her fullness, brushing his thumbs back and forth against the tight hard points of her nipples. Every stroke of his thumb sent curtains of shivers down her body, ratcheting up the tension in her pussy with each pass. “I never should have left you that night. I should have done this.” He rolled her nipple between his thumb and forefinger, squeezing.
Hope sighed and arched into him, heat skating across her skin, and nerve endings pulsing with each gentle pinch.
“And this.” He lowered his head, taking the bud into his mouth and sucking.
A bolt of energy ripped through her, and she moaned. God, the sensations were so exquisite. Dizzying.
Her whole body tingled as he licked and sucked. She pulled his head closer, encouraging him to take more of her into his mouth. His tongue flicked at her nipple, his teeth sunk into her skin. It would leave a mark, but she didn’t care.
She wanted to be possessed. Claimed. He moved his mouth to the other, and she gasped at the cool air on her exposed, wet skin. She grabbed his shoulder to steady herself. Sparks danced across her vision like little champagne bubbles. She’d collapse if she wasn’t already sitting on his lap.
Ben’s hands moved to her waist. “Hold onto me.” Pushing back from the table, he stood, holding her close. She wrapped her legs around him, pressing her core against him so he could hit her clit just right through her jeans. He gave a little thrust in response. “Let me love you right, Hope.”
CHAPTER 10
Ben spun them around, ducking under the support beam and crossing to the little daybed. Hope was a goddess, all mussed like this. Eyes bright, skin flushed. The scent of her arousal mixed with the perfume she wore drove him to distraction. He could spend the whole evening breathing her in. As long as he lived, he’d never get enough of the way she was right now.
He set her on the edge of the bed, and sank to his knees, ignoring the lump of emotion and regret that squeezed his throat. Pushing Hope away was the biggest mistake of his life. He could have been her first. The bar by which she measured every other male. Instead, the bar he’d given her was for heartbreak.
Fucking idiot.
He aimed to change that tonight. To blot out every bad memory and erase all previous lovers. To make her cry out his name in ecstasy, so that when she looked at him she no longer remembered pain. Only pleasure.
Her lust-filled eyes burned a hole straight through him. It was the kind of look that made a man weak in the knees. “Break your plans for later, because I intend to make love to you all night long.”
She gave him a slow, sexy smile. “Making up for lost time?”
“Making sure I wipe the slate clean. No one will love you better, Hope. No one.” He ran his hands the length of her thighs, memorizing the way her muscles bunched under his palm. She was so proud, so unselfconscious sitting before him half-naked. Her full, creamy breasts a contrast to the darkened rosy peaks he’d stiffened with his tongue. He leaned forward for another taste, capturing a peak between his teeth and giving a little pull before skimming his tongue across the tip.
She sucked in a quick breath and fisted a hand on the coverlet. She liked that did she? How many ways could he make her come? Was she the type of woman who could come just from having her breasts suckled? He meant to spend all night discovering every way she could come. He brought his hand to her other breast, seeking and finding her nipple, which already stood taut, and gave it a little pinch. She gasped and rolled her hips.
“Tell me what you like, Hope. What you want.”
Her eyes fluttered shut. “I… this.”
“Look at me, Hope.”
Her throat bobbed as she swallowed, and she opened her eyes to meet his. Her pupils were wide and dark.
“Do you want me to make you come?”
Her mouth opened to speak, but no sound came out. The flash of heat in her eyes was enough of an answer, but he wanted to hear her say it. To know she wanted this as badly as he did. “Say it.”
She shut her mouth and nodded.
Not good enough.
He bent his head and licked at her peak again, sucking it deep into his mouth. She answered with a little moan. “Yessssss,” she hissed out. “Make me come, Ben.”
He rose up and gave her a little push. “Lie back and let me love you, then.”
She lay back, braids askew, eyes hooded. His cock, already full, strained against his jeans. His cock would have a long wait. He leaned forward and covered her mouth. She immediately sucked his tongue in, stroking against him, fingers grazing below his navel, just inside his jeans. The ache in his balls intensified.
Shit.
He could come just from kissing her. He canted his hips away, and she let out a noise of frustration. Her fingers slipped inside his jeans again, and this time he pulled her hand out and pinned it to the bed. “Not your turn yet, we’ll get there.” Not soon enough for his cock, but he’d wait. He had one chance to make their first time unforgettable, and he intended to reduce her to a languid, sex-satisfied puddle. “Now where were we?” he murmured. He returned to licking and sucking at her tits. Learning and memorizing every curve, every dimple.
Hope’s head twisted as she squirmed under him. “Ben… please,” she moaned.
Her voice rippled over him like tongues of flame, stretching and heating across his body. He brought his hand to her mound, pressing the seam of her jeans into her. Her hips bucked and she cried out, trembling. She twisted from his grip and jammed her hand into her pocket bringing out a line of condoms.
A laugh started low in his belly. At least there was no doubt of her intentions. She scowled at him, eyes glazed over with lust.
“Why is that funny?”
He dug into his own pants pocket and pulled out an equally long line of condoms. He was rewarded with a genuine grin and answering laughter. Only her laugh was husky and soft, and it warmed him to his toes. He cocked his chin toward her hand. “So long as they’re not pink.”
She giggled again. “Even if you’re desperate?”
He leaned over her, brushing his mouth across her collarbone. “One thing I’ll never be, sweetheart, is desperate.” He narrowed his focus on her. “And seeing as you’re the farthest thing from pink and frilly, I’ll call your bluff.”
The look she gave him was utterly disconcerted.
“What? What is it?”
She bit her lip and looked at him anxiously. “Is that bad? That I’m not… girly?”
Shit.
He’d stepped in it. He shook his head. “Of course not.” The words ‘I love you’ nearly tumbled out of his mouth and he ate them just in time, his heart twisting in knots at the realization he’d never moved beyond her. He nuzzled her neck, peppering little kisses along her jawline. “Do I seem like I’m not interested?”
She gusted out a little breath of acknowledgment, and hitched herself up on her elbows, studying him. Did she really want to talk now? Just when he’d been about to unzip her pants and feast on her? “What is it, Hope?”
“It’s just… I’ve never…”
A thrill of hope wound through him. Maybe he hadn’t ruined everything that night when he’d pushed her away. “Are you saying you’re still a virgin?”
She let out a sharp regretful laugh and shook her head. Damn. He schooled his features to hide his disappointment. Of course she hadn’t waited for him. When had he ever indicated he’d wanted her? “No, no. I’m not a virgin.” She gave him a crooked smile. “Are you?”
Somehow, that question hurt more. He shook his head, and drew a finger down her cheek. “But it would be the first time for us together.”
She drew in a breath and held it, her face tightening in worry. “That’s just it. I’ve never been… intimate with someone.” Two bright spots bloomed on her cheekbones and she lifted a shoulder. “It’s always been just sex.”
“Just sex?”
She rolled her eyes in frustration. “We have history, Ben. A lifetime of it. What happens when that bleeds into… into this?”
“You should have thought about that the night you asked me to be your first,” he ground out as a flash of deeply buried anger flared to life. “What did you think would happen, Hope? That I’d pop your cherry and that would be that?” He pushed away from her and sat up. It would always come back to that night for them. Well fuck that.
“I wanted to be in love,” she choked out.
He stared at a scratch in the floor. “And were you? When it happened?”
She sighed heavily, and he knew the answer before she spoke. “No.”
His gut clenched like he’d been sucker punched. “Was it at least good for you?” It was torture asking these questions, but he had to know. He risked a look at her over his shoulder. “Did he make it good for you? Make you wet and ready? Suck and lick and stroke you until you came? Because I sure as hell would have.” A jealous dragon roared to life inside him. It didn’t matter her first was some nameless face to him, he wanted to break every bone in the phantom lover’s body.
Hope’s eyes condemned him. Glittered with unshed tears. “You don’t get to know. You. Passed.” Her voice shook with anger that matched his own. “And this is me – not thanking you for your misplaced sense of chivalry.”
He swung his leg around so he could get a good look at her. She was beautiful in her fury, braids sweeping across exposed breasts. Kiss-plumped lips taut. “You were barely eighteen. Practically jail-bait, babe. And don’t you think, with our families feuding the way they were, that if they’d discovered us in flagrante, your Uncle Warren, or someone, would have hauled me in? Hell, your brothers would have beat the living shit out of me.”
She opened her mouth to answer, scowled at him, then snapped it shut. He reached for a pale copper braid and brought it up to tickle her chin. “You weren’t the only one who left the tree house heartbroken. I’ve regretted that move. Every fucking day.”
Her eyes grew wide as his confession sunk in. Ben’s heart slammed erratically into his ribs, as he studied her face. He tickled her chin again. “Don’t throw away what’s here and now because you’d rather nurse an old hurt.”
She dropped her gaze and traced a pattern on the blanket.
He tilted her chin up, searching her eyes. “Things can’t go back to the way they were. They were already changing that summer. You know that.”
Copper lashes swept down, shielding her from his intense focus. But the lines around her mouth had softened.
“We’re not who we were, Hope. We’re adults, for starters. But we have a good foundation. And plenty of chemistry.”
Her eyes flashed back up to his, and they crinkled at the corners.
“We may not be each other’s first, but I guarandamntee you, I’ll be your best.” He shot her a cocky grin and raised his eyebrow.
Ben could see the corners of her mouth twitching. In the end, she rolled her eyes and bit her lip, corners curving up. “I don’t recommend using that line at the Trading Post.”
He put on his best John Wayne accent. “That ain’t no line, darlin’. That’s the truth.” He dove back on the bed and captured her waist, tumbling her into his embrace. Her breasts pressed against him and his cock sprung to life. He caressed her cheek. “I like you just the way you are, Hope.” Again, the word love nearly popped out of his mouth. But he was through talking for the moment, and the last thing Hope needed was a declaration like that.
She answered him with a smile that reached her eyes. “Yeah?”
He nodded, focusing on her sweet, full mouth.
“Well it’s a good thing I like you too.”
Ben swept his thumb across her lower lip. So soft. So sweet. “Hope?”
“Yes?” A tiny note of anticipation entered her voice.
“Stop talking.” He leaned in and brushed his mouth against hers, his hand caressing the back of her neck and drawing her close.
She opened her mouth with a sigh and melted into him, tongue tentatively dipping into his mouth. This was the Hope he wanted. Uninhibited, unafraid.
Her hand skated up his ribs, leaving a trail of goosebumps and sending a jolt of need swirling down to his balls. He groaned and rolled her on her back, kissing down her collarbone and reacquainting himself with her nipples. Only this time, he was done teasing. He grazed a taut bud with his teeth, then swirled it with his tongue as she let out a little noise from the back of her throat. Her hands raked down his back, leaving a trail of fire in their wake.
He lapped between the valley of her luscious breasts and down to her navel. Tasting her silky skin, and filling himself with more of that faintly lilac scent he was coming to associate with her. Her hands pushed underneath him and were at the buttons of her jeans before his. She helped him slip them over her hips and he sat back on his heels to give her room to kick them off.
She lay back on her elbows, a half-smile on her face and challenge in her eyes. “Still like what you see?”
He took in her long legs, muscled from years of riding and working outside. Her full round hips that nipped into a tight waist, and her generous creamy breasts. “God, Hope,” he murmured, desire rising like a tide. “You’re perfect.” He leaned forward, resettling himself between her legs, stroking up her thighs. And her skin… satiny and soft. He could come from stroking her.
Ben paused, his thumbs stroking the juncture of torso and thigh, dipping underneath the elastic of her panties. As simple and unfussy as the woman who wore them. She gasped as his thumb brushed against her curls. He placed a kiss on the inside of her thigh, muscles tensing as he caught the first whiff of her arousal. Of her. If there was a heaven, this was it. Right between her legs, nuzzling her sex.
&n
bsp; Her hips rolled as if she agreed. He glanced up and caught her staring, eyes lit with desire. Keeping his eyes on her, he placed his mouth on her mound. Her panties were already soaked with her arousal. Fire lit her eyes and her mouth dropped open. “God, Ben. That’s so… hot.”
You ain’t seen nothin’ yet. Pride swelled through him. She sure knew how to fluff an ego. Reaching up, he yanked down her panties, tossing them on her jeans and exposing her beautiful pussy to his perusal. He pushed on her knee. “Open your legs, sweetheart. I want to see all of you.”
A last shaft of late afternoon sun bled through the window, catching Hope in an etherial glow. Lighting her barely copper hair like a halo. Her pussy lips peeked from underneath redder curls, pink and glistening with her need.
“Lie back. I want you to enjoy yourself.”
She licked her lips, a hungry light in her eye. “I… want to watch.” Her cheeks turned pink at the admission.
Well if that wasn’t the hottest confession ever. “So you really do like a little kink?”
The flush from her cheeks crept down her neck. “Only because it’s you. I want to watch you.”
Another burst of pride swelled through him. If she wanted to watch, he’d give her the show of a lifetime. Keeping his eyes locked on her, he stroked over her wet slit, opening her further. Hope sucked in a quick breath.
“Like that?”
She nodded and bit her lip. God, she was a living fantasy. And she had no idea how sexy she was. His balls tightened and ached with the wanting. He stroked her again, this time finding her clit and lightly circling it. Her hips bucked as he circled her clit again and she let out a little moan, shutting her eyes.
“Keep your eyes open, Hope. Look at me.”
Her tongue flicked across her lower lip, and she nodded faintly.
Eyes not breaking their connection, he leaned in, nuzzling her curls and inhaling deeply. Her scent filled him. Musky, and slightly floral. He breathed deeply, imprinting the scent, imprinting her on his brain. He reached for her hand and entwined their fingers.