Watching Ben cook live in person was mesmerizing. His dish was a whole wheat penne pasta, tossed in a sauce of cherry tomatoes, red onion, garlic, zucchini, and that all-anticipated scotch bonnet pepper, all sauteed in olive oil with some fresh boccachini mozzarella and basil ribbons tossed in at the last minute. He was the ultimate screen chef, chopping all his vegetables on the spot, his every move coming across so effortless. Flawless. Fuck, this man had such skills with his hands...
“So there you go...” He slid his finished dish onto a platter and garnished with a few more ribbons of basil and some cracked black pepper, then looked back up at the camera. “And dey say Jamaican people dem cyan cook pasta,” he teased, slipping into Patios. “I say we done good wit dis one - you should see my camera-guy mouth waterin’ already... Anyway, I hope y’all try this one at home and let me know what you think. This recipe goin’ be linked so make sure you check the info box under the screen, subscribe to my page, and remember – alla you viewers lucky enough to live in the Greater Vancouver area make sure you come check my spot at 1350 Commercial Drive – The Rock – I promise you gonna thank me for it later.” He picked up a fork and gave the camera his sexy little lift of the eyebrows. “Taste test...” He took a bite of his pasta and nodded slowly...suggestively...I almost laughed out loud. “That’s right, people...that is some damn good pasta right there... So anyway, until next time – be good, stay safe... One love. Am out.”
The he stepped back and reached behind his back to untie his apron just as Adam called out, “That’s a wrap...”
Ben smacked his apron down on the counter. “Now that’s what am fuckin’ talkin’ about...”
Lena and I burst out laughing.
Patrick looked pretty amused himself and Adam just sighed. “Yeah, you were right – you is da one-take wonder,” he admitted. “You makin’ my job too easy...”
“All right, I’m hungry.” Lena got up off her stool. “Let’s eat.”
Ben headed off to the living room and flipped on his stereo, this time deciding on some reggae, and some Black Uhuru started pumping from the speakers as Lena began dishing out some steaming bowls of pasta for all of us.
When Ben made his way back to the kitchen he eased himself onto the stool next to me. “Good luck charm...” he said softly, only for me to hear.
Ω
The five of us sat around eating, drinking and chatting for the next few hours. I loved how at ease everyone made me and I really began to enjoy the company. Eventually we ended up back in the living room where Lena and Patrick cuddled up together on one end of the sofa, while Adam began rolling up another post-dinner joint.
Ben and I stepped out onto the balcony together just as the sun was starting to set.
“This is nice,” I said, the view of the harbour and the sun setting over the sky-line taking my breath away.
Ben leaned up against the railing with me. “Yeah...the view is what sold me...I didn’t really wanna come live around all these yuppies, but you can’t beat this...”
“Where did you live before this?” I wanted to know.
“On the Drive,” he told me. “I always stayed in East Van, since I was a kid. I even had a place close to where you at about ten years ago,” he pointed out.
“Really?” I was surprised. “Hmmm...so then you down with us ghetto folks, huh?” I still couldn’t quite get over my surroundings and the lifestyle he had.
But he sucked his teeth and narrowed his eyes at me, dismissing my comment. “What you talkin’ about? I come from the ghetto myself...”
“Yeah, I know...but you out now.”
“I guess...I may not stay here, though,” he admitted.
“Really? Why?”
“It’s not really me,” he said simply. “And it’s kinda lonely...I don’t know...I like nice things but I like nice people better.”
“Hmmm...” I thought, smiling. “Yeah, I kinda guessed that about you. But I hope you don’t move too soon – I could get used to watching the sun set from this balcony.”
He smiled at that. “I don’t think I told you but...you lookin’ real good tonight.”
I raised my eyebrows, my tummy doing somersaults again. “Yeah? No...first you mentioned it.”
“Yeah, sorry about that...too much people at my place right now.” He was giving me that intense gaze of his again. “Just say the word and I’ll send them home.”
I kind of laughed. “Oh, it’s like that, huh?”
He nodded slowly. “Whatever you want, baby...I’m all yours.”
“Hmmm...” I let my breath out, thinking. For some reason the thought of being all alone with him in this gorgeous condo made me suddenly terribly excited...but also more nervous that I had ever been with him before. “You know I told you I don’t trust myself to be alone with you.” My voice escaped me.
“Yeah, I remember,” he said, not taking his eyes off me. “But I also remember telling you you don’t have to trust yourself...you just have to trust me. I don’t play games, I told you that.”
I nodded slowly, not understanding quite where this new fear was coming from. “That’s true...but who knows...what if all of this – everything you telling me – is just one big game?”
Ben didn’t look too happy about that one. He gave me a confused look. “What you really worried about? Be honest.”
I sighed, lowering my eyes, trying desperately to figure it out myself. “You just...” I shouldn’t have said it, but I knew I had to. “You just seem too good to be true. This kinda thing doesn’t happen to me.” And then I lifted my eyes. “And I know it’s a stupid thing to tell you...I know that no guy wants to hear a girl telling him she thinks he’s...” My voice trailed off.
“He’s what?” He wasn’t letting it go.
“That she thinks he’s out of her league,” I admitted.
There. I said it. Then I started to panic. Fuck, what was wrong with me?
Ben didn’t say anything right away. He just nodded slowly, taking in my comment, most likely trying to figure out a response.
I couldn’t handle the silence. “I mean, come on Ben – look at you!” I just kept digging myself a deeper grave. “Look at all this!” I motioned around at my surroundings. “Everything about you is just so...fuck...” I raked my fingers through my hair. “How do I compete with this? How do I even – ?”
“Okay, stop.” He cut me off then.
“I’m sorry,” I sighed. “I shouldn’t have said anything, I just – ”
“Just stop talking, Gabriela,” he said then seriously, pulling me in with his eyes again. “I’m not gonna try to convince you of anything, you gonna have to just figure it out for yourself... I talk to you every day, I want to see you and be with you even when all I got is an hour or less of time to spare, and I asked you to come here today to spend time with you – fuck, my friends been here in the house this whole time – if none of that can convince you that I ain’t just lookin’ for some pussy, then I don’t know what will.”
I sighed again, feeling like an idiot. “You’re mad.”
He let his breath out. “Yeah, kinda,” he admitted, unapologetically.
I nodded, gazing out over the harbour again, still feeling his eyes on me. “I like you, Ben. A lot,” I said softly. “Maybe too much.”
“Well, if you like me so much you gonna have to get over this bullshit about me just lookin’ to play you because I don’t have time to waste on someone who ain’t gonna take me seriously,” he said simply. But his tone had softened.
I glanced back over at him. “You’re right...I know you’re right. I just never met anyone that made me feel like this before...”
“Like what?” He was still watching me.
I looked back over at him but before I could say anything the glass doors slid open and Adam seemed to appear out of nowhere. “You two want to take a hit off this?” he asked, holding out what was left of the joint he had rolled.
A look of relief seemed to wash over Ben. “Fuck,
yeah,” he said quickly and took the joint from Adam, taking a long deep drag, the air around me suddenly filling me up with the sweet, calming scent of marijuana.
Chapter Seven
The three of them left about a half hour later, after packing up all the camera equipment, and Ben helped them carry it out to Patrick’s car while I waited for him in the living room, channel-surfing on his massive TV. The weed was starting to wear off a little and I started to get worried – wondering if Ben and I were still okay. He had my heart and my head spinning so fast it was getting harder and harder for me to focus on anything else.
I heard the front door open and then his footsteps as he made his way back down to the living room. He sat down next to me on the sofa, leaving about a foot of space between us and raised his eyebrows, looking at me cautiously.
“You wanna watch a movie or something?” he asked me then.
I just stared back at him, my eyes grazing over his beautiful body, from head to toe and back up again. I just shook my head. “No.” And then I leaned over quickly and just started kissing him.
I could tell it caught him completely off-guard, but his surprise quickly faded as he started to kiss me back...gently...tenderly...forcing me quickly to slow down. I loved how he took control. He held my face, caressing me so softly, brushing my hair back, and then he pulled away.
“I’m sorry,” I said softly.
“Stop apologizing.” His voice was so tender again.
“I’m scared,” I admitted in a voice barely above a whisper. “I don’t know how to do this.”
He smiled at that. “You don’t know how to do what?”
“Everything,” I said, knowing full well that I was making no sense.
“Everything...” He repeated, just watching me.
He leaned back slowly into the sofa, pulling away from me. I knew he was expecting me to continue talking, but him distancing himself from me just seemed to have a magnetic reaction with my body and I turned back to him, pushing up on my knee and then just climbed on top of him, straddling him as I took his face in my hands and just started kissing him all over again.
I felt his hands grip my waist and then move lower, pushing me down onto his lap harder, deeper. Our lips broke apart and I heard him let his breath out deeply.
“You’re confusing the fuck out of me right now...”
I nodded. “Mmmhmm...” I agreed, kissing his beautiful lips again and moving my mouth to his jaw, his ear, his neck...
He let out a soft, arousing moan and I felt his reaction between my legs and it made me quiver.
“Fuck...” His hands were running up my arms and then grasped both my shoulders. “Hold up, baby, look at me,” he said then, his voice all breathy and strained.
I did as he asked and met his eyes, kissing his mouth again softly as I did.
“You know you don’t have to do this,” he said then. I could tell it strained him a lot just to say the words. He stroked my face so tenderly. “I’m not upset with you and you don’t have to prove anything to me...I promise.”
“I know,” I said softly. “But my body just won’t listen to my head right now...I can’t help it...” I kissed him again, softer this time, letting him set the pace, feeling his tongue explore inside my mouth in a way that made me shudder.
“Since I met you I just can’t stop coming...” I heard my voice betray me again. “I’m like a ticking time-bomb, Ben...”
“Shit.” I heard him gasp. I could tell my words had done something to him. I felt his big, strong hands press me down into his lap harder this time.
I could come just like this, I realized, in shock. But I wanted so much more.
And then I felt his hands on my shoulders, pushing back again. It shocked me, the thought that he could be stopping me again, but I soon realized it was nothing like that as his eyes fell all over my body again, looking hungrier than ever.
I could see exactly what he wanted and so I quickly reached down and pulled my top up over my head and tossed it away, exposing my full, aching breasts for him to ravish, as they practically spilled out of the black, lacy bra I had on.
But he held back. He just watched me and fed on me with his eyes instead, running his hands all over my milky, soft skin, from my throat to my shoulders, squeezing my arms down to my elbows and then back up again, sliding his fingers under the straps of my bra, pulling down ever so slowly.
“Do you like them?” I asked softly, wanting desperately to hear some assurance, something – anything – that could calm my trembling nerves.
“Hmmm...” he sighed softly, as he finally reached over and pulled back the lace cup, first one and then the other, my nipples hardening as they hit the cool air, my breasts finally spilling out fully for his taking. He massaged them gently – tenderly – my nipples tingling under the warmth of his palms.
“I love them,” he answered me finally. “Beautiful...” And then he lifted his eyes to meet mine. “Just like you.”
I shuddered, his words making my insides drip and ache. “Are you always this gentle?”
That made him smile and he pulled his eyes from the task at hand to meet mine again. “I am whatever you want me to be,” he said then. “Do you like this?” he wanted to know, focusing back on my breasts, polishing them tenderly, using that same gentle touch as he had when he held my hand that first night at the pub.
“Yes...” I whispered, watching him. “What about you, Ben? What do you like?”
He looked up again then. “You’ll see,” he said softly. I’ll show you.” And then he pulled me back closer for another long, languishing kiss. As his lips pulled away I felt his hands reach around me, pulling me to my feet. “Come with me.”
He led me upstairs and I followed silently behind him after snatching my top up quickly, and he pushed open the door to his bedroom, which was simply furnished with a king-sized platform bed and a matching armoire and dresser.
I fell back onto the bed in the semi-darkness and Ben lay down next to me and we just started kissing all over again.
I reached to pull him closer but instead he lifted himself up onto his knees, spreading my thighs with his leg. He pulled his shirt up over his head then, finally showing me those beautifully muscular arms and broad chest and flat belly, all perfectly defined under that sexy ribbed muscle shirt he had on.
I couldn’t help it anymore. I sat up suddenly and pushed it up, exposing his belly, the faint lines of his six-pack glowing in the moonlight, flickering in through the bedroom window. I moaned softly as I started licking and sucking and just kissing his belly like I was possessed.
“Mmm...” He sighed softly as he lifted the material up higher and over his head as well, giving me more, and my hands reached up, grazing his pecs, feeling his nipples, the hard, firm muscles on his arms...
“Oh shit...” I gasped, reaching for his belt, but instead I felt his hands cover mine and pull them back.
I glanced up at him, confused, but he just stroked my hair back as he gently lay me back down.
“Not yet, baby,” he whispered, grabbing each of my breasts in his two palms, and his mouth and his tongue and his lips finally began to explore my nipples, my breasts... My skin was ablaze; my whole body was on fire...
“Oh fuck, that feels good,” I whispered as his tongue started flicking my nipple faster and faster...
“Hmmm...” He let out a satisfied moan after latching on and sucking each one of them off like a lollipop. That patient, gentle demeanour of his was finally being replaced with something of a much more urgent, starving nature. I was already shaking...
His hand reached down and tugged at the waist of my jeans, gripping so hard I felt my ass lift up off the bed for a moment and I gasped. He popped open the button and I heard my zipper sliding down...
“You ready to see what I can do with my mouth, baby?”
His words sent me into a tail-spin. I was practically panting already and he hadn’t even pulled my jeans off yet.
“
Yes..." I gasped. “Oh shit, Ben...” I groaned as those strong hands and arms reached under my bottom and peeled my jeans and my panties off in one smooth motion.
He spread my thighs apart with his two hands and squeezed, kneading gently as they slowly inched their way up higher to my dripping pussy that was aching so badly for him. And then I felt him run his finger over my clit, which was already so wet there was no need for him to even penetrate me. I was shaved clean and he ran his palm all over the smooth tender skin, tapping it lightly a few times.
“Mmm...” He moaned hungrily. “Just how I like it, baby...” He was rubbing my clit oh-so-lightly with the tip of his finger. “I want to make you scream,” he told me then in that slippery, sexy tone of his. “Can you do that for me, baby?”
“Yes...” I panted.
“You promise?” He waited.
“Yesss...please...just do it already...” I was absolutely losing it.
“Mmm...I like that,” he said, sounding so pleased as I begged him.
And then his hot, wet mouth and tongue started licking and sucking and just devouring my pussy like he hadn’t eaten for years. I had never felt anything like it. I came so fast and so hard, panting, shaking and moaning so loudly I didn’t even recognize my own voice.
“Shit, baby.” His voice escaped him, as he kept lapping and sucking on me. I reached down and stroked his face, digging my fingers into his dreads.
“Don’t stop,” I begged him, panting heavier as I felt the sensation start to build again. “You’re gonna make me come again...”
“Mmm...” he moaned as his tongue started to flick my clit faster and faster. He pushed my thighs back and held them back with those strong arms of his and I exploded all over his tongue again, screaming for him just as loudly. This was too much...
Love Is Overdue Page 10