“You’re too good at that,” she groaned.
He palmed her breasts and she arched, letting her head fall back. And then he was gone. She opened her eyes as he yanked his shirt over his head. She watched as he unhooked his belt buckle, unfastened the button, and unzipped his jeans.
“Do I need a condom, Liv?”
“No, you don’t.”
“Is it for me, only me?”
“Only you, Ben.” She tried to stifle her cry. There was no one else for her. There never would be.
He swooped down and fused his mouth to hers, kissing her hard, and rough, and eager. His lips followed the line of her jaw, up to her ear. “I need you, baby.”
She didn’t answer with words, but arched against him. And at that moment, he went still, right before he buried himself inside her. Slowly. So slowly.
There was no better feeling in the world than her body joined together with his.
“You’re mine, all mine, Liv.” He started to move faster, harder. “Tell me. Let me hear you say it.”
“I’m yours, Ben, all yours.”
Later, Ben waited until her breathing became more even. He moved her hand off his hip and whispered her name, to see if she was asleep.
“You’re all I ever wanted, Olivia. Since the moment I laid eyes on you. You’re it. I love you, heart and soul, with everything I am.”
He rolled to his back and stared up at the ceiling. “And why is it that I can only say this to you when you’re sleeping?”
Liv shifted again, her arm came across his waist, she turned part way to her side, and her body nuzzled up against his. She brought her head up and laid it on his chest. Her eyes never opened, her breathing never changed. In her sleep Liv’s body sought his, she got close to him…when they made love, and when she slept.
Liv felt Ben’s body next to her, and this time, she wasn’t dreaming. Soft light filtered in through the window coverings, letting her know it was still early. She drifted back to sleep for a moment, then shook herself awake again. She wanted this time awake, while he slept.
Her eyes drifted over his face, slowly, as though they were her fingers, so slowly she let them wander. They lingered on the lines at the corner of his eye, etched there because of his smile, the one he gave so generously. They moved to the crease in the hollow above his eyes, between his eyebrows, as though as he slept stress stayed, furrowed there, not allowing his brow to be completely at rest. His mouth called her eyes to move to its pout. The corners turned down in his sleep, the same way they did when he played guitar, and got lost in it, forgetting where he was. He slept with his mouth closed. Did everyone? Had Scott? Liv didn’t remember. She closed her eyes and pulled at her memory, it wouldn’t bring Scott into focus. He’d faded, her mind no longer remembering how he slept, or how he looked. She opened her eyes again to continue her study of Ben’s face. His eyes were open, studying her.
His hand came up, joining his eyes. His fingers feathered strokes on her cheek. His eyes added to the caress.
Liv let her eyes wander back to where they’d been, on his mouth. Then let them slowly drift over his chin that jutted strongly when he concentrated on something. As her eyes moved lower, she saw the pulse beating in his neck. He swallowed and she watched the way the muscles changed when he did. Down they continued, over his chest, at rest now, it looked softer, her fingers longed to run through the downy hair scattered over it. But this feast was for her eyes.
She let them move to his arm, shifting back to see him better, without her body lying against it. His square shoulder never rounded. Had he been a swimmer? She tilted her head to look at his forearm, his wrist, and his hand. Masculine hands, with big, firm fingers, symmetrically calloused from their continued use on the strings of his guitar.
She looked back up to his chest. It rose and fell with a stronger rhythm, as if his heart was driving it, harder and faster.
Back to his face, his eyes were half-lidded, getting darker and hungrier as his breathing accelerated. His mouth opened slightly, but he didn’t speak.
Liv’s hand slowly moved the sheet that kept the rest of him hidden. Her eyes needed to take in all of him. Would he stay still and let them? He didn’t move.
Her eyes lingered on his torso, watching as his body changed the longer her eyes studied him, as though they were speaking to him. Urging him on to feel their heat.
More movement. The muscles in his thighs beckoned her attention. His leg shifted, his knee bent slightly. They drifted over his calf, his ankle and to his feet. She loved his feet. Feet said a lot about a man. His were strong, and sturdy. They carried so much, his feet.
She let her hands find their way back up the slow trail her eyes had just taken, softly stroking his skin as they went. He breathed in deeply, almost a gasp. Her lips longed to finish the journey. She brought her mouth to his skin and continued the path, slowly easing back over each spot her eyes had rested on.
Ben was so still, the pace of his breathing measured against his stillness. Liv climbed up and laid her entire body against his. Body on body, skin on skin. She loved it as much as he did. Her hand took his and she gently set it against her hip, giving him permission to move, to let his body begin to take part in the exploration hers began.
His other hand came up on its own, but as slowly as the first had. At first still, they started to move along her sides. Soft fingers trailed from each hip, to the side of her breasts and then up slowly over her shoulders, hardening as they got to her neck. Grasping as they reached her face, pulling as they brought her lips to his. At the same time his mouth joined with hers, his body did too. They fit together with such ease.
Liv raised up, her hands digging into his chest, the place her eyes kept selfishly to themselves only a few minutes ago. Her eyes took their place in his, searching for the thing they needed to see. Longing, love—there it was. She kept them there as she moved, bringing them both to the place where their bodies answered the need their eyes desired.
When Liv got out of the shower, Ben was sitting in the chair by the window, guitar in his arms, singing.
To see you here then, it tickles me crazy.
To see you here in the midst of your fall.
I know your fear, I know your tears.
But that smile, so sweet, that longing so deep.
He stopped when he realized she stood outside the bathroom door. She smiled, leaned against the wall, and closed her eyes.
Your eyes burn into my heart,
my love, my joy, my fall.
She wanted him to keep singing, she wanted him to finish. But she couldn’t wait. Ben seemed to sense it, leaning his guitar on the floor next to the table as she stalked toward him.
He stood, and she launched herself into him.
“You’re gonna be late, baby…”
“Don’t care.”
17
“Can you stay, or do you need to get back?” Liv asked Ben as he drove her back to the rodeo grounds.
“Waitin’ for you to ask me. Figured I already pulled the ‘I’m here and I’m stayin’ whether you want me to or not,’ card. Gotta let it be up to you sometimes.”
“Can you handle giving up all that control?”
Ben threw his head back, in that way he did, and laughed. “For an hour or two, probably my limit.”
“I’ll be riding and working with Micah most of the day. Jolene has a horse whisperer approach she wants me to try. But it’s gotta be me doing it. He only responds to me.”
“Kinda like me.”
Liv was lost in thought about Micah, and what they needed to work on. He went left, every time. Right he hesitated, yet all her instincts told her to push him that way. Even that split-second hesitation carried tension into her shoulders. That’s what they needed to focus on today.
She realized Ben watched her, smiling. “Where’d you go?”
She felt the warmth in her cheeks. “Turn two.”
“I like you this way. All sweet and cowgirly.”
&
nbsp; “Never underestimate a cowgirl, Ben. We’re rarely sweet.”
Liv jumped out of the Ben’s truck, waving her hand as she walked away. She never looked back. It was a little thing, but he started to realize she did it every time. Most people looked back. She never did.
He drove to the outskirts of town and found a shady place to sit for a while. He wanted to finish the song he started this morning.
When he went to check the time, Ben remembered he broke his phone last night. Shit. He better get to town and get a replacement, but he doubted there’d be anything in Woodward. He’d have to go farther, maybe back to Hope. He needed to check in with the band, his kids, and his parents. When he left yesterday morning, he hadn’t told anyone where he was going, considering he hadn’t known that part himself.
The first call he made was to Jimmy. They wouldn’t head back out on the road until Tuesday morning, but he needed to be home sometime tomorrow to pack things up and get ready.
“Where are you again?” Jimmy asked.
“Woodward, Oklahoma.”
“I don’t even wanna ask.”
“Yeah, there’s not much here, except a rodeo. And pheasant hunters.”
“Huh?”
When Ben was brushing his teeth that morning he’d noticed the sign over the sink that said, “No cleaning pheasants in sink.” It stuck with him, might be a song in there somewhere.
“Whatever, nevermind that. When are you coming back?”
“I was wondering if you guys could handle packing up for next week?” Ben wanted to stay through the end of the rodeo on Sunday night to watch Liv wrap up her first showing. He’d drive back Monday, and meet up with them.
“Yeah, I guess.”
Ben heard the hesitation in Jimmy’s voice. “What?”
“Nothin’. Can’t say no, since you never ask. What’s so important in middle-a-nowhere Oklahoma?”
Ben hesitated.
“Oh. No.”
“What?”
“It’s her, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, whatever. See you Monday night.” Ben ended the call.
A slew of texts started coming through on his phone, including one from Jake, who was fighting with his brother. His mom sent one saying she left a container of soup in his refrigerator, and then another asking when he’d be home.
The last texts were from Paige, one that she’d sent after he broke his phone. There was one from today asking if he was still in town.
He answered and asked where she and Mark were. Ben wouldn’t mind hanging out with him today. Maybe they’d go pheasant hunting.
“How is she?” Paige asked as soon as Ben sat down in the booth with them at the diner.
“Mad as hell at you,” he teased, and smiled. He watched her face go from panicked to irritated.
“I’m not gonna let you two hang out together anymore,” she said, glaring at Mark.
“How did I get involved in this?” he asked. Truth was, Ben had never seen a guy who was more of an innocent bystander than Mark. He and Paige had been married for thirty years, so Mark had to be used to it.
“When are you going back?”
“Thinkin’ Monday morning.”
“Things must be goin’ well, then.”
“If it’s none of her business, you gotta say so. Until you do, she’s gonna keep probing for more information,” Mark said without raising his head.
Ben looked at her, “Paige, it’s none of your business.”
“You should be thanking me.”
“Thank you, Paige,” he smirked.
“Can I join you?” asked Renie.
“Of course,” said Paige, motioning for Ben to scoot over.
Renie sat down, put her arm on the back of the booth, and turned to face him. “So. You’re still here.”
“Renie,” Ben said with a killer smile, “it’s none of your business.” Mark high-fived him.
Liv rode Micah around and around in the warm-up arena, trying to keep her thoughts on the barrels and off of Ben. She pulled a slot further down tonight, so she wouldn’t be first out of the chute. That was good and bad.
One of the bareback bronc riders had stopped by the barn today to introduce himself, and Liv noticed him riding the warm-up arena, trying to stay close to her.
“Hey cowgirl, you chasin’ the cans again tonight?”
She grinned over her shoulder. “You know it, cowboy”
“Whoo-wee, you’re pretty.”
There was something about Ben being in the stands tonight that let Liv flirt a little. This time she enjoyed being safe, because it meant something else entirely. She was safe to flirt, a little, because at the end of the night, she knew which cowboy she’d be going home with.
Thoughts of Ben whirled around in her head, until she saw Jolene glaring at her from the fence. If Jolene had her way, Ben would be on the next bus out of town. She’d made that clear this morning when Liv showed up a half hour late.
“You think we agree to train just anybody, Miss Olivia?”
Well, she was paying them, but no, that wouldn’t be enough to get them to do it.
“No, ma’am, I don’t, and I’m very sorry I was late.”
“If you aren’t gonna take this seriously, there’s no point in my even bein’ here. I should get in the truck and head home. I got a family, too.”
“Please don’t leave, Jolene. I won’t be late again. Ever.”
“You see that you don’t ’cause tomorrow morning, you’re as much as forty-five seconds late, I’m in the truck and gone. Got it?”
“I got it.” Liv walked to where Mary Beth stood holding Micah. “She doesn’t mean it.”
“It’s better if I believe she does.” Liv shook her head. “She reminds me of somebody.”
“Who’s that, honey?”
“Colonel Stanford Fairchild—my father.”
Liv was up next. The ground was a little softer tonight, it had rained earlier, not enough to make a big difference, but so far every rider had knocked over a barrel, resulting in a five-second penalty. Two riders remained after Liv, so if she left all three barrels standing, she had a very good chance to stay in the money.
She got the signal and Micah flew. He went left, circled around, headed right, and hugged the circle in the opposite direction. There was only one barrel left in the clover pattern. He was flying fast but hugging the barrels tight. They headed for home and finished with a time of sixteen point three. She beat last night’s time by five-tenths of a second.
Liv rubbed Micah’s neck. He loved to roll in the dirt, and tonight she’d let him.
She led him to the barn, and saw a man standing with his shoulder up against the door. His cowboy hat sat low over his eyes, and his jeans hung low on his hips, the way they always did. His shirt hitched up enough that her eye caught his skin. The man was hot, no other way to describe him.
“Damn you’re pretty,” he said as she got closer. “You got any plans tonight, darlin’, ’cause I sure want to be the man keepin’ company with you.”
She shook her head and smiled. “Sorry, cowboy, but my dance card is already full this evenin’. Maybe another time.”
“Then, sugar, I’m gonna make sure you never make it to the dance.” Ben took Micah’s reins from her hand and pulled her in close. His thigh inched between hers and spread them apart, and he bent his head to kiss her without knocking her hat off. Liv reached up and threw it off anyway. She wanted to kiss him so hard she took his breath away. Never before had she wished somebody else could take care of Micah.
“Wait,” she said. “Where are we going?”
“Back to the hotel.”
“But what about Renie, and Paige and Mark?”
“Sorry, sugar, but it’s just you and me tonight.”
He watched the heat rise to her cheeks.
“Liv, I need this. I need you to tell me this means something to you.” He watched as her breath caught.
“It does, Ben.”
“Tell me you belon
g to me, your body and your soul.”
Her eyes widened, and her breathing became uneven.
“Tell me,” he said again, as his fingers encircled her wrist.
“I belong to you, Ben,” she breathed.
When they pulled up to the hotel, Ben came around and opened her door.
“When we get in the room, I want you to take off your clothes and wait for me on the bed.”
She bit her lip, hesitating only for a moment.
Ben stood and watched her do what he asked, he didn’t move. His mouth watered, longing for a taste of her. His arms ached, wanting to pull her into him and let her comfort his insecurities.
Liv stood next to the bed, her clothes at her feet. Her body trembled as she pulled the comforter back, then the sheets. When she laid down on the bed, and reached for the sheet, he was on her, his hand on her wrist, stopping her.
“Watch me,” he said as he pulled his shirt over his head. Her eyes moved over his body, the same way they had earlier that morning.
He reached behind her head and put one pillow on top of the other. “I want you to be able to see what I’m doing to you.”
He stood before her, naked. His hands moved along her legs, up her thighs and her waist, until she arched instinctively.
“Ben—”
“Shh. Be still.”
He wanted her to give herself over to him, even as hard as he knew it would be for her to do it. He wanted her to let him take control the same way he’d let her this morning, without her realizing he did.
Every second had been pure torture for him. He’d wanted nothing more than to grab her and throw her under him, but he hadn’t. He let her eyes, her hands, and her lips linger on his body, unhurried, at her pace. Now he needed the same thing from her.
“Put your hands at your sides, Liv, and don’t move them.”
He needed to prove to her that he was the man to take care of her, love her enough to make it all about her, satisfy the need he saw in her eyes. He was long gone for this woman.
Fall for Me (Cowboys of Crested Butte Book 1) Page 16