6. Ben

Some women are natural flirts and they can’t help themselves.

Not my friend. Steph sits in the car, sullen and quiet the whole way to my house. She looks like she’d rather be anywhere but here.

I pull up alongside the curb but don’t pull into my drive. I turn off the car and sit in the dark for a minute, studying her quietly. “Are you sure you want to come in here?”

She looks at me and smiles and it’s the same smile that I remember from when we were young. Bright and shiny like a new copper penny. No matter what happened that day, she always smiled like that for me.

She was always happy to see me.

“I do.”

I step out of the car and open her door, holding my hand out to her. “Alright. Maybe just for a little bit. I don’t want you to get nervous about being here alone with me.”

Her brow lifts and she stares at me, surprised. “Why on earth would I get nervous about being with you? You’re my best friend. The guy who just defended me from an asshole. That guy doesn’t scare me.”

“Good.” I hold her hand and open the door. “Here we go.”

She steps over the threshold and it takes everything in me not to pick her up and carry her over that threshold. I bought this house when she had been gone a few years. I worked and saved so that I could put a downpayment on this little ranch and then I started fixing it up.

Her mouth drops open when I turn the light on. “Wow! It’s beautiful.”

Soft gray walls and the prettiest pastel paintings decorate the walls in the same soft images she always loved when we were growing up. The soft gray carpet is the perfect cozy spot and the deep plush pile of the dark steel carpet is so tempting to just take your shoes off and sink your toes into.

The kitchen is modern and shiny. Barely used since I don’t really cook a lot except for the microwave.

“This place is really pretty, Benjie.”

I cock my head at her. “Why do you still call me that?”

Her eyes lift to mine and there’s something forbidden and wanton in her gaze that calls to something wild in me.

“Because nobody else does. It makes me feel special.”

“You’ll always be special to me, Sparkle. There’s nobody like you.”

“That’s not true. I’m not special at all.”

“Tell me why you say that, baby. And then I’ll tell you why you’re wrong.”

“Because I’m just a woman who made a lot of money telling a horrible story. A true story that is more disgusting than most fictional trashy novels.”

I stalk up to her and lightly caress her cheek, smiling when she turns her face until her lips caress my palm.

“I don’t think that there’s anything wrong with that. It was your truth to tell. If you wanted to write it, there’s nobody who should tell you that you shouldn’t tell your story.”

“Tell them that,” she says sadly, her deep blue eyes troubled and sad.

“I would if I believed they’d listen. But it doesn’t really matter if they do or don’t. The point is there will always be naysayers. People who don’t think you should be allowed to get rich talking about your past. Those people don’t matter. Your opinion of your life should be the only one that matters.”

“You say the best things. I can’t decide if you’re real or not.”

“Oh, I’m real, Steph. We’re real, this place is real.” I touch her cheek and turn her face to mine again, leaning close and breathing in her sweet fruity scent. “Our feelings are real.”

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t you feel it?” I let my hand drift down her body and feel her shudder, see her breath catch lightly. Her bountiful chest heaves mightily and I struggle not to let my eyes drop and stare. There’s so much to see. So much of her that’s just plain beautiful.

Her skin is so soft and sweet. The way she doesn’t even try, she just automatically sinks into my touch. The hypnotizing dark heat in her sapphire eyes turning them into midnight blue velvet.

“What do I feel?” Her voice is just a whisper of sound, a soft surrender barely kissing her lips as I lean closer and let my breath fan across her cheek.

“You feel how much I want you. How perfect you are for me and you always have been. You feel the way we fit together perfectly. Like we’ve just found the piece that’s been missing all of our lives. The part that was made only for me. Only for you. Us.”

And then my lips touch hers and it’s like every damn dream that I’ve ever had. Her soft lips open under mine with a soft moan and her lush body leans against me, her arms wrapping around my shoulders as she stands on tiptoe to reach up to run her fingers through my hair and caress the back of my neck.

Wildfire flares into life where her fingers touch me and I groan when she dances closer and closer to the flames, pressing herself against me harder, like she’s drawn like a firefly to the heat of the flames and light between us.

I reach down and lift her up and she wraps her legs around me, tightening them around my middle as she writhes in wild abandon against me. My dick is harder than a steel pipe and I groan under my breath when she grinds carelessly against me.

With a grunt, I turn and slam her into the wall, feeling the surface shake with the force of our bodies slamming together.

Her lips touch mine, slanting along mine. My tongue slides along hers and we tangle together in an erotic duel that has electricity singing through my veins.

“I need you, little Sparkle. I’ve been waiting for you to come home to me for so long. I love you.”

I know it’s too soon and I shouldn’t say it. Shouldn’t even think it. But I can’t help it.

It’s always been her.

“I need you too, Benjie. But there’s something you should know.”

I lift my head, my hazy eyes staring into hers. “What is it?” I hope to hell she hasn’t changed her mind because if she has, I’ll have to take her home. Have to let her go.

Not forever. Hell, no! I will never give up until she’s mine.

“I’m a virgin, Benjie. I’ve never even wanted another man.”

Of course she hasn’t. Because fate made her for me.

“Well, that’s good. Because I’m a virgin too. There’s only been you and there will only ever be you.”

She smiles and shakes her golden curls. I run my fingers softly through them and tangle my fingers in her silken strands. “Take me to bed.”

And that’s all I need to hear. I lift her up and over my shoulder, smiling when she laughs happily.

That’s what she should sound like all the time. Joyful, happy and just plain carefree.

I swat her bouncy ass and let my fingers drift over the denim skirt that barely covers her thick thighs. Her hands scrabble at my back and I finally get her to my room and shut the door and the world out. I throw her on the bed and point at her.

“Now, strip!”

She cocks her head at my commanding tone but then she sits on the bed and drops her boots to the floor. Sitting up, she kneels and slowly takes off the acid-washed jean jacket with about a bazillion sparkly things on it and drops it on top of the boots.

One after the other she takes everything off and I do the same, loving the way her eyes glaze over when I slide each piece of fabric off of me.

Her heated gaze burns me from the inside out and I feel a buzz in my spine as my cock jerks angrily against my belly.

First things first though.

“I need a taste of heaven.”

And she squeals as I jump on the bed and plaster her body down, my hands holding her thighs open as my tongue teases her slit with no warning.

“Holy fucking shit, Batman!”

And just like that, it’s on.

I lick and suck at her sweet, soft heat, drilling my tongue into her silken depths until her juices are dribbling down my chin and onto the sheets.

“You are so fucking wet,” I growl. “So sweet and wet and mine.”