As he walks back to me, I shamelessly drink him in. I take in the perfection of his tall and muscular body, the size of his hands, the beauty of his face, and the need in his eyes. The craving. Under his gaze, my breasts tingle as my body, feverish with desire, feels swollen where I want him, where I need him the most.
A teasing smile on his lips, Ben slowly approaches me as I move backwards. By the time my ass hits the edge of a dresser, I’m trembling from head to toe with anticipation. As Ben draws nearer, closing the space between us, the expression on his face makes my heart beat hard and fast.
As I walk towards him, I don’t know who reaches for the other first. It doesn’t matter. All I can feel is his hot mouth on my skin, kissing me so roughly I know it will leave marks. Not stopping him because I want to be branded by Ben, I pull him closer to me. Our frantic hands help us discard what little clothing we have left on. When we are completely naked, Ben grabs me by the shoulders and stops kissing me.
“We have to stop…” he says painfully. “I wasn’t expecting this to happen, so I’m not prepared.”
“Oh, you mean protection?”
Ben nods as he rubs the back of his neck.
“It’s okay. I’m on the pill a-and this would be my first time without a-a, you know…condom,” I say as I feel my face burning.
Ben cups my face in his hands, letting his fingers caress my cheeks. “It would be my first time too, you know. Are you sure, babe?”
“Yes. Oh yes,” I beg. “I can’t wait any longer.”
Without a moment of hesitation, Ben lets go of my face, grips my shoulders once again, and turns me around to face the mirror propped on the dressing table.
“Watch,” he demands, his voice husky with passion, “Watch us.”
I see a blushing blonde girl with swollen dark red lips bruised from kissing. The white skin on her small breasts is reddened with his handprints. I see a flushed man with eyes so dark and fierce towering over her, the muscles of his neck straining as he fights to control himself. I see the way the sweat covers his body, making his skin shine like silk.
When our eyes meet in the mirror, an unsmiling Ben lowers his finger to the vee of my body. I feel his finger slip inside me, stroking me once. I whimper, about to beg for more when he removes his hand completely. I stare at his reflection in the mirror as he brings his finger to his mouth, his tongue darting out to lick it before he lowers it again. Sliding his finger, he spreads my wetness mixed with his own on my clit. I’m on the brink of exploding when he withdraws his finger once more.
Ben reaches for my hand and curls my fingers around his dick as we stroke him to full erection together. I can’t see anything, but I can feel the hardness and the smoothness of his skin covering his dick as he grips my hand tighter in his. Letting go, I take the base of his dick in my hand, but I don’t put him inside me. Instead, I try to savor the moment. I’m breathing slow and easy, making the moment last. I love how free and uninhibited Ben makes me feel. He makes me feel beautiful and powerful.
When his hand lands on the small of my back, bending me at the waist and pushing me forward, I grip the edge of the dressing table. Nudging my thighs to open wider, I moan when I feel Ben guiding the tip of his arousal inside me. With a tense jaw, he impales me in one hard, deep thrust that makes the mirror rattle. Lifting his eyes from where we are connected, we stare at each other as he begins to slowly pull back, bringing his free hand around to stroke me. When he’s almost all the way out, he aggressively thrusts forward again, groaning and rubbing me as he pounds harder and faster each time. Ben grabs my hair in his fist, giving it a not so gentle tug as I lift my ass higher up to give him better access into me.
“Oh, yes…” I groan with each thrust.
“Fuuuuck, baby…you’re so damn tight…fuck.”
He wants to take, he wants to demand, he wants to dominate.
I let him. I let him because I feel wanted. So wanted.
I give him everything.
As our rhythm becomes more desperate, Ben lets go of my hair to grip my hips roughly in both hands as he thrusts deeper, fucking harder into me. I feel him inside me, outside me, everywhere and beyond. I feel him in my soul.
Feeling so close to the edge, I lift my eyes to look at his reflection in the mirror. I want to see him when he comes inside me. Ben is watching me already. I don’t think he ever stopped.
“So close, Cathy… I need to pull—”
“No. Don’t…it’s okay.”
“Shit…so close.”
As our bodies continue to slam against each other, I can feel the muscles of my body tighten around him. Ben’s fingers rub me faster, and faster until I come undone. A scream escapes my mouth as a rainbow of colors explodes inside me, heightening the sweet emotions flowing through my body.
I observe Ben close his eyes and tip his head back as a ragged groan escapes his mouth when he climaxes. When I feel the warm rush inside me, his arms wrap around my waist as he lays his head on my back, thrusting and shuddering one last time
Warm and fuzzy feelings are running through my blood vessels as he kisses my sweaty back.
“Wow,” his raspy voice mumbles as he tightens his embrace around me.
“Um, yes. Wow.”
“Cathy….”
“Yes?”
I feel him nudge me once more. “Why did we wait so damn long?”
I want to smack him for making such a stupid joke, but when I turn my face sideways to look at him and protest, the tender smile on his lips robs me of logical thought.
“I hope this proves to you how much I want you. You belong to me. Only me.”
At a loss for words, I nod.
I’m his girl.
I’m lying in bed with Ben, spooning. His arms are wrapped around my chest and waist, pulling my back tightly against his front. In the safe haven of his embrace, I sigh contently as I feel his soft breath hit the back of my ear.
I knew it. I just did.
I knew that if we slept together, if I let him own me physically with his hands, with his mouth, with his body, the intimacy of the act was going to push me over the brink, that I was going to free fall into an unknown abyss. Well, I’m on the other side. And if I felt like I could soar before, now I’m skyrocketing through the air.
My body sated but deliciously tender and sore, lips bruised, heart complete, I want to get up and jump on the bed. Shouting to the world how happy he makes me. Ben makes colors seem brighter when he walks into a room, he makes my heart feel as if it wants out of my chest every time I see him or think of him. He makes my world spin.
I smile into the pillow and snuggle closer to his warmth, thinking that Ben was right. I don’t understand why we waited this long. Ashley who? I don’t care. Now I know that Ben feels something for me. Maybe it’s not love for him yet, but I have hope that someday it will be.
“Mmm, stop doing that, baby. Unless you want another go…”
Laughing because I feel so happy, I tease, “I wouldn’t mind another one. I feel like I’ve been robbed.”
“Woman, you’re going to kill me. Aren’t you sore? I don’t want to hurt you. And fuck that shit, robbed, my ass! I felt you spasm around my dick. And babe, trust me, I deliver.”
“Seriously, cocky much?” His smugness is such a turn on.
“Yes, I’m cocky alright,” he says, nudging me with a huge erection.
“What the hell? How can you be…”
“Babe, I’m a guy. Alone with his girl who has her sweet naked ass plastered against his dick. So yes, I’m going to want to fuck again, and again.”
“Wait! No! Before we do anything, I-I want to know…I need to know. Was it good for you? Did you like it?”
Letting me go, he lifts his body to lie on top of mine. His arms are around my head, and his legs and upper body cage me under his. He stares at me with fire burning in his eyes. “Cathy, please. Stop this shit. I don’t like it when you doubt yourself. It’s just me, babe. And I—”
&nb
sp; He stops himself, checking his words. Ben lifts one of his hands, caressing my cheek lovingly. “I think you’re perfect. From the way your green eyes look like deep forests, to your dimples that make me want to do stupid shit. Everything about you is perfect. Everything you do is perfect. So stop that, Cathy. And to answer your question, it was fucking amazing. You’re amazing.”
“Oh.”
As a blush as hot as an iron covers my face, all I can do is lay there trying to let his words sink in. He thinks I’m perfect.
“That’s right. Oh all you want. Now, not to sound like a horndog, which I am and proud of it, can we um, get to it?”
I smack him on his chest as I’m about to protest, but Ben grabs my hand in his. Bringing it to his lips, he kisses it once. “Gosh, why am I even dating you? You are such an ass!”
Ben’s face softens as he murmurs, “Because,” kiss, “ I am the most tender,” kiss, “affectionate,” kiss, “sweetest,” kiss, “and horniest person,” kiss, “you’ll ever meet.” Lifting his face, his eyes pin me on the spot. “So, what do you say? Want to be my girlfriend?”My hands sweating, my chest bursting fiercely like fireworks, I nod. “Yes…if you want to.”
He grins boyishly. “Yes, I want to.”
When Ben lowers his mouth, his lips touch mine very softly, very carefully...opening my mouth to him, his tongue caresses my own as his hands go to my legs, spreading me open once more. As I feel the tip of his erection about to enter me, I break the kiss. Breathing heavily, my body screaming for him, “Wait. I need to know something else.”
He groans, moves off my body and lies on his back, throwing an arm over his eyes. “Go ahead.”
Sexual frustration is seeping out of his pores. Man, does he want me that bad?
“Hey, you said you wanted to talk. So I’m talking.”
“Touché, baby, touché. Go ahead. We are all ears.”
“We?”
“Yes, my dick and I. He’s awake, after all.”
“You’re bad.”
“Only for you, babe, only for you. Now go ahead. I don’t want to rush you, but we’re waiting.”
“I wanted to tell you that nothing happened between Julian and me. And before you go there, I left with him, and we danced a bit too close to each other, but it was all for show. I was angry with you and I didn’t think, so I left with him. I didn’t want to hurt you, and I most certainly don’t want you to get into a fight with Julian over me. He was very sweet in trying to help me out.”
Lifting the arm covering his eyes, he looks at me as he speaks with a scowl on his face, “Julian sweet my ass! He was fucking testing the waters. He wanted you. I saw it. He has some explaining to do, but don’t worry about it for now, babe. He enjoyed it, but he’s never getting that close to you again, and he knows it too. So don’t apologize for that.”
“Please don’t be too mean. He seriously was being sweet.”
“Don’t worry about it. Let me deal with my best friend. And I’m not pissed anymore.”
“Okay, next.”
“There’s more?”
“One more. Where did you go when you disappeared?”
“I couldn’t stand watching you dancing with someone else, so I went to get a beer. I was so mad. I was just getting ready to come find you and put a stop to that loser’s game when I saw you leaving. That’s when I caught up to you outside in the hallway.”
“Are you sure? You weren’t, you know…with someone else? You were gone for a couple of songs.” Why isn’t he telling me about Ashley? I should tell him that I saw them speaking, but I don’t want her to ruin our moment. Maybe I’ll talk to him about it tomorrow.
Ben decides he’s had enough of talking because as he’s answering my question, his hand goes between my legs again. I feel as he dips not two but three of his fingers inside me, stroking me lightly. “Babe, how many times do I have to tell you tonight? I only want you.” Without removing his fingers, he lifts his body with one shoulder watching what he is doing to me. “Only you.”
I feel him remove his fingers and watch him move on top of me. Opening my legs with his hands, he enters me slowly, taking his time, making the moment last. When he’s all the way in, he pauses as we stare at each other, both of us breathing heavily. Slowly, he brings a hand to caress my naked shoulder. “I’ve wanted to do this since the moment I kissed you on the street.”
“Have sex with me?” I ask.
“No.” He bites my lower lip. “Make you mine.”
This time he makes love to me. There is no roughness in his treatment of my body, and I don’t miss it. This feels as if he is telling me with his body what he cannot voice yet. This feels like we are imprinting each other to our bodies and to our hearts. Moaning, I grab the back of his neck and pull him down for a kiss, getting lost in the moment.
Later, as the room is illuminated with soft purples and pinks of the early morning, we’re on the brink of falling asleep after a long night of making love. When my eyes are closing from deep and exquisite exhaustion, I feel him move closer to me, his nose nuzzling my neck as he murmurs in my ear, “I’ll never get tired of you…of this.” He holds my hands in his, twining out fingers together. “I just want to touch you. So fucking badly. So fucking much. You are mine now. Only mine.”
Before falling into an abyss of dreams, I hear myself replying.
“I’m yours.”
The truth reverberates within me until it is etched in my soul.
I wake up, opening my eyes as I stretch my body. Uh oh. Now I feel sore. Very sore. I have red marks everywhere on my body. Smiling, I don’t feel shocked or scared because they remind me of our night together, our first night together, and of everything that happened between us. Those bruises and red marks are a visual memory of what it means to be branded. I was branded physically by Ben with each hard thrust of his hips into me, and with each kiss and every soft word whispered, he branded himself in my heart.
As I extend my arms above my head, trying to shake the sleep induced haze off my mind; I notice that Ben is not in bed. Not giving it a thought, I flip on my stomach and reach for his pillow, bringing it close to my face. I bury my nose in the fluffy case as I try to absorb his essence, inhaling his unique peppermint scent mixed with sweat and the musky aroma of sex.
Geezz…I remember now. This pillow was under my stomach last night when he drove into me from behind. Feeling warm moisture settle in my core, I groan and move the pillow to my chest and hug it as if it were Ben. After a couple minutes of lying idly, I decide I should take a shower before he returns when I hear the door open. I prop myself on my elbows as I watch a freshly showered and dressed Ben enter the room. His smile is so big when he sees me that you can see the beginning of laugh lines around his eyes and mouth.
He is gorgeous.
And he is mine.
“You’re up. I’m glad. I want to teach you how to ride a bicycle.”
“Seriously, Ben? I told you when we had this conversation weeks ago that I wasn’t interested in learning.”
As Ben gets closer to the bed, the smell of his aftershave and his shampoo holds me enthralled. “I know, babe, but I want to teach you. It’s fun. And during the summer we can go to New Hampshire or Vermont and go mountain biking. It’s awesome. And I want you to do those things with me.”
“Okay, fine.” When he’s standing in front of me, I notice the writing on his tee. “I don’t get your t-shirt.”
“What?” Ben asks.
“It says “Liquor on the front.”
A sexy smirk appears on his face. “Read the back, babe, and say it quick.”
When he turns around, I see the rest of the saying. Well. “Poker on the back?” Enunciating the words aloud, I get it. Seriously?
While Ben laughs, he reaches the edge of the bed and kneels next to me. “Gladly, baby. But not now. Now, I want to do this.”
“Ben, take that shirt off! Seriously, that’s—”
“It’s the shit. Now get your delicious ass out o
f bed. I’m teaching you how to ride a bicycle.”
“Thought I did that last night…”
“You did, baby, and you almost gave me a fucking heart attack. But this is different. Come on, no more buts.”
“Fine,” I groan and get out of bed.
Freshly showered and feeling not so sore anymore, I make my way to the spacious breakfast room. The maid who I stopped to ask for directions referred to it as a breakfast parlor. I giggle. Parlor. My secret guilty pleasure is to read regency novels, and the word parlor reminds me of them. Ben definitely could be the hero in one. He definitely looks the part. Ruggedly handsome and masculine.
When I arrive at the room, my eyes immediately scan the area looking for Ben. It doesn’t take me long to locate him. He’s talking to the same beautiful brunette from last night whose exotic features make mine look boring and plain. She is supermodel tall with a Victoria’s Secret model body. They are standing by a window deep in conversation, but that’s not what bothers me.
What punches me in the gut, leaving me breathless, is the way she’s holding his hand in hers. I see the glimmer of tears in her eyes as she talks to him. It looks like she’s pleading with him. Ben looks annoyed, but I can see the softening in his eyes as he lifts a hand to wipe a tear off her face tenderly.
Shit.
Watching him touch her face so gently is a blow to my heart. I’m breaking into a thousand tiny pieces. Walking backwards without looking, I crash into the housekeeper who was holding a tray filled with glassware. It falls and breaks, just like me. Everyone turns in my direction and I apologize to the room, making my way to the front door as fast as I can.
I feel the cool air hit my wet cheeks the moment I begin to run. I don’t care. I just want to get away from that house. I knew this was going to happen. I let myself be fooled by my own wishful thinking. I thought I could make Ben fall in love with me like I had with him.
Yes, I love him. And it hurts. But Ben was never mine to begin with, so I can’t be angry with him if he wants to end whatever we have.