Chapter 15 Benny
fifteen
Benny
MY PRINCE.
He was beautiful. More so than I ever could have anticipated.
Pale skin, high cheekbones, full lips. His hair was so blond it was almost white.
His eyes… I was lost in his eyes. A willing captive.
A striking blue, so light they almost looked like diamonds.
Gleaming in the low lighting. Framed by long lashes, dampened as he blinked another tear.
I smoothed that one away too, because someone like him should never shed tears without somebody to catch them.
He was flawless. Elegant. Regal. A prince.
“Wow,” I breathed.
“What?”
“You should have told me.”
His brow furrowed. “Told you what?”
“That you’re perfect. I wasn’t mentally prepared for it.”
He rolled his eyes and huffed, but the corners of his lips curved up in a smile and my heart stopped beating.
“Can I kiss you?” I asked, and he sucked in a sharp breath, his eyes flicking between mine and my lips for a long moment before he nodded.
My lips brushed his, silently whispering my deepest desires. Then they connected. Soft but certain. A kiss that wasn’t rushed, that wasn’t a stepping stone to something else but its own moment. Something sparked in my chest, grew, exploding like fireworks.
Maybe I was a hopeless romantic, but I believed every first kiss meant something.
A first kiss told you if there was a connection.
It told you if there would be more kisses just like it.
Maybe even better ones. A first kiss tasted like hope and new beginnings.
It tasted like potential. I’d had many in my life, but this one…
this one tasted like my last first kiss.
I kissed him again. Again. My lips craving him the moment they parted from his. His hands brushed over my sides and found a home there as he pushed up into me, craving this as much as I was. Did he feel it too?
Something I’d been missing slotted into place, and I knew I’d leave here today with more of me than I’d ever been. That every kiss with him would give me another piece of home.
I didn’t know how long passed with us just kissing, slow and deep, until he pushed me back and I almost fought him for more. His cheeks were rosy, his lips pink and plump. I wanted them always to be kiss-swollen like that.
“Beautiful,” I whispered, and he smiled. Fuck, he had a perfect smile. “Are you a model?”
His brow twitched, eyes narrowing. “You… you don’t know who I am?”
My chest constricted with a sudden panic. Was he someone famous? Should I have known? He’d known who I was when we first met. “I’m… I’m so sorry.”
His face was unreadable, and I couldn’t gauge just how much I’d fucked this up. But then he laughed. Even his laugh was beautiful.
“Don’t apologize.” He smiled. “That’s fine. Good even.”
Well, that raised more questions. “Tell me. Please?”
He considered that, one of his hands coming up to brush through my hair—a simple gesture that I’d come to find incredibly soothing. It sent tingles from my scalp down my body.
“You can call me Harpy.”
“Harpy,” I repeated, and he nodded.
“But I prefer Sir.”
I smiled. “Yes, Sir.”
“Good boy.”
My chest filled with warmth. His fingers continued combing through my hair and I wondered, now that we’d seen each other, if he’d be willing to meet me outside this place.
So that I could kiss him and hold him and he could run his fingers through my hair just like this until we fell asleep. Together. In my bed. Or his.
I opened my mouth to suggest it—
“I should go.” He spoke before I could. My disappointment must have been obvious on my face, because he sighed. “I know, pup. I have to get up early for work tomorrow. I shouldn’t have come out on a work night, but… I had to see you.”
I exhaled heavily and nodded, wishing again that we could just fall asleep wrapped up in each other instead of both leaving here alone. “We can still meet on Friday, though?”
He nodded.
“Or sooner, if you wanna. I’ll even blow off my family dinner. Ma would kill me, but it’d be worth it.”
He huffed in amusement. “Friday.”
I pouted but agreed. I’d take all the time he’d give me, even if I’d always want more of it.
We got to our feet, and he watched me very closely, seeming to be anticipating something. I wasn’t sure what that was, but after I winked at him, he rolled his eyes and turned to pick up his clothes.
Then we were getting dressed again. Me in my casual jeans and hoodie with my gym’s logo, and him into fitted suit pants that looked expensive and a dark red shirt that looked equally expensive. Everything about him was polished and sophisticated.
Maybe I should go shopping.
“You go first.”
I frowned. We couldn’t even walk out together? “Oh, okay. Umm… I’ll text you soon?”
He nodded, gesturing his head toward the door to hurry me along.
As I walked out of that room and up the stairs to the open night, I had one thought, one goal in mind—getting him to be mine, not just in that place, but always.
I’d never felt like this with someone before.
Even in my longest relationships, I hadn’t felt a pull toward them the way I did with him. Harpy. My prince. My new purpose.
“You better put that away before Ma catches ya,” Rachel said from the doorway, and I quickly shut the screen off and shoved my phone between my leg and the arm of the couch.
She blinked at me. “What are you hidin’?”
“Nothin’.”
“Uh-huh. Now the truth?”
I chewed my lip. Under normal circumstances, I would have told her I was seeing someone by now. It felt wrong not to, but my situation with Harpy wasn’t exactly normal circumstances.
I couldn’t explain it without her asking more questions, and then I’d need to lie to her about the club, and how we’d met, and I wouldn’t lie to my family about anything.
“I can’t tell you yet.”
“Why not?”
“It’s… complicated.”
I saw her eyes light up and knew immediately that had been the wrong thing to say. She practically pranced over to the sofa and bounced down next to me. “Now you have to.”
“No, Rach.”
“Come on, Bear Bear. You know I can keep a secret!”
I raised my brow at her.
“Well, I will this time.”
“No, I’m not telling you shit, ’cause then you’ll go to Ma because youse tell each other everythin’, and then she’ll be in my ear nonstop about when she gets to meet him and why I—fuck.”
There were practically stars in her eyes. “Him?” she almost shrieked. “You’re seein’ someone?”
“Shhh!”
“Oh, right,” she lowered her voice. “Tell me, tell me everythin’.”
“I can’t!”
“Why? What’s so complicated about it?”
I groaned. “Nothin’. It’s just… it’s not… well, it’s just casual right now.”
Rachel scoffed. “Bear Bear, you don’t do casual.”
Tell me something I don’t know.
“Look, I’m workin’ on it. When there’s somethin’ to tell, then I’ll tell.”
She groaned. “There has to be somethin’ you can tell me. Where did youse meet? What’s his name? How long have you been seein’ him?”
“No.”
“But whyyy?”
“You’re more childish than your kids, ya know that?”
“Oh, pfft. Like you’re so mature.”
“What are you two talkin’ about?” Ma asked as she entered the room.
“Nothin’,” Rach and I replied in unison.
“Youse better not be plannin’ anythin’.”
“We’re in our thirties, Ma. Not schemin’ kids,” I grumbled.
“Well, you’re my kids, and you’re clearly schemin’, so I call bull on that. But dinner’s ready. Is Rikky still comin’?”
“Yeah, he should be.”
“Good. Haven’t seen that boy in too long.”
I refrained from telling her that “boy” was a fully grown man three times her size.
“Bear Bear, go bring the kids in,” Ma said to me.
“Rach, go bring the kids in,” I said to my sister.
“Nah, Ma asked you to do it.”
“They’re your kids.”
“They’re your nephews. What’s ya point?”
I groaned, sensing I wasn’t getting out of this one and I’d have to wait until later to text Harpy after all.
Lachlan and Harvey were playing soccer in the back yard. I’d made sure they had a bunch of equipment when I’d bought this place for Ma. Usually, I would’ve been out there with them, but I’d foolishly thought I could sneak in a little more phone time before dinner was ready.
After I’d wrangled them inside and sent them off to wash their hands for dinner, I heard the front door.
“Jesus, sweetheart, what did ya do to your hands?” Ma exclaimed.
I rounded the corner to see Rikky, thick bandages around each finger on both hands. “Hunting accident. I am fine, Ma, I promise you.”
I eyed the injuries with suspicion and gave Rikky a look when his eyes met mine that told him he’d be telling me the truth behind those later.
I’d also take the opportunity to update him on Harpy.
He was the only one I could talk to about it so far, and not being able to tell the people close to me that I’d found the man who might very well be my soulmate was killing me.
But I’d wait if I had to wait. I’d do whatever I had to in order to keep him forever.