Chapter 12
All through the ride back on the ferry and the walk to the hotel, via a stop to get condoms, Clara’s blood fizzled with anticipation.
There were many times at the zoo when she’d wanted to blurt out that she loved Ben.
When he had hugged Charlee after they arrived.
The kiss he’d given her in front of everyone.
Her toes had curled, and if they’d been anywhere other than out in public, she would’ve dragged him to the nearest flat surface and ravaged him until they were breathless and boneless.
The conversation she overheard between Ben and Reed before they’d left was intense, but she hadn’t been worried Reed was trying to warn Ben away from her.
Lauren had just finished telling her how happy Reed was that Fern and Ben hadn’t gotten married, and he told Lauren that he fully expected her and Ben to finally realize they were meant to be together.
Clara hadn’t corrected the woman, because it was true. They were meant to be together; they had just taken their time to get to that point.
Now they were about to enter their hotel room, and Clara couldn’t wait until the door closed behind them and she had Ben all to herself again.
Like the previous evening, the second the door clicked shut, Ben had her against it and kissed her as if he was a starving man. It was as though he couldn’t get close enough to her. They ripped at each other’s clothes, and somehow Ben had a condom on his cock before she’d even dropped her pants.
“I need you so much, Clara. It’s going to be hard and fast.” Ben kissed his way down her throat until he found that spot, the one where her neck met her shoulder. A spot she had no idea was so sensitive and turned her on so much until Ben had found it.
She moaned as he nipped her flesh and slammed into her at the same time. She was more than ready for him, and when he started moving she met him thrust for thrust. It wasn’t long before her legs were shaking and she was ready to tip over the edge.
Her orgasm burst through her at the same time as Ben’s, their cries mingling in the air. Clara clutched onto him, grateful that she had something solid behind her and Ben in front of her, otherwise she would be a puddle on the ground.
“Was I too rough?” Ben asked as he carried her over to the bed, laying her gently on the soft mattress.
“No, far from it. I loved every second of it.”
Ben went to pull away from her, but Clara grabbed his hand tugging him down so that he was lying on top of her. Her pants were still trapped around her ankles, but she didn’t care. This moment with Ben was perfect.
“I love you, Bennett Bolton. I think I always have but have been too scared to tell you.” The words she’d kept trapped inside of her for so long, escaped.
Ben’s eyes widened and a soft smile played around his lips.
“Fuck, Clarabelle, I love you too. I know it’s probably hard to believe, considering what I should’ve been doing two days ago, but it’s true.
You are my soul mate. The person I was made for.
Like you, I was scared to believe what I felt for you was more than friendship. I can’t imagine you not in my life.”
Tears welled in her eyes at his confession. Deep down she’d always thought he’d felt the same way as her, but she also hadn’t trusted herself enough to believe it to be true. “I can’t believe this is happening.”
Ben moved so that he was lying on his side, facing her. His hand came up and smoothed her hair away from her face, the touch and gesture sweet and gentle. “Believe it. Because now that it is, it’s not going to stop. This is the start of the rest of our lives.”
Her breath hitched, he wasn’t about to propose, was he? It was way too soon for that, even though it was what she wanted. “What exactly are you saying here?”
Ben chuckled. “Not what’s going through your mind. Well, not yet anyway. I know that you’re it for me, Clarabelle, but I also don’t want to rush into anything. For so long we’ve been Clara and Ben, best friends. We need to know who we are as Ben and Clara, the couple.”
Everything he said made sense. There was a big leap going from being friends to being lovers and more. “We do. But I also have no doubt that the transition will be easy. I don’t want anyone other than you Ben. I’ve been comparing every man I date to you. That's why nothing lasted.”
“I was so close to making the biggest mistake of my life because I thought that we didn’t have a chance.
That you didn’t feel the same way about me as I felt about you.
So I buried it deep, hoping that I could find what I felt for you with someone else.
I told you the other day that I didn’t love Fern the way I should’ve, but I believed that what I felt for her was enough.
It wasn’t and at least she had the sense to realize that, even if she did go about it in a roundabout way. ”
“As much as I’m grateful for Fern, I’m not going to tell her that,” she said with a laugh. “I know I was never Fern’s favorite person and maybe that was because she could see what we, ourselves, didn’t see.”
Ben lifted one shoulder. “Maybe, and if she did, she should’ve had the guts to act before we were only a couple hours from saying I do.”
“At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how we got here, just that we finally did.” Clara clutched Ben’s hand close to her heart. “I love you to the depths of my soul. I don’t ever want to let you go.”
Ben squeezed her hand. “I don’t want you to. And I’m never going to let you go either.”
“God, we sound so cheesy.”
Against her hand Ben’s chest rumbled with laughter. “We do.”
Desire flared to life, and she didn’t want to talk anymore.
There would be plenty of time for them to work out their future and the next steps they’d take.
But they had another night together before they had to face the real world and she planned to make the most of this haven they’d created.
“How about we celebrate this new shift in our relationship with a bubble bath and some champagne?”
Ben’s eyes darkened with need and his cock hardened against her leg. “I’ll order the champagne and strawberries while you run the bath. I love you, Clara.”
“I love you too, Ben. So much.”
Their lips met, and the bath and champagne was forgotten as they cemented their love for each other.