Chapter 16 Ben #2
The word ricocheted through me. I wanted to pick her up, fireman style, and sprint up the stairs with her.
Instead, we calmly separated the dogs, careful not to touch each other on the off chance that it set off some unstoppable chain reaction.
I told her where the puppy food and spare bowls were.
She took Fred and Sam across the hallway into the library to get them settled, while I stayed with Boots and Doodle.
We met at the bottom of the stairs a few minutes later.
I took her hand and wordlessly led her up them, forcing myself to keep a normal pace.
My pulse thrummed, sending adrenaline and lust coursing through me.
I turned left at the top of the stairs, opened my bedroom door, and let go of her hand so she could go in first. She paused just inside, inspecting the room.
I shut the door and went to her, wishing she was wearing leggings instead of jeans.
“This is nice,” she said.
“You’re nice,” I told her.
She laughed, the sound nervous, and started to turn.
I put my hands on her hips to stop her, thinking back to the fantasy I’d dreamt up last night and wanting to experience it for real.
She stilled in my grip. I pulled her backward, wrapped my arms around her waist, and then dropped my lips to her neck.
This wasn’t a fantasy, though, so of course her hair was in the way.
She impatiently pushed it aside, exposing a long line of creamy skin.
I brushed my lips over it.
She jerked away, snorting. “Your beard.”
“Are you ticklish, Ella?” I asked, angling my chin toward her and wiggling my jaw as I leaned in.
“Yes!” She tried to squirm out of my grasp.
I let her go and gave up on replaying that fantasy. This was more fun anyway.
She came to a stop near the foot of the bed, her hair disheveled. The neck of her t-shirt was pulled sideways. Her chest rose and fell as she sucked in heavy breaths. Those blue eyes were wild when they met mine, pupils blown out from lust.
Fuck it.
I walked over to her, picked her up under the armpits, and tossed her onto the bed.
She shrieked mid-air, then laughed when she bounced off the mattress.
Her hands went to the hem of her shirt, and she tugged it off in one fluid motion.
The bra she wore was beige and entirely unremarkable.
I was thankful for that, because I didn’t want anything to distract me away from the sight of her toned stomach, her defined shoulders, that long, swan-like neck.
I put a knee on the edge of the mattress and crawled toward her on all fours.
Her eyes danced as she watched me come. When I got within touching distance, she grabbed my shirt and pulled me closer.
I had to brace my hands on either side of her thighs to keep from falling.
She met me halfway, covering my mouth with her own.
Her lips parted, tongue pressing out, seeking access.
She was taking the lead, and it turned me the fuck on. There was nothing sexier than a woman who knew what she wanted and pursued it with such single-minded intensity.
I opened my mouth and let her in. Our tongues brushed across each other.
She moaned into my mouth, hooked an arm around my neck, and dragged me down on top of her.
I rested my weight on my forearms to keep from smothering her.
Beneath me, her legs spread as wide as her skinny jeans would allow, our hips fitting together as her tongue continued to ply mine with expert precision.
My dick strained against the constraints of my boxers and jeans.
I shifted my pelvis forward, so she could feel how much I wanted her.
She broke off the kiss, gasping. “Too many clothes.”
I sat up and all but ripped my shirt off. The open hunger on her face as she took in the lines of my muscles made every sit-up and bicep curl I’d ever done more than worth it. I barely repressed the desire to flex for her.
Her gaze rose, taking in the tattoo that climbed up my left bicep, whorled over my shoulder, and snaked down to cover both of my pecs in a series of stylized enatas, tikis, ocean waves, spearheads, and shark fins, the spaces between swathed in bands of black.
“It’s beautiful,” she whispered, her tone reverent.
“You’re beautiful.”
Her gaze moved from my chest back to my stomach. She traced the outline of an ab with her finger. “You could do my laundry on these things.”
I cocked an eyebrow up. “In exchange for tasty treats?”
She grinned, nodding. Her nimble fingers slid down, nails scraping lightly over my skin in a way that made me shudder. They came to rest on my belt. Below it, my dick strained toward her. She started to undo my belt, one-handed, while her free hand rubbed up and down the length of my bulge.
I needed these pants off. Now. Hers too.
I reached out and fumbled at the button on her jeans, my fingers trembling.
Her hands disappeared from my waist. She clamped them onto my wrists, stopping me.
I froze. “Sorry. Too fast?”
Horror spread across her face. “I forgot about the underwear.”
Holy shit, she’d been telling the truth. I laughed before I could stop myself. “I thought you were kidding about them.”
“I wish.” Her tone was grim. “Ben, they are so bad.”
“Okay, now I really have to see them.”
She closed her eyes in resignation and released me.
I got her top button undone with a flick of my fingers and then started to slide her zipper down, curiosity making strange bedfellows with the lust still coursing through me.
More of her skin was exposed, and while I could have spent hours staring at it, or dropping kisses on it to find out just how ticklish she was, I was too distracted by the frayed elastic band of her underwear.
I kept unzipping. They were cotton, the fabric a mottled taupe that leaned more toward brown in the darker areas. What the hell?
I moved the zipper lower, and a splotch of orange was revealed. Lower still. A dab of blue-green-gray that reminded me of drowned things. I reached the end of the line and spread the sides of her pants open. A Rorschach-style kaleidoscope of colors stared back at me.
“How the fuck did you even do this?” I asked.
She groaned and covered her eyes. “I used a folded-up rag to wipe up paint one day, and the underwear was stuck inside it from static. I tossed them in the wash with the rest of my paint rags and they came out looking like this. I was going to throw them away, but then I had a vague idea of doing something with them, making some sort of artistic statement full of ennui and existential angst.” She pulled her hands away and looked up at me.
“You know, because I’m so dark and moody. ”
“Oh yes. I know,” I said, fighting back a smile.
“I threw them into my underwear drawer afterward so I wouldn’t forget about them, and then promptly forgot about them. Until today.”
I stared at her. “You’re going to need more than an ugly pair of panties to make me not want to sleep with you.”
Her mouth popped open in response. Then her eyes darkened and her lips lifted in a downright indecent grin before she straight up launched herself at me.
I caught her out of the air and spun us, one arm around her back, the other braced on the bed so I could lay her down on the comforter.
Our mouths crashed together, almost violently.
I dragged myself away from her and gripped the band of her underwear and pants. I paused, looking up at her.
“Take them off,” she said.
Yes, ma’am.
I dragged them down her legs. She squirmed out of them, arching her back at the same time so she could reach behind herself and unhook her bra. It came off a second later, leaving her gloriously naked before me.
“I want to trace your tattoo with my tongue,” she said, her gaze running up my left arm.
I looked down at her. “Funny. I was just thinking about doing the same to your vagina.”
She barked a laugh, and then spread her legs, exposing herself to me, just as unselfconscious as I hoped she would be.
I dropped to my knees, hooked my elbows beneath her legs, and tugged her to the edge of the bed. Her pubic hair was a few shades darker than the hair on her head, trimmed so that I had an unobstructed view of the delicate folds of her sex, of the moisture that already glistened there.
She slid her legs up and rested her calves on my shoulders, then chuckled darkly.
I paused to meet her eyes.
“My legs fit into the divots in your shoulder muscles exactly like I imagined they would.”
I turned my head and kissed the inside of her knee. “You imagined this?”
She let out a shaky breath. “Yes.”
I should have taken my time, traced my way up her leg, licked and kissed and bit the inside of her thighs until she begged me for it. But I did none of those things. Instead, I spread her wider and leaned forward to suck her clit into my mouth.