Chapter 44
Melody
Melody woke up smiling, knowing it was going to be a great day.
Bright rays of golden sunshine greeted her as her eyelids fluttered open. Based on the amount of light sneaking in through the curtains, she suspected she’d slept long and deep. And no wonder after the night she’d had.
Her right hand came up to stifle a yawn as she extended her left arm and legs in a full-body stretch.
Her lips curved up into a secretive smile as she felt evidence of last night’s activities. It was nothing major. Just a minor ache between her legs that reminded her she’d engaged some muscles she hadn’t used in quite some time.
Ben had played her body like a virtuoso would his most cherished instrument. Her smile grew as she realized that, despite the subtle ache, she couldn’t wait for a repeat performance.
Melody allowed her eyelids to close as a highlight reel played in her mind.
She’d been so keenly aware of Ben last night that she could practically feel the warm brush of his lips and the firm possessiveness of his touch as memory after memory played, warming and exciting her by turns.
It didn’t hurt that she could also detect the faint scent of roses on her pillow.
She could easily imagine she was back in the greenhouse experiencing everything all over again.
Had the scent somehow gotten into her hair? Talk about a full body assault on her senses.
Melody could have happily stayed in bed all day, revisiting her memories of the hours she and Ben had spent wrapped up together under the stars, but she felt too wired to actually do it.
She usually woke up happy and eager to get up, but she felt even more so today.
With the smile of a thoroughly satisfied woman gracing her lips, she gave a contented sigh before reopening her eyes and sitting up against the pillows.
She was momentarily startled to see Ben standing by the dresser on the opposite side of the bedroom. He was fully dressed in a pair of heather-gray sweatpants and a well-worn Harvard Athletics T-shirt, suggesting he’d been up for at least a little while.
“Welcome back to the land of the lucid, beautiful,” Ben greeted warmly. “Dare I hope I have something to do with that gorgeous smile on your face?”
Melody might have been alarmed to find him standing there, for all intents and purposes watching her sleep, were she in any room other than his.
After they’d enjoyed post-coital cuddles under the stars, Ben had pulled out a picnic basket he’d tucked away earlier in the evening.
They’d dined on fresh fruit, chocolate, sparkling wine, and the ecstasy of their flourishing relationship before making their way back to the house.
She’d thought to return to her assigned room for the night, but Ben wouldn’t hear of it, insisting they would both sleep better with her by his side.
If the affectionate look on his face was any indication, he didn’t have any regrets about the way things had played out.
Neither did she. Last night had been absolutely perfect.
He had been absolutely perfect, ringing responses from her she hadn’t even known she was capable of.
She would do it all over again, but she could feel a growing warmth suffuse her cheeks at the memory of how wild and uninhibited he’d made her feel.
She hadn’t known she had that kind of passion in her.
And the things she’d said! Melody pressed her hands to her now scorching cheeks.
Who knew she had it in her to be so bold? She certainly hadn’t.
Ben closed the distance between them with a few long, athletic strides and sat down on the edge of the bed. He stretched out beside her, reached his arm out to cradle the back of her head, and pulled her in for a sweet, tender kiss.
“Good morning, sweetheart,” he said when he drew his lips back from hers.
“Good morning yourself,” Melody returned.
Somehow, she felt at once completely comfortable, a little bit shy, and a lot embarrassed over her uninhibited response to him last night.
She strongly believed in healthy sexuality, which included clearly expressing one’s needs and wants, but that didn’t make asserting herself feel any less awkward or vulnerable.
It was an unusual mix of emotions, if an understandable one given her relative inexperience.
Ben smiled as his eyes roved over her face. “Can I tell you a secret?” he asked as he reached out to brush her hair away from her face and tuck it behind her ear.
Melody nodded. Despite the riot of emotions coursing through her, she felt even closer to him after last night. With that closeness came a powerful desire to know him deeply, to unlock every secret he was willing to share with her.
“I kind of hope you always blush for me,” Ben revealed, as he used the back of his hand to stroke her cheek. “I like knowing I have the power to affect you so much.”
If the extra heat in her cheeks was any indication, Melody suspected her blush had deepened. And no wonder, given the carnal nature of her thoughts. It was one thing to remember them when she was alone. It was another entirely when he was right in front of her.
“Making me blush seems to be your superpower,” Melody muttered.
Ben’s smile grew wicked. “Hopefully, after last night,” he said in a voice that was both rich and deeply sensual, “you feel like I might be in possession of at least one more superpower.”
His gaze swept over her, touching upon her lips, her throat, her collarbone, and the gentle swell of her breasts visible beneath the sleep shirt he’d lent her last night. She shivered at what could have been a simple, innocent perusal, but somehow felt like so much more.
That heat in her cheeks? It didn’t look like it was going anywhere any time soon.
Ben’s soft laugh filled the space between them. “Do you want to tell me what’s going through your head right now?” He emphasized his query with a questioning rise of his brow.
Melody’s eyes widened. No way. No how. She might be catching some serious feelings for the man, but she wasn’t ready to voice all the naughty things going through her mind.
She may have given in to some dirty talk last night, but that was during the height of passion, not in the bright light of day.
Based on the way Ben’s laugh grew both louder and deeper, she suspected her face was doing its best impression of a tomato.
“Am I to assume your thoughts are that good?” Ben teased. His eyes twinkled with undisguised merriment. “Are you sure you don’t want to share them with the group?” Said group consisting of him, her, and the four walls.
Ben looked like he knew exactly what was going through her mind. He’d rocked her world last night. In all probability, he was well aware of it. And remembering it in vivid detail, too.
Her eyes dipped down to the bedspread before she looked up at him from beneath the cover of her lashes. She waited until their eyes connected before replying. “Yes,” she admitted softly, simply. Yes, her thoughts were that good and, yes, she would keep them to herself, thank you very much.
Ben slid his hand down her face and used his thumb to place gentle pressure on the underside of her jaw, encouraging her to meet his gaze full on.
She did as he bid her and lifted her chin so she was looking at him more directly.
She might have felt like squirming had he not been looking at her with such unmistakable affection.
“Are you still going to be shy with me after last night?” he asked as he moved his fingers to caress her cheek. The motion was so soothing she couldn’t help but lean into his touch.
She gave her lower lip a nervous nibble, but held his gaze. “Probably,” she acknowledged. “At least about some things.”
She fought—and beat—the impulse to look away. “I’m not used to feeling so much.” In for a penny, in for a pound. “For someone. Or with someone.”
Ben shifted closer until their knees were touching, his expression so warm she could have sworn it could melt butter.
“That’s okay, sweetheart.” Ben leaned in and placed a soft kiss on her forehead. “Just keep talking to me and we’ll work through anything that comes up together, okay?”
Melody smiled gamely. “All right.”
“And, for the record,” Ben said as he took her hand and braided their fingers together, “this is new territory for me, too.”
Her doubt must have been written clearly on her face because he continued without further prompting.
He raised her hand to his lips and placed a soft kiss on the back of her hand.
She shivered at the way his warm breath blew across her skin.
“Surely, you can tell that I’m falling for you.
” He gave her hand a gentle squeeze before allowing their clasped hands to drop down to rest on her upper leg.
“That I have been falling for you since the very beginning.”
Melody’s eyes grew wide. She leaned back a little more heavily against her pillows in surprise.
“What?” Ben asked, his manner kind but direct. “You thought I might keep that to myself?”
She hesitated for the barest of seconds before giving a single slow nod.
Ben shifted closer, surrounding her with his calm, commanding presence.
It was like she’d entered her very own bliss bubble, what with the way her senses were responding to him.
She couldn’t help but lean toward him as his woodsy, masculine scent hit her nostrils.
She was powerless to resist the heady pull of whatever magical pheromones his body was emitting.
As if unaware of the shockwaves his disclosure had sent roaring through her system, Ben continued without preamble. “From the instant I clapped eyes on you, I knew you were the one for me.”
Melody drew in a sharp breath, but didn’t dare interrupt him. She waited for him to continue. And he didn’t disappoint.
Ben laid his other hand atop their intertwined fingers. “From the instant I clapped eyes on you, I knew you were the one for me,” he repeated. “And every interaction has only solidified the truth I felt in my gut from the very first.”
His hazel eyes bored into hers with unmistakable sincerity. “You’re it for me, Melody,” he said as he gave their joined hands a gentle squeeze.
Ben’s words rendered her temporarily mute. Could she have really heard him correctly?
After what felt like forever, her jaw unlocked and her tongue lost its flaccidity, giving her confidence that any words she chose to speak wouldn’t escape her mouth in an incoherent jumble. “Ben, I—”
He stopped her by laying a gentle, silencing finger over top of her lips.
“Please don’t feel the need to say anything just yet,” he said supportively. “I’ve always known how I feel quickly and without question. I know other people don’t always work like that.”
Her heart thumped in her chest.
“Take your time, sweetheart,” he reassured. “I’m a patient man. I can wait for your feelings to catch up to mine.”
They say actions speak louder than words.
Banking on the notion she could better express herself with her lips than her words anyway, Melody lifted herself up and raised her mouth to his.
She did her best to pour all her feelings into the brush of flesh on flesh.
She kissed him softly, her lips like butterfly wings as they delicately traced his.
She then kissed him like she’d always wanted to be kissed.
Soft and moist, hot and breathy, not fighting him but seeking to unify them in both mind and body.
Heat that had nothing to do with her earlier blushes rose in her body as she touched her tongue to his, softly at first and then more firmly, both curious and determined to surrender herself to this glorious connection that raged between them like an inferno.
Ben groaned as he tunneled his fingers through her hair and gripped her scalp, the better to gain some control of the kiss.
She’d wondered how long he would let her kiss him like that before turning the tables on her and kissing her back with a strategy all his own.
Not that she cared. She was fast learning the best relationships consisted of a dynamic balance of power, with equal amounts of give and take.
She’d just given and she would most happily take back.
Ben’s kiss was intoxicating. She moaned as she lost herself to the multitude of sensations. She would have time enough later to tell him she was already falling for him, too. For now, she was content to show him.
Warmth. Trust. Tenderness. Passion. Budding love. It was all there in the way she surrendered to the moment and returned his kiss for all she was worth. Hopefully, he was able to read the message she was sending him.
Melody was pulled out of the moment by a loud clanging sound from somewhere downstairs. If she had to guess, she’d wager it was the sound of a metal bowl bouncing off a countertop and hitting the floor. A smile pulled at her lips. Someone had probably left Eric in the kitchen unsupervised.
Ben removed his hands from her body and leaned back, the moment obviously broken for him, too.
“It sounds like breakfast is underway,” Ben observed, a winsome smile playing at his lips.
He reached one of his hands up and brushed the curve of her lower lip with his thumb. An inconvenient jolt of pleasure raced through her body.
“As much as I would love to stay here with you all day,” Ben said, “what do you say I leave you to get dressed while I go help out downstairs?”
Melody pressed her lips together, inadvertently placing something of a kiss to Ben’s thumb before he drew it away from her mouth. She didn’t want him to leave, either, but she knew they couldn’t stay in bed all day. Especially not while at his parents’ home, which was full of their friends.
She was just about to answer when her stomach rumbled.
Ben laughed softly. “I guess that answers that.”
He placed a gentle kiss on her lips before getting up and moving to the door. “I’ll see you downstairs whenever you’re ready.”
With a tiny wink that somehow made him all the more sexy, he blew her a kiss, then let himself out, gently closing the door behind him.
Melody dragged her bottom lip through her teeth as she flung back the covers and threw her legs over the side of the bed.
It was time to get up and face the horde.
While she wasn’t ashamed of what she and Ben had done last night, she really hoped her cheeks would do her the favor of maintaining their usual golden glow.
Her insides warmed at the idea of further claiming Ben as her own, but there was no reason others needed to be privy to their most intimate details. After all, some things were best kept private, were they not?