21. Chapter 21
Chapter twenty-one
Benji
Gina walks by with a box and my fingers itch to touch her. It’s been three days since that rainy day in her cabin and not touching her in public is hard.
When she bends over to set it on the floor next to a shelf of wooden trinkets for sale, the urge moves from my fingers to my cock.
I have to stop what I’m doing and tell myself a story about the drama unfolding at the hummingbird feeder outside the window.
Celeste and Holly doggedly try to get past Keith, who won’t let them near the feeder because he recently found out Holly is secretly dating Keith’s best friend, Chip. And Celeste insulted his wingspan.
After about twenty seconds, I lose track of which hummingbird is which, and the whole drama falls apart. I need a new coping strategy.
My shift overlaps with Gina’s by two hours today, and the last hour and fifty minutes have been torture.
I’m cleaning the glass of the chillers because Diana is determined to win the never-ending battle with fingerprints.
I take a quick look around. Wade is the only other person in here.
We’ve already made plans to take the metal detector out to one of the meadows this week, and now he’s over in the lounge, looking through the bookshelves for something to read.
Diana is around somewhere, but I can’t see her, so I set the glass cleaner down and move quickly.
Gina gasps when I drop down next to her.
“No pressure,” I whisper, “but our four-month anniversary is on Sunday.”
She gives me a puzzled look but stands to look around the lodge before she turns to say, “Does it really count?”
“Yes, it counts,” I say, mock offended. Then I drop my voice. “I’m pulling out all the stops, so you’d better bring your A-game.”
Gina smiles, and fuck it. She said we’d have to be careful and keep it in her cabin, but we’re practically alone. I want to tease her a little.
I run the back of my hand down her stomach to her shorts, hooking the tips of my fingers into the waistband.
She freezes, and I’m about to pull her closer when Diana storms in from the office.
We’re hidden from the chest down by the shelf, but we’re still standing too close.
Gina takes a quick step away from me, making it look worse.
Luckily, Diana only spares us a passing glance.
I snatch up a small wooden chipmunk, holding it up. “What about this?” I ask Gina.
Gina stumbles over her words, her eyes following Diana to the reception desk. “It’s cute?”
I pick up a wooden duck. “Maybe this? Mrs. Gustafson?”
“It’s Diana,” she calls back, then turns to look. She frowns at me. “It’s a duck.”
Gently, I touch the healed cut on my forehead. “Yeah.”
Gina stifles a snort.
“I want to send something to my mom,” I tell Diana. I should send her something. And something for Dad because those pancakes worked perfectly. “A souvenir.”
Diana gives me an approving look. “Send a postcard—it’s cheaper, you can personalize it, and everyone likes getting a postcard.”
I put the wooden animals back on the shelf. “Good point.”
“Are you finished?” She doesn’t say it rudely, but it’s a pointed remark meant to put me back on task.
“One more to go,” I tell her as I return to my window cleaner.
Diana nods. “If you don’t mind working an extra ten minutes, the boathouse could use some tidying up. We’re going to lose paddles the way everything gets tossed about.”
“Sure.” I glance over my shoulder. Gina’s back on her knees, putting wooden coasters onto a shelf, and she shoots me a bewildered look.
I can’t help it if parents and grandparents like me. I almost wink, but I catch Diana’s eyes on me. So I spray some cleaner on some glass and get back to work.
The bell tinkles over the door. Milo walks in carrying a long, flattish box. He sees Diana but pivots toward Gina, who stands again.
“Ran into Dave at the mailboxes,” he says quietly to her. “This came for you.”
“Is that what I think it is?” Diana asks as Gina takes the box.
“My wedding dress,” Gina says absently. “That was…fast.”
Relief spreads over Diana’s face. “We paid for priority shipping. You’d better try it on so we can see if it needs to be altered. Go. Now,” she adds when it looks like Gina’s about to protest that she’s working.
Gina ducks her head to hide her disappointment and takes the box into the office.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Diana asks Milo as he reaches for the door.
His shoulders tick up like he’s expecting a scolding. “Firewood.”
“It can wait. Stay to see the dress.”
Milo frowns. “It’s bad luck.”
“Nonsense.” Diana waves her hand dismissively. “Gina’s not superstitious, and neither are you.”
He doesn’t say anything. Diana’s face takes on a sterner expression. “You need to show more interest in your bride-to-be. Gina is a good girl and deserves more than the bare minimum you give her.”
The microfiber cloth makes a loud squeegee sound, and Milo finally looks at me.
I haven’t seen him since he left the cabin on Monday.
Okay, that’s not strictly true. I’ve seen him arguing with Briar over something and delivering firewood around the camp.
But it’s the first time we’ve been in a room together, looking at each other and knowing .
He knows Gina and I are real. I know they’re fake.
It’s awkward. I'm pretty sure he still doesn’t like me. My feelings are still mixed. I want to like him, but he’s been a shitty fiancé and a shittier friend to her.
Gina is incredibly fast at changing. It’s been a minute, maybe two, and she walks back into the lodge wearing the dress. I only catch a glimpse—the shelves hide most of her—and it’s not nearly enough.
“It fits perfectly,” she says to Diana.
My feet carry me along the aisle to stand beside Milo near the door.
The mid-calf length skirt lifts as Gina twirls for Diana. Whatever Diana says next sounds like it’s coming from underwater as I drink in the sight of my wife in her wedding dress. Gina smooths the fabric over her stomach and replies to Diana.
I don’t hear them.
She’s beautiful, and I’m down so bad. Gina smiles and walks my way. It’s like watching her walk down the aisle again, but now we’re not strangers. She’s my person.
“What do you think?” Diana asks, loud enough to shake me out of my stupor.
“Wow,” I say without thinking.
Milo clears his throat. “You look beautiful,” he says to Gina.
Oh. Because Diana was asking him. And Gina isn’t walking to me.
My face goes hot. I take an awkward step back as Gina shoots me a panicked look. She turns back to Milo immediately, and I know it’s fake when she wraps her arms around his neck, and he wraps his around her waist. Her heart belongs to me. But it sucks that he’s in my place.
I turn and go back to my fingerprint-smeared glass. I tell myself they don’t kiss—not even a peck for Diana—and finish the job.
“Right, I’m off to the boat house.” I don’t know what makes me say that so loud. Maybe it's because I’m not convinced they won’t be kissing for show. I don’t even want to see them standing close when she’s wearing that dress. So, I don’t look in their direction.
“Benji,” Diana calls as I step out onto the back deck.
I pause.
“Leave the glass cleaner and rag,” she says.
Oh. Right.
I force a smile and walk back to leave them on the desk. Then I get the hell out of there.
It’s cool inside the boathouse. Private, too. I blow out a breath and lean against the wall.
I fucked up.
Keeping this secret for a whole summer is going to be hard.
It’s going to have to stay a secret beyond summer , a little voice reminds me.
Diana leaving will take some of the pressure off, but not all of it.
For the marriage to look real, they can’t divorce as soon as Diana leaves, especially since Diana will return for holiday visits and still has friends in Havenwood.
It doesn’t take me long to tidy up the boathouse. It’s not even messy. A few life jackets are on the ground, and some paddles are propped in the corner instead of placed on their racks. That’s all.
With nothing else to do, I walk around the camp, stopping to chat with Pamela and Joelle.
Wade walks by, and we decide to take the metal detector over to the tree house instead.
There’s a group of women in their fifties up for a long ladies’ weekend doing Jello shots and playing cornhole at cabin four, so I join them for a quick game.
Despite being the cornhole champion of many Dwyer family barbeques, I lose. Badly. I blame the two Jello shots.
It’s kind of amazing how quickly Happy Lake has become my home, too.
I want to stay here with Gina, and if the only way that happens is to watch her marry Milo and be her secret, then that’s what I’ll do.
But I want her laughing at my wild cornhole misses, teasing me about not being able to get it in the hole.
I want to watch her nose wrinkle at the strength of these Jello shots and taste them on her lips without fearing someone might see.
Six o’clock rolls around. Diana should’ve gone home for the night. The bell tinkles as I walk back in. Diana is nowhere in sight, but Gina’s leaning against the reception desk and talking to some guests who want to know the best spots for some early morning fishing.
I don’t say anything, but Gina watches me walk past her and down the hallway to the office.
I rap my knuckles on the desk and wait for the guests to leave. She’ll follow me in here. We need a moment together if she’s feeling anything like I’ve felt since seeing her in her wedding dress.
The bell tinkles as the guests leave, and Gina’s footsteps come closer. “Hey,” she says, closing the office door most of the way.
“You looked beautiful in your dress,” I say softly.
“Thanks.” She walks into my arms, resting her head against my chest. “This is going to be hard.”
It is, but I don’t want to think about it that way. I don’t want her thinking about it that way. “Maybe it could be fun. A little exciting.”
Her look is skeptical. “How?”
“Turn around.”
She does. I walk her forward to the nearest wall. If we don’t hear the bell over the door for whatever reason, and someone walks by the partially open door, they won’t be able to see us here. Not right away.
“What are we doing?” she asks, an excited little tremble in her voice.
I unbutton her shorts so I can slip my hand down the front of her underwear. She sucks in a breath, but she doesn’t tell me to stop. “Hands on the wall, Gina,” I whisper against her ear. “Let’s see how quiet you can be with my fingers deep in your pussy.”
“We shouldn’t,” she murmurs, but she’s already bracing one hand on the wall, the other running up my arm to grip my biceps.
We shouldn’t. She was very clear that we had to keep it in her cabin. But we’ll be able to hear someone coming. Besides, it’s a Thursday night, and those are quiet.
She doesn’t tell me to stop, so I brush her clit. Her grip on my arm tightens. I chuckle softly against her ear. “I bet I can get you off in two minutes.”
“You’d better,” she says, tipping her neck for me to kiss it, which I do after breathing the scent of her deep into my lungs.
Milo can get the pleasure of telling her she looks beautiful in her dress as long as I get to see her like this. And one day, I’ll be the one she’s walking to in public.
I dip lower, and she’s so wet. “You’ve been thinking about me, haven’t you?” I whisper. I should shut up, but I can’t seem to stop myself. “Wanting me as bad as I want you.”
“Benji,” she hisses, an edge of desperation in her voice.
Awareness of the open door prickles over my skin, and I know it’s heightening her arousal because after about twenty seconds, her body is undulating with my touch, and her breathing has gone heavy.
“That’s right,” I murmur, lifting my lips to her ear. She’s so fucking pretty when she lets go. She’s pretty anyway, but like this, she’s glowing. “Just like that.”
She whispers my name again. This time, she’s on the brink. She draws a breath, holds it, and trembles violently in my arms as she comes without a sound, her fingers digging into my arm, her thighs clamped over my fingers. Fucking perfect.
“That’s my girl,” I say, waiting until the last tremors pass before slipping my hand free and gently doing the button on her shorts back up. “So pretty when you come for me.”
Gina turns, grabs my shirt, and pushes me against the wall.
Her lips press against mine as her hand dives into my shorts.
One firm stroke, and all my weight goes against the wall.
This was supposed to be me getting her off, but with her hand around my cock—fuck, she holds me so good—I can’t even get the words out to tell her she doesn’t have to.
I only wanted to remind her that we’re worth this frustrating secret.
“Show me how you like it,” she whispers. If my wife wants to jerk me off, I’m going to let her. Help her.
I shove my shorts down just enough, no further than necessary, and wrap my hand around hers, showing her where I like the pressure in her grip, setting a rhythm that’s fast and hard because we cannot be caught like this. Gina looks up at me with those beautiful, eager green eyes.
Oh shit—everything is suddenly very tight. “Ah, I’m going to need something,” I gasp. I am dangerously close to making a hell of a mess. “Need a-a tissue or something.”
Gina drops to her knees, and oh god, I am not prepared for how she looks when she opens those pretty pink lips for me or how it feels when I slide the head of my cock between them.
She doesn’t try to take me too far into her mouth, but she uses her lips, her tongue, and her hand together.
My eyes nearly roll back in my head. It’s so fucking good.
“I’m going to—” My warning ends in a grunt as my world turns inside out, release rushing forward.
My head hits the wall. I tighten my hand over hers as I come, helping her milk every last drop while she stares up at me with wide, lust-hazed eyes.
When my hand stops, hers does, too. Her lips slip back over my too-sensitive tip, and a strangled fuck escapes my lips, a little louder than intended.
Gina swallows, wiping at the corners of her mouth as she gets to her feet. I don’t think I can move, but I manage to get my shorts back up somehow.
She leans into me, resting her forehead on my chest. “I can’t believe we did that.” Her shoulders shake with a quiet laugh.
An echo of her laugh rumbles in my chest, and I murmur yeah , but the bell is already tinkling over the door, a voice calling out a loud ‘hello?’ from somewhere near the reception desk. Gina jumps away from me, her eyes wide. She wipes at her mouth again. “Am I good?”
She’s a little flushed and a lot flustered. To me, she looks like she just sucked on my cock after she came, but to anyone else, she’ll look like they caught her slacking off.
Beautiful, I want to say, but that’s not what she needs to hear.
“Yeah,” I say, and she ducks out the door.