Chapter 44
Chapter Forty-Four
Delaney
The lasagna is still steaming when Brad sets the dish on the table.
It’s the weekly family dinner at the Owens’, and Leia and I were invited. Since it’s our first time, I took the seat next to Leia with Bennett across from me, which is slightly disappointing since I was kind of hoping for some leg squeezes under the table.
We’ve been doing a lot as a family since we told the girls, not wanting them to feel left out. We’ve taken walks around the lake at night, built fires, and made s’mores. We’ve done dinners and gone out for ice cream. But the only time I’m really alone with Bennett is when we’re both working.
Sure, the quickies in his office and the long make-out sessions in his truck have been nice, but they haven’t nearly satisfied me, or him I’m sure.
I keep reminding myself that we have a lifetime together as long as we get a solid foundation with the girls.
We’re not early-twenty-somethings anymore, with little responsibility except for ourselves.
We have two little ones to think about now.
“It’s so good, Leia,” Wren says. “My grandma is a better cook than Uncle Jensen.” She whispers the last part.
“I’m gonna tell him you said that,” Lottie teases, her smile showing that she’s joking.
“It looks delicious, Darla,” I say, catching Bennett staring at me.
A smug smile plays at the edge of his mouth. I tilt my head, wondering why. Lottie helps dish out kid-size portions of lasagna to Wren and Leia as I feel my phone buzz in my pocket. I glance at Bennett. He already has his fork in hand.
Not that many people text me, and I don’t want be rude, so I pull it out and casually check under the table to make sure it isn’t an emergency. With Levi competing in the rodeo, I always fear I’ll get a call from the hospital one day.
Tell me you’re not wearing panties under that dress.
I nearly choke on my own breath from surprise.
I catch him watching me, his eyes full of mischief, pretending he didn’t just light a fire in me.
When I shift in my seat, every inch of fabric clinging to my skin feels too tight.
I threw on this sundress because I was done with the shorts and T-shirts and jeans I have to wear at work all week.
It felt nice to dress up a little, but now I want to go buy a whole lot of them if they get Bennett to look at me as though he wants me to meet him in the bathroom.
I take a slow sip of lemonade, then type back with one hand, using the other to steady my phone beneath the tablecloth.
Maybe you’ll find out later. ;)
Across the table, his mouth twitches. He’s chewing, nodding along to whatever Brooks is saying about the house they’re building, but he glances in my direction every few seconds. Then he nonchalantly rests his fork on the table and looks down at his lap.
Another buzz hits my thigh where my phone is tucked under my leg.
Make an excuse and meet me upstairs. There are four bedrooms to choose from.
I press my thighs together, heat curling low in my belly.
And say what exactly?
That their son feels like he’s seventeen again and can’t get enough of his girlfriend. How about the second on the right? I could be between your thighs making you come in less than five minutes.
My fork slips from my grip, hits the table, and falls to the floor.
Leia glances at me. “Are you okay, Mommy?”
“Yeah,” I say, ducking my head and pretending the fork just slipped, and it’s not because of the man directly across the table.
Bennett’s smirk widens, already pushing back from his chair. “Want me to get you another one?” His voice is full of charm and sweetness.
I narrow my eyes. “No, I’ve got it.” I rise from the table.
“Please, it’s my family’s home.”
Everyone’s eyes are volleying between us as we both walk into the kitchen.
He’s definitely using this as an excuse to get me alone.
He’s going to be the death of me.
“Nice game,” Romy says.
I think she’s calling us out, but the closer I get to the kitchen, knowing Bennett is going to take full advantage of having me alone for a few minutes, I can’t find it in myself to care.
Sure enough, he beats me into the kitchen, and when I walk in and am out of sight of the dining room, he wraps his arm around my waist and cages me against the wall.
God, will there ever come a time my body doesn’t want him?
One hand lands beside my head, palm flat against the wall. The other cradles my hip. The heat radiating off him, the desire coursing in his eyes… I won’t fight him on this. I’ll take every millisecond I can get with him.
I swallow. “They probably know what we’re doing.”
“I know,” he murmurs, not backing off. His mouth is inches from mine. “Did you wear this dress to torment me? If so, it’s working.”
My fingers run down his chest, feeling his muscles through the thin fabric. “I think there’s a different question you want the answer to, no?”
The hand on my hip inches lower, slipping beneath the fabric, deliberately slowly, as if there isn’t a table full of people in the other room. His fingertips curve up my thigh, and I press back into the wall. My skin pebbles as his palm glides higher, skimming along my inner thigh.
He teases, brushing his finger along the outer edge of my panties, and I’m desperate for him to pull the fabric to the side, to touch me.
Bennett’s mouth falls to my neck as that finger doing all the work runs down the center of me, and he stills for a moment. Quickly recovering, he brings his mouth to my ear and groans.
“You’re soaked,” he murmurs, voice rough with awe.
“Disappointed?” I whisper, since I’m not bare under my dress.
He pulls back, locking his eyes with me once more. “Never.”
His thumb brushes over the damp fabric, and I squeeze my eyes shut, biting my lip to keep from moaning.
Our mouths crash together in a frantic kiss that’s all teeth and hunger.
His hand on the wall drops to my waist, pinning me to the wall as if he can’t trust himself not to drag me upstairs and rip off this dress.
He kisses me like that first kiss in his office only weeks ago.
My head tilts, lips parting, and his tongue instantly slides against mine. I whimper when he removes his hand and replaces it with his thigh. I shamelessly grind against it.
“I need a sleepover,” he growls against my lips. “An entire night.”
My fingers tangle in his hair, tugging at the short strands. He dips his head, trailing kisses along my jaw, then down to the sensitive skin beneath my ear.
“Fuck, take whatever you need.”
“We can’t,” I breathe, dizzy from his hips pressing into mine.
Understanding that we’re probably on our last second before curious little feet search us out, he slows the kiss, but it does nothing to stop my desire from building.
“Did you get lost finding a fork?” Lottie hollers from the other room.
He pulls back, chest heaving, then drops his forehead to mine. “Later. You’re not going home without an orgasm.”
I smile, breathless. “I’m already halfway there.”
His eyes flash. “Oh, just you wait.”
“Oh, Leia, sweetie,” Darla says loudly.
We straighten just in time for Leia to pop her head around the corner. “Mommy?”
I clear my throat and pray she doesn’t notice my swollen lips and flushed skin. “Coming.”
Bennett opens a drawer, grabs a fork, and hands it to me. Right before we enter the dining room, his one hand lands on my stomach, pulling my back to his front. His lips land at my ear.
“I love you,” he says sweetly, as if he wasn’t seconds from devouring me against the kitchen wall moments ago.
He weaves by me, leaving me barely holding on and already craving the next time we can be alone.
Everyone at the table eyes us as though they’re saying they know what we were doing.
Wren ignores us as we sit at the table, telling a very animated story about something that happened the other day with Mack.
Leia adds in quiet additions, and I try to focus, I really do, but then Bennett sends another message.
You have no idea the restraint it is taking for me to remain seated at this table.
I squeeze my knees together, hoping to quelch the ache.
Wren reaches for more garlic bread and tips her cup. Bennett lunges to steady it, and while everyone is distracted with the chaos, I hammer out a reply.
You started it.
I hit Send, then add:
Now, keep your hands off your phone and stop eye fucking me across the table with our daughters here.
The word our slips out so easily.
Again, his eyes dip to his lap, and he checks it with a little tilt of his head as though he already knows he’s been caught. When his eyes lift to mine again, they’re darker.
“Wren,” he says, turning to her as if he hasn’t just wrecked me, “did you tell everyone about you and Leia helping at the golf course?”
Wren’s forehead crinkles. “We had to go help Daddy and Delaney at the golf course.” She couldn’t sound less enthused.
Leia cringes. “It was boring.”
Bennett gestures with his fork. “It wasn’t that bad. You got to hit the balls into the holes.”
“Until that man yelled at us,” Wren says, and Leia nods.
They continue their story, a little more animated now, about the mean old golfer with hairy ears.
Bennett looks down at his phone again. If he keeps playing this game, my willpower is going to be shot.
I want to be between your legs so damn bad.
My breath catches, and a flicker of heat travels from my head to my toes and back up.
You’re killing me.
That’s the point.
I try to act as if I’m not seconds from squirming in my seat.
I could have gotten my own fork.
He casually leans back in his chair, one arm draped over the back. The muscle in his jaw flexes once before he types again.
Where would the fun be in that?
Take your phone to the bathroom and send me a picture.
You like to torture yourself.
Yes, especially since seeing you makes me all proud caveman cause you’re mine.
My whole body goes still.
I should say no. I should shut this down. But who am I kidding? I like this game too.
I excuse myself with a quiet, “Be right back,” and slide my phone into my hand.
Darla glances up. “Everything okay? You two have been on your phones this whole dinner.”
“Business,” we say in unison.
“Blue Prairie stuff,” Bennett adds.
“I just need to use the washroom.” I give Darla a smile and push my chair back in before I step away from the table.
Bennett doesn’t look at me as I pass.
I close the door to the downstairs bathroom and lean against it, heart racing. I’ve never sent a dirty text before, but I trust Bennett. I stare at my reflection in the mirror. I’m not fooling anyone in that room. I’m completely flushed, my skin pink.
It feels odd to just take a picture of my pussy. What fun is that? So, I lift the skirt of the sundress, focus more on my inner thigh and the edge of my panties, so he can see the wet spot, and snap a photo.
My finger hovers over Send, second-guessing it, but then I press the button. The moment the message says Delivered, the air leaves my lungs.
My phone buzzes instantly.
Fucking hell, stay right where you are, I’m coming.
I hurry out of the bathroom, not needing him in this small, confined space. If so, his entire family will hear him fucking me because I have no more restraint left.
Right before I enter the dining room, I send one more text.
I expect the same in return just so you know.
Well now’s the time because he’s standing tall and proud at the moment.
Everyone finishes eating, and thankfully, our text exchange stops—probably because we took ourselves to a level we needed to come down from.
When I set a serving bowl in the sink, Bennett steps up behind me.
“Laney,” he says, voice low and dangerous in my ear, “I’m going to rip those panties off of you tonight.”
I glance over my shoulder. “And how do you plan on accomplishing that?”
His hand skims the back of my thigh. “I’m finding us a babysitter.”
“Oh my god, get a damn room,” Romy says, coming in the kitchen, holding dishes.
Lottie comes in and stands next to Romy. “For the entire night.”
Darla breezes in. “It’s cute. The girls will stay with us tonight.”
Bennett winks at me.
“I’m going to send a text to Nash and Jensen to clear the house,” Romy says, pulling out her phone.
“Or at least drop off earplugs.” Lottie smiles at us.
“It’s the polite thing to do,” Darla says with a chuckle.
Bennett isn’t embarrassed in the slightest, putting his arm around my waist and bringing me into him, kissing the nape of my neck.
We’ll need to figure this out eventually, but right now, I just want him to make good on his promises.