Chapter Forty-Four
Ben wordlessly stomped down the hall, kicked open the door, and walked directly to the cardboard bed we were about to christen.
The room was dark and half packed up, with the only light coming from the streetlamps through a small rectangular window.
“Is it okay if we break this thing?” Ben asked as he lowered me down onto the worst bed I’d ever slept on.
Although sleep was the last thing on my mind.
“Exactly how much force are you planning to use, sir?” I teased.
He straightened and looked down at me through narrowed eyes. “As much as it takes.”
Ben couldn’t maintain the tough-guy act and broke into a laugh.
“Get over here,” I giggled as I grabbed his hand and pulled him down on top of me.
The running joke around the Village was how strong the things were, with social media posts featuring athletes doing all sorts
of jumps and suggestive contortions on top of their beds to prove the readiness. I was about to find out for myself.
“Ah yes, just as shitty as I remember,” Ben said as we tried to get comfortable on the equivalent of a refrigerator box.
He raised up on his elbow to stare down at me.
“What?” I whispered, feeling studied and adored at the same time.
“I’ve just been thinking about this since Connecticut.”
“Then stop waiting and do something,” I teased.
Instead of moving he remained there, hovering above me and taking me in, one centimeter at a time. He finally reached down
to tug at the zipper of my hoodie, raising one eyebrow as if asking for permission.
I nodded, holding my breath.
Ben drew the zipper down slowly, pausing when it cleared my breasts. I hadn’t worn a bra or underwear, hoping for this very
happy ending.
I shivered and sucked in a breath as he gazed at me.
He swept his palm across my chest, partly to move the fabric away and partly to tease me with the faintest drag across my
nipples. I squeezed my eyes shut and arched against his hand, desperate for more contact.
Ben sat halfway up and wrenched his thermal over his head. He tossed it on the ground by the bed, then lowered himself on
top of me again.
I sighed when his naked chest came down on top of mine and I felt the faintest tickle of his coarse hair. Our eyes met and
we smiled at each other in unison.
“I’m really happy,” I whispered.
“You don’t even know,” he replied, his dark eyes glinting hungrily.
He leaned down to kiss me and our tongues connected immediately, fast-tracking us to what was to come.
Ben’s kisses managed to find hidden spots on my body that I had no clue were sensitive, and I was surprised by the noises that came out of me when he took my earlobe into his mouth for a suck and nibble.
But then he moved on to twisting my hair around his hand and tugging ever so slightly to give him access to more of my neck to kiss, which sent a roll of pleasure through me.
I wiggled beneath him to get all the way out of my hoodie. After being encased in down and wool and more down every time we
tried to connect, I was eager to give him as much access to my body as possible.
He seemed to understand and hooked his thumbs under the elastic of my sweats. I raised my hips up and he inched them down,
planting kisses as each new patch of skin was exposed.
“Commando,” he murmured appreciatively and kissed each hip bone.
I couldn’t answer because he continued moving his mouth down my body, sparking every nerve to life. I rolled my hips up to
meet his lips, hoping for the second time in just a few minutes that I didn’t seem desperate for him.
But I was, because Ben was making my skin shiver with each kiss. He pulled my sweats all the way off, then paused to take
my foot in his hand and plant a kiss on top of it.
“These poor little feet,” he whispered as he switched to kiss the other one. “They worked so hard.”
He crawled back to me, easing my legs wider then dipping between them so quickly that I let out a little squeak of shock.
Within seconds it became a sigh of pleasure as Ben’s tongue pressed into me, making me melt against him.
He was deliberate, like he was pacing his pressure on the way I moved and moaned with each flick of his tongue. His little
circles narrowed around my clit and the tension continued to build until I felt like I was about to pass out. I moved away.
“Are you okay?” he asked, his voice thick with concern.
I was already on my knees in front of him on the bed, working the button on his jeans. “I’m a one-and-done kind of girl and I want you.”
He went concave as he watched me struggle with his zipper with shaky hands. “One and done, huh? Oh, that’s going to change.”
I finally managed to get his zipper down and he slid off the bed to pull down his jeans, but not before grabbing something
from his back pocket. Then he hooked one hand beneath my knee and the other behind my shoulder to gently guide me to the edge
of the bed. He stepped closer before I could fully take him in, but I got a glimpse of a body that I’d been dreaming about
since our night at the inn.
I closed my hand around his hard length and he let his head drop back. He groaned as I started sliding my hand along him.
But then it was his turn to move away. I heard the telltale crinkle of a wrapper.
“I don’t trust this thing,” he nodded toward the bed.
“Do your worst,” I teased.
He moved me to the very edge of the bed and bumped between my legs. By some engineering marvel the bed was the perfect height,
and within seconds Ben had pushed deep inside of me.
Every part of my body tensed for a moment as we adjusted. Ben paused to savor the connection between us, then started rocking
against me. He rolled his hips slowly and let out a low groan as I locked my legs around his waist and pulled him closer to
me, driving him deeper.
I felt like I couldn’t get close enough to him after maintaining our polite boundaries for so long. But now he was truly mine,
which gave me the freedom to claim him. I dug my nails into his back and bit his shoulder, an exclamation point that suggested
I’d eat him whole if he let me.
He leaned close to me, never breaking his rhythm. “You’re so fucking amazing,” he rasped in my ear.
He kissed me hard on the mouth before I could reply, then reached down between our bodies. His fingertips found their way
back to my heat and the sweetness I was feeling quadrupled.
It was like the ground beneath us was shifting, and then the pressure within me released, rolling through wave after wave
of pleasure. I cried out as I came, arching closer to him, and within seconds he tensed, shuddered, and called out my name.
He fell toward me and we both collapsed onto the bed in a pile. We breathed each other in, panting and a little sweaty.
“Cardboard bed for the win,” he said weakly against my neck, putting a fist in the air.