26. Ben
BEN
Her nose crinkled in confusion at my confession. My fingers played with the small strands that now only brushed the sides of her head instead of hanging over her shoulders.
The new cut was sexy and edgy, something I never would have said to describe my wife. Then again, she was nothing like she used to be, and I was beginning to see that there were layers to my wife I’d never discovered.
“I’m not sure what to say to that.”
As she shifted to move off me, I clamped down on her thighs, refusing to let her leave.
“What I mean is that…I’m starting to see how much I’ve missed over the years.”
Biting her lip, the confusion only grew. “That still doesn’t answer the question.”
“You look fucking beautiful,” I grinned. “Sexy and so damn feisty. Yeah, I fucking like it.”
I saw the moment she was about to chastise me for my language, but instead, she snapped her lips shut.
Tugging her back down, I let my hand slide over her back, brushing the dimples just above her ass. I hadn’t held her like this in so long, and now that I had her, I never wanted to leave. But we had to get a few things straight if this was going to work.
“You don’t dance with anyone but me. You got that?”
Her head jerked up and she glared daggers at me. “Really? Then you don’t flirt with other women.”
My jaw dropped in shock at her words. “And just who the hell am I flirting with?”
“Oh, please!” she snapped, pulling away from me, grabbing her dress to cover up. “Like you don’t know!”
“I really have no fucking clue. And stop getting dressed,” I growled, tearing the dress out of her hands.
“Please, the whole fucking town saw you with her!”
“The whole fucking town? I would love to know who I was flirting with and why the hell you’re swearing.”
“Everyone else swears. Why can’t I?”
“Because it’s just not natural to hear those words from your lips!” Then I remembered what she said to me not even a half hour ago, how those dirty words left her lips. “Unless we’re fucking.”
“Oh, right. It’s okay on your timeline.”
I was getting really pissed off by her attitude. “Who the hell was I supposedly flirting with?”
“River!” she shouted, snatching the dress out of my hands.
I sat there stunned for a good three seconds before I burst out in laughter. “River Ainsley?”
“Oh, don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about.”
“I would love to know why the hell you thought I was flirting with her.”
“I saw you! You were in the gym, showing off your muscles! She was fawning over you!”
I barked out a laugh, surprised by what she thought was going on. It was time to set the record straight. “Sam has been helping me get in shape, and he thought River could help with my…” I cleared my throat, a little embarrassed by it. “My flexibility. For you.”
“For—” She stopped, narrowing her eyes at me.
“You’ve been doing all this shit to make yourself better.
And I realized how flabby I was after Sam made me jog back to the gym with him.
So, I started working out and running with him.
River was merely commenting that my muscles were becoming more defined.
She said she could notice the difference working out was making. That’s it.”
Suspicion coated her gaze, but she wasn’t completely lost to me. “So, you weren’t having an affair with a younger woman?”
“Honey,” I laughed, “I’m having a hard time holding onto you. Why the hell would I try to keep up with someone younger than me?”
I pulled her against my body, kissing her roughly. Damn, I loved this woman.
“Well, next time, tell River to keep her eyes to herself. It’s bad enough that everyone else sees you with your shirt off. I don’t want to compete with women half my age.”
“I could say the same to you. Walking around in those skimpy shorts and wearing that fucking dress to the bar.”
“I only wear the shorts when I work out.”
“And the dress?”
She sighed, brushing her lips against mine. “It was for you.”
“For me? Then why the hell did you walk into the bar wearing that dress?”
Her body shook with laughter as she buried her face in my chest. “Because I wanted to make you jealous.”
“Well, it sure as hell worked.”
“Really? Then explain why when I looked over you weren’t paying any attention to me.”
“Because Sam and Deke were trying to keep me from walking over to Mav and Charlie and beating the shit out of them.”
A smile flickered over her face, and even in the dim lighting, I could see that blush staining her cheeks. The same fucking blush she got when we were kids and I was staring at her for what felt like hours. Desperate to see her smile back at me or kiss me.
Fuck, I’d always been in love with this woman, and the fact that she had to go to such dire lengths to make me see her again really pissed me off.
“So, tell me the truth, were you trying to kill me the day you rammed your car through the gym window?”
“Not even slightly.”
“Then what happened?”
Her face turned bright red, and she glanced away, picking at absolutely nothing. “I told you, my foot got caught.”
“Uh-huh.” If this was the way things were gonna go between us, we were in a shit ton of trouble.
Sighing, I sat up, tugging her back onto my lap. “Clara, there are things we need to discuss.”
“Why do I not like the sound of that?” She covered up once again, almost like she was shielding herself from my words.
“Things can’t go on like they are. I can’t fix things if I’m not here.”
“Has anything really changed?” she whispered, dropping her eyes.
I tilted her face up, forcing her to look at me. “I see now what drove you away from me. I get it, and I’m working on that. But you can’t push me away to protect yourself. That’s not how we fix this.”
She nodded slightly, her eyes still not meeting mine. “I can’t go back to where we were. And…I’m terrified that if I let you back in…”
“Honey, we’re married. For better or worse.
That’s the way this works. You kicked me out and have pretty much shoved my face in what I’ve been fucking up.
But now it’s time to fix what went wrong, and there’s no way in hell I can do that from a mobile home that keeps moving every fucking night.
I miss my bed. I miss my wife. And I miss sharing my days with you. ”
“I feel like maybe I should come before your bed,” she teased, chuckling shyly.
“You always come before my bed, as long as you’re in it. So, what do you say? Can I come home?”
The smile on her face dropped, replaced by something that made my stomach churn with fear. I knew I had fucked up. It took a lot to wade through the disaster I’d created to see what had pissed her off so much, but now that I knew, I wasn’t about to let her push me away any longer.
“Baby,” I whispered, brushing my thumb across her lips.
“Promise me things will get better,” she whispered. “Promise me we won’t go back to where we were.”
“I can’t promise I’ll be able to change everything, but I swear to you, I will do everything I can to fix what I screwed up.”
I held my breath, praying that was enough for her. There was so much we had to wade through, to sort out before we could completely fix everything. If she didn’t give me this chance, where did we go?
It was torture, watching her mind spin through the possibilities, struggling to make the leap of faith and say yes. But that had always been the way Clara thought. Her mind thought of everything that could go wrong before she came to a conclusion. I just hoped she still chose me.
“Baby…”
“Yes,” she finally said, smiling up at me. “Yes, I want you to come home.”
Sliding my hand around the back of her neck, I crushed my lips to hers, nearing tears as her words sank into my soul.
I wasn’t a man who cried. In fact, I couldn’t remember a time in my life when I’d actually let my emotions get the better of me, but right now, hearing that my wife wasn’t going to shove me aside, I was damn near bawling like a baby.
Taking a stuttering breath, I rested my forehead against hers, reminding myself that we still had a lot of work to do. But anything in life worth having was worth fighting for.
And Clara was at the top of that list.
No matter how painful, I’d fight for us. Fight for the life we once had, and prove to her that I could still be the man she loved.
There was no other outcome.
It was do or die, and death was not an option.
The early morning light filtered in through the windows of the living room, and the cool breeze batted at the plastic covering the sections of the house that were still under construction.
I needed to get back to work on the house, but before I did that, I had to get a workout in. These past few weeks had been painful, but I was finally feeling like myself again, with more strength and energy in reserve than I had in the past ten years.
But before I did any of that, there was something I desperately needed, and waiting another minute just wasn’t possible.
Clara was passed out beside me, her soft breaths huffing against my shoulder. I hated to move her when she looked so damn peaceful, but I highly doubted she’d regret losing a little sleep when I was done with her.
My lips skimmed over her eyelids, down her nose, and to the crook of her neck where she finally started to rouse, wiggling at the sensation of my lips tickling her skin.
As she rolled on my arm, I slid it out from beneath her head, shoving the pillow I’d snatched last night underneath her.
And then I roamed down her body, spreading her thighs with my hands, and inhaling the intoxicating scent of her pussy. Fuck, I hadn’t done this in years. In fact, I always thought she hated it, so I’d stopped, but right now, nothing could keep me from devouring her.
“Ben—” She sucked in a breath the moment my lips touched her pussy.
My tongue slid over her sensitive folds and her body jerked from the touch. Her fingers immediately slid through my hair as her thighs shook ever-so-slightly.
“Ben, what are you—” Again, her words were cut off as a moan slid from her lips as my tongue rolled around her clit, tempting the little bud to come out and play.
Spreading her pussy lips, I slid my tongue inside, groaning at how fucking good she tasted. “Fuck, baby,” I groaned against her. “Let me hear you.”
And she did. Fuck, those moans and cries rivaled the fierce way she tugged at my hair, yanking me against her as she rocked her pelvis against my face.
I was coated in her, filled with her scent and her juices. It was fucking intoxicating. And the more she cried out, the harder I dove in, getting my fill and doing whatever possible to make her beg me for more.
“Fuck, Clara,” I groaned, my lips barely leaving her. “Tell me what you need.”
“I—Ben—”
“Tell me,” I growled. “Tell me what this pussy needs.”
“Fuck!” she cried out, creaming all over my face.
My hard cock begged for release, to feel her warmth wrapped around me. I couldn’t wait a second more. I was desperate for her, and I wasn’t about to deny myself what we both wanted.
Snatching her off the floor, I spun us around, me on the bottom and her astride my legs. Her eyes were clouded with desire and need as I slowly lowered her on my raging cock. The breath I’d been holding inside slid out in one solid breath as she took me inside her.
For a moment, she just sat there, her eyes closed and her lips parted. She was fucking beautiful. I peppered her with kisses, reminding her of how much I wanted her, needed her.
And then slowly, she started moving. Her body rocked against mine, taking me in and squeezing around me, making it nearly impossible not to come every time she fucked my cock.
“Clar—” I gasped, gritting my teeth as I felt my balls tightening, ready for release.
It was too soon. I wasn’t ready for this to end. Not when my wife was smirking down at me, taunting me with her devilish charms.
“Fuck, this is not over yet,” I growled.
“What’s wrong, Ben? Having trouble making it last?”
I thrust my hips up, punching hard into her pussy. Gasping, she whimpered, tossing her head back as she let out a mewling cry.
“Ma?”
“Oh, shit! My eyes! My eyes!” I heard Jeff screaming. There were thuds, scrambling, gasps of horror. I briefly saw my daughters staring at us with wide eyes, but then quickly fled the room. My boys…well, they’d get over it eventually.
As soon as everyone got their prying eyes out of my house and the door slammed, I laid Clara out on the floor, grasping her leg and dragging it up by my hip as I thrust hard into her, eliciting the most indecent moans from her lips.
“Fuck, I need you.”
“That was—”
“Don’t fucking think about it,” I growled, punching my hips against hers.
My hand pressed hard against the floor as I thrust into her over and over again. Her cries filled the room until both our orgasms crested, feeling like a detonation that would wipe out all of Montana.
Panting hard, I grinned down at her as she covered her face in embarrassment. “Our kids—”
“Fuck them.” I tugged her hands from her face, pressing my lips to hers.
“They walked in on us!” she screamed against my lips.
“Then they should learn not to enter a house without knocking,” grinned. “Don’t think they’ll make that mistake again.”
“Oh my God,” she groaned. “This is so mortifying!”
Chuckling, I continued to kiss her, not at all bothered by what the kids might have seen. They were all old enough. They knew what sex was. It was their fucking fault for assuming they could walk in unannounced.
“Ben, this isn’t funny.”
Cocking my head in thought, I smiled down at her. “It’s sort of funny.”
“Ben! They’ll be tormented for life!”
“Not my problem. The only person I give a fuck about right now is you.”
“They’re your kids!”
“They’re grown adults. I’ve worried about them for years. Now, it’s my time to focus on you, and only you.”
That seemed to melt some of the horror building inside her. Wrapping her arms around my neck, she pulled me down to her lips and kissed me softly. “That was one hell of a wake-up call.”
“We should start every morning like that.”
“I could get used to waking with you between my thighs.” A blush spread across her cheeks as she ducked her head. “So…now that they’ve already seen and heard…things…”
“Yeah?”
“Wanna do it again?”
Chuckling, I ran my hand down her thigh. “I may need a minute, but then I’m all yours.”