Chapter Six
Ben
I can’t sleep. Not with thoughts of Summer circling in my brain.
You’d think it would be her safety that concerns me, but I trust in my abilities to protect her from any outside danger.
Instead it is our relationship that has me tossing and turning.
I can’t keep his hands to myself when she is around.
If it was just the physical attraction that is palpable between us, I could tuck it into my back pocket and ignore it while doing my job, but over the days I’ve been with her, I’ve come to realize the fact that Summer is my ideal woman.
Her independence is a turn-on. Daily, she proves that, although she misses having her family around her, she can handle herself in the city and on the job. I admire her drive to succeed and go after what she wants in life with determination and gusto.
Her talent is exceptional. When she sings, I get lost in the emotion behind the music, and her voice transports me out of my head and to a place where I can focus only on her. It will be a huge loss if she can’t see her dream of performing for a living come to fruition.
Then there is the feminine vulnerability she exudes.
The soft and sweet woman inside, a woman who, despite her independence, values her family, and though she’ll never admit it, a part of her is a lonely girl who wishes for the time to make friends.
I’ve seen the way she looks at Tawny and her girl pack.
She doesn’t like those women, but she envies their closeness, though not the meanness that brings them together.
It is that sweet woman I can’t jerk around anymore, giving her mixed signals about what I want from her. Because I know damn well what I desire. The question is whether or not I can have it … and still let her go when the job comes to an end and she takes off for a bigger, brighter life.
* * *
Summer
After everything that happened at Echo Nightclub, I can’t sleep. I still can’t quite process that the threat against me is real. Sure, I have Ben living here, and that should be enough for me to take things seriously, but not until I saw the warning in lipstick was I scared.
But Ben said he won’t let anyone near me, and I believe him.
His words and fierce protectiveness make me breathe more easily.
Besides, I’m not about to let anyone stand in the way of my dreams finally coming true.
I can’t imagine what I will do if this opportunity slips through my fingers and goes to Tawny.
For the first time, I’ll have to take a good look at my life and decide what kind of realistic career I want to have.
Voice-overs are lucrative for now, but can I count on them long term?
Do I need to consider returning to college?
I shudder and refuse to dwell on it, because having to do so means I’ve failed.
And I don’t think that way. Ever. I never have.
From the time I was a little girl, all I wanted to do was perform.
And I will succeed doing it, no matter what whoever wants me gone from the competition thinks. I am not dropping out.
And I have Ben to look out for me, which brings me to the next reason I can’t sleep. Our sensual dance heightened my awareness of the man, and I have no doubt in the moment he felt the same way. It was only when he had time to think that he pulled away.
Which means I can’t give him that time.
I rub my hands together and pace my room, debating doing what my body is begging me to do—walk into the other room and seduce Ben.
On his own, he’ll never come to me, and we aren’t alone except in my apartment.
If I don’t take advantage now, I am wasting precious time to be with him.
Time that will be ticking down if I do win the competition and go off on a world tour. Time I could be spending with him.
I don’t own a negligee, but I have something much better and more enticing, I hope. I have my body.
I look down at my oversized tee shirt, gather my courage, and walk out of her room.
* * *
Ben
I roll over, jarred from sleep by a warm presence in my bed. A soft hand slides over my chest and down my stomach, inching lower, toward my now erect dick.
“What are you doing?” I ask Summer in a gruff voice filled with sexual need.
“Going after what I want,” she murmurs. “And I want you.”
I groan, wondering how I am supposed to resist her. She smells like flower-scented body wash, a fragrant reminder of our shared erotic past. Times when I’d slide deep inside her slick channel and lose myself to her in our short but intense affair. One that ended badly.
As that wayward hand strokes ever closer to my aching cock, I try to remind myself that I don’t want to repeat past mistakes like my father did, and that this woman makes me do stupid things. Like get involved with a contestant and violate my security contract.
And now she is the client of a firm I really like working for. Although there are no contractual rules to violate, there is the moral notion of not having sex with a woman I am protecting.
“This is not a good idea,” I say to remind her as much as myself that we are dangerous together.
“Says you. I say, stop thinking so hard.” As she speaks, she slips her hand into my boxer briefs and wraps her fingers around my aching shaft.
I let out a low groan, the pleasure incredible and actively short-circuiting my brain cells. All the reasons to keep my distance flee in the wake of her tempting touch. If she keeps this up, I’ll come in her hand, and that isn’t something I am willing to let happen.
Acknowledging she’s won this round, I push myself up and flip her onto her back, coming over her, my hands braced on either side of her shoulders. Her dark hair fans out against the white pillow, and I meet her gaze, taking in her dilated pupils and the stark need in her expression.
No man could resist her pull. “Fuck it,” I say and lower my mouth to hers, slicking my tongue over her lips, taking in everything that is Summer.
She kisses me back, arching up and into me as her soft tongue meets mine.
Control lost, I grind my hips against hers, my cock hard and demanding relief.
The bed, a pullout without the ability to support our weight and motions, begins to creak, sounding like the mattress might go crashing down with the next thrust of my lower body.
I groan and break the kiss. “We need to move this into your bed before we end up on the floor.”
She licks at the moisture on her lips and nods. “Works for me.”
I push myself up and off the flimsy mattress and hold out my hand, pulling her up and getting my first glimpse of her naked body.
Summer is toned from her workouts at the gym, but she has soft, cushiony curves I adore, with full breasts and generous hips she has no problem embracing.
The urge to run my hands over those curves is strong, but the desire to be skin to skin with her again is greater.
I lead her toward the bedroom, and while she crawls onto the bed, I strip off my boxer briefs, my erection springing free at last. A glance at the bed and I see Summer, her pale, beautiful body waiting for me, her dusky nipples pulled into tight peaks, her pussy trimmed and slick with desire.
I’ve been waiting for this moment, not wanting to admit to myself just how badly I desire her. But I am here, and I am not capable of pulling back.
I climb onto the mattress beside her. “I want to lick every delectable inch of you.”
“Then what are you waiting for?” she asks, her voice husky and desire-laden.
Planning to start at the top and work my way down, I cup her breast in my hand and draw one nipple into my mouth, pulling on the tight peak.
She tastes sweet, like candy, and I lave, suckle, and tongue until she is writhing with need, her hips bucking upward with every drag of my tongue.
I spend a long while on one nipple before moving on and sliding my mouth to the other breast. I hold the heavy mound in my hand as I treat it to the same sensual assault.
Only when she is desperate for more do I lick my way down the center of her chest, past her rib cage, and down to her belly button, tangling my tongue in the piercing there before heading lower still.
Grasping her thighs, I pull her legs apart and settle between them.
I glance up, our gazes meet, and a rush of heat sweeps through me at the look of anticipation in her expression and the yearning in her eyes.
My cock throbs against the mattress, but I am determined to watch her come at least once before I lose myself inside her.
I slide my fingers over her damp folds and part her sex, the little bud of her clit peeking out at me. With a rough groan, I dip my head and slick my tongue over her sex.
She shudders at the first swipe. And when I settle in and tease her with my lips and tongue, alternating feather-light touches and harder nibbles with gentle grazes of my teeth, she begins to chant my name and try to grab on to the bedding with her hands, unable to find anything to hold on to and ground her.
I keep up my assault, taking her to the brink once, twice, then a third time, letting the waves of desire subside without allowing her to find release.
She grabs my hair and moans. “Ben, please, please, please. I need to come.”
And I am ready to let her.
I tease her clit with my tongue, this time with deliberate pressure, as I slide a finger inside her at last, curling it upward and finding that spongy place I hope will bring her over the edge—and it works.
She pulls at my hair and cries out, bucking her hips as I hold her in place with my free hand, guiding her through her orgasm with the hard press of my tongue. As she comes down, I lift my head and glance at her face. Cheeks flushed, eyelids closed, her body trembling.
It is a glorious sight. She quakes with the aftershocks of her orgasm as I raise myself over her, my cock gliding over her still-sensitive sex.
I guide myself to her entrance and still, cursing inside my head. “Condoms. I think I have some in my travel bag.”
“Then what are you waiting for?” she asks, eyes glittering with renewed need.
I push off her and head for the other room before returning with two condoms in hand. I quickly sheath myself, rejoining her on the bed and sliding between her legs.
I cup my hand around my shaft and notch the head of my cock at the entrance of her slick pussy.
“Damn, but I want you badly.”
She bends her knees in response. “So take me. I’m yours.”
I don’t need an engraved invitation. Hands braced, I raise my hips and plunge deep, the feel of her slick channel clasping me tight in heat nearly sending me over right then. I grit my teeth and hold back, giving her time to adjust before I begin to move, picking up a steady rhythm with ease.
I make the mistake of meeting her gaze while thrusting into her, and emotions I want locked down rise inside me.
We’ve always had an intense connection, and that hasn’t changed, but I have no intention of falling for her that way again.
I know from experience it is a short distance to fall. The easiest solution?
I pull out and speak in a rough tone. “Hands and knees, princess.”
Her gaze darkens, and she complies immediately, treating me to the gorgeous sight of her sleek back, dark hair in stark contrast to her fair skin, and firm but rounded ass.
My dick throbs painfully, and I use my knee to spread her legs wider apart, positioning myself behind her before taking her hard.
She moans as I possess her, the feelings swamping me as strong as before, but at least I don’t have to meet her gaze and have her see and know how much she affects me.
Gathering her hair in my hand, I anchor myself as I pump my hips in and out, my hard dick gliding through her as I move.
I’m not going to hold out for long, and from the sounds coming from deep in her throat, neither is she.
As I feel my balls draw up and my climax near, I slide a hand around her hip and glide my fingertips over her damp clit.
She gasps and begins a slow chanting of my name, her back arching and her body accepting of every slam of my hips, until my name becomes a prayer, and the prayer a scream as she comes, her orgasm triggering my own.
I come hard, spilling everything inside me.
Wrung dry, I collapse on top of her, her warmth seeping into my skin.
I am spent and done for. Not wanting to crush her, I roll off her. Her cheek is pressed into the mattress, her eyes closed, her breath coming in shallow gasps from her slightly parted lips. Acting on impulse, I lean over and press my lips to hers.
I feel her mouth curl into a smile. “That was so good,” she whispers in an exhausted voice.
I can’t stop the grin that hits my lips. “It was fucking fantastic.”
“When can we do it again?” she asks.
He laughs. “When you can take a normal breath.”
She giggles, her eyes remaining closed, that sated, satisfied smile still in place.
As I study her, I realize how deluded I’ve been.
I changed positions, thinking not seeing her face would keep me more grounded. Except I was wrong. Sleeping with her again pulled me in deeper, feelings I don’t want to experience again fighting to spring free.
Which means one thing. I am well and truly fucked. In more ways than one.