Chapter 31
Delilah couldn’t stop staring at Ben, anger and fear rippling through her. He was bleeding in several places, and it looked like he couldn’t fully stand on his left leg.
“Are you okay?” Ben asked, wiping a smear of blood from his chin. “And McKenzie?”
“We’re fine.” She pulled him forward gently, even while she wanted to rage at him. “You don’t look okay, though.”
“I’ll live. Can I sit down, though?”
She led him to the scum chair, figuring the sheets covering it were cheap and she could just throw them out rather than trying to get rid of any bloodstains he left. He sat down with a groan. Delilah brought over one of the kitchen chairs to prop up his leg because the scum chair’s foot rest was broken.
“I’ll go pack up McKenzie so we can drive you to the hospital,” Delilah said.
“No need,” Ben said.
She stared at him doubtfully. Blood oozed from ragged tears in his stomach, and his shoulder bore a deep cut. He’d barely been able to walk, and he was covered in blood and bruises.
“I don’t think you’ve seen yourself,” she said.
Before waiting for his answer, she went into the kitchen and got some wet paper towels. She came back, handed him some, and started working on his face, dabbing away the blood. He wiped the blood from his chest, his jaw visibly clenching as he wiped over the cuts and tears in his skin.
“Seriously,” Delilah said. “We can go to the hospital. We can go right now.”
“Shifters heal fast.”
As Delilah finished wiping the blood from his dear, handsome face, she pulled away and said, “Then why didn’t Chase heal from his accident? It couldn’t have been worse than this, could it?”
He looked up at her, his amber eyes full of pain. “Chase’s ‘accident’ was actually murder.”
Delilah sat back on her heels. Murdered, Chase? “What? I don’t understand.”
“As far as we can tell,” Ben said dully, “he was surprised by a powerful vampire who could control minds. He didn’t even have a chance to defend himself.”
Delilah felt her eyes stinging with tears. She blinked a few times, trying to get rid of them, but some escaped. An accident was bad enough, but to hear someone had purposefully taken Chase out of this world….
“I’m sorry,” Ben said. “I’m so sorry I’m not him.”
“Wh-what?” Delilah asked, her heart breaking even further.
“I know he’s the one you wanted, and I’ll never be like Chase. I’m not a good enough person. I’ll never be the one you want.”
“Ben,” she said softly, kneeling next to the chair, “I don’t want Chase. I told you this—he and I were never in love. There’s only one Channing brother that I’ve ever loved, and…and that’s you.”
He pulled her up, tugging until she was leaning on the arm rest. She gave a little laugh. “I’m not sure this thing can hold me.”
“No,” Ben said, “but I can. I just have to keep you off my broken leg.”
“It’s broken? We need the emergency room—oh!”
He pulled her into his arms, cradling her and keeping her off his lap. “I’ll heal on my own in a few hours,” he said, kissing her. “I feel better already, knowing that you love me.”
Delilah stared into his beautiful, golden-brown eyes. They swirled with emotion. She pressed a kiss to his cheek.
A faint rumble filled his chest as he said, “Delilah, I love you, too. I knew it even before we made love that night, but like an idiot, I held in my feelings. Didn’t think I deserved you.”
More tears filled her eyes, but now they were happy ones. He loved her, too. They could be together. All the wrongness of the past few days was fading away like smoke cleared by a breeze.
Things were going to be not just okay, they would be fucking incredible.
* * *
Delilah wokein her bed to the feeling of a muscular arm wrapped tightly around her. After talking for a few more minutes last night, Ben had taken a shower and joined her in her room, lying flat on his back and cradling her to his side. He had to be hurting, but he’d showed no sign of it.
Faint light streamed through the dingy curtains covering her window. McKenzie would be up soon. Miraculously, the baby hadn’t woken up during last night’s showdown in the back yard. Delilah had sat in the room, listening to the snarling, snapping sounds, her heart clogging her throat.
Remembering that fear and helplessness, Delilah freed herself from Ben’s grasp and sat up.
He was awake already and looking over at her, love shining in his eyes. He wore no shirt, and from the way his leg was exposed by her rumpled sheets, it looked like he wasn’t wearing anything else, either.
“Where weren’t you hurt last night?” Delilah asked, running her hands lightly over his newly-scarred torso. He felt more solid already.
“I think my left shoulder came out of the fight okay,” he said.
She hauled back her arm and punched him there.
“Ow!” Ben said, rubbing it.
“Don’t you ever do that to me again,” Delilah said. “You could have died out there and I couldn’t help you.”
“Hey, everything turned out okay,” Ben said.
“But we didn’t know that, and I just started remembering how scared I was, you asshole.”
She tried to punch his shoulder again, but he grabbed her fist and in one smooth movement, he spun them around so he was on top of her, pinning her down and smiling mischievously. He held her hand over her head.
“I’m sorry I scared you,” he said in a low voice that made Delilah shiver.
She could already feel wetness between her thighs. Ben’s nostrils flared—he could likely smell it. So unfair—he had a shifter advantage.
Then again, his boner was pretty evident where it pressed against her thigh. Perhaps they were both benefiting from certain advantages.
“I like seeing you in my shirt,” he said, still holding her hand above her head. Slowly, gently, he grabbed her other arm and moved it so he could hold both her hands together. Then he cupped one of her breasts through the t-shirt.
Delilah couldn’t control the needy whimper that issued from her throat.
“Do you have any condoms?” he asked.
She shook her head. “I have an IUD, but hadn’t planned on being active since McKenzie was born.”
“Shifters don’t get diseases,” Ben said, “but if you don’t want penetration just in case, I can please you in other ways.”
Already he was sliding his hand down her front toward her panties.
“I believe you,” she said, looking up at his handsome face.
His hand continued its descent and stopped at the waistband of Delilah’s sleep shorts. He pressed inside them, his palm hot against her skin. He lowered his head and licked her nipple through his shirt, then took it in his mouth. She squirmed, wishing she could touch him or touch herself and move things along faster. If McKenzie woke up in the middle of this, Delilah would weep. But Ben held fast to her hands and continued laving her nipple. He moved his fingers lower and brushed them over her damp folds.
His hard cock, still pressed against her thigh, leaked, and he pumped against her leg, groaning. His arousal fueled her own.
“Ben, please. Don’t wait—I need you now,” she whispered.
He yanked at her waistband and she lifted her hips to help him remove her shorts. Her panties were still on but he didn’t seem to care, he just slid the crotch to the side. Then he was pushing up against her entrance, the head of his cock thick and warm.
“I love you, Delilah,” he murmured as he slid inside.
So full, so wonderful. He stroked within her, still holding her hands above her head. She loved the trapped feeling, the thought of being adored like this, taken care of. But she wanted to touch him, too. She tugged at his grip on her wrists.
He let her go, smiling. “Maybe another time I’ll hold you like that and you can beg for mercy while I keep you on the edge.”
The very thought made her wetter. She wrapped her legs around his waist, tugging him closer. She was nearly there. The way he stroked in and out was hitting something inside, making her squirm and writhe with the building pressure.
“Ben, I’m—it’s so good, I’m—”
He kissed her, his lips melding to hers, swallowing her cries as she came.
While the aftershocks rippled through her, Ben’s body tensed. He moaned her name while his dick pulsed between her legs. Then he collapsed at her side and cuddled her close. Delilah listened to their ragged breathing slowly growing steadier.
“I want to lie like this with you forever,” Delilah said, closing her eyes.
Ben pressed her against his body, muscles rippling against her skin. “Mm-hmm, that sounds like heaven.”
An impatient cry came from McKenzie’s room.
“Yep, that’s my perfect baby,” Delilah said with a laugh.
Ben climbed off the mattress and pulled on his jeans. “She need feeding?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll keep her busy for a few minutes so you can clean up and get dressed.” He laughed. “Your hair’s a little…unkempt.”
Delilah frowned as she touched her head. Her hair was completely tangled from the ways she’d twisted and writhed during sex.
“It’s a good look. You should leave it like that.” Ben laughed, walking from the room.
She liked the sound of his laugh, and she hoped to hear it more.
As Delilah stood up and started getting herself to rights, she heard him talking to McKenzie, whose cries immediately quieted.
“Your mama will be here in just a minute,” Ben said. “In the meantime, I want to say how much I missed you, little bug.”
Back at the pawn shop, nearly a month ago, Delilah had told herself that her luck was turning. She’d had no idea just how great things could get.