Chapter 17 Ben
BEN
Sloane and his wife are standing in the hallway taking their jackets off while Mom fusses over their six and seven-year old daughters.
The girls are dressed in identical pink dresses with fur-trimmed coats and little fur-lined boots.
They look like they’re dressed for Christmas, not Grandma’s birthday.
I hang back, feeling Elias hovering beside me. No one notices me for a good five minutes. But then Sloane glances through to the kitchen, smoothing a hand through his sleek, dark hair, and spots me.
“Benjamin.”
Mom turns, beaming from her interaction with her grandkids. “Benny, come and say hi to the girls.”
I kiss my sister-in-law hello, shake hands with my brother and bend to hug the girls. It’s awkward and stiff. My sister-in-law has to remind them to say hello to ‘Uncle Ben’ and tell me how much they’ve missed me. Painful.
I’m relieved when Mom introduces Elias.
They all have to strain their necks to look him in the eye. Even Sloane. I can’t deny the hint of satisfaction that shoots through me at that.
Mom is completely distracted by the girls, so we all go to change for dinner.
I hate sending Elias off alone to the guest room, but for a stranger in someone else’s house, he appears remarkably comfortable.
I’m jealous. I wish I could be as comfortable in any setting as he is.
Even those momentary blips over his shoes don’t seem to have knocked his overall confidence.
When I go downstairs to meet him, he’s coming out of the guest room in a smart white shirt, his smart grey pants and the shoes he bought at Target. On him, they could have easily come from the atelier of any Italian artisan.
He catches me staring at him and smiles. “How do I look?”
“You know you look great.” I blush.
“So you do.”
“Boys, you’re ready!” Mom catches us on her way out of the living room.
“You both scrub up well.” Her gaze lingers a second too long on Elias’ torso and I feel like a panther, ready to pounce on the competition.
It’s ridiculous. I shake the thought out and paste on a smile when she looks at me again.
The dinner table is all set up with my mom’s favorite dinnerware. Silver napkin holders, discreet gold thread on the trim of the tablecloth. I glance over at Elias and catch him trying not to touch anything.
One of my mom’s rotating staff members comes around, pouring us all glasses of champagne.
He barely looks old enough to have graduated high school.
I remember how embarrassed I’d be any time I came home from school to find boys my own age pouring my drinks and pulling my chair out for me.
I could never meet their gaze, and I always felt like I knew what they were thinking.
Privileged rich kid. Spoiled little brat.
They were thinking I hadn’t earned this life, and they were right.
Something touches my leg under the table and I flinch. Mom glances up at me and asks if I’m alright as I realize Elias has his hand on my knee under the tablecloth.
“Yes, fine, sorry.”
Madison and her husband sit across from me. She shakes her head the way she always does when I do something weird. It makes me feel five-years old again.
Elias gives my knee a squeeze until I look at him.
He cocks an eyebrow. I think it’s a signal so I nod back in response and he gives my knee one last stroke before letting his hand drop.
Luckily, my mom is so happy to have her granddaughters here to fuss over that I fade into the background. I amuse myself by watching Elias try to eat without scratching the china. That, and discreetly admiring the pulse in his neck and the way his stubble disappears into his crisp, white collar.
Can I have him tonight? Will he want me again? Can I enjoy just one more pleasure? I’d give up quite a lot of the others to enjoy that particular one again. Even just once.
I’m a little warm from the champagne and suddenly realize I’ve barely eaten anything while my glass has been filled and drained a second time. I push the glass away and try to eat something before the plates are cleared away for dessert.
I pick at the chocolate mousse. So does Elias.
I wonder if he’s still full from our breakfast this morning—and the Dunkin’ Donuts I made him eat on our way out of the mall to see if they tasted different here—or if he’s nervous about being alone with me again.
I doubt it’s the latter. Elias Liebrenz is not the type of person to get nervous about sex.
After dinner, Mom makes us all go into the living room and watch the kids put on a performance. While they’re cute, after the fifth or sixth rendition of Broadway show tunes, I’m getting a little restless.
We clap as the youngest—Lydia—takes a bow. During the applause, Elias leans close to my ear, his breath tickling the back of my neck. I have to rearrange myself.
“When do you think it’ll be safe to slip out?”
I have to bite my lip to hold back the groan threatening to surface, remind myself that my entire family are here.
I cover my mouth just in case someone turns around and is somehow able to read my lips. “Meet me in the pool house in ten minutes, it’s practically soundproof.”
Elias just nods. Like this is the most natural thing in the world. I feel like a different person. Like one of those confident, sexy people in a movie. A European movie. One where they just go around having sex with people … for fun.
Elias stands and clears his throat.
“Excuse me,” he says. “It’s been a long day and I have a long journey back to New Jersey tomorrow.”
Everyone seems charmed by his accent and nice manners.
Mom stands up and kisses his cheek. “It’s been so lovely to meet you. You’ll be at breakfast tomorrow, won’t you?”
“Of course, thank you for your hospitality.”
Elias throws me a wink before leaving the room. My face heats up. I have to look around at everyone to see if they noticed. I don’t think they did.
Oh God, what is he going to do to me in that pool house? I can’t wait a second longer to find out.
“I’d better go to bed, too. Goodnight, Mom. Happy birthday.”
She makes me hug and kiss everyone, except Dad, who barely looks up from his drink to say goodnight.
I go upstairs and stand in the middle of my room for a few minutes until I think the coast is clear. Then I hurry downstairs, slipping around the other side of the staircase. Someone’s singing “Tomorrow” from Annie so they don’t hear me slip out the back door and close it behind myself.
The hum of the pool heater masks the sound of my shoes on the terracotta tiles surrounding the house. The lights are all off in the pool house. I turn the handle and let myself inside.
“Thank God, I thought you’d never get out of there.”
I jump, making a weird, yelping sound that can’t have been very sexy.
Elias laughs. “I assumed we were leaving the lights off?”
I pad along the wall until I find the light switch. “If we keep the blinds closed, we can have the lights on.” I push a button and the black-out blinds slide into place.
“Fancy.”
Now we’re standing in front of each other, it’s real again. I’d almost managed to convince myself these past two days were a dream. Elias takes a couple of steps toward me before holding out his hand. I take it, let him pull me in.
I moan as soon as his lips touch mine. He pulls me closer, showing me how hard he is.
I run my hands over his shirt, letting them roam greedily down his back, over his ass. Around to his hips and thighs. He has something in his pocket.
“I brought a condom, just in case. We don’t have to….”
“Oh.” I throb at the thought of Elias inside me.
When I grab him and kiss him again, this time it’s rough, desperate, obvious. I don’t care.
He presses my back against the wall and grinds against me. I toy with the shape of the condom packet through his pocket while he grazes my neck, his stubble leaving pleasant tingles across my skin.
Memories of him licking me, there, surface. I melt into him, ready to give myself over. But the hard length currently poking me in the leg makes me think twice. Would it hurt? What if I didn’t like it? Would I have the guts to tell him?
“Hey,” Elias has his hands on my face, stroking my cheek with his thumb. “You’re freaking out again.”
“No … I’m just….”
“We don’t have to do that.” He bends to kiss me, this one slow and tender. “Okay?”
I nod.
“Let’s get our pants off. No need to take any chances.”
He made me smile, even when I’m freaking out. How did he do that?
We undress as Elias walks us back toward the bedroom. The door is open, ready and waiting for us to fall into it.
“This is an actual house, isn’t it?”
“Yes, what were you expecting?”
“A shed.” He shrugs.
“A shed?”
He takes my face in his hands and kisses me before we fall back onto the bed.
It’s all made up with fluffy blankets and a red, black and green checked comforter.
Mom’s design for the pool house was ‘Scottish Highland.’ It feels luxurious to be rolling around in the soft mass of bedding.
The piles of cushions Elias is currently throwing out of his way.
Is he impatient for me? Or just to get laid?
He looks down at me. My hair must be a mess. But there’s admiration in his eyes.
“God, you look sexy,” he says. He seems to really mean it, too.
“So do you.”
We’re half dressed. Elias’ shirt hanging on by one button.
My pants open and my shirt on the floor.
We slow down for a second while we shimmy out of everything but our boxers.
Our kiss is lazy and deep as we grind. It’s a thrill to realize I’m not the only one currently sporting a raging erection and a wet patch at the tip.
I get bold, rubbing my fingers along the head of Elias’ length. His groan vibrates into my mouth.
I’ve never been kissed the way Elias kisses me. He gently nibbles my bottom lip. He licks my teeth. Moans into my mouth. Until I feel like I’m drowning in the best way.