Chapter 10
BEN
“God, you’re a fucking dream, Sunshine.” Sol is standing in the middle of my room, hand tight around her suitcase, and a look on her face I can only describe as bewildered.
It’s like she can’t quite believe she’s doing this, and I’m too afraid to move so she doesn’t go running again.
I lick my lips, eyes flickering back and forth between hers, waiting for her to say something.
Inside, my pulse is doing somersaults. She’s here.
She didn’t get on the plane. And that shouldn’t mean anything because people miss flights and change plans all the time, but I can feel it buzzing in my chest anyway, this stupid, impossible hope that maybe she didn’t want to leave. Maybe she came back for me.
I don’t let myself believe it for long. I’ve done that before; read too much into moments, built entire stories from a single glance. Still, watching her now, cheeks flushed from the humidity, hair messy from travel she never took—it’s hard not to imagine what it would feel like if she stayed.
She drops her hand and her purse, and takes one tentative step in my direction, and that is all the consent I need.
I rush forward until her chest is against mine and my fingers thread through her hair.
“If you don’t want this you need to say so right now.
Otherwise, I’ll fuck you until you forget all those adult problems you say you’re having. ”
Sol whimpers and her eyes find my lips before landing back on mine.
Her pupils are huge, and I can barely see the greens of her irises in the dim light of my room.
Outside the world is wild, but I can only focus on her—her soft body against mine, her arms wrapping around my waist and pulling me against her, and how her breath is getting more and more erratic.
“You have to say it, honey, or else I walk away.”
“Please fuck me,” she replies, and I see the moment her cheeks flush.
She looks fucking adorable standing in front of me, completely vulnerable and open to whatever this could turn in to.
At least that’s what I hope. I mean, just the fact that we live in the same city is already a huge coincidence, let alone that she’s here, willingly.
“Remember those things you wanted to do to me today? I have time.”
“Oh, baby, you have no idea what you’re asking for.
” I pick her up by her thighs and turn us, pushing her hard against the bedroom wall.
The painting hanging right next to us rattles with the movement, but I could not give a shit, because her pussy is warm against my cock and I can’t focus on anything else.
“Can you feel that? Can you feel how hard you make me?”
She garbles something unintelligible and I devour it with my mouth, swallowing all her sounds before she can protest. “Please,” she says against my mouth, and my heart starts hammering in my chest and it’s the only thing I can hear.
I rock against her a few more times, then turn us again and traipse through the room, walking around the stuff on the floor—my shoes, her purse, a pair of sunglasses that must be hers and have fallen at some point.
I’m moving fast, urgently, because I need to be inside her before this lust for her consumes me.
I drop her on the bed and she yelps but it’s followed with loud laughter, like she’s finally here, with me, and enjoying herself.
“What’s so funny, baby?” I say as I unbutton my shirt.
She’s studying me with those intense eyes, her gaze moving from my shoulders to my arms, studying all those lines I have collected over the years, meaningful drawings that show a lot of who I am.
I’ve got a lot of stories on my skin, most of them half-finished, but she looks at them like they make sense.
“Nothing,” she says, then laughs softly and drapes her forearm across her face.
The sound isn’t forced but rather more like a nervous laugh, a little breathless.
“I just… I’m a thirty-eight-year-old divorced woman hooking up on vacation and it feels so strange. I haven’t done this in over a decade.”
I grin, leaning against the bed, in between her splayed thighs. “You’re thirty-eight?”
She lowers her arm just enough to peek at me, one eyebrow raised. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
“It’s not,” I say quickly. I’m surprised she’s the age she says she is, but mostly, I’m surprised someone let her go. From what I’ve gotten to know, she seems amazing and anyone would be a fucking fool. “It’s hot, actually.”
That earns me a small smile. “God, you’re ridiculous.”
“Maybe,” I admit, shrugging. “But I like that you know what you want. Most people spend their whole lives trying to figure that part out.”
“I hardly know what I want, Ben.” Her smile softens, eyes darting away. “What about you?”
I pause, searching for the truth instead of the easy answer. “I know what I want, too. I’m just not always good at admitting it.”
She studies me for a beat. “And what do you want right now?”
“You,” I say simply, crawling up to her and kissing her lips.
I suck on her bottom lip and she moans. My hands start moving more urgently, sliding up her stomach and under her shirt, and pulling it over her head so that I can see more of her skin.
I throw it somewhere and I don’t care where it lands. “Take your pants off, now.”
For a second, I just look at her as she moves. The rise and fall of her chest. The way her hair fans out against the crisp white pillow when she lays back down. The faint crease between her brows, like she’s not sure she’s allowed to let go.
I want to devour her, yes, but not just her body. I want to know what she looks like when she stops guarding every thought. I want to memorize the sound she makes when she finally lets herself feel everything instead of keeping it neat and measured.
Because the truth is, I’m tired of pretending this kind of connection doesn’t matter. I want this—here, her, now—because it’s the first thing in a long time that feels real.
“Are you ready?” I whisper into her ear, rubbing the head of my dick up and down over her panties.
She’s so warm, so wet, and I’m tempted to simply slip in and fuck her like this.
But I won’t because I have manners and she deserves more.
“How about I make you come with my tongue first, Sunshine? And then I’ll fuck you senseless just like I promised I would. ”
Sol mutters something and closes her eyes.
Her hands are holding on tightly to the bedspread below her, like she’s holding on for dear life, and that makes my cock jump.
I stand, slowly removing my pants and boxer briefs and taking my time admiring her on the bed, pulse stuttering and an even flush running through her skin.
“Is this crazy?” she whispers into the air as I’m kneeling on the floor. I pull her towards me and start dragging her panties all the way down and onto the floor beside me, joining the pile of discarded clothes. “I can’t believe I’m doing this.”