Where I Belong

“Please. I’ll give you anything,” I beg, digging my nails into his back. I feel another brush down my nose and grunt it away, not wanting anything to pull me out of this moment.

“You. I want you, pretty girl.”

I close my eyes and feel his words run through me. He wants me, but can I give him that?

“Are you a wheal pwincess?” Another voice enters my head, along with another brush down my nose.

I shake my head, not wanting to hear anything but the man above me. But I can’t hear him anymore. I can’t hear his soft moans. I can’t feel his skin against mine. Flesh to raw flesh. And when I open my eyes, I realize why.

My eyes focus on a tiny face that is staring at me, with wild brown hair and big gray eyes. He smiles, brushing his finger down my nose, and I don’t miss the two massive dimples that appear in his cheeks.

“I woke the pwincess.” His little voice is husky and deep like he’s just had his tonsils removed. He climbs up onto the bed, holding a wooden sword in his tiny grasp.

I rub my eyes and sit up a little, propping myself up on two pillows. Smiling at him, I run my finger down his nose and he giggles the most infectious laugh I’ve ever heard. “Hi, cutie. What’s your name?”

“Nowwllaann.” He drags out his name, jabbing his sword into the bed with three enthusiastic thrusts.

I laugh. “Nolan. That’s a cool name.” I touch his sword and he holds it up in the air, swinging it around his body. I notice the dragon embroidered shirt and patterned socks he’s wearing, sensing an interest. “Did you slay all the dragons for me?”

His eyes go wide and he shifts to his knees before nodding frantically. “Daddy said I had to save the pwincess.”

Daddy? Does Ben have a kid? “Did he? How many dragons did you slay, noble knight?”

“One Fousand!” He jumps to his feet and holds his sword above his head. I think I’ve just met the cutest kid that’s ever existed.

I hold my hands around him in case he gets too close to the edge of the bed. “My hero. How old are you?”

“This many.” He holds up three fingers and falls to his belly, sliding off the bed and swinging his sword all around him. He stops and moves closer to me, running his finger down my nose again. “What’s your name?”

“Mia.”

“Pwincess Mia,” he corrects me with crooked grin. “Daddy said that you might need to be kissed to wake you up.”

“Oh, you’re right. How silly of me.” I slump back down in the bed and close my eyes, feeling the weight of a small body next to me. I try not to smile as his lips touch my cheek, prompting me to pop my eyes open.

“I see you found the princess, buddy.” Ben leans against the door frame, smiling at me with the same dimpled grin that just saved me from the dragons. “But didn’t I say that if she needed to be kissed to come get me so I could do it?”

I sit up against the headboard, pulling the covers up to my chest. I slept in a tank top and tiny shorts, and I am definitely not wearing a bra. I smash the covers to my body, suddenly feeling incredibly shy around the only man that’s ever seen me naked.

Nolan hops off the bed and walks over to him. “Can I go swinnin now?”

“Yeah, go get your bathing suit from the bag.”

“Wait,” I say, sitting up and motioning for Nolan to walk over. He quickly scrambles in front of me and smiles. “Your sword, noble knight.” I hold out my hand and he gives it to me without a question. “Look down at the floor.” He does and I place the sword on his left shoulder. “I dub you Sir Nolan, slayer of all the dragons in the kingdom.” I move the sword to the opposite shoulder. “And protector of the realm.”

He looks up at me with sheer exhilaration as I hand him back his sword. “Daddy, I’m a wheal knight!” He runs over toward Ben, jumping up and down enthusiastically. Ben drops his smile from me to Nolan. “I wanna go swinnin now.” He runs out of the room and Ben rustles his hair as he passes by him.

“It looks like another Kelly boy has a crush on you,” Ben states, crossing his arms over his chest. He looks incredible in just a T-shirt and shorts and my mind is suddenly flooded with images of the dream I was awakened from. Him above me, naked, driving me toward my pleasure at a punishing pace. I shake those thoughts out of my head and focus on him which doesn’t help me in the slightest. The way his muscles stand out, stretching the thin material of his shirt that I want to shred to pieces, is currently making me clamp my legs together underneath the sheet.

I try to keep myself from blushing, but I feel the warmness spread across my face. “He’s so cute. I had no idea you had a son.”

“I’ve been told that we look alike, so I guess that means that you think I’m cute, right?” I look away from him with a slight smile. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.” I turn back just in time to see his grin turn cocky, and I’d like to say that it doesn’t do anything for me, but it does. Damn him and that face.

“Daddy! I wanna go swinnin.” Nolan’s tiny excited voice comes calling from the hallway.

Ben turns his head to look down the hallway, straightening up before he looks back at me. “The next time you need to be woken up, it won’t be my son kissing you, Princess Mia.” His words are a promise that I don’t want to react to, but I can’t deny the shiver that runs through me. He has all the confidence in the world that he’ll be the one to wake me up with a kiss. And I want to tell him that I’ll never let that happen, but I can’t seem to find the words.

I scramble out of bed once Ben leaves, and as I’m slipping my favorite summer dress over my head, my mind begins to wander to memories of the old Ben. The boy I remember that never willingly stepped into any room I was in. The same boy that freaked out when he caught me in his.

“You wanna listen to music while we lay out?” Tessa asks as she skims the pool for bugs with the net.

“Yeah, definitely.” I stretch out on my lawn chair, shielding my eyes with my hand.

“Well don’t just lay there, goof. Go get the stereo.”

I sit up and smile. “Where is it?”

“Ben’s room. I think it’s on his desk.”

I lay back down. “Forget it. I’ll just hum to myself.”

She giggles softly. “He’s not home. Just go in there and grab it really quick. I wanna listen to my new Justin Timberlake CD.”

Okay, I can do that. He won’t even know I was in there. “Alright. Be right back.” I swing my legs off the side and stroll into the house.

I stop outside Ben’s room and hesitantly turn the handle, pushing it open. I’ve never seen the inside of his room. It’s off limits, which is fine with me. I don’t want to be in here so I’m going to make this quick. I spot the stereo on the desk and run around his bed to get to it.

“Oh!” I trip over something, falling into the desk and rattling everything on it. Including the stereo. “Oh no.” I reach for it but it’s too late, and I watch with a sick feeling as the stereo hits the hard floor. I clamp my eyes shut, but I hear the damage I’ve done. “Oh no,” I whisper.

“What are you doing?”

My eyes shoot open and I spin around, coming face to face with a very angry Ben. “Uh, I’m sorry. I was just borrowing your stereo. I didn’t mean to…”