I mean, I don’t want to get cursed, that’s for sure. I’m worried about it happening and totally fucking me over like it has Dru. But I also recognize that it won’t affect just me. Ben will be affected, because he cares for me. It’s a strange, humbling feeling, different from my friendship with Nick. Nick is a wonderful friend, but he’s also a Blanche at heart. He exists in a state of pleasure-seeking and enjoyment, and if something happened to me, he’d be hurt and upset, but it wouldn’t destroy his world.
Ben—my precious, darling Dorothy of a man—would be destroyed. It’s so odd that I’ve fallen for a man that’s everything I always told myself to look out for. Haven’t I always avoided the Dorothys of the world? But there’s no doubt that Ben is a Dorothy in my mind. He tends toward sourness and looks down on others. His mind is always working with some sort of hidden machination. Whereas Nick is all surface, Ben has depths that go beyond anything I could imagine. Those are also the things that give him strength.
I eat Ben’s peanut butter crackers as he types, hunched over his phone. When he finally lets out a sigh and rubs his brow, I suspect the conversation is done. “How’d it go?” I ask. “Is he going to help us?”
“Willem is incredibly unhelpful,” Ben says, glancing over at me briefly before turning back to his phone and typing one more thing. “He’s agreed to meet us for coffee in the morning. No more, no less. I’m sure he’s got an angle.”
I brush crumbs off my chest, accidentally getting them all over the bed. Whoops. “Doesn’t he know that Dru’s life is in danger?”
“He doesn’t care. To him it’d be one less witch to worry about.” Ben shrugs and tosses his phone to the end of the bed. “He’s meeting us a few hours from here, so we’ll have to wake up early.” He glances over at me again and his eyes narrow. “Did you just eat my food?”
“You’re rich—get yourself something else out of the minibar.”
He grabs my ankle and yanks me down the bed, toward him. I yelp, surprised at how strong he is. Of course he’s strong. He’s bulging out of the same bathrobe I’m swimming in. But his strength always surprises me. When I’m flat on my back on the bed, my robe shoved up under my butt, Ben prowls over me like a predator, and I shiver with anticipation. He gazes down at me, his eyes devouring, and I can tell he’s no longer thinking about Dru or Willem or anyone at all other than me.
My mouth is dry, and I lick my lips. Sure enough, his gaze follows the tip of my tongue. “You kept my Sun-Phoenix.”
“I think I ruined it in the well,” he admits, then leans down to press a light kiss to my mouth. “I’ll buy you another. That one’s mine, though.”
I like that he wants to keep something of mine so badly. I like that when he cages me here on the bed, I feel tiny and helpless and yet utterly protected by his sheer size. “It’s not yours. We never even played cards for it.”
That makes Ben pause. “Are you asking to play cards right now?”
The look of confusion on his handsome face is so damned cute. I chuckle, deliberately stretching and making the robe gape in interesting ways. His gaze goes there, where my small breasts are practically popping out of the loose neckline of the robe. “I had other things in mind, actually. I was thinking you could entice me into giving it to you.”
“I’m thinking about enticing you into giving me a lot of things,” he murmurs, voice husky with lust. He leans over and I lift my chin for him to kiss me, but he fakes me out, instead moving to my neck and kissing me there, on the spot I’m learning is ultrasensitive. My hands go to his damp hair, and I gasp as his tongue flicks at my pulse point. He sucks on my throat a moment later, his teeth scraping, and I feel as if I’m about to come out of my skin.
And then Ben pauses over me. “Can I—”
“Yes,” I blurt out. “Yes to everything.”
“Greedy little thing,” he whispers, but he sounds so pleased. He moves lower, nuzzling at my neck and then my collarbone. With one hand, he brushes aside the robe, exposing one of my breasts to his gaze. On a good day, my build would be described as “athletic.” On a bad day, I’d probably be described as “flat as a board.” When I’m on my back, my breasts are nothing more than nipple, but he gazes at me with sheer reverence. “Look at how beautiful you are.”
It makes me want to preen with pleasure. I wasn’t sure what he’d think after being reminded about Gwen’s gorgeous, ample body, but hearing his approval takes all the uncertainty away. “I am pretty amazing,” I agree, making my tone lofty. I reach down and brush my own aching nipple, flicking it with my thumb. It’s already tight and pointing, but I love the way Ben’s fascinated gaze can’t look away. I touch myself a little more, performing for him, until he pushes my hand away and lowers his mouth to capture one peak between his lips. “Oh! That feels good, Ben.”
He groans, rubbing his mouth against my breast before capturing my nipple again. He rolls it with his tongue and lips and then sucks on the tip until I’m squirming and panting. When he lifts his head to look at me again, his eyes are dark with need. “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to touch you like this.”
“Sometime between when you met me and when you stopped hating me?” My goodness, it’s hard to think when his wicked tongue is teasing the underside of my nipple in a way that makes me want to crawl up the blankets and mount his face.
Ben moves to my other breast, giving the tip a pinch that makes me gasp and sends heat rocketing straight through my body. I jerk, my legs automatically opening in silent encouragement for him to go lower. When he finally looks up, he gives one of my pebbled nipples one last wet, openmouthed kiss before answering me. “You think I didn’t want to touch you when you were driving me crazy? I can’t tell you how many times I jerked off to the thought of coming all over those freckles of yours.”
Filthy, filthy man. I love it. I wriggle underneath him. “Tonight’s your night, then.”
“I want to make you come first,” he tells me, giving my breasts one last affectionate squeeze before kissing his way down my belly.
I moan, practically shoving my hips in his face. “Tonight’s my night, then, too.” I’m panting with eagerness as he kisses my navel and moves lower, heading for my favorite territory. He takes his sweet time, though, nipping and kissing every inch of skin on my abdomen, until I’m primed and so turned on that just the slightest touch is going to make me detonate like a firecracker. “Please, Ben. Please.”
“Shhh. Let me enjoy the moment.” He moves to my hip—my hip, of all places—and presses a gentle kiss there.
“Enjoy a little faster, maybe? With more tongue? In a certain spot?”
“My ravenous, ravenous Reggie,” he chuckles. “Will you flip over for me?”
I practically pout. “Why?”
The look he gives me is warm and fascinated. He traces a finger down my belly. “I want to see if you have freckles there, too.”
“Ugh. You’re lucky you’re so damned cute.” Grumpy, I sit up as he moves off me and pull my now-loose robe off and toss it to the floor. I turn over and flop onto my belly. I’ve never both loved and hated tender foreplay so damn much.
His big hand skims down my spine in an almost reverent fashion. “Look at you. So damned beautiful.”
The compliments take some of the edge off my frustration. I close my eyes, resting my cheek on my hands, and decide I’m going to enjoy the impromptu massage. “Are there many freckles back there?”
“Mostly on your shoulders.” His palm feels warm as he runs it over my skin. “You’re beautiful everywhere, though.”
I smile at that. “Just for the record, I am not immune to compliments.”
Ben chuckles. “I’ll keep that in mind.” The bed sinks down as he moves over me again, and then I feel his mouth on my shoulder, even as his hand rubs over my back. “I want to kiss every freckle.”
“Oh boy. We’re going to be here a while, then.”
“Hush. I’ll make you feel good.”
I know he will. I smile again, relaxing under his touch. True to his word, Ben seems to kiss every freckle on my shoulders, then moves to my mid back, his mouth pressing on each spot with reverent appreciation. I let out a soft sound of pleasure as Ben moves along my spine again, then kisses the top of one of my buttocks.
“More freckles,” he promises me.