me when you first knew you wanted me,” he says.
I lower my forehead to the tile. “A long time ago,” I murmur.
His length slides between my cheeks and I suck in a shaky breath. The slow stroke of him against my skin is torturous.
"How long?"
I twist my head around to meet his gaze. The way he asks it is commanding, but the longing that edges in tells me just how much he wants the answer.
"The trip we took with our friends to Mexico spring break senior year. Hunter broke his leg on a ridiculous dare. We only had five days and you gave up two of them for him. You got him medical attention, calling around before to make sure you found the best option and staying with him the entire time, spending hours on the phone with his travel insurance, rebooking his accommodation to get him a more accessible hotel and arranging overnight rental for a wheelchair so he didn’t have to miss the rest of the fun. Then his painkillers didn’t work and he was howling, and you tracked down a doctor to get him something better.”
Ben stills behind me, cupping my face. “You remember all that?”
I nod. “At the end of the second day, everyone was passed out—Hunter from painkillers, everyone else from drinking, but you’d stayed sober to take care of Hunter and I’d stayed sober because you were.” I shove a chunk of wet hair out of his face, my touch lingering on his cheek. “We were at this little bar, and you were exhausted but the bartender came over and started talking to you about tequila. It was his passion and his family’s legacy, and you listened to him for twenty minutes, before ordering his best bottle. The whole time we were drinking it, I wanted to go upstairs with you. With or without the tequila.”
The memory warms me in a way the shower can’t. Ben might be controlling and impatient, but he’s also kind. He doesn’t let many people in his life, but those he does, he’d go to the wall for.
His nostrils flare, his gaze moving between my eyes and my mouth. “Shit, D. We should've done this a long fucking time ago."
Ben's whisper has me aching even as guilt swells in my stomach.
I can't admit we did do this a long fucking time ago, not with him looking at me like I’m everything.
But it wasn’t like this, I remind myself. It was nothing like this.
Last night was special, and I’m still learning to trust that he wants and cares about me. That whatever he felt for my sister once doesn’t matter to our evolving relationship.
Because it’s new, but I have seriously high hopes.
He palms my ass, squeezing in a way that makes me arch into his touch.
“Ben?”
“Hmm.”
“I want your cock now.”
“I see. And why is that?”
“It’s nice.”
His hand comes down on my ass, hard enough I gasp, but his other hand holds my hip tightly so I don't jump or fall. That firm mouth is at my ear the next second, his skin rubbing mine.
“You can call it whatever you want, but not nice.”
The knot in my chest eases. I like Ben like this, wickedly playful. “Pleasant?”
His hand comes down again, this time on the other side. “I’m holding you up—I could drop you on your ass as fast. And I’d rather make you sore other ways.”
I run a hand through his wet hair while he cages me in, hungry.
God, I adore him. Crave him. Need him. It’s scary how much.
He rips a condom off the pack in the soap dish, cursing at his slipping hands as he works it on. Then he’s back at my entrance.
"Don't worry, darling," he whispers at my ear. “I won’t let you fall.”
Those words are everything.
I know he has feelings for me. I don't know if they're love, but they're something.
When he strokes inside, I do fall, but not to the ground.
His arm bands around my body, palming my breast possessively as he braces the other hand on the wall.
I’m his. Maybe I’ve always been his. It should be terrifying, but mostly I just want it. I want someone who wants me for me, who knows me and craves me and doesn’t want me to change.
He builds us both up until I’m gasping, the thick, humid air filling my desperate lungs while he rasps in my ear. Ben’s everywhere, filling me and surrounding me.
I never want it to end.
Ben and I spend Saturday together.
And Sunday.
It’s