Page 59 of Dropping Like Flies

“Smooth, Griff. Very smooth.” It pleased me that Ben hadn’t felt the need to point out that he’d been waiting for me to come to my senses for long enough. It meant we really were making a fresh start. And I intended to make the most of that tonight and distract Ben from thinking about the case for at least a couple of hours.

“How about six?” Ben suggested. “I should be able to get out of here by five. And it will give me time for that shower.”

“Well, if you don’t have time,” I whispered seductively. “I’m happy to help you with that. You know, scrub all those hard to reach places for you. I can be very thorough.”

“I’ll bear that in mind.” He cleared his throat. “I better go. Baros has just come out of his office, and I suspect he’s looking for me.”

“Give him my love and I’ll see you soon.” I hung up while Ben was still chuckling about the idea of telling the DCS that I loved him, his farewell barely audible.

Chapter Twenty-one

Griffin

Ben looked good enough to eat when he opened the door in answer to my knock: fresh out of the shower, hair still damp, and with his shirt unbuttoned. How the hell had I ever let this man go? Cade was right. I was extremely lucky he hadn’t found someone else during the period when I’d fallen prey to my own stupidity.

He laughed when the brown paper bag full of assorted Chinese dishes—most of them Ben’s favorites rather than mine—got in the way when I tried to kiss him. I flung it at a nearby table, the door having the courtesy to shut itself while I pulled him into my arms and reacquainted myself with everything Ben. How he tasted. How he felt pressed against me. The sounds he made.

“Bed,” he managed between frenzied kisses as I buried my nose in his neck and inhaled the scent of the familiar shower gel, Ben still using the same one from when we were together.

“Wall,” I countered, pushing him up against it so he could witness first-hand how stable it was.

He laughed, but there was a tremor to it. Seeing him acting professionally at work made me even more pleased I could rid him of that rigid self-composure in a matter of seconds.

“Sofa?”

“Wall,” I insisted again, capturing his lips once more and preventing any more words from escaping in the most enjoyable fashion. Showing I could multi-task with the best of them, I combined kissing him with slowly peeling him out of his clothes, Ben’s bare skin silky-soft and hot to the touch.

“I only just got dressed.” There was no heat in Ben’s words, just a lazy amusement.

Yeah, I supposed it was quite funny that my willpower was so poor that I’d leaped on him within seconds of him opening the door. And we hadn’t even been apart that long. Thirty-six hours at most. It had been a long thirty-six hours, though. A very long thirty-six hours. “Well,” I said as I started work on the fastenings of his jeans, keen for them to go the same way his shirt had—the fabric already lying wrinkled on the carpet. “You could have saved yourself the bother.”

“You’d have me answering the door naked?”

“Yeah.” I didn’t really know what I was saying, too focused on the wondrous sights being revealed as I succeeded in getting Ben’s jeans unfastened and pulled them down his thighs to leave him clad in just a pair of white briefs, his cock already tenting the front.

“That would go down great at work. The Metropolitan police are always keen for their detectives to get caught exposing themselves.”

“I bet they are.” Jeans satisfactorily dealt with, I shuffled forward on my knees to bury my nose in the crease of his groin, inhaling the musky scent of him.

He ran his fingers through my hair, the touch both comforting and arousing. “And there I was thinking you’d rather other people didn’t see me naked.”

The sentiment twisted something in my gut. Because how many men had seen Ben naked over the last three years? Single figures? More? I could dwell on it, or I could consign it to the past where it belonged. After all, I hadn’t been celibate myself. Flynn was proof of that, and Ben hadn’t lost his cool when he’d met him. So instead of saying anything cutting, I turned my head to press my lips against the fabric of his underwear. “I don’t. Save all your nakedness for me.” I pressed a kiss to the growing hardness of Ben’s cock. “This is all mine.” I pushed my hand between the wall and Ben’s arse, grabbing a handful of it and squeezing. “And this too.”

Ben’s laugh was throaty. “You better do something with it then.”

I didn’t ask which one because I intended to put both to good use so it didn’t matter. Ben squirmed as I mouthed his cock through the fabric, the grip I had on his arse ensuring he had no choice but to put up with the stimulation. Not that he had any objections if the groan that came from his lips was any indication. I peeled his underwear slowly down over his hipbones, pressing a kiss to every inch of the cock I revealed until I got to the base. A glance up Ben’s torso found him with his head thrown back and his eyes closed. “Suck it,” he demanded, his fingers flexing in my hair.

“Bed,” I said to wind him up.

He laughed without opening his eyes. “I swear to God, Griff, that if you tease me any more, I’m going to come, anyway.”

I mouthed his balls, a shudder running through Ben. “You’re not going to come until I’m balls deep in you.”

“You’d better hurry and make that happen then.”

Not if hurrying meant I didn’t get a taste of him. Thumbs pressing into the crease of his groin to hold him still, I slid my lips over him, his groan reverberating in my chest as our connection made me feel both parts, like I’d gained the ability to suck myself.

“It’s got stronger,” Ben said between pants as I took him deeper.

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