Page 37 of Home to Me

She smiled wickedly. He deserved a reward.

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Ben couldn't believe that this was happening.

He was making love to Lauren Harrison. He never in a million years thought that it would really happen. He never thought she would let herself go there.

It wasn't that it was so shocking to him to be having sex at all—hell no. That happened all the time. It was just that there was a certain kind of woman who found him irresistible. The kind of woman who was easily impressed by a handsome face and a job on television. Up until now, those have been the kind of women Ben generally jumped into bed with. Why? Because they didn't make him work for it.

Lauren Harrison had definitely made him work for it. And it hadn't been half bad. In fact, he had somewhat surprised himself by how much he enjoyed jumping through all the hoops she’d laid out before him. He found himself trying to think of new and interesting ways he could do trick jumps through those hoops just to try to make her smile.

The few times he did manage to make her smile—or, man, even made her laugh—he felt like he’d won a gold medal. What he was quickly finding out was that when you have to work harder for someone, that meant that that someone was worth it.

The way that she was making him feel right now? Damn. That was certainly worth it.

She slowly and deliberately, with the sexiest smile on her face, pulled his pajama bottoms down his legs, freeing his massive erection, and then tossed them aside.

She looked into his eyes and licked her lips, making him even harder than he thought possible.

“Since you were too busy for this on the plane, I thought maybe I'd catch you up now,” she said before taking him in her mouth.

At the touch of her warm tongue, Ben felt a jolt of electricity shoot through him that nearly made him lose consciousness. This was more than just a case of a woman who knew what she was doing. While she was very talented, the sensations that were overwhelming Ben, the absolute sheer pleasure that was filling him from head to toe right now, was the result of more than just the ministrations of a woman who had both talent and technique.

No, this had to be the result of sharing his bed and his body with a woman he had a real connection with. This was the result of making love with a woman who was spectacular inside and out, a woman who made him want to strive to be better, both in bed and out of it.

He had known from the first time he saw Lauren Harrison that she wasn't like anyone he'd ever met. He sensed it. His subconscious certainly knew it, which had resulted in his making such a fool of himself. But thankfully fate was forgiving and had given him a second chance with this tall, blonde goddess.

Their physical chemistry was insane. He didn't need to be naked with her to know that. He only needed to be in the same room with her. But now that they were in bed together, exploring each other's bodies, their chemical connection was so strong as to be virtually undeniable. She was making him feel sensations and emotions he’d only ever read about.

He stroked her hair as she moved her mouth on him, transfixed by watching her shiny, white-gold hair as her head moved up and down. He was so mesmerized by the sight of her that, at times, it almost overtook his appreciation of the physical feelings that she was igniting in him. Almost.

As beautiful and hypnotic as she was, nothing could truly compete with the overpowering sexual gratification she was giving him. Her hands moved nimbly, following her mouth to prolong his pleasure; her long and lithe fingers gripping him firmly any time her lips left his member. He felt as if he would burst. He didn't think he’d ever been this hard.

Suddenly, he had a horrible realization. He couldn't let this go any further—at least not until he got to a drugstore. Shit. If he’d had any inkling that this was even a remote possibility, he would’ve arrived with a variety of condoms for her to choose from. Hell, he would've borrowed against his 401(k) to buy a hotel room full of condoms so he could have come prepared for an encounter with this previously unattainable beauty.

But that was all just wishful thinking. As much as he hated to ruin the mood and take the chance of nixing this whole thing altogether, he was going to have to put things on pause.

With a groan that, this time, rose from regret rather than pleasure, Ben said, “Lauren. Oh, God, Lauren. I hate to have to stop you. You have no idea how much I hate it. But I don't have a condom. I have to go and get some.”

Lauren looked up at him with a knowing gleam and said, “I thought Boy Scouts always came prepared? Oh, well. No matter. I was a Girl Scout, and even though that wasn't our motto, I try to make it mine.”

With that, she hopped up from the bed and crossed the room in two long strides. She opened the side pocket of her bag and pulled out a condom in its shiny wrapper. Ben was unreasonably pleased, more than he had any right to be, that the package was clearly wrinkled and had been in there awhile.

He shook his head at himself. What was wrong with him? He was far from being a possessive sort of guy. All he knew was that the thought of anyone else kissing Lauren, anyone else touching her, was suddenly intolerable to him. He wanted her, and he wanted her all to himself. He didn't give a damn how unreasonable that was. She was a one-in-a-million woman, and he always liked to aim for the top.

Lauren walked back over to the side of the bed where he still lay, panting and fully erect. She seductively ran her hands through her hair, moving them down her own body slowly. He gasped when they brushed over her breasts and groaned as they traveled farther down her belly.

As they passed the waistband of her boxer shorts, which rode low on her slender hips, she caught the elastic band in her thumbs and brought both the shorts and her flimsy panties down with them.

She straightened up, standing before him, fully naked and without a hint of self-consciousness. It was clear by the way she held her shoulders and the slyly confident look on her face that she was damn proud of the way she looked naked in the soft glow of midnight. And she should be.

He'd never seen anything sexier.

His breathing became ragged as his eyes traveled up and down her strong yet curvy body, her skin silvery with moonlight.

“I think I've tortured you enough,” she whispered as she climbed back onto the bed and knelt next to him. She tore open the condom wrapper with her teeth and had the condom unrolled onto him in a flash.

When she had readied him, she rose to her knees, put her hands on his chest, and straddled him. He watched her, transfixed, as she took him in her hand and then guided him to her entrance, slowly lowering herself onto him one luscious inch at a time.

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