Page 38 of Home to Me

His eyes moved to her face, enjoying the rapture he saw there. As she sank farther and farther onto him, she closed her eyes and threw her head back, fully engaging with what her body was feeling.

I'm doing that to her, he thought proudly. The pleasure she was experiencing right now was because of him. He was the one giving her that ecstasy that's written across her face.

The thought gave him more than a physical thrill; he felt an emotional rush as well.

Lauren began to move her hips up and down, much like she’d done with her mouth earlier, with equally pleasurable results.

As she rode him, his eyes would flick down to watch her beautiful breasts as they bounced with the motion or sometimes to the place where their bodies met. But mostly, his gaze was drawn to her face—her beautiful face, which was normally as placid as the deep waters of Lake Tahoe late at night.

Now, though, in the throes of ecstasy, every single thing she felt was written across it. It was fascinating and dazzling to watch this internal story play out across the canvas of her exquisite face.

When he felt that he could no longer hold on, he let her know. She grasped his shoulder and begged him to give her just a moment more so that she could join him in the ultimate climax of their lovemaking.

He gritted his teeth and set his mind to make that happen. He refused to disappoint her.

Several seconds later, she began to moan as she gasped, “Okay, Ben. Yes! I’m coming.”

“Lauren,” he said intently, “open your eyes. Look at me.”

She did, and he was amazed at how lucky he was, experiencing by far the most intense orgasm of his life with a woman who intrigued him more than anyone he'd ever met, all the while being granted the rare gift of looking into her eyes as he caused her to feel the same thing.

12

Lauren was jerked from the depths of a sound sleep by the simultaneous and discordant clanging blares of both their cell phone alarm clocks.

Her head snapped up, and she was, for a moment, disoriented. Her first thought to herself was, Oh my Lord, I had the strangest dream last... But that train of thought was interrupted by a quick glance around the room, which brought the realization that it wasn’t a dream after all. Her gaze almost immediately alighted on Ben sharing the bed with her.

Oooohhhhh, yeah, she remembered, coming fully awake. So, yeah. That happened.

She did a quick mental inventory of her body under the covers. Yep. Naked. So...absolutely, one hundred percent certain. Not a dream.

Lauren, still fuzzy-headed enough with sleep that she couldn't think of exactly what the right words to greet Ben with this morning might be, raised a hand and waved to him uncertainly. Then, feeling like an idiot, snatched it back down almost immediately.

She was happy, at least, to see that Ben seemed equally uncertain—although his unsure state of mind expressed itself by being overly cheerful, overly bright; acting as if nothing out of the ordinary happened.

He sprang out of bed, sheet wrapped around his waist, and exclaimed, "Morning. We should probably be getting ready, because we're going to need to be at the airport to catch that connector flight in about an hour."

This is good, Lauren thought. He’s giving us a path to take. Overly bright. I can do that. I can do overly bright in my sleep.

She smiled cheerfully. "Good plan," she enthused supportively. "Would you like to use the bathroom first?"

"No,” he said graciously. "Why don't you take the bathroom first? I mean, you have the whole makeup thing to do. Guys lucked out, missing out on that. That takes time."

"That's really thoughtful of you," Lauren replied. "I believe I will take you up on that."

Then, with the other sheet wrapped firmly around her body, she made a quick exit to the bathroom, grabbing her overnight bag on the way in. She turned the shower on and got in, gratefully escaping to the oblivion provided by hot water and steam.

They went through their morning routines, packed up their suitcases, left the room, and took a taxi back to the airport, each still maintaining their overly solicitous manner towards each other.

While waiting at the gate, Ben was kind enough to buy her coffee, for which she profusely thanked him and he insisted was nothing. She replied by saying that it was such a thoughtful gesture. The polite exchange left her with a miserably sinking feeling that this could actually go on and on for an eternity; both of them being exceedingly polite and amiable with each other and never really acting naturally ever again.

She felt like, in many ways, she would prefer their old bickering dynamic. At least there was some passion there, some blood, some heat. At least it was real.

The short flight passed quickly and in silence, both of them completely focused on their laptops in front of them. The instant they got off the plane, they were whisked to the location and immediately put into wardrobe and makeup.

Before Lauren knew it, they were standing in place for the first setup. Paul, the director, came in and began to walk them through it. Lauren was extremely nervous and fidgety, fearing a replay of the disaster that was her screen test before Ben came to her aid.

"You doing okay?" Ben asked as he pulled her aside.

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