Page 53 of Sugar Baby Mine

“I don’t want to call you strong, because you are so much more than that.” Ben feathers his thumb over my jaw, drawing me in as I lean up and hook my fingers in the front of his jacket. The set of his mouth is terse, focused, as he pulls me into the embrace of his soothing presence. “We’re more than just the sum of the people who made us. No one can shape who you are exceptyou. Don’t let the weeds cast a shadow on the beautiful flowers blooming in your garden.”

The words blanket me, and my heart thuds a little harder. It cools the burn in my veins, like a salve on my open wounds, and all I can choke out is, “Thank you.”

He runs his thumbs beneath my eyes, catching the tears that cling to my eyelashes and brushing them away. His lips press into my forehead as he tugs me closer, until my nose is pressed to his neck and I can’t help but breathe him in. His cologne is already a comfort that I crave, and I want to steal all the comfiest clothes in his closet for myself.

I exhale a breath and clench my hands in his coat before pulling back to look up at him. Stepping back, my gaze casts around and no one is paying much attention to us, but my cheeks are burning all the same.

“Can we get greasy hamburgers now? Oh, and cheese fries, they’re my favorite,” I say on a sniffle.

He shakes his head on a laugh. “You’re done skating already?”

“Yeah, I’m fucking freezing. We’re eating, and then you’re taking me home.”

His eyes light up in a wicked gleam, lips tipping into a smirk as his hands fall to the curve of my ass as he drags me into him, cold fingers skimming the bare skin of my thighs. I fight the shudder that forces its way down my spine as I squirm my way out of his hold, until I’m barely within his grasp.

“I told you so, you little brat—”

I can’t resist the urge to stretch onto my tiptoes of my skates to press my lips to his. And he shuts right up.

Chapter 14

Ben backs us toward the couch when we get back to his apartment, his hands under the hem of my skirt as he strokes the backs of my thighs. He licks into my neck and I tilt my head to the side, his teeth scraping over my pulse. A skittering of heat swirls in my limbs, and I already feel like he’s about to set me on fire.

We stumble as I kick out of my boots and I fist his sweater in my hands, holding on as we tilt and shift, moving through the room. He looms over me, bowing my back as he toes out of his tennis shoes and grasps my waist like a lifeline. His lips skate over my collarbone, fingers dragging my shirt up inch by inch.

I feel the arm of the couch behind my legs as he leans over me and I cling to his neck to stay upright, my toes barely scraping the floorboards.

“Ben.” His name comes out a sigh, impatience crawling over my skin and making me dizzy.

“Yes?” He flutters a kiss to the bare skin above the neckline of my shirt before pulling back slightly. My back thanks him for it as I straighten up and perch on the arm of the couch.

He reaches down to adjust his hard cock, and I lick my lips.

“More.”

“Use your words then, or I’ll call you little girl.”

A frustrated groan slips past my lips, and I fist a hand in his sweater and yank until he takes a step forward into the cradle of my thighs as I widen my knees. I rock up against the hard line of his cock angled at my hip and tilt my head back at the small buzz of friction that only makes me more desperate. “I wantmore.”

“You want more what?”

I’m tempted to do bodily harm to him.

And he thinksI’mthe brat?

But his hands slide over my thighs, dipping under the hem of the thigh-highs and teasing my warm skin as he ducks his head to press his mouth against my pouting lips. I suddenly forget what I’m supposed to be angry at him for.

I tug Ben further into me until his chest presses against mine and there isn’t a lick of space left between us. He bites my lip, tugging, and if I were a cat, I’d be purring for him. I breathe in the taste of the cinnamon gum he loves so much and I want to drown in it, in him.

“I want you to fuck me. Don’t hold back. I want you to make ithurt.”

The dark look that colors his features is addictive. The way his pupils stretch to the rim and his nostrils flare as he pulls in a deep inhale is so satisfying. The fingers tucked under my thigh-highs dig in, and he jerks me forward in a roll against his pelvis.

My clit throbs as need zips down my spine like the crack of a whip.

It’s not enough. Never enough.

“Don’t worry,” he breathes against the bow of my lips, a kiss so fleeting I nearly surge up and chase him. “I’ll give you what you need and you’ll thank me for it, won’t you?”

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