Page 9 of One Last Memory

I choked on a breath but responded anyway. “Please not another fucking therapist.” But if he had seen the way a smile wormed its way onto my face? He’d have known that I enjoyed the way he held me against him.

“Not even close. Just calling it like I see it.”

Wriggling out of his grasp, I turned to stare at him and froze. It wasn’t a look I was used to seeing. Men stared at me like I was crazy, like I didn’t have all my marbles, like I needed just a little more help. My boyfriends broke up with me because I just wasn’t all there. But for him? Mason? The sparkle in their eyes as they stared at me? They didn’t even fucking know me, but it was like I was the only light in their world. I couldn’t understandwhy.

Benji leaned down slowly, as if asking for permission, his lips brushing against mine. It was the sweetest of touches, despite his broad stature and gruff, yet carefree expression that he held. I stuttered back a step, but he didn’t move. He stared at me like I was the sun in his world, and I just couldn’t pass up this opportunity to feel the way he saw me.

“No… I-”Goddamn, can’t even talk like a regular person.

He chuckled, his hands grabbing at my waist and pulling me flush against him. “Let me show you how fucking beautiful you are.” I could feel his interest nestled between my thighs, pushing dangerously against my core. He rocked against me and I let out a breathy sigh, nodding. He grinned like he’d won the lottery and kissed me again, running his tongue along the seam of my lips. I grasped at his chest, his hands roaming to my shoulders and peeling my bathing suit down my arms.

He took his time, pressing kisses down my arm as he stripped me. I carefully stepped out of my bathing suit as he walked me backward, laying the cloth on the rock behind me. Before I could process it, his hands were on my hips, lifting me with an ease that made my breath hitch. He set me down on the fabric and then he dropped to his knees, right there in the sand, like he was about to worship me.

“Benji…” I started, but the words died as his lips brushed the curve of my collarbone. He kissed his way down, each press of his mouth a spark that lit me up from the inside. When he reached my breasts, he paused, his breath hot against my skin. Then his tongue flicked out, teasing one nipple before he drew it into his mouth, suckling with a gentleness that made my toes curl. I arched into him, a soft moan slipping out, and he hummed against me, the vibration shooting straight to my core.

His hands roamed my sides, steadying me as he kissed lower, trailing fire across my stomach. By the time his lips grazed the sensitive skin just above my folds, I was trembling, my fingers twisting into his hair, tugging at the soft strands. He parted my thighs with a gentle nudge, and I froze, suddenly aware of how exposed I was.

I slapped a hand over my mouth, muffling the sounds I couldn’t hold back. Benji’s head snapped up, his eyes glinting with mischief. “Babe, no one can hear you out here except me. Let me hear it.”

I hesitated, my hand still hovering, but then he leaned in, his tongue sweeping over my clit in a slow, deliberate stroke, and I fucking shattered. A cry tore from my throat, slipping through my fingers. Benji groaned like he’d been starving for it, his hands gripping my thighs as he licked me deeper, his tongue fucking me with a rhythm that had me seeing stars. He slipped a finger inside me, then another, curling them just right, and I bucked against him, my grip on his hair tightening.

“Fuck, Benji,” I gasped, my voice barely my own. He didn’t let up, his mouth and fingers working in tandem, coaxing me higher, until I was teetering on the edge. One more flick of his tongue, one more thrust of his fingers, and I fell apart, my body clenching around him as waves of pleasure crashed through me. I screamed his name, the sound swallowed by the ocean’s roar, and he kept going, drawing out every shudder until I was a boneless mess.

He rose slowly, his lips glistening with me, and before I could catch my breath, he kissed me. I tasted myself on his tongue, a fresh jolt of heat running through me. I chuckled against his lips, half-dazed, and he pulled back just enough to grin.

“Maybe next time,” he said, voice rough with want, “I’ll get to feel myself inside you.”

I raised an eyebrow, still panting. “I’m surprised you didn’t out here.”

“I would not be a gentleman if I fucked you in the sand. That shit gets everywhere.”

I snorted, but then his hand cupped my face, his thumb brushing my cheek, the mood becoming a little more serious. His eyes softened, searching mine with an intensity that made my throat tight. “Why does it feel like you haven’t had a man take care of you?” he asked. “Because if I had the time, Lee, I’d show you every which way you should be worshipped.”

I swallowed hard, the weight of his words pressing against the walls I’d built around myself. “Would it matter?” I whispered, hating how small I sounded. “This is just vacation. I go home, and… that’s it.”

Benji’s gaze didn’t waver. He leaned in, his forehead resting against mine, his breath warm on my lips. “One vacation can change everything if you let yourself believe there’s something more out there.”

I wanted to argue, to tell him he was full of shit, but for the first time in forever, I didn’t feel like I was drowning. I didn’t know what to say, so I just kissed him, letting the moment stretch until the world felt a little less heavy.

When we finally pulled apart, he helped me stand, brushing sand from my skin with a tenderness that made my chest ache. Even helping me back into my bathing suit was a gentle affair, more care in his touch than any of the boyfriends I had in the past few years. Between Mason and Benji, I was going to be ruined for anyone else.

“Don’t be a stranger, Lee,” Benji teased as he left me with another kiss, walking me back to the main area with our boards tucked under our arms. His wave left me feeling like there was something unfinished even if I had just met himhoursago.

Two men in two days?This wasn’t me. That was what Malia did, hopping between men. I was broken, yet sensible. Then again, I didn’t feel like I had been desperately groping at whatever riff-raff I could find. They made me feel beautiful, loved,seen.

My feet led me back to the house. The moment I pushed past the front door. Malia was growling in my face. The other members of my family were huddled in the kitchen staring at me with mixed expressions of worry and relief.

“Where the fuck were you? Mom and Dad were frantic looking for you. We were all at the bar-”

Habit would have it that I tucked my head, apologized, and took whatever harsh words they served my way. Extra surveillance. Stronger medication. More therapy sessions. But I hadn’t disappeared into my head like I usually did. This time, I had been out, enjoying myself—something they all kept telling me that I needed to be doing. “I’m fine. I just wandered on the beach. You were pretty preoccupied, so I went to get some sun.”

Malia scoffed, leaning back against the wall even as one of her kids was actively destroying the trim in the hallway. “You’re lying. You kept eyeing Benji. I told you he was mine.”

“As you always do,” I responded, nodding and pushing farther into the house. I needed a good shower to rinse off all the goddamn sand stuck in places that it had no place being. And then I needed to call Phoenix. He would be the only one who truly understood my dilemma.

“Hands off.”

I clenched my fists and glared at her, trying to soften my words but I had had it with Malia calling dibs on every hottie she came across. It was time my nephews had a sense of normalcy. “Is that the same parenting approach you chose, too?”

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