Page 19 of One Weekend in Perth

“Are you sure?” she asked.

He lifted their joined hands and brushed his lips across her knuckles. “Very sure. But what exactly are you saying here?”

No way did he want to make assumptions that she wanted the same thing he did. The time for assuming anything was over. They’d done far too much of that during their friendship. It was time for straight talking.

He held up his hand when she went to speak, needing to say this first, “I’m very sure that we realized, when we were too young to know–tooinexperiencedto know–what our true feelings were. Now, after all these years, I’m finally acknowledging what I should’ve done a long time ago. I want more than just being your friend. I want you, Clarabelle, in all the ways a man wants a woman.”

Clara’s eyes were as wide as an open window when he’d finished speaking. “I want all that too. I want you all the ways a woman wants a man.”

Relief poured over him, and he had to fight the urge to haul her across the table and ravish her in front of everyone. “Let’s get out of here.” He urged her to stand and she laughed at his eagerness, tugging him back to sitting.

“We need to pay the bill first.”

“Right,” he swiveled in his chair. “Where’s the damn server when you need him? He didn’t have an issue interrupting us last time.”

“Give him a couple more minutes, he’ll be here. And Ben?” She sounded so earnest.

“Yes?”

“I’m not going anywhere, so if he takes a little longer to bring the bill, then that’s okay, because I’m not leaving without you.”

Somehow Ben managedto get them back to Clara’s hotel without ravishing her in the street, even though he wanted to every time they stopped at a red light. It didn’t help the way Clara leaned into him, lifting her face, inviting him to sample her lips. He lost count of how many times he’d muttered, “not yet” to her.

Then they were in the elevator rising to her room, and the wait would be over in a few seconds.

Ben rushed her down the hallway, her giggles filling the air. A sound that wasn’t new to him but one he was getting more and more addicted to. He wanted to make her laugh like that more often.

“Key!” he demanded, holding out his hand. Was he coming off all alpha and strong? Possibly, but he didn’t care, he just needed the door open and for them to get inside so he could finally kiss her and hopefully more.

Clara rolled her eyes at his attitude and pushed him out of the way so she could unlock her own door. She pressed herself up against him, and he swallowed a groan when she wiggled her ass against his already hard cock. “I’m more than capable of unlocking my own door.”

Ben helped her push the door open and the moment it slammed shut behind them he spun her around trapping her against the wood. “This is what you want?” he asked.

Her fingers gripped his shirt as if she didn’t want to let go. “More than anything.”

With a groan he finally did what he’d been wanting to do for days. Weeks. Months. Years, but he was too blind to see it. Benfound her mouth and sealed his over hers. A sense of rightness washed over him at the first touch. The feelings he got from the kiss they shared years and years ago, the one where they’d decided they were better off as friends, had been so wrong. There was nothing wrong about the way she fit in his arms. Nothing wrong in the way her mouth moved under his. Nothing wrong with the way everything in him became alive, as if he’d been half living his life.

Did she feel the same?

Considering she wasn’t pushing him away, in fact, the way she was pressing herself against him, said yes. The way her fingers threaded through his hair, holding him close, told him she wanted this as much as he did.

But he needed more.

Needed to learn what made her sigh, cry out, and scream in delight. He wanted to know everything there was about her body.

“Bed,” he muttered against her lips as he broke their kiss.

“Yes please.”

Unable to get enough of each other, they kissed the short distance between the door and the bed. The second the side of his leg hit it, he pulled away from her.

Fuck, she’s so beautiful. Why did I wait so long to do this?

The thought flitted through his mind as he took in the plumpness of her lips, swollen from his kisses. The glow of happiness in her blue eyes.

“You take my breath away, Clarabelle,” he murmured, and traced a finger down her body.

“Ditto,” she responded, and she reached behind her for the zipper of her dress.

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