Page 154 of Somebody's Watching Me
Working at his tie, he let it drop to the ground. His shirt was next, falling to rest on the forest floor. This was one of the best parts of coming home. The shedding of Benjamin Fairweather until there was only Ben. The man who loved her more than his own life.
Turning the last curve on the path, he stopped, his breath catching in his throat at the sight before him.
Standing next to a pallet of blankets and pillows, surrounded by a sea of candlelight, was Laura Jean. Barefoot as usual, she wore a simple short cotton dress, and had left her wavy hair hanging loose around her shoulders. The word beautiful didn’t quite cover it. Falling forever short of the way she looked in this moment.
“You’re going to burn the whole damn forest down with all those candles.”
She didn’t speak, but a sliver of air whipped through the clearing, winking out each of the tiny flames one by one. Magic. Magic was always in the air whenever she was near, and he’d wisely learned to ignore it, or else his rational mind would ruin the moment.
“You should have seen my parenting skills a minute ago,” he said as he approached. “Even I’m impressed with myself.”
Again, she remained silent, crooking her finger at him.
“Oh, so you don’t want to talk first?” he teased. “No,how was your day, ordid you have a good flight?”
They met halfway and the mischievousness in her laughing emerald eyes spoke volumes, screaming that she was his to do whatever he wanted with tonight.
Anydepravedthing he wanted.
“Fine.” He took another long drink of whiskey. “Lose the dress.”
Her lips twitched, but she did as he asked, tossing the dress aside. She had known better than to wear something underneath, and naked in the moonlight, she was absolute and total perfection.
He palmed a heavy breast, unable to stop himself from touching her. “Open.”
Tilting her head back, she opened her mouth for him to pour a thin line of whiskey into it. As she drank, the amber liquid trickled down her chin, and the beast prowling inside him came alive. With a growl, he leaned down to lap it up with his tongue.
A moan skittered past her lips, and he pulled the bottle back to tip further, the whiskey flowing onto her breasts. Chasing the trail with his tongue, he sucked a nipple between his teeth.
“Ben.”
At the whisper of his name, and with her fingers tangling in his hair, the whiskey and the world evaporated. He dropped the bottle to kiss hisway upward and capture her mouth, their tongues dancing in fevered desperation.
An aching deep in his soul cried out to whatever it was in her that connected them. It demanded more. Howling and screaming as if it needed that bond to survive. Before she became his, life had been a rollercoaster of highs and lows, with nothing except pain working as its driving force.
Before her, the best he could hope for was a companion. Someone to be comfortable enough with to let his guard down once in a while.
Before her, there had been no such thing as destiny. Fate and magic in the midnight hour didn’t belong in the real world. And never between a man and a woman who had no right to love one another so fiercely.
Before her, all of it mattered until none of it did.
Before her, Benjamin Fairweather never understood what it meant to be loved.
Shoving at his chest to break the kiss, Laura Jean dropped to her knees, her fingers working at his zipper to free him. The primitive part of his desire took over, and with only the stars above watching, he thrust into her mouth with abandon.
How could he have ever doubted?
This mouth.
This woman.
They were his.
Until the end of it all.
But as good as it felt, he didn’t let it last.
“You’re on top.”
