Page 101 of Stick Side
Melody turned around to face him. She furrowed her eyebrows and then relaxed them. “I call you ‘sweetheart,’ so you decide to up the ante on the endearments?”
One corner of Ben’s lips twitched up into a sleepy smile. His eyes still drooped a little from sleep, but she could swear they lit with an inner glow unlike any she’d seen from him before.
He lifted a hand to her face and cradled her cheek. She shivered when he used his thumb to caress her cheekbone.
“We can’t have you outpacing me, now can we?” he asked as he gave her cheek a gentle squeeze.
Melody laughed softly. “No,” she said with an amused eye roll that she made sure he saw. “We certainly can’t have that.”
Still laughing softly, she shook her head as she took hold of his hand again and resumed pulling him toward her bedroom.
Ben stopped her by wrapping his arms around her and tugging her into a hug from behind.
Melody shivered again when she felt his warm breath fan against the sensitive skin on the outer curve of her jawbone. “Iwelcome any affection you choose to send my way,” Ben said as he placed gentle kisses up the side of her neck. “Just don’t think I won’t be ready to meet you every step of the way—and maybe urge you to take more steps forward once you’re ready.”
He spun her around and returned one hand to her face, cupping her chin in a way that spoke of both affection and possession. “You’re it for me, sweetheart. And I see no reason to pretend otherwise. To you or anyone else.”
He didn’t give her equilibrium a chance to settle after his soul-stirring disclosure before bending down to touch his lips to hers. His kiss was firm, but gentle. And yet, somehow, she couldn’t help but feel like it had also been his way of sealing a vow.
She lifted her arms to circle his neck as his lips danced over hers.
“I’m in this, too, you know,” she murmured against his lips. “You aren’t the only one who’s invested in this relationship,” she clarified as her fingers played with the short hair at the back of his neck.
Ben groaned as he nibbled at her lips. “That’s good to hear,” he affirmed.
Using a single hand to loop around both of her wrists, Ben brought her hands up to his lips for a kiss that was somehow almost more intimate than the ones he’d just bestowed upon her lips.
Melody smiled and looked up at him from beneath her lashes. “Come to bed with me?” she asked sweetly. She wondered if he could hear the love she couldn’t help but let infuse her tone.
“I would follow you anywhere, my love,” he pledged as his grin turned sly. “All the better if it happens to be a bedroom.”
Melody giggled as happiness zinged from nerve ending to nerve ending. Was this really her life? She had great friends, a great family, a job she loved, and now a man who was everything she never knew she needed. Life was pretty darn perfect.
Affection shone from Ben’s eyes as he leaned against the doorframe of her bedroom. “I’m just going to use the washroom and get ready for bed. After that, prepare for a night you won’t soon forget.” Ben danced his eyebrows playfully before turning around and heading toward the washroom.
Melody’s happy laughter followed him out of the room. If she were a betting woman, she would place good money on Ben conking out within minutes of his head hitting the pillow. A night she wouldn’t soon forget? Sure, but likely not for the reasons Ben had just alluded to. But that was okay. There was always tomorrow.
With that thought, Melody pulled back her comforter and crawled into bed, the smile of a woman in the throes of her first great love lighting up her face.
Chapter 50
Melody
“Oh,hellno.”
Melody awoke with a start, the sound of Ben’s heartfelt exclamation having roused her from what she would guess was a solid sleep.
“Hmmm?” she mumbled.
When he didn’t respond right away, she turned around to face him. She wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting, but it definitely wasn’t the disconcerted expression marring his handsome visage.
She raised a hand to trace the frown lines on his face. “What has put this unhappy expression on your face so early in the morning?” she asked, genuinely curious.
Ben kissed her fingertips as they grazed his lips, but his perturbed expression remained.
Melody felt her lips wanting to twitch up into a smile, but she fought the impulse. She wasn’t sure what had led Ben to look so adorably disgruntled so early in the day, but she figured she should figure that out before smiling at him too brightly, eventhough she was finding it hard to contain her pleasure at waking up to find him lying beside her.
Ben’s lips twisted into a partial frown, a look that was no more reassuring than his former facial expression. “Not to sound like a total caveman, but could you please do me the favor of not wearing another man’s jersey to bed, especially when I’m in bed with you?” His voice was no less sexy for the hint of grogginess that infused it.
