Page 92 of Stick Side
She gave her lower lip a nervous nibble, but held his gaze. “Probably,” she acknowledged. “At least about some things.”
She fought—and beat—the impulse to look away. “I’m not used to feeling so much.”In for a penny, in for a pound. “For someone. Orwithsomeone.”
Ben shifted closer until their knees were touching, his expression so warm she could have sworn it could melt butter.
“That’s okay, sweetheart.” Ben leaned in and placed a soft kiss on her forehead. “Just keep talking to me and we’ll work through anything that comes up together, okay?”
Melody smiled gamely. “All right.”
“And, for the record,” Ben said as he took her hand and braided their fingers together, “this is new territory for me, too.”
Her doubt must have been written clearly on her face because he continued without further prompting.
He raised her hand to his lips and placed a soft kiss on the back of her hand. She shivered at the way his warm breath blew across her skin. “Surely, you can tell that I’m falling for you.” He gave her hand a gentle squeeze before allowing their clasped hands to drop down to rest on her upper leg. “That I have been falling for you since the very beginning.”
Melody’s eyes grew wide. She leaned back a little more heavily against her pillows in surprise.
“What?” Ben asked, his manner kind but direct. “You thought I might keep that to myself?”
She hesitated for the barest of seconds before giving a single slow nod.
Ben shifted closer, surrounding her with his calm, commanding presence. It was like she’d entered her very own bliss bubble, what with the way her senses were responding to him. She couldn’t help but lean toward him as his woodsy, masculine scent hit her nostrils. She was powerless to resist the heady pull of whatever magical pheromones his body was emitting.
As if unaware of the shockwaves his disclosure had sent roaring through her system, Ben continued without preamble. “From the instant I clapped eyes on you, I knew you were the one for me.”
Melody drew in a sharp breath, but didn’t dare interrupt him. She waited for him to continue. And he didn’t disappoint.
Ben laid his other hand atop their intertwined fingers. “From the instant I clapped eyes on you, I knew you were the one for me,” he repeated. “And every interaction has only solidified the truth I felt in my gut from the very first.”
His hazel eyes bored into hers with unmistakable sincerity. “You’re it for me, Melody,” he said as he gave their joined hands a gentle squeeze.
Ben’s words rendered her temporarily mute. Could she have really heard him correctly?
After what felt like forever, her jaw unlocked and her tongue lost its flaccidity, giving her confidence that any words she chose to speak wouldn’t escape her mouth in an incoherent jumble. “Ben, I—”
He stopped her by laying a gentle, silencing finger over top of her lips.
“Please don’t feel the need to say anything just yet,” he said supportively. “I’ve always known how I feel quickly and without question. I know other people don’t always work like that.”
Her heart thumped in her chest.
“Take your time, sweetheart,” he reassured. “I’m a patient man. I can wait for your feelings to catch up to mine.”
They say actions speak louder than words. Banking on the notion she could better express herself with her lips than her words anyway, Melody lifted herself up and raised her mouth to his. She did her best to pour all her feelings into the brush of flesh on flesh. She kissed him softly, her lips like butterfly wings as they delicately traced his. She then kissed him like she’d always wanted to be kissed. Soft and moist, hot and breathy, not fighting him but seeking to unify them in both mind and body.
Heat that had nothing to do with her earlier blushes rose in her body as she touched her tongue to his, softly at first and then more firmly, both curious and determined to surrender herself to this glorious connection that raged between them like an inferno.
Ben groaned as he tunneled his fingers through her hair and gripped her scalp, the better to gain some control of the kiss. She’d wondered how long he would let her kiss him like thatbefore turning the tables on her and kissing her back with a strategy all his own. Not that she cared. She was fast learning the best relationships consisted of a dynamic balance of power, with equal amounts of give and take. She’d just given and she would most happily take back.
Ben’s kiss was intoxicating. She moaned as she lost herself to the multitude of sensations. She would have time enough later to tell him she was already falling for him, too. For now, she was content to show him.
Warmth. Trust. Tenderness. Passion. Budding love. It was all there in the way she surrendered to the moment and returned his kiss for all she was worth. Hopefully, he was able to read the message she was sending him.
Melody was pulled out of the moment by a loud clanging sound from somewhere downstairs. If she had to guess, she’d wager it was the sound of a metal bowl bouncing off a countertop and hitting the floor. A smile pulled at her lips. Someone had probably left Eric in the kitchen unsupervised.
Ben removed his hands from her body and leaned back, the moment obviously broken for him, too.
“It sounds like breakfast is underway,” Ben observed, a winsome smile playing at his lips.
