Page 96 of Forgotten Promise

She’d had hours to gird her loins for this confrontation, so she couldn’t blame him if he needed to take a moment before facing her.

After about thirty seconds—that felt more like an hour—the door swung open, and there he stood.

Benjamin.

Her Benjamin.

She drew in a breath as she looked at his beloved face, and all the words she’d practiced on the flight vanished.

She’d intended to start with an apology, but instead, when she opened her mouth, what fell out was, “We have a problem.”

And because he was Benjamin—her Benjamin—he snorted sarcastically and said, “No shit.”

Before she could reply to that, a door opened across the hall. She looked over as an older woman with one of those frou-frou purse dogs stepped out of her apartment.

She turned back to Benjamin, who stepped aside to let her in, his attitude about doing so begrudging at best.

Kailani stepped into the condo but didn’t travel more than a few steps inside when he shut the door behind them.

“Hate to break it to you, but you didn’t need to travel all this way to state the obvious,” Benjamin said, his arms crossed.

Kailani started to retort but decided the best way to make her point was to prove it, not state it. So she reached out, gripped his muscular forearms, and used them to help propel her up on tiptoe.

She caught only a glimpse of Benjamin’s startled expression before she pressed her lips against his and kissed him. He didn’t return it immediately, but she didn’t give a shit. She wasn’t stopping until he gave her the response she wanted. The fact he didn’t immediately shove her away told her he wasn’t as averse to this as he might want to seem.

Kailani didn’t have to wait long. Benjamin uncrossed his arms, shaking off her grip so he could wrap his arms around her. His tongue pressed through the seam of her lips, demanding entrance to her mouth as he spun her, pushing her backward, until her back was pressed against the door.

She slipped her arms around his neck, holding him tightly, refusing to let him go. She twisted her head as Benjamin did the same, both of them seeking to deepen the kiss, to devour each other.

This kiss was hard enough to leave bruises, but she didn’t care. She needed more. She nipped his lower lip, felt him jolt in pain or shock or both, tasted the metallic tang of blood.

Benjamin didn’t call her to task. At least not with words. His hands found their way to her hair. She’d pulled it back into a low ponytail before leaving Hawaii. Benjamin ripped the band out, then took her hair in his hand, twisting it around his fist, tightly, pulling it to tilt her head farther back in yet another attempt to deepen the kiss.

Her scalp stung, but the pain traveled down her body making its way to her pussy, which was throbbing, pulsating. She whimpered, and Benjamin, the clever, wicked man, knew exactly what was wrong.

He kicked at the inside of her ankles, forcing her legs apart before bending his knee and driving it between. Her hips began to move of their own accord, humping him in an attempt to find some level of relief.

Benjamin had always held the keys to her arousal. One twist in the ignition and within seconds, he had her flying a million miles an hour, out of control.

Maintaining his grip on her hair with one hand, his other traveled down her side until he reached her ass. Adding his strength to her motion, he pressed her pussy tighter against his thigh, which was now moving in tandem with her thrusts.

Through it all, they kissed, their tongues fighting for dominance, their teeth tugging as they swallowed each other’s groans and sucked in each other’s labored breaths.

She gasped as the angle shifted just enough that her panties were rubbing against her clit, and she gave herself up to the madness. Thrusting harder against him, desperate to reach that—

“Fuck!” Benjamin shoved away from her so quickly, she almost fell. He caught her immediately, his hand on her elbow, steadying her, even as he shook his head.

“Fuck, Kailani,” he said again, his voice softer this time, less angry. “What the fuck was that?”

Jesus. She’d meant to prove a point, but that had escalated quickly. So quickly, it was taking her a second to remember why in the hell she’d started that and to figure out why in the hell they couldn’t finish.

She took a couple deep breaths, leaning heavily on the door, though Benjamin still held her arm. Even furious, he took care of her.

And she recalled all the things he’d done for her the past few days. Supplying the plane, preparing her coffee just the way she liked it, making sure she had everything she needed to retrieve the keyholders and bring them back to Hawaii. She considered how stressed out she’d been, then realized that anxiety would have been next level without Benjamin—and John—sharing the load. She could have done it all on her own, but it would have been a hell of a lot harder.

“That,” she said, once she had her breathing back under control, “is our problem.”

He frowned, confused, so she explained.

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