Once in a Lifetime(53)

He smiled and nipped at her lower lip again. “How about if I just sink into you?”

Her entire body quivered. “That’s all I’m asking. Hard, Ben. Hard and fast.”

He laughed, but it turned into a rough groan when she rolled the condom down his length. Then he wrestled the control back by whipping her around, bending her over the cabinets, and plunging into her in one deliciously perfect hard stroke. Unable to hold back, she cried out, and he stilled.

“Don’t you dare stop,” she gasped, already halfway there. She only needed a few more strokes. “Please, Ben. Do it. Do me.”

He let out another low laugh, murmuring something that sounded like “You kill me” before giving her what she’d asked for, taking her with an urgency that she knew wasn’t Mr. Fast-Isn’t-My-Style’s usual MO.

But Ben was nothing if not adaptable, not to mention accommodating. She’d said hard, and he gave it to her. Fisting a hand in her hair, he pulled her head back to kiss her, his hand gripping her hip to hold her right where he wanted her.

She melted back into him as he moved inside her, rubbing up against him, making him groan and laugh at the same time. “Killing me,” he murmured again.

She could feel the brutal, tempered strength in his every movement, and in response, her body quivered. So damn close… “Ben—”

“I know,” he said, brushing her ear with his mouth, whispering things—wonderfully wicked, naughty things that nudged her right to the edge. And then the words that knocked her right over that edge. “Come, Aubrey. I want you to come.” And then he slid a hand between her legs to take her there.

She wasn’t all the way back to Earth when he growled out, “You are so hot when you let go,” and, staggeringly, she came again.

Groaning, he dropped his head to her shoulder, sinking his teeth into her as he tensed and followed her over.





Aubrey never did make it to the AA meeting. Ben trailed her home and then spent the long hours of the night showing her just how important foreplay could be, in slow, torturous detail.

And then he showed her again.

And again.

He took her to places she’d never been, right there in her loft. She liked to think that she’d done the same for him, too, remembering how she’d given in to her desire to kiss every inch of his hard body. Halfway down his torso, he’d sunk his fingers into her hair and whispered hoarsely, “Please tell me I ordered the happy ending.”

He’d definitely gotten his happy ending…





She woke up with a start at six thirty the next morning. It wasn’t because Ben was leaving; he’d done that an hour ago to go run. Her phone had awakened her. It was buzzing on her nightstand. It was a text from a number she didn’t recognize. It read:

Got your number from your father. I thought about what you said and decided you and the teens deserve each other, but you need to work your way up to them, because—trust me—they’ll walk all over you. You’re starting at the Reading Corner with the youngest terrors we have. Be at the rec center Wed @ 3:00.

—Judge Henderson



Aubrey lay back in her bed and smiled. She was so sated and boneless she wasn’t sure she could even get out of bed. But she gave it the old college try and limped over to her notebook. There, she carefully crossed off number six with a satisfied smile on her face.

Except the smile might also be attributed to a certain sexy Ben McDaniel…





By seven, Ben had run with Sam, showered, and was standing at Aubrey’s car, a coffee in each hand.

She staggered out the door at 7:05, and though she looked exhausted, she had a smile on her face as she came to a startled halt at the sight of him.

He didn’t attempt to draw her into conversation, just handed her the coffee. She sipped.

He waited.

She sipped some more. At about the sixty-second mark, she started to show some signs of life.

“Thanks,” she finally said.

“You’re welcome. You’re also welcome for the smile.”

She choked on her coffee. “For your information, the smile is because Judge Sue Henderson has almost agreed to let me work with the troubled teen girls at the teen center,” she told him.

“And this made you smile?” He shuddered. “That sounds terrifying.”

She shrugged and then softened. “And okay, maybe some of the smile is because of you.”

He felt his own smile slowly crease his face. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” She hip-bumped him. “As you damn well know already. And while we’re on this subject, why are you here?”

“Thought you might want a driver again today.”

“My car’s running fine now,” she said, then gave him a wary look. “Right?”

“Right. But since the jig is up and I know what you’re up to…”

She didn’t take the bait by responding, nor did she volunteer any new information, so he went on. “You might as well let me drive you.”

“You only think you know what I’m up to,” she reminded him.

He shrugged. “Maybe. But I’ve got a full gas tank and you don’t. And even if you won’t admit it, you like my company.”