Once in a Lifetime(71)

Fat chance of that. Not only did she not stop him, she grabbed him and pulled him even closer.

He was smiling when he kissed her, his lips fitting smoothly over hers. Then he straightened and kicked off his shoes and tore his shirt over his head. “It’s only fair to even the score,” he said.

“So you’re being a gentleman by stripping?”

“Exactly.”

“I’ll help,” she said, and unbuttoned and unzipped him so she could slide her hand inside his jeans.

Ben groaned, the sound echoing in the otherwise silent loft, a hotly erotic sound. “Ben?”

He cupped her face and deepened the kiss, and when she was completely lost, he slid his hands beneath the hem of the big T-shirt and cupped her bare bottom. “Mmm,” he said, low and husky. Tugging her closer, he continued moving against her so that she could hardly breathe. “Aubrey?”

“Yes?”

“Be sure.” Pulling back, he looked deep into her eyes, probably searching for a sign that she was going to regret this. “If I stay tonight,” he said, “I’m going to be in your bed in about five seconds. I’m going to make love to you until neither of us can walk.”

The words brought a rush of heat. “Was that supposed to scare me off?” she asked.

The faintest of smiles crossed his mouth as he pulled the shirt off her, tossing it behind him, leaving her bare to his gaze. He looked his fill with a groan, and then looked some more.

She was shaking for him. “Ben, I want—”

“Want? Or need?”

He was going to tease her now? “Need, damn it. I need—”

“Me.” His fingers skimmed up her inner thighs and then in between, making her forget to worry about what exactly he would decide to claim as his spoils, making her forget her stupid list, making her forget just about everything, including her own name. “Say it, Aubrey.” He was at her ear, the words hot along her skin. His lips grazed her earlobe, and a rush of heat shot hard and fast southward.

“Yes,” she managed as he took her to the bed, pinning her to the mattress beneath his delicious weight. “You. I need you.” Only you…



“How?” he asked, voice husky as the tip of his tongue played with her nipple before sucking it hard between his hot tongue and the roof of his mouth.

“Th—that,” she said on a moan.

“Me kissing you?” He switched to her other breast and gave it the same torturous teasing. “Is that what you want?”

His questing fingers were inching closer and closer to where she needed them, close but not…quite…getting there. “And your fingers!” she gasped, giving up and arching into him.

He rewarded her with both, kissing her hard as his fingers traced their way up her thighs, and then between. The touch nearly levitated her off the bed, would have for certain if she hadn’t been anchored by his body. Applying pressure in the exact right spot, his lips—God, those lips, doing diabolical things to her as well—combined the sensations so that her head spun, and she cried out.

“Anything you want,” he murmured against a breast. “You want me to touch you? My mouth on you? My hands gripping your hips as I sink in and out of you until we’re both screaming each other’s name?”

She let her eyes drift closed as her lips parted on a “God, yes…” He was still just playing with her, but she was done playing. Fisting her hands in his hair, she pulled his mouth to hers. He let her control the kiss, and another, and another. Finally he lifted his head, gave her a wickedly naughty smile, and took over, shifting down her body, kissing every inch he passed. He didn’t stop until he’d made himself at home between her legs, holding them open with his shoulders.

“So beautiful,” he whispered, nipping first one inner thigh, and then the other, and then…in between. “Say the magic words, Aubrey. Tell me what you want now.”

“Your mouth, I need your mouth.”

He gave it to her, and her breathing hitched, and then stopped altogether. Her blood seemed to flow through her veins like liquid fire. White-hot, pulsing need ripped through her as he gave her exactly what she wanted.

When she’d stopped shuddering, he was resting his head on her belly, watching her recover.

“Now you,” she said, reaching for him. “I want to feel you inside me. Please, Ben. Inside me now.”

He rose up. “Wrap your legs around me.” His voice was rough, his hands gentle, as he slid his hand up her legs and directed them around his hips. He sank into her, hard. Perfect.

Their groans of pleasure commingled in the air. Leaning over her, he bent low and kissed her—fervent, erotic, rough, and wild.

Her body, already on fire for him, erupted again. Ben’s hands slid to her hips, cupped her ass, and, lifting her up against him, he thrust deep. It was enough to have her crying out, arching against him in an attempt to draw him even deeper. “Yes,” she moaned, clutching at him. “Like that.”

He growled low in his throat as he gave her what she wanted, on his terms. Slow. Purposeful. Taking her to the point of no return and beyond, to a place where she couldn’t have said what she wanted next if her life had depended on it.

It didn’t matter. Ben seemed to know exactly what she wanted. That was the thing about him. He instinctively knew when to be aggressive, when to be gentle and coaxing, and, best of all, he knew how to drive every last worry right out of her mind.