Page 145 of My Heart Still Beats
Disappointment surges through me. “Ben?” I say tentatively.
“I want to go slow with you, Tessa, but I—” He shakes his head. “I need you. I need to fuck you, and I need it now.”
I absently touch my finger to my lips, tender and swollen from our passionate kiss.
Ben’s eyes—they’re both on fire and haunted at the same time.
“What is it?” I ask.
“I have no business being here, asking this of you.” He threads his fingers through his hair.
I close the distance between us, cup his stubbled cheek. “You have every business being here. I invited you. I want you here. I wantthis.”
He grabs me by my waist and pulls me into him, the bulge in his jeans grinding into my tummy. “I’m giving you this one chance, Tessa,” he says. “If you ask me to leave, I’ll leave. But if you don’t, I’m going to fuck you. And it’s going to be hard and fast. It won’t be pretty. But itwillbe consensual, I assure you.”
His words travel into my ears and straight between my legs.
I’ve had pretty fucks. Lots of them. Right now I want Ben. I want to be with him, but I also want to give him what he needs.
“You deserve better,” he says before I have a chance to reply. “So tell me to leave, Tessa. Tell me to leave, and I will.”
I look into his burning brown eyes, into his soul.
Something torments him, and it’s not just how much he wants me in this moment. That’s part of it, but there’s more. Much more.
“Take what you need from me,” I say. “Please, Ben. I want this as much as you do.”
He inhales deeply. “I want to give you what you need, and I can’t right now.”
I look him right in his beautiful and tormented dark eyes. I want more than anything to ease his pain. Whatever is haunting him, I want to be the one to erase it. “What I need is whatyouneed. I swear it.”
His mouth comes down on mine once more.
Everything. This is everything all at once. The feel of his tongue entwined with mine, the robust flavor of his mouth, the fullness of his lips, the spicy scent of him.
And the bulge.
The bulge showing how much he wants me. How much he needs me.
That part of a man I thought I might never want to see or feel again.
I want to see and feel it more than I ever have.
He slides one hand over my breast, cupping it, thumbing the nipple underneath the fabric of my camisole.
Sparks skitter under my flesh, and I nudge against his bulge, grinding.
He groans another growl into me, and then he breaks the kiss, his eyes on fire. “Bed,” is all he says.
I lead him to my small bedroom, to my unmade bed.
He pulls the cami over my breasts, letting them fall free, and he sucks in a breath. “Fuck. So damned beautiful.”
Warmth spreads over me as he unbuttons his shirt, revealing his hard chest, perfect pecs, and abs with just a smattering of black hair over them. I take my lower lip between my teeth, and I gawk at him. Simply gawk. It’s nothing I haven’t seen before. I saw him shirtless in Jamaica. But in this moment, he’s mine.
All mine.
No one else is looking upon this magnificence except for me.
