Friends With Benefits (17 page)

“Oh, God,” she said again, moments later, lifting her head. He had never seen her look like that…her face glowed, here eyes shone, her mouth curved into a sinful smile. “Stretch your legs out,” she directed him gently, and he did so. She crawled onto his lap, putting her arms around his neck, and he held her waist. She positioned herself over him, then lowered herself onto him, and Christ it felt incredible. His cock was so super-sensitized and engorged he’d been almost afraid the condom wouldn’t fit over it.

She moved on him, their faces level, watching each other. He shook his head slightly. “I can’t wait,” he told her.

“It’s okay. I’m…” She bit her lip, shifted her position ever so slightly. “I’m already…there…” She came again, little convulsions that gripped his cock like a fist, milking him, and the sight of her face in ecstasy and the feel of her contracting around him sent him over the edge. He came, wave after wave of heat rippling over him, shuddering violently in a tumultuous, exploding climax like he had never experienced.

Shimmering lights danced before his eyes, and he held on to Kerri tighter, clasping her small waist as she too pulsed and throbbed.

When he could open his eyes, Kerri was looking at him and he was back in that trance-like state where they were breathing as one, moving as one, connected, merged into an extraordinary erotic and psychic fusion.

Holy shit.

“I’m sorry I called you flaky,” he choked out. “I take it back.”

“I love you too.” He pulled her closer, needed to hug her tightly to him, still joined together at their centers. He never wanted to let her go. “I love you so much, I can’t even tell you.”

They stayed like that for a long time, then Kerri said, “The last part of the yoga workout is a nice warm shower. Whenever you’re ready, we can go upstairs.”

“We’re going to have a shower? Together?”

“Mmmm. The shower in the spa is used for some of the treatments. It’s nice and big and there’s a bench in there to sit on.”

“Oh God.” He took in a long, deep breath. “Give me a minute.”

She reached for the blanket and cushions, dragging them closer. She wrapped the blanket around the two of them, pushed him down to the mat and, snuggled into him, tucking a pillow under her head more comfortably. “Whenever you’re ready,” she repeated.

This was
way
better than his fantasy. He’d had no idea that the things she would do would reach so far inside him that they would connect like that. His fantasy had involved physical movements, the visual stimulation of seeing her body, the carnality of touching her and her touching him. The reality had fulfilled that beyond his wildest dreams. But the spirituality, the emotions she’d evoked in him as their eyes had met and held, as their breathing connected and merged, was not something he had ever contemplated or even known was possible. His stomach still quivered with the emotional overload. What had she done to him?

He might have drifted off to sleep or maybe he was in another trance, when Kerri moved in his arms.

“We should go shower now,” she murmured. “As nice as this was, we don’t want to spend all night here.”

He smiled his agreement and helped her blow the candles out before they went upstairs. She turned on lights as they went, only enough for them to see where they were going, until they arrived in the treatment room. Tiny pot lights around the perimeter of the room provided warm, subdued lighting. She turned on the water to let it heat up and reached for two thick towels from a shelf.

She must have planned ahead for this, too, because a bottle of some kind of aromatherapy shower gel sat in the shower. She dumped some into her hands and spread it over his chest, his shoulders, her hands sliding easily over him with the thick, smooth liquid. The scent alone was arousing, but her hands slick on his body almost undid him.

“My turn,” he groaned, grabbing the bottle, and he washed her, too, over smooth curves and dips. Her head fell back with enjoyment, and he slid his fingers between her legs.

“Yes,” she whispered, the water showering warmly down on them. He moved his fingers there, caressing, stroking. She grabbed the bottle of gel and dumped more into his hand so they didn’t lose the slickness of the gel in the water spraying down on them. Then she came, and he had to hold her up as her legs threatened to give way.

He lowered her onto the marble bench, a shower head in the wall behind her keeping her wet and warm.

She opened her eyes, deep blue and framed with spiky wet lashes, She reached again for the bottle, poured gel into her hands, took his hard cock in her hands and stroked, the gel lubricating him and intensifying the sensations until he thought he might burst.

“Harder,” he muttered, bracing his arms on the wall, muscles and tendons taut. She increased the pressure and he felt the tingle starting, building. His head dropped back, he gritted his teeth as his orgasm erupted through him, almost as intense as the one she’d drawn from him downstairs. His hot semen spilled over her hands, the water washing it away as her hands slowed and gentled on him.

He collapsed on the bench beside her, and pulled her against him, burying his face in her wet hair.

“Okay, you have succeeded,” he wheezed, sucking air into his lungs.

“Succeeded at what?” she asked lazily, curling into him.

“You have made me your love slave. I know that was your intention. You’ve used some magic karma or something.”

She giggled and stroked his wet chest. “The only problem is, I seem to have succumbed to the same magic charm because I think I’m your slave too. Whatever you want, whenever you want.”

Her words sent a shiver through his exhausted, sated body and he wasn’t entirely sure if it was fear or excitement…or both.

They went over Saturday night and Kerri hugged her friend. “I missed you.”

“How are things with Mitch?” Hailey asked urgently. “I couldn’t stop thinking about you two the whole time.”

“Hopefully not the whole time.” Kerri smiled. “You
were
on your honeymoon, after all.”

Hailey waved a hand. “Miguel and I have been together for six years.” Then she grinned. “Okay, I wasn’t thinking about you the
whole
time.”

“Things are awesome,” Kerri said dreamily. “I love him so much.”

Hailey’s eyes widened. “Whoa! Have you told him that?”

She nodded happily. “Yeah. He loves me too. I can’t believe this is happening.”

Hailey looked at her, shaking her head almost as if she couldn’t believe it herself, but smiling. “Wow.”

“Yeah. Wow.”

They joined the others and pored over all the pictures Hailey and Miguel had taken displayed on Miguel’s laptop.

“It looks so beautiful,” Kerri said with a sigh. “You’re so lucky.”

“Also lucky to be a teacher and have two months of holidays in the summer,” Mitch said.

“I know,” Hailey answered. “Back to school next week, though. Classes don’t start until the week after, but I have to go in and get things ready. I can’t believe summer’s almost over.”

“It’s been a great summer,” Kerri said with another happy sigh and exchanged a smile with Mitch.

After they’d made love that night, Kerri curled into Mitch’s side and petted his chest.

“Let’s go to Paris,” he said.

She lifted her head, stunned. “Huh?”

He smiled and stroked her hair. “We should go. You want to go. When’s the last time you took a holiday?”

“Ha. I don’t even remember.”

“Exactly. But now you have people who could take over your classes, and Sela could cover for you for a week if we went away, couldn’t she?”

Kerri considered that. “I suppose she could.” Excitement bubbled in her. “Really? You really mean it?”

He nodded. “I’d love to take you to Paris. So let’s go.”

“Oh my God!” That was so incredibly exciting! Then she had a thought. “But maybe we should wait.”

“Wait for what?” His hand still idly stroked her hair.

“We should save Paris. Save it for our honeymoon.”

His hand stilled. She felt his body tense beneath her, and the temperature in the room dropped several chilling degrees.

Kerri’s stomach tightened and she lifted her head. “What?” she asked hesitantly.

He just looked at her. “Honeymoon?” He shook his head slightly, gently moved her off him to the side. She flipped over and sat up, pulling the covers over her naked breasts, still tender and swollen from their lovemaking.

She stared at him, sensing something really bad but not sure exactly what. Her fingers shook and her stomach churned.

“Yeah,” she continued, softly. “What…what’s wrong with that?”

He closed his eyes. “Kerri. You know I don’t believe in marriage.”

She took that in and turned it over in her mind. “But that was before,” she said, distressed. “Before…us. Before we fell in love.”

Eyes still closed, he sat up and leaned back against the headboard. He rubbed his face with both hands, then opened his eyes and looked up at the ceiling.

“That doesn’t change how I feel about marriage,” he said flatly. “It’s still a mistake.”

She stared at him in stunned disbelief. How could he say that? Yes, she knew what he thought about marriage, but she’d been sure that now he’d fallen in love—or so he said—he would of course want to get married. Wasn’t that the next natural step in a relationship? She’d thought maybe they would move in together first, but she assumed that if they loved each other they’d get married. One day.

Oh God.

Her stomach tightened painfully and her heart thudded.

“Mitch.” She reached out and put a hand on his forearm. It was hard as a rock. “You can’t mean that. Not now.”

He ran a hand through his hair, clearly disturbed by the conversation. “I don’t really want to talk about this,” he growled. “We’ve talked about this before and we’ve agreed to disagree. Marriage is not in my future. Not ever.”

Her heart squeezed painfully. “No. But…what about me?”

He looked at her. “What about you? I thought you loved me. Isn’t that enough?”

She shook her head slowly, her head spinning. This could not be happening. She clutched the sheet tighter in her hands. “I want to get married,” she whispered. “You knew that. I want a family. I want kids.”

He just looked back at her, his face grim.

“No,” she whispered, head whirling. “No, don’t do this to me, Mitch. We finally found each other. I finally found the man I want to spend the rest of my life with and you’re telling me you won’t marry me?”

“The rest of your life is a long time,” Mitch said cautiously. “You can’t know that you want to spend the rest of your life with someone. That never happens.”

“It does happen!” She scrambled out of the bed, pulling the sheet with her. She stood there staring at him.
That never happens?
Obviously he didn’t picture the two of them together for long. When he said nothing, her heart contracted sharply as if it were actually breaking. “No,” she whispered again.

After another long moment heavy with unspoken disappointment and sorrow, Kerri turned to look for her clothes, almost blind with grief. She felt around and almost by touch alone found her underwear. She set it aside and pulled on her jeans and T-shirt, stuffed the panties in her pocket. Her hands shook so much she almost couldn’t button her jeans.

“Kerri, what are you doing?” Mitch asked, his voice pleading. “Don’t go.”

She snorted. “You expect me to
stay
?” Her throat ached and her stomach tightened painfully. She shoved her feet into her flip flops and stumbled out of the bedroom. She found her purse and dug for her keys. Shit. She had no way to get home.

She grabbed his keys off the table near his front door and slammed out. She hurried to his SUV, in a panic that he would follow her and try to stop her, almost unable to get the key into the ignition with her trembling hands. The engine roared as she started it and put it in gear, just as Mitch emerged from the front door, having pulled on a pair of boxers. He stood there as she squealed out of his driveway and up the street.

She had no idea how she’d get his vehicle back to him. All she knew was she couldn’t stay there a second longer after he dropped that bombshell on her.

Only it wasn’t a bombshell. It was something she’d always known, and she was embarrassed and humiliated that she had wrongly assumed his feelings about marriage would change now they were in love.

It was insulting. Debasing. Killer painful.

She drove recklessly home through the dark streets, thankful that there was little traffic as tears blurred her vision.

At home, she stumbled into her bedroom and fell on the bed, sobbing with huge, aching sobs that racked her body until she fell asleep, emotionally exhausted.