Take Me Under (6 page)

She wished to God she knew the answer.

It wasn’t easy, but Reese somehow forced her gaze away from the heavy head of his cock and back up to his gorgeous face. Rubbing her hands over her arms, she said, “I keep telling myself that I just need to tell you no, but I
want
to say yes. I . . . I just don’t know if I could do a casual relationship. I’ve never had a fling in my life, Ben, and things are pretty crazy for me right now.”

A notch formed between his dark brows. “I thought we agreed not to label it.”

“We did?”

He nodded, his gaze sharp. Determined. “No labels. We can make our own rules as we go along. And I know you’re just getting settled here. I won’t take up too much of your time. Outside of the bedroom, you can have as much freedom as you want.”

“And
in
the bedroom?”

Something dark and intense moved through his eyes. “I won’t lie to you. I don’t play nice when it comes to sex. But I swear I’ll never hurt you. I just want to make you come so hard you scream.”

Wryly, she admitted, “I’m really not much of a screamer.”

“Maybe not yet,” he said. “But you could be. Whatever it is that’ll make you lose control and let go, Reese—that’s how I’ll give it to you.”

She stared, wanting very much to believe him. “That’s a bold claim.”

“When you want proof”—he gave her a slow, sexy smile—“just say the word.”

There was a wild woman inside her who wanted to tell him that yes, she was ready
now
, but the worst interruption in history came when someone started knocking on her front door. She jumped, startled, and took two steps back. “I have no idea who that could be.”

He checked the watch on his thick wrist. “It’s probably a little early for the glass repair company.”

“You already called them?”

Turning a bit to the side, he nodded as he reached over to snag his shirt off the back of the sofa. “I could get called in to work at any time, and I don’t want to leave you alone until that door is fixed.”

Before she could comment, another knock sounded, along with her mother’s voice shouting through the door. “Reese? Aren’t you up yet? It’s almost eight o’clock!”

Her wide eyes locked with Ben’s, and she felt her face flame with color. “That’s my mom.”

His lips twitched. “I know. Go answer the door, Reese.”

She could tell by the twinkling in his eyes that he was enjoying her discomfort. With a hot glare, she turned and headed down the hallway. Hating that she felt embarrassed by the thought of her mom finding a man in her house, as if she were some underage teen, she took a deep breath and opened the door.

Her mother stood there in yoga pants and a tank top, still looking beautiful and far younger than her age. She had the same blond coloring that Connie and Cami had, but with Reese’s blue eyes instead of their brown ones. Before Reese could get the first word out, her mother breezed into the house, her blond hair swinging in a ponytail. “Morning, sweetheart. I was in town for coffee and thought I’d come to see how—Oh! Um, wow. Am I interrupting anything?”

She knew, by the stunned look on her mother’s face, that she’d caught sight of Ben. Sure enough, when Reese looked over her shoulder, she found him standing in the hallway, arms crossed over his chest, shoulder propped against the wall. He’d pulled his shoes and his polo shirt back on, hiding anything she wouldn’t have wanted her mother to see, thank God. But he still looked all mellow and sleep-tousled, as if he’d just rolled out of bed. Another one of those slow, suggestive smiles curved his mouth, and she blasted him with a glare again before looking at her mom.

“Of course you aren’t interrupting anything,” she said a little too brightly, thankful that Ben’s shirt was long enough to conceal his erection. “There isn’t anything to interrupt.”

Ben’s smile melted into a sexy smirk. “Morning’s still young, though.”

It wasn’t easy to get her next words out through her gritted teeth, but she managed. “Ben slept on my sofa.”

“Oh?” Her mom’s eyebrows had risen nearly to her hairline.

Ben finally took mercy on her, though it was a little late in coming. “I’ll put on the coffee while you explain, Reese. Mrs. Thompson,” he said with a nod, using her mom’s married name. He pushed away from the wall and headed into the kitchen.

Her mom blinked a few times, then slowly turned her stunned gaze on Reese. “What’s going on?” she whispered with false concern, doing an incredibly crappy job of trying to hide her excitement.

Reese scowled. “Don’t even try that innocent act,” she snapped. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me he was my new landlord!” And the conversation pretty much deteriorated from there, with her mother trying to look contrite, but failing miserably. For some inexplicable reason, the woman obviously thought the idea of her newly divorced daughter hooking up with the town stud was a stellar idea. Go figure.

When Reese came into the kitchen a few minutes later, after sending her mom on her way with a promise to call her that evening, she found Ben waiting for her. He was leaning back against one of the counters, the dark hair hanging over his forehead only adding to his bad-boy image. He might be the sheriff of this beautiful, upscale county, but she wasn’t fooled. Yeah, he was a respectable guy, but he was also rough and wicked and wild. It was like having a beautiful predator lounging in her kitchen, making her feel like the proverbial mouse.

He appeared to calmly be drinking a cup of coffee—until she noticed the long fingers wrapped around his mug were white with tension. Did he think she was going to kick him out? And would it really bother him so much if she did?

With those strange thoughts running through her head, something she wasn’t ready to put a name to spread through her chest in a warm, kinda soothing rush. She could see how hard he was trying to hold on to his control, and it made her own nervous tension easier to deal with. But she was still irritated by how he’d handled the situation with her mother.

“What exactly was that?” she demanded.

He set his mug on the counter. “What was what?”

Tossing her hands up in frustration, she said, “You do realize that my mother now thinks we’re sleeping together, right? She’ll have told half the town by lunchtime!”

He whistled under his breath. “She works fast, huh?”

“She’s not the only one,” she muttered, knowing everyone was going to assume that she’d thrown herself at Ben, when it was actually the other way around. But how could she expect anyone to believe that shocker when she could hardly believe it herself?

He lifted his hands, as if claiming innocence. “Hey, I’ve been golden. I might have kissed you last night, but I kept it tame, despite how badly I’m dying to fuck you.”

She shook her head with disbelief. “You call that tame?”

He closed the distance between them, crowding her against one of the counters, all six plus feet of sexy, sleep-tousled male. “As soon as you’re ready, let me know.”

Reese stared up at him. “Ready for what?” she asked a little breathlessly.

His eyes gleamed with wicked heat. “The untamed version.”

She gave a nervous laugh, needing caffeine if she was meant to handle him this early in the morning. “What I’m ready for right now is coffee and food. Thanks to your grocery shopping, I can offer you some Cheerios and milk.”

He cocked his head to the side and smiled. He was so gorgeous she thought it might actually hurt to look at him for too long, like staring at direct sunlight. But she couldn’t look away as he said, “I’d rather just have you.”

She blushed as she started to respond, but was cut off by the beeping of the phone he’d attached to his belt. “Don’t you need to answer that?” she asked, when he just stood there, staring back at her.

“No.” He leaned forward, gripping the counter on either side of her hips, caging her in. “I can tell from the notification tone that it’s a text from work.”

“You can?”

His face was right over hers now. “I can.”

“But don’t you need to—”

“Shh.” His lips brushed against hers, tempting and warm. “I don’t want to talk about work or my phone, Reese. So just shut up and let me kiss you.”

Her voice was little more than a whisper. “I already let you kiss me. Last night.”

Her eyes slid closed, but she could feel him smile against her mouth. “Then let me do it again. I get better with repetition.”

She laughed, unable to believe she could be so turned on when he’d barely even touched her. Then she gasped as his hands slipped under the hem of her sleep shirt and settled on her hips. “I thought we were going to have breakfast,” she said, gripping his biceps.

“But you were complaining earlier about how I left you hanging last night.” He kissed the corner of her mouth. “I think we should take care of that first.”

Reese moaned, almost sobbing with anticipation, until he finally took her mouth in a deep, eating, toe-curling kiss. The guy did things with his tongue that should have been outlawed, and she drowned under the onslaught of heat and excitement, her heart tripping as he suddenly moved his right hand, shoving it down the front of her panties. Rough fingertips softly stroked her damp folds, separating them, brushing over screamingly sensitive flesh. He made a hard, guttural sound and pushed one big finger inside her, her hips jerking as she felt that heavy penetration roll through every part of her, blindsiding her senses.

“You’re already drenched,” he groaned against her lips, sending another long finger in beside the first. The pressure was full and hot, his fingers curling with expert skill to rub against that hypersensitive bundle of nerves inside her. The feeling was so intense she had to break away from the kiss, gasping for breath.

“Ben,”
she panted, shivering from the top of her head down to her toes. Her brain was shot, but her body was so happy that she just didn’t give a damn.

“Three fingers now,” he said in a low rumble, grazing his teeth down the side of her throat.

She was already so stretched around him, so full inside, the idea of taking more snapped her out of the pleasure-haze fogging her brain, jerking her back to awareness. “You must be joking,” she gasped, grabbing hold of his wrist with both hands when he started working that third digit in beside the others. “That’s too much.”

“Shh. Don’t panic.” He caught her earlobe in his teeth, biting gently as he worked that third finger inexorably deeper. “You can take it.”

“No, I can’t.”

He pulled back his head, looking her right in the eye. His stare was deep and measuring, smoky and hot. “You
have
to. Because one way or another, I
am
getting my dick in you, Reese.”

“I saw enough of you earlier to know that you’re big, but are you saying that you’re as big as three fingers? Your fingers are huge!”

The corner of his mouth twitched, and he shook his head.

She blew out a relieved breath. “I didn’t think so.”

Leaning down, he nipped her bottom lip. “I’m bigger.”

Her eyes went wide. “Seriously? You’re joking, right?”

Very slowly, he took his fingers out of her and pulled her hand to his crotch, pressing her palm against the rigid flesh pushing against his fly. He held her hand close to the base, and her breath sucked in on another sharp gasp. The first words that popped out of her mouth caught her completely by surprise. “You actually thought you were getting this thing in my ass?”

He blinked, and then his head went back as a deep, rumbling laugh surged up from his chest, making her face go hot.

“It’s not nice to laugh,” she muttered.

“I know, I’m sorry. But you keep taking me by surprise.” He lowered his head to look at her, another crooked grin flirting with those firm, sensual lips. “I like it.”

She couldn’t stop from rolling her eyes. “So glad you find me hilarious.”

“I find you refreshing,” he told her, his voice husky and low. He seemed to be searching for what he wanted to say next, while his gaze moved slowly over her face. “Genuine. Different from what I’m used to. Almost innocent.”

Pulling her hand from beneath his, she said, “I was a married woman, Ben. I’m not innocent.”

The heat in his green eyes got a little hotter, making her oblivious to the chill of the air-conditioning vent blowing down on them from above. “Just because you’ve had sex doesn’t mean you’re experienced.” His gaze narrowed a little, and there were tiny lines that she found ridiculously sexy crinkling at the corners of his eyes. “I have a feeling you’ve only ever been served a fairly vanilla menu.”

Her brow arched, even as her pulse rushed. “And you’re not a vanilla kind of guy? Is that what you’re saying?”

“’Fraid not, honey.” He lifted his hand to her face, watching as he rubbed his thumb against the corner of her kiss-swollen mouth, her lips still tingling. She could smell her salty scent on his fingers, and it made her insides clench. “I should probably stay the hell away from you, but I’m not going to. I want you too badly.”

Her reply was soft. “And what about what I want?”

He lifted his gaze, locking her back in that warm bottle green. “Tell me, Reese. You wanna be fucked hard and rough? Want your sweet little pussy licked for hours on end, my tongue sinking inside you, deep and slow?” His nostrils flared as he pulled in a short breath, that rough voice getting even rougher. “Whatever it is you want or need, I’ll give it to you.”

She wanted to ask,
And what if I want it slow and easy, like you’re making love to me?
But she didn’t dare. The last thing she needed was to look like some lovesick divorcée. If she did this thing with Ben—and that was a BIG if—she was going to keep her eyes wide open and her emotions locked down as tightly as she could. It would be about pleasure, about what she knew would be incredible sex, and nothing more. She wasn’t going to lose her head over him, and she sure as hell wasn’t going to lose her heart.

“Hey, you in there?” he asked.

She licked her lips, blinking him back into focus. “Yeah, I’m here. I was just trying to decide how to handle you . . . us . . . this thing we have between us.”

Satisfaction smoldered in his gaze. “At least you’re accepting that it’s going to happen.”