“I want to see through your eyes, Ben. Tell me what you see.”
Ben glanced across the blanket at Mona. They had arrived at the beach around ten, early enough to claim a section of the beach before the lunchtime crowd arrived. The spot was perfect and shaded by the shadows of endless hotels, restaurants and cafés spread out along the oceanfront.
He reached out and captured her hand in his. “It will be my pleasure.” For the next ten minutes, he spoke, letting her see through his eyes. He saw how her smile widened when he told her about the teens playing volleyball in the sand not far away, about the colorful Jet Skis and the beautiful clouds overhead.
“And last but not least,” he said, tightening his hand on hers, “I see this beautiful woman who is wearing a beautiful yellow sundress that goes perfectly with her golden-brown eyes. Then there’s her hair that frames such a gorgeous face that can light up my whole world with her smile. And a pair of lips that I’ve been tempted to taste from the first, because she has to be the most beautiful woman I know.”
“Oh, Ben,” Mona said, wiping at the tears forming in her eyes. “You shouldn’t say such things,” she whispered brokenly.
“I should, and I will, Mona, because I plan to pursue you the way a man pursues a woman he wants in his life.” And he wanted her in his life. He felt he’d gotten to know her over the past months. He had watched her when she hadn’t known he’d been doing so. He’d talked to her, held pleasant conversations with her. He admired her.
He loved her.
“But you don’t know me, and what you do know is what you can see. You’re a wonderful man who needs a woman—”
“Like you,” he finished. “Like you,” he repeated. He leaned over and kissed her trembling lips.
“I want my eyesight back, Ben. I don’t want you to be a blur in my eyes. I want to see the man who’s cared enough to reach out and accept me as I am. I want to see the man who has made me feel special.”
“You are special, and you will see again, sweetheart. I believe you will. Those flashes of light are something positive. Your doctor’s appointment this week confirmed that. But if you don’t ever see again, then that’s okay, too, because I’ll be here regardless. I’ll be by your side. Always.”
Ben knew what he was saying, the commitment he was pledging, and meant each and every word. He was getting used to telling Mona to watch her step, used to telling her where things were and being her eyes. He felt it wasn’t an inconvenience but an honor. Not a burden but a privilege.
“You ready to take a walk on the beach?” he asked, pushing tendrils of hair back from her face.
“Yes.”
He reached down and unhooked her sandals, brushing his hands against her ankles. He heard her sharp intake of breath. He smiled. Sight wasn’t needed when it came to chemistry between two people. Especially when that chemistry was fueled by feelings and emotions.
Ben helped her up and tenderly continued holding her hand as they began walking underneath the brightness of the sun. It was a beautiful day, and they would enjoy it.
* * *
“Look around. Make yourself at home.”
Gripping her overnight bag in her hand, Shana stepped into the living room and glanced around. She wasn’t sure what she would find after traveling several miles past the entrance to Shenandoah National Park and then driving another hour through miles and miles of wilderness as they made their way up the Blue Ridge Mountains. According to Jace, he’d called ahead to tell the caretaker he would be arriving and to have the cabin ready.
As Shana glanced around, her thoughts, the same ones she’d had when they’d pulled up to the cabin, were confirmed. This was not the cabin she thought she would find. Instead, it looked more like a beautiful château in the mountains. It had two stories with the second floor overlooking the first. The walls were made of stained wood and the downstairs was spacious, with an open concept. The kitchen belonged to someone who loved to cook and the dining area to someone with a big family. The living room was enormous, with a huge fireplace on one solid wall and a wide-screen television on the other. Rugs scattered about on the floor gave the place a lived-in look, while the silk plants that looked almost real added foliage that wasn’t grown in this area. The greenery enhanced the inside scenery to complement the outside. What she liked most was that the entire back wall was made of glass and provided a panoramic view of Streater Lake and the rest of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
“So what do you think?” Jace asked, joining her after closing the door behind him with the heel of his boot. His arms were full of grocery bags. They’d made a stop at one of the general stores at the foot of the mountain. He claimed he could cook, and she was dying to see if he was telling the truth. She had no problem admitting that cooking wasn’t her specialty.
“I think it’s beautiful. How long have you had it?” she asked, setting her bag on the sofa.
She tried not to notice how sexy he looked in a T-shirt, scruffy jeans and battered boots. He’d arrived at her place bright and early at seven, and when she’d opened the door, her heart had gone pitter-pat. He’d been smiling, and as soon as he’d stepped inside her house, he had pulled her into his arms and kissed her. If she hadn’t been wide-awake before, that kiss had definitely done it.
“I’ve had it for a couple of years now. My family owned one about four miles east of here,” he said, moving toward the kitchen. “After Mom died and Dad was sent away, no one wanted to come here, so Granddad sold it.”
He placed the bags on the counter. “Dad used to take us camping a lot, and I’ve always liked being close to nature. I heard about this place going up for sale and grabbed it. This is only my third time coming here.”
She joined him in the kitchen, and without asking if he needed help, she assisted in going through the bags and putting items away. Although the kitchen was large, it seemed they would occasionally bump into each other, making the simmering sparks inside of her flare even more.
It had felt odd pushing a grocery cart around in the store while he filled it. It had felt as if they were a married couple. He had teased her about her lack of knowledge when it came to spices and couldn’t believe the one time she had cooked spaghetti, the sauce hadn’t been homemade.
They put away the items quickly, and then he gave her a tour of the place. She saw the bedroom where they would spend the night and thought the view of the lake and mountains was spectacular. The bed faced a huge window, and she could imagine waking up to see the sun rise each morning.
“You want to take a walk?” Jace asked when they walked back down the stairs to the living room. “I’d like to show you a favorite place of mine.”
“All right.”
Taking her hand, he led her out the back door and down a wooded path. “This is what sold me on this place,” he said, opening a wrought iron gate and then leading her through thick foliage. They hadn’t gone far before they reached a clearing and glanced down at the meadow below. It was simply breathtaking. Covered in all kinds of wildflowers, and in the center of it all was a huge geyser with water gushing upward toward the sky.
“It’s not a part of my property, but as long as I can view it from here whenever I want, I feel that it is. I’ve even built this bench,” he said, easing down on it.
Shana wondered what thoughts had plagued him so much that he needed this place, a place of peace and solitude, to escape to. He’d had a lot of unhappiness in his life. It had to have been hard going through what he and his brothers had. He hadn’t just lost one parent; in a way, he’d lost two.
She joined him on the bench, and for a minute, neither said anything as they looked down at the meadow below. She’d never been one who liked the outdoors but had to admit that this was something she could get used to. Grassy green slopes covered in wildflowers of every color in the rainbow. She couldn’t imagine anyone not being able to see such beauty, and her thoughts shifted to Mona.
“What was that deep sigh about?”
Shana glanced over at Jace. She hadn’t been aware she’d made it. “I was thinking about Mona, the woman my father has fallen in love with.” There. She’d said it, and in saying it, she was basically accepting it. The verdict was still out for Jules, but Shana was convinced. She had seen their father on Monday and saw the way his face lit up whenever he mentioned Mona’s name. Yes, Ben Bradford was definitely in love.
“What about her?”
“She’s blind as a result of an auto accident a few years ago. The doctors think her sight might come back, but there aren’t any guarantees. But it wouldn’t matter to Dad one way or the other. He loves her and will take her with sight or blind. Now, that’s true love.”
“True love,” he scoffed. “Is there such a thing?”
Evidently, you don’t think so, Shana surmised. “My father believes there is. Says he’s been in love twice in his life. With Mom and now Mona.”
“What about you? Have you ever been in love?”
She was surprised by his question and immediately thought of Jonathan. “Yes, at one time I thought I was in love.”
He lifted a brow. “Thought?”
“Yes. I was intentionally swept off my feet, treated like a queen and led to believe I was the woman of his dreams,” she said bitterly.
He’d hung on her every word. “And?”
“And...it was a deliberate setup, and I was too taken with him to know it. I didn’t read the signs until it was almost too late.”
He didn’t say anything, and when she felt his arms circle around her, she moved closer into his embrace. “What happened?” he asked softly.
She started to say she didn’t want to talk about it, that he didn’t need to know what a fool she’d been. But Jace had of way of getting to her at every angle. He was the perfect lover, and when it came to caring for others, he could be the most unselfish person she’d met in a long time. She watched him with his brothers and his employees. She’d heard how he spoke lovingly of his grandfather and the housekeeper who had been in his family since before he was born. But still, her past personal life was none of his business. On the other hand, maybe she should tell him so he’d know that she would never be any man’s fool again. But then she was susceptible to falling in love and truly believed she was close to the mark with him. Now, that was something he would never know.
“Jonathan and I met at a party and were immediately taken with each other. Not so much on a physical level as it was on an intellectual level. He engaged me in a conversation about Aristotle, and I was a goner.”
At his questioning look, she explained, “I’m a fan of Greek mythology and philosophy. We dated for about nine months, and then I found out the truth. It was a setup, and I was part of this well-orchestrated, diabolical plan. One of my clients was an oil tycoon and had me on retainer for a year. Jonathan’s job was to get close to me and obtain information to feed to his client, who happened to be my client’s biggest competitor.”
“How did you find out?”
She could hear the anger in his voice. “I didn’t. Kent did, and Bruce came to me with the proof. Jonathan’s intent was to have evidence to use against me in case I found out what he was doing and broke things off. Then he would resort to blackmail. Lucky for me, Bruce wiped out every piece of electronic data Jonathan thought he had on me as well as my client.”
“Good for Bruce. Where is the asshole now?”
“Don’t know. He moved away from Boston months before I did. My involvement with him was a valuable lesson only to take affairs at face value.”
She didn’t say anything else for a minute, and then it was her time to be inquisitive. “You were married once, so I assume you’ve been in love.”
Yes, she could assume that, Jace thought. But it hadn’t taken long to realize his marriage to Eve had been a mistake. However, he was a man who knew how to deal with whatever hand he was dealt, and with Eve, God knows he tried. But as far as he was concerned, Eve had betrayed him in the worst possible way, and he doubted he could ever forgive her for it.
But there was no way he could tell Shana that he’d never been in love because for a short while he had...or at least he’d thought so. “Yes, I’ve been in love.”
“What happened?”
He knew she had every right to ask him that. After all, he’d dug into her business by asking her. Besides, he could wrap up what happened with him and Eve in one sentence. “I discovered love wasn’t all it was cracked up to be, and therefore, I won’t ever indulge in such madness again.”
There. They understood each other, he thought. He understood what drove her, and she now knew what didn’t drive him. Their affair was about the physical and nothing else.
“Ready to go back?” he asked, tightening his arms around her.
She lifted her face toward him. “Not if you’re going to make me help you in the kitchen.”
“You really don’t like handling pots and pans?”
She chuckled. “Not unless I’m forced to. Jules likes to cook, and while we were growing up, I let her knock herself out.”
He gently brushed his knuckles against her cheek. “One favor deserves another. If I give you a pass, it’s only because I want you well rested for later.”
Shana knew exactly what he was talking about. She turned around and wrapped her arms around his neck, leaned up and placed a kiss on his lips. “That’s a deal.”
* * *
“Dinner was wonderful, Jace,” Shana said later that evening as she helped him clear off the table.
And it hadn’t been just the meal he’d prepared without any assistance from her. Over dinner, he was a wonderful conversationalist. Charming. At times amusing. And at others tempting as sin. He looked like he needed a shave, and he wore the scruffy look well. Too well, since it added to his sexiness.
When she began helping him load the dishes in the sink, he placed his hand on hers. “I got this. Why don’t you go upstairs and run our bathwater?” he suggested.
“Our bathwater?” she asked, raising a brow.
He leaned down and kissed the tip of her nose. “Yes, our bathwater. I’ll be up when I finish in here.”
She fought back a smile at the same time as she narrowed her gaze at him. “Surely you’re not going to hold me to that silly deal we made earlier today.”
He chuckled. “On the contrary. I can clearly recall that while I was doing all the cooking, you were in the living room with your feet propped up on the sofa, reading some book on your iPad.”
She couldn’t deny what he said was true, so she chuckled and headed toward the stairs.
“Shana?”
She turned around. “Yes?”
The smile in his eyes lit a sensuous flame within her. “I’m glad you enjoyed dinner.”
She drew in a deep breath, nodded and all but rushed up the stairs.
* * *
Jace walked into his bedroom and stopped short. The room was dark, and kerosene lanterns were lit and placed in several spots around the room. He kept the lanterns in case there was ever a loss of power. But it seemed Shana had decided to use them for something else, and he had to admit they bathed the room in a soft, luminous glow.
“Your bath awaits you, Jace.”
He blinked. Shana materialized from heaven knows where, and what really had him mesmerized was that she was stark naked. She had a beautiful body, and automatically his gaze roamed all over her, taking in every inch of her. There was such a profound femininity about her that it had his gut churning.
“Jace?”
He swallowed. “Yes?”
“Come on,” she said, taking his hand and pulling him toward the bathroom.
After pulling himself together, thoughts of all the possibilities with the naked woman leading him made his manhood throb, and he went willingly. There was no doubt in his mind that she would keep her end of the deal. And he couldn’t wait.
Stepping into the bathroom, he saw the bathtub was full of bubbly water and the scent of jasmine filled the air. “Now for your clothes.” She leaned up to whisper close to his ear. Doing so made a breast brush against his arm, and he fought back a moan.
For the next few minutes, he stood there, smiling like a ninny, while she stripped him of his clothing. The only time he assisted was when she had a difficult time easing his zipper down past his engorged erection.
In no time at all, he was standing there as naked as she was. When he extended his arm for her, she quickly moved out of his reach. “Not yet. Get in the tub, Jace.”
He chuckled before easing his long legs over the edge of the huge, freestanding tub to settle his body comfortably in place in the warm, bubbly water. “You’re going to join me, right?” he asked.
“Eventually. You fed me well today here, and I told you how much I enjoyed it. Now I want you to enjoy this,” she said, crouching down on her knees beside the tub. “I’m about to give you a bath that you won’t forget for a long time.”
Jace watched how she slowly slid the washcloth through the warm water before gliding it across his skin. First she worked his chest, causing a tingling sensation in his nipples before moving over his shoulders.
Then she moved down his body, circling the cloth around his navel before moving toward his groin. That’s when she replaced the cloth with her hands. He was more than conscious of every stroke of her fingers on him, her hand curling around his engorged penis, the same penis he planned on plunging deep inside her later.
He drew in a sharp breath when she began stroking him in a way he’d never been stroked before, and he stared into her eyes, saw the heated desire burning in them and knew the blaze was as hot as in his own. His body felt as if it was in turbulent ecstasy, and he fought back a moan. A tingling rush of pleasure moved from the soles of his feet all the way up to the top of his head.
And while she continued to prove the skills of her hands, she leaned in close and kissed his lips. He thought it would be a light brush of her lips across his, but when she parted her lips over his, she used her tongue to fuel more desire within him. He kissed her back with wanton barbarity that channeled a feverish rush, invading his body, as their tongues continued to duel.
Convinced he needed more, specifically the feel of wet flesh against wet flesh, he reached out and pulled her into the tub on top of him, not caring how much water splashed out of the tub in the process. She pulled back and stared at him in stunned disbelief. He merely shrugged a wet shoulder and smiled when he settled her between his thighs facing him.
“I wanted to bathe you,” she said in a perturbed tone with a pout on her lips.
He leaned in and kissed those pouty lips, deepening the kiss, all with one deep plunge of his tongue. He enjoyed kissing her, figured he could make a field day of it and probably would have if she hadn’t shifted and pressed her womanly core right smack against his hard erection. Immediately, he craved the feel of being planted deep inside of her.
Hot lust razzed his brain, and he lifted her hips at the perfect angle to ease through her heated flesh and become intimate with her. She moaned and threw her head back as he plunged forward, holding her hips steady to receive all of him. When he was convinced he was buried to the hilt, he placed a kiss on the smoothness of her neck and whispered, “Ride me, baby. I need you to ride me hard.”
He didn’t care that later he would be mopping the floor. All he cared about was the way she was making him feel as she lifted her hips off him to come towering back down again and began riding him the way she’d done in his dreams plenty of times. Even better, because this was the real thing. “That’s it, baby. Take it all,” he whispered brokenly.
And she was taking it. He could feel it in every part of his body. Her inner muscles were molding to his erection, generating more fire and heat each time she rode him hard. And he pushed her on by caressing the nipples of her breasts and trailing circular motions on her back.
Jace shifted his body slightly to capture the budded tips in his mouth while she continued to ride him hard. This was hot passion that was driving the lower part of his body to act as a spring with her movements.
Then he felt it, the slow stirring that starts in your bones before exploding to all parts of your body and ambushing your mind with breathtaking intensity. She was riding him. Boy, was she riding him. He felt every muscle in his body respond, and he instinctively lifted his hips to meet her downward plunge.
“Shana!”
Needing his mouth to be locked on hers, he went back for her lips, crushing down on hers and easing his tongue inside and stroking hers with wild abandonment and greed he felt in every pore.
And then she broke off the kiss to scream his name. The raw passion he heard in her voice was too much. Grabbing a fistful of her hair, he brought her mouth back down to him, and his tongue claimed hers once again as another orgasm rammed through him and his response almost toppled them over the tub.
It was a while before the kiss ended and he slowly stood and got out of the tub, helped her out and toweled them both dry. He then swept her off her feet into his arms. She curled her body close to his and licked his shoulder before lightly biting into his skin.
“Let’s finish this in bed, shall we?” he asked.
She tightened her arms around his neck. “We’ll finish this wherever you like.”