Chapter Twenty-Five
Heathrow Airport, London
“I’m not sure which one of us looks the worst right now,” Chris commented as the crew began to slowly make their way towards baggage claim.
Lauren looked at her three co-workers, then at her herself, before giving a little shudder. “I’d call it a four-way tie, Christina. All of us look like we’ve been through the wringer, and then tossed around awhile for good measure. And we all need a shower the minute we get inside our hotel rooms. Thank God Nadine booked us someplace close by.”
Their rooms had, in fact, been reserved at the Hilton right here at the airport. And according to the detailed email Ben had sent to Karl, there would even be a private hire car waiting to take them to the hotel. It seemed, thought Lauren wryly, that coming within five minutes of being killed in a plane crash had its perks, for the higher-ups at the magazine seemed to be going out of their way to cosset the crew after their ordeal.
Karl sighed tiredly. “Yeah, a shower sounds pretty damned good right about now. So does a hot meal and about twenty straight hours of sleep. We haven’t had any of the above for more than forty eight hours. And as much as we all want to get home and see our loved ones, we really need this little layover for once.”
George, who still looked like he was about to collapse from illness and sheer exhaustion, nodded eagerly in agreement. “After an eleven hour flight here from Chennai, I’m not sure I could have handled another eight hours or so to New York without having a break in between. I guess it was a blessing in disguise that Nadine couldn’t find a flight home for us until tomorrow.”
Lauren thought that the delay in their return to New York was proving to be a blessing for a very different reason – at least for her. She hated to admit it, but she was more than a little terrified at the prospect of seeing Ben again, especially after she’d finally taken the plunge and sent him that soul-baring email minutes before leaving the hotel in Port Blair. When her email service had finally come back up just an hour or two before they had flown out of Chennai, she had forced herself to check her in-box for messages. But there had been no reply from Ben, which really shouldn’t have surprised her. He’d been busy, after all, dealing with this whole episode, and she’d sort of figured that the subject matter addressed in her email probably called for an in-person response.
But exactly what that response might be had left her uncertain, on edge, and more than a little jittery ever since she had boarded the flight in Chennai. The thought that she would have at least another day or two’s reprieve before facing the truth had brought a sense of relief.
A relief that was very short-lived, however, as the escalator continued its long descent down to the baggage claim area, and she instantly spotted the man waiting at the bottom. He caught and held her gaze, and the sides of his handsome mouth slowly began to curve upwards into a wide smile. Lauren’s heart began to beat a little faster as the escalator brought her that much closer to him, and she could only stare back in bemused wonder. She noticed that he was wearing what appeared to be the exact same outfit he’d worn the very first time they had met – well worn jeans and a faded T-shirt, though his old biker boots had been replaced with a pair of trail running shoes.
But it didn’t matter what he was wearing, because what really mattered was that he was here – now – and she knew instinctively that he was here for her. He’d come for her, she could tell by the gleam in his eyes, and the tenderness of his smile. And suddenly, just like that, all of the fatigue and stress she’d endured over the past few days simply disappeared as she realized he was waiting for her, had come to her when she needed him the most.
“Hey, what’s Ben doing here?” asked George in surprise. “Karl, did you know he was going to be here to meet us?”
Karl nudged George in the ribs. “He isn’t here for us, dummy.”
“What – oh.”
But Lauren didn’t wait to hear what else George or the others might say next. Instead, she wormed her way down the last few steps of the escalator, dropped her bag, and flung herself into Ben’s waiting arms. Her legs wrapped around his waist as he boosted her up, and then, not giving a damn if the entire world watched the show, she kissed him with every bit of pent-up love and lust and passion inside of her.
Ben kissed her back just as fiercely, his tongue tangling with hers demandingly. There was no finesse whatsoever to this particular kiss, nothing the least bit smooth or practiced about it. This was a kiss of raw, desperate hunger, shared between lovers who’d been parted for far too long, and for whom this was a homecoming, a reawakening of a passion that had never died.
When he eventually broke the kiss to come up for air, he whispered raggedly, “By the way, I got your email. Thought I’d deliver my reply in person. Oh, and in case you didn’t realize it, I love you, too. Always have, sweetheart.”
Lauren actually giggled, a very undignified sound that she probably hadn’t made since she was about three years old. And then her giggles turned to squeals of delight as Ben spun her around, both of them oblivious to the indulgent smiles directed their way by the other passengers, or to the shocked expressions on the faces of two of their co-workers. The third – Karl – merely stood back a ways and observed the whole scene with a very satisfied grin.
Ben set her down reluctantly as he greeted each of the guys in turn, giving them enthusiastic hugs and pats on the back. But once he’d spoken to each of them, he pulled Lauren to him once more, his arm firmly around her shoulders as though he was afraid she’d slip away. Lauren smiled to herself as she rested her head against his strong, comforting shoulder, because she knew that if it was left up to her she would never budge from this particular spot ever again.
Clueless, naïve George obviously had no idea what was happening, though Chris had seemed to figure things out rather quickly. As they waited for their luggage to arrive, George was still shaking his head.
“I don’t get it,” he said, staring at Ben and Lauren, who had their arms wrapped around each other. “I mean, you guys are together? When did this happen? And what about Elle? And I thought Lauren didn’t even like you, Ben. Some of the stuff she’s said about - ”
Lauren clamped a hand soundly over George’s mouth. “Not now, okay? To borrow a very British term – appropriate, since we happen to actually be in merry old England right now – I’m totally knackered. Ben and I will tell you guys about it after we’ve all had some sleep. And when the four of us don’t smell like a herd of goats.”
She removed her hand then, but evidently George was beginning to feel like his old self – his nosy self – and couldn’t give it a rest.
“So, Ben, does this mean you’ve broken up with Elle? I mean, that was a hell of a – oomph!”
This time it was Ben who placed a hand over George’s mouth, chuckling a little as he shook his head. “Later, George.”
Lauren pointed an accusatory finger at the squirming George. “Don’t make me regret all the hours I just spent wiping off your gross, clammy forehead. Or spoon feeding you broth. And this is as good a time as any to remind you of your promise to have my boots professionally cleaned since your barfed on them. Twice.”
Ben swiftly removed his palm from George’s mouth, gingerly wiping it on the leg of his jeans. “Remind me to wash my hands really, really well when we get to our room,” he whispered to Lauren.
She grinned up at him mischievously. “Our room, is it? My, but someone is taking an awful lot for granted, isn’t he?”
He growled playfully in her ear. “And someone is being her usual bratty self. And, yes, sweetheart – our room. You really think that I’m going to let you spend even one more night away from me after everything we’ve put each other through? And especially when I just came way too close to losing you for good.”
Lauren sobered instantly, burying her face against the soft, familiar fabric of his T-shirt. “No,” she murmured softly. “We’ve spent way too much time apart as it is, haven’t we?”
She was unnaturally quiet during the short drive to the hotel, more than content to curl up beside Ben on the padded seat of the limo, his arm holding her against him tightly. She noticed that he, too, looked “knackered”, and wondered when he had arrived in London. Lauren knew that this entire episode had been an ordeal for everyone involved – not just her and the boys but their families and friends, and the entire staff back at the magazine. And she also realized with a shudder that this situation could have been much, much worse had they actually made that flight. She had seen first hand the horror that had unfolded in the aftermath of the crash, had witnessed the death and destruction and the cries of anguish from the families of the victims. And while her sympathies were with the victims and their loved ones, she could still find it in her to be grateful that her own family had been spared such grief.
During the brief phone conversation she’d had with her parents and Julia on the satellite phone – all of them doing their best not to cry – Lauren had discovered that Ben had kept in frequent contact with them while waiting for word on the crew’s status. Her father in particular had sung his praises, but she’d been too overcome with mingled fatigue and relief at the time to have given the matter much thought. Now, as she buried her face against Ben’s neck, breathing in his fresh, clean scent, she wondered just what had been said between him and her father.
As they entered the elegantly appointed hotel lobby, Lauren had never in her life been more conscious of just how grubby she looked. Her clothes were wrinkled, stained, and had gone so far beyond smelly that she couldn’t think of a word to describe the truly rank odor they gave off. She knew from having peered warily into a restroom mirror that she had dark circles under eyes that were bloodshot and bleary from lack of sleep. Her hair was a greasy, lank mess of tangled curls that had begun to itch two days ago, and she was beginning to fear it would never feel clean again.
But Ben didn’t seem to care a whit about her bedraggled appearance as he kept her tucked firmly against him. He had already checked the four of them in – everyone into a private room, which was another perk that they seldom enjoyed. Lauren, in fact, would be the only one sharing a room, though under the circumstances she was thrilled rather than annoyed with the arrangements.
Ben’s room was on a different floor than the others, and as he ushered Lauren out of the elevator, she caught Chris’s knowing smirk, George’s still-perplexed look, and Karl’s gentle smile.
“See you guys at dinner,” she called out. They had all agreed to shower and then nap for several hours before meeting up for dinner later this evening at one of the hotel’s restaurants.
“Unless,” Ben told them with a wink, “we decide to make it dinner for two and order room service instead. We, ah, have a lot of catching up to do.”
The elevator door closed on three startled male faces while Ben and Lauren shared a laugh as they walked down the hall to his room.
Once he’d locked the door behind them, she held up a hand as he would have reached for her again.
“Wait.” The question had been foremost in her thoughts ever since she’d seen him waiting for her in the airport terminal. And she needed an answer before things progressed any further.
“What’s going on with – with Elle?” she asked hesitantly. “Because if she’s still in the picture, then I don’t - ”
Ben yanked her against his chest, shaking his head firmly. “She’s not. It’s over with her, should have never really begun. I’m not sure what - ”
Lauren placed a finger over his lips. “Shh. That’s all I need to know for now. You can fill me in on all the other details later. Much later. Because right now you need to help me decide what I need most – a shower or you.”
Ben grinned, and then elicited a squeal of surprise from her as he swung her up into his arms. “Well, that’s an easy choice. You can have both at the same time.”
He carried her into the bathroom before setting her on her feet. Clothes and shoes were swiftly discarded until they were both naked. Lauren turned on the shower taps while Ben grabbed several oversized bath towels from the racks.
And then the next decision she had to make was what sensation made her feel more like weeping with pleasure – that of the hot, steamy water on her bare skin, or the way her lover’s arms felt as they wrapped around her waist.
“Let me,” he whispered, his chest pressed up against her back as his soap-slicked hands cupped her full, aching breasts. “Let me take care of you, sweetheart.”
She emitted a long, low groan as he washed her thoroughly, his hands traveling a sensual path from her shoulders to her belly and buttocks, before slipping between her legs.
“Yes,” she breathed roughly. “Oh, God, yes. Please. I need - ”
“I know what you need, baby,” rasped Ben. “And I’m going to give it to you. Again and again and again. Let’s see if we can maybe take the edge off a little for you, hmm?”
The slick, soapy slide of his fingers as they penetrated her body was the most exquisite sensation she could remember feeling in a very long time. She braced her palms against the cool granite wall of the shower, her legs spreading further apart to allow him deeper access to her body. Her breasts were crushed up against the wall, the hard points of her nipples being abraded by the granite, as her hips moved in perfect synchronization with the steady pump of his fingers and the rub of his thumb over her clit.
It had been years – six long, lonely years – since she’d experienced this sort of release, since her entire body had quivered in orgasm, and she’d cried out his name. The water was still sluicing over their bodies as he took her into his arms, holding her close, stroking her back soothingly as she continued to shudder in reaction.
He washed her hair as he continued to tend to her, take care of her, lavish her with attention. And for once she not only allowed herself to be pampered but reveled in the experience.
And then it was her turn to tend to him, her palm slipping down the broad expanse of his chest to where his cock was now standing at full, glorious attention, thrusting out as though begging to be touched. Ben’s breath escaped in a low, almost painful moan, his fingers gripping her shoulders fiercely as she began to stroke him slowly, deliberately.
“That feels – fuck. You’re the only one who’s ever made me feel this way, Lauren,” he panted. “The only one who’s ever been able to make me feel so damned much.”
She continued to stroke him with long, slow pulls, her hand sliding back to squeeze his swollen balls. “Do we need a -”
“No.” He bit down gently on her earlobe as her thumb whisked over the slit at the tip of his penis. “So long as you’re still protected we don’t. You’re the only woman I’ve ever been inside bare.”
She retaliated by sinking her teeth into his shoulder, smiling when she heard his grunt of pain. “Good,” was all she murmured as she guided the thick, throbbing length of him inside of her.
For the second time that day her legs were wrapped around his waist, his brawny, muscular arms supporting her, lifting her higher to meet his deep thrusts. They were frantic, wild, in their coupling, grabbing and clawing at each other like animals in heat. Their bodies were slippery from the steam and soap, their mouths fused together wetly as the hot water continued to pour over them.
Ben’s whole body shook when he came, immediately after she did, and Lauren clung to him tightly, half-afraid that his legs would give out from under him and topple them both to the floor. Their bodies were still joined, limbs tightly entwined, and his semi-hard cock still buried deep inside of her, when they did eventually sink slowly to the floor of the shower. They were both breathing unevenly, exhausted from the effort of their out of control lovemaking, and they could only sit there stupefied for several minutes.
Ben finally turned the taps off and helped her to stand before reaching for a towel. Despite her protests, he insisted on drying her off, wrapping one towel around her body and a second around her wet hair. By the time he’d dried himself off, Lauren was nearly comatose with exhaustion, and offered up only a token protest when he carried her out to the sumptuous king sized bed. He laid her down gently, and began to pull the covers up over her nude body.
“Wait.” She placed a hand on his chest, smiling a little to feel how rapidly his heart was still beating. “Aren’t we going to talk?”
Ben smiled as he pulled the towel off her head, finger combing the long, damp strands of her hair. “Oh, we are definitely going to talk, sweetheart,” he assured her. “For a very long time. But not right now. You’re about ready to pass out from exhaustion. Sleep now, baby. And know that I’ll be here when you wake up. I’ll always be here from now on.”
***
His face was the first thing she saw when she woke a few hours later. He was smiling down at her tenderly, his hand softly stroking her cheek, and it was only when she turned and pressed a kiss to his palm and felt the warm flesh beneath her lips that she knew he was really here, and not just another of the many dreams she’d had about him over the years.
“Hey, Blue Eyes,” she murmured sleepily. “What time is it, anyway?”
“Late afternoon,” he told her. “We still have a few hours until we’re due to meet everyone for dinner.”
“Mmm.” She stretched luxuriantly, the covers slipping down her body to partially bare her breasts. “Best news I’ve had in a really long time. Now, tell me honestly, and no pressure here, you understand. But how many times do you think you can get it up before we have to leave for dinner?”
Ben burst out laughing, but even though his eyes darkened with arousal at the sight of her nearly nude breasts, he pulled the covers back up to her chin. “Sweetheart, with you back in my bed, I think I could possibly break some sort of record in that regard. But not yet. Have you already forgotten what you promised me in that gut wrenching email you sent?”
“Hmm.” She tapped her finger against her chin as she pretended to think. “You mean it wasn’t a really awesome blow job? Followed by the ride of your life?”
Ben grinned as he brought that same finger to his mouth and nipped it gently. “Don’t tempt me, you little devil. I mean, no more than you normally do. And you know damned well what you promised me, Lauren. Now it’s time to finally deliver.”
Her stomach chose that particular moment to rumble quite loudly, and she smirked in reaction. “Oops. Guess it’s been awhile since I’ve fed the little beast. And speaking of delivering things, any chance we could order up some room service?”
“Already taken care of, Your Majesty. Come on, I’ll show you what I ordered. But first, you’d better put this on. Because if you walk around here naked like you always used to do, we’ll never get around to having that talk.”
“Fine.” Lauren resisted giving him a knowing look as she slid out of bed and wrapped the white terrycloth hotel robe about her body, folding the overlong cuffs back twice.
Ben had ordered a pot of hot coffee, some sandwiches, and a plate of assorted cookies and brownies, all of which Lauren pounced on like a bear who had just emerged from a months long hibernation.
Ben eyed her dubiously as she poured herself a third cup of coffee and reached for yet another brownie. “Aren’t you afraid you’ll be too full for dinner?”
She shot him a look of disbelief. “You’re kidding, right? I mean, this here is like a little afternoon snack to me. And considering how many meals I’ve skipped – vending machine peanuts do not count as a meal, I don’t care what Chris says – I’ve got a lot of lost time to make up for.”
“So do we.” His voice was somber as he slid a hand over hers, giving it a reassuring squeeze. “And if you can eat and listen at the same time I’d say that this is as good a time as any for me to start talking.”
Lauren nodded, her mouth too full of an oatmeal raisin cookie to speak.
Ben took a deep breath before he began. “I never told you a whole lot about my family, or what it was like for me growing up. I mean, you know I’m from Ohio and that my parents split up when I was just a kid, but that’s about it. What you don’t know is just how different my childhood must have been from what you and Julia experienced.”
He took a sip of his own coffee before continuing. “My parents got married real young. Barely twenty years old. They had dated since high school, figured they’d get married eventually, but when my mom became pregnant with me they had to hurry things along. And their marriage was probably doomed from the start, even though they toughed it out for seven years.”
Ben propped his chin in his hand. “The town I grew up in was largely blue collar. Very working class. My dad worked as a mechanic while my mom was a clerk at the grocery store. Neither of them had ever once considered going to college, making a better life for themselves, moving away. All of their family and friends were there, and they were all in the same sort of situation so it never occurred to them to want something different. But once my parents split up, those same goals – the ones they didn’t want – were just about the only thing that kept me going – the need to have a different life, a better life, than what they settled for.”
Lauren poured both of them more coffee. “I got the impression from the little you did tell me that things were pretty rough for you after they divorced.”
“Not rough, more like lonely,” corrected Ben. “Within a few months after they split up, both of them had someone new in their lives and they each got remarried within a year of the divorce. My mom was pregnant when she married husband number two – history repeating itself, so it seems. And once she and my father started new families – well, I was never really sure where I belonged or where I fit in after that.”
He paused a moment to stare out the window of the room. “By the time I started high school, they were each on their third marriage and third set of kids. I was more or less forgotten most of the time, shuttled back and forth between them, staying a week with one, a month with the other, always having to bunk in with one of my half-siblings wherever I went. All of my stuff – clothes, books, mementoes – were kept in a couple of suitcases and backpacks that I’d haul back and forth with me. It was little wonder that by the time my senior year of high school rolled around I had started keeping a calendar where I’d check off the days until I was out of school and on my own. And where I could finally have a bed of my own and a permanent place to keep my things.”
Lauren’s heart ached for the lonely, unwanted boy he had been, and she cupped his unshaven cheek in her hand tenderly. “I’m sorry,” she murmured. “Sorry that it had to be that way for you.”
Ben gave a little shrug. “It wasn’t that bad. Not really. I mean, I was never abused or neglected, nothing like that. I just never seemed to belong anywhere, never felt like I was part of the family. And I never felt wanted. Not until I met you. But I’m getting ahead of myself just a little.”
She laced her fingers up with his. “Go on.”
“Reading – and then writing – became my escape from the time I was eleven or so. And I was a good writer, all of my teachers told me so, and I even won some awards for it. I knew fairly early on that’s what I wanted to do with my life – write. And to travel. And for damned sure to get away from the town I grew up in.”
Lauren nodded. “I don’t blame you in the least. Doesn’t sound like the sort of place – or home life – that you’d want to go back and visit.”
“You’ve got that right. Now, you know some of this next part already. I did a couple of years at the local community college so that I could save up enough money to transfer to Northwestern. After graduation I drifted around a lot, trying to break in with a travel publication since that’s what I’d decided I really wanted to write about. I’d sell an article now and again, pick up odd jobs along the way in order to pay the bills. And then I got the inspiration to write an article about traveling Highway One in California. I was making my way down the coast, staying a night here, a night there. And then I reached Big Sur and my whole life was changed forever in the matter of a minute.”
Ben’s smile made her heart ache with its poignancy, and she shivered a bit in reaction as he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
“Meeting you for the first time,” he recalled with a chuckle, “was like getting hit square in the chest with a thunderbolt. And when I touched you for the first time it felt as though I had a lightning rod beneath my fingertips. You were so full of life, Lauren, so happy and carefree. I’d never met anyone like you before, had never imagined a girl like you really existed. And those days I had with you in Big Sur were far and away the absolute best ones of my life. The happiest I’ve ever been. And,” he added as he ran a finger over her lips, “the only time in my life I ever came close to being in love.”
Tears began to pool in her eyes, and she felt her chin wobble just a bit. “Then why?” she whispered sadly. “Why? You don’t know how many times I’ve asked myself that question, Ben, or all the different reasons I dreamed up as to why you’d want to leave me. I knew you were happy there, knew that no one could fake those sort of feelings.”
He used his thumb to gently wipe away the lone tear that had begun to trickle down her cheek. “I wouldn’t have begun to know how to fake it,” he assured her. “And I sure as hell never faked anything with you. Being with you in Big Sur was the most real and true thing that I’ve ever felt. And the decision to leave that morning was without a doubt the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in my life. I never, ever want to have to make a choice like that again.”
Lauren took his hand in hers, squeezing it tight. “So why did you? Why did you break my heart, you rotten bastard?”
Ben laughed in spite of himself. “I didn’t want to leave. Believe me, even while I was riding away all I could think of was turning that motorcycle around and heading back to you. Back to that cabin that felt more like home to me than anywhere else I’d ever lived. And back to you, who made me feel happier and more alive than anything else I’d ever known. But I kept on going and didn’t let myself look back because I knew I could never be enough for you. And I couldn’t bear to think of what would happen to you – to us – when you eventually realized that.”
She shook her head. “I don’t get it. You were everything I could ever want. I know I never told you back then – maybe I should have, considering what happened – but I was crazy in love with you, Ben. Still am. Never stopped. Not even when I was cursing you in three different languages.”
His laugh this time was genuine. “Now that I have no trouble envisioning. God, how I loved that about you! How honest you were, how much you felt, how you never held anything back. You were the brightest, most beautiful thing I’d ever seen, and the fear that I’d be the one responsible for dimming all that light was what made me run from you. I didn’t want to ruin your life, Lauren. The life that you were always meant to live. A life that I just couldn’t give you back then.”
“What life?” whispered Lauren brokenly. She felt tears fill her eyes again, but she was too dazed by what she was hearing now to brush them away. “A life without you? Why would I have ever wanted that?”
“Because I had nothing to offer you back then, sweetheart,” he told her earnestly. “God, how can you forget so easily? Everything I owned in the word – including a piece of crap camera, as some smart-ass girl once called it – I was carrying with me on my equally crappy motorcycle. I had no place to live, didn’t own a single piece of furniture, had no real job, barely enough money in my checking account to pay my bills. Whereas you - ” his voice trailed off as he shook his head.
Lauren frowned. “Whereas I – what?”
Ben heaved a sigh. “You were just about the most down to earth, unpretentious person I’d ever met. But that didn’t mean you weren’t used to having nice things, hadn’t grown up with a certain standard of living. I knew your parents had money – a lot of it – knew that just the land both of their houses was built on was worth a fortune. And I figured they wouldn’t be too happy if their precious daughter brought someone like me home for dinner. I could just imagine what they would have thought – especially your father.”
Her gaze narrowed dangerously as she gave him a ferocious scowl. “My parents would have welcomed you with open arms,” she told him sternly. “Because that’s the sort of people they are. Yes, they have money, money that they’ve both worked very hard for. But they’re also kind and generous and just about the most open-minded people I know. They also trust my judgment implicitly. And if I had brought you home to meet them, told them you were the man I loved – the only man for me – then they wouldn’t have questioned me for one second. And they sure as hell wouldn’t have cared how much money you did or didn’t have.”
He shook his head. “I didn’t know that at the time, did I? All I could see was this world you’d grown up in – a world so different from mine it might as well have been on another planet. You’d been loved and cherished and protected, while I’d never once known any of those things. And – God – you were twenty years old, Lauren. Twenty. You’d seen nothing of the world yet, had never had to fend for yourself or make tough decisions. I knew you had all these grand plans to become a professional photographer, to see the world, have all these amazing adventures.” He paused, closing his eyes for a moment before finishing his thoughts. “And I couldn’t bear the thought of holding you back, of keeping you from realizing those dreams. Because I knew how talented you were, how capable of achieving everything you’d ever wanted to do. And I wouldn’t let myself be the one who prevented you from doing all that. Or worse, to one day blame me for ruining your life because I held you back.”
With each word, each confession, her heart had begun to ache a little bit more as it finally dawned on her what the real reason had been for Ben to leave. It hadn’t been because he didn’t love her or want her enough, or that he’d been afraid of commitment. He had left for her, because he’d been afraid of keeping her from living her dreams.
“You silly, stupid man,” she scolded, pushing her chair back in order to climb aboard his lap, her arms twining about his neck. “Don’t you realize, Blue Eyes, that you were my dream? Or that by leaving me the way you did, my life was already ruined? Nothing has ever been the same for me since that summer, you know. I’ve never come close to being as happy as I was during those ten days. They were the best days of my life, too.”
He cuddled her close, pressing a kiss to her forehead as she rested her head on his shoulder. “Leaving you was the biggest regret of my life,” he told her solemnly. “There wasn’t a single day that went by when I didn’t wish I had made a different decision. Though I still don’t know what I could have done differently.”
Lauren gave him a playful punch on the arm, grinning when he winced. “For starters, you ass, you could have tried talking to me. Could have been honest. We would have figured something out.”
“Can you really say that, though?” he questioned. “If I had stayed with you, maybe followed you back to L.A. for a year while you finished college, taken some job just to get by for a year – what would have happened then? If you had won the photo contest and the job at National Geographic Travel – would you have still taken it if I was around? I’m guessing you would have turned it down so that you wouldn’t have had to leave me behind. And that was exactly why I left you – so that you’d be able to have those sort of opportunities.”
She shook her head emphatically. “As much as I love my job, Ben, I loved you more. We would have found a way to deal with things. Even if it meant being away from each other for a couple of weeks at a time. I would have always come back to you, you know.”
“I know you, Lauren,” he told her lovingly. “You wouldn’t have taken this job in the first place, in spite of what you say now. You would have sacrificed your dreams in order to stay with me. And I would have wound up hating myself because of it.”
“No.” She stubbornly denied his declaration. “It wouldn’t have happened that way. I wouldn’t have let it. We would have come up with some solution. And at least we would have been together. Instead, you broke my heart, you stubborn, pigheaded idiot, and made me hate you at times – even while I still loved you more than my own life. You should have trusted me, Ben. Should have talked to me.”
He sighed, then gave a reluctant nod. “I realize that now. But you have to understand that I wasn’t used to having someone to confide in. For so many years I’d been forced to look out for myself, make my own decisions. And in spite of how tough you were, how capable you seemed, you were still so damned young. I was terrified that I was just a summer fling for you, and that when push came to shove you’d choose your career over me. And that would have broken my heart into a million pieces.”
“We’ve wasted so much time,” she fretted. “Years we could have been together – should have been together. And then, when we finally met up again, somehow found each other, you were – with her. With Elle. And you broke my heart all over again.”
“Hush.” He caressed her cheek. “That’s all over now. Should never have happened in the first place. Elle was a good friend, a nice person, but that’s really as far as it went for me. She knew there had been someone else, someone I was still in love with, and I think it drove her a little crazy to think about it. Especially since I always made it clear that I didn’t love her that way. She’d fly into these jealous rages simply if another woman said hello to me. And she was always suspicious of you, accused me more than once of having an affair with you.”
“Me, too. It was at the holiday party last year, the night you and I danced together. Guess maybe we got a little carried away with the whole staring into each other’s eyes bit for her liking. Enough that she actually threatened to go to Daddy’s friend the big boss and have me fired if I didn’t leave you alone.”
“What?” Ben stared at her in slack-jawed disbelief. “You’ve got to be joking. I never imagined her paranoia would go to that sort of extreme. Is that why you seemed more distant than usual towards me after the party?”
Lauren gave a little shrug. “Maybe. Mostly, though, it just seemed sort of hopeless at that point. And you know what? I really don’t want to talk about Elle anymore right now. I’ve just had two of the worst days of my life, only to have all of that forgotten the second I saw you waiting for me at the airport. So I’d really rather just focus on that instead. Okay?”
“Totally okay,” Ben whispered, pulling her head down to his for a long, searching kiss. His hands drifted to the belt of her robe, spreading the sides apart and pushing it off her body. Almost reverently, he traced a finger around one taut pink nipple. “And these are still the most sensational tits I’ve ever seen.”
“They’d better be,” she gasped as he lifted one breast to his lips and tugged the nipple between his teeth.
Ben rose up from the chair in one fluid motion, picking her up as he did so. He practically tossed her on the bed before quickly pulling off his clothes and joining her.
“And nothing, nothing,” he whispered in her ear as his hands roved greedily over her body, “has ever felt as good, as right, as this. And every time I’d remember how good it was between us, what I’d walked away from, I died a little bit more on the inside.”
Lauren clutched his head to her breasts, stroking his hair soothingly. “It was the same for me,” she murmured. “It’s like I was half alive for six years. So, come on, Blue Eyes. It’s way past time for us to be whole again.”
He kissed a path down between her breasts to her belly, his hands stroking over her hips, thighs, ass, as he did so. “Let me, sweetheart,” he urged, spreading her legs apart. “I’m dying to taste you after all this time.”
At the first lick of his tongue against her clit, her hips bucked up off the mattress as she clutched handfuls of the sheets. “Mmm, ohh, that’s sooo good,” she panted, as his fingers began a slow steady rhythm, pumping in and out of her slick, tight pussy. At the same time his tongue fluttered delicately against the inner folds of her labia before his lips closed over her clit, sucking hard. That was really all it took for her to climax, her lower body thrashing wildly to and fro as he kept at her, refusing to give her a respite from his unselfish attentions.
But as she was finally coming back down to earth, his finger began to trace over a spot on the tender flesh of her inner thigh.
“I, ah, think I’ve found one of those mysterious additional tattoos of yours,” he chuckled. “And now I know why that gigolo Franco thought my own ink looked so familiar. You had him make a duplicate.”
“Yes,” she confessed. “It was my own personal little reminder of you. One that only I would recognize. A way to keep a tiny part of you with me forever.”
As his tongue traced around the tiny mark, she flinched a bit. “That tickles,” she giggled.
Ben lifted his head and gave her a wry smile. “I’m just guessing it didn’t exactly tickle when that bastard inked you, though.”
She nodded. “You’d be right. Even with the numbing it still hurt like fuck.”
He scowled. “And you had to have it put right here? The thought of his hands on you here, so close to - ”
Lauren laughed and tweaked his nose as though he was a pouting child. “Relax, honey. The whole time Franco was working on this his wife was sitting there chatting with me. And if that doesn’t sound like enough of a cockblocker, both of his kids were playing in the room at the same time.”
“I guess,” replied Ben sullenly. “But do I even want to ask what – and where – tattoo number six might be?”
In reply she promptly flopped over onto her stomach and gave a little wiggle of her ass. She knew the second he found the tiny, almost indiscernible mark by his hoot of laughter.
“Lips?” he chuckled. “What’s the reason behind this one?”
She tilted her head up at him inquiringly. “You don’t remember? Well, allow me to refresh your memory. We were in bed, just like this, and I’d had my wicked way with you about four times in a row. You were kissing my back and then my butt, and you said - ”
“That I wish I could leave an imprint of my lips right here because you had such a perfect little ass,” he recalled. And then his mouth covered the exact same spot as the tattoo before traveling a slow path up her spine to the nape of her neck. “And do you remember what happened after that?” he whispered wickedly in her ear.
“Hmm. Let me think,” she said teasingly. “Did we take a nap? Watch the baseball game? Or did we – ow!”
She flinched as he gave her a quick smack on the ass, his voice clearly amused. “No, you little witch. That is not what we did. What happened next was - ”
Lauren gasped as he pulled and pushed her thighs apart, bending her legs out to the side as he slid the full, hard length of his cock inside of her body with one hard thrust.
“Ohh,” she moaned. “Oh, yeah. It – it all comes back to me now.”
***
The sun had set, and they had barely ten minutes before they had to meet the others for dinner. Lauren was calmly digging through her bag for clean clothes, stark naked and completely unselfconscious, while Ben could only stand there and try his best not to drool.
“Okay. Found them. My very last set of clean undies. I have no idea what I’m going to wear home tomorrow,” she fretted.
He stepped in behind her, the fabric of his jeans rough against the bare skin of her thighs. “If you can hustle this cute little butt up, we can make a quick stop at the gift shop in the lobby.”
“Deal.” She pulled on her clothes in record time, ran a brush through her hair, and took him by the hand. “Let’s go.”
Ben shook his head in amazement as they began to walk towards the elevator. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone get dressed that quickly. I guess the thought of buying new lingerie is a great motivator.”
Lauren grinned, patting his cheek. “It isn’t that, honey. I’m starving again, so the faster we run our little errand, the faster I can start shoving breadsticks into my mouth. And tequila.”
He slid an arm around her waist, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “As long as its not that extra expensive brand you like so much, especially since this meal is going to be on the magazine. And I was actually thinking that champagne might be more appropriate tonight.”
“You’re right,” she agreed. “I guess we do have a lot to celebrate, don’t we? Like not dying in a plane crash for one.”
“Well, there is that for sure,” he drawled. “And then, of course, there’s the fact that you and I are back together since you finally agreed to listen to my explanation.”
Lauren gave him a meek smile. “I know I was an obstinate brat to keep refusing you. But I was angry and hurt and you know I’ve got a problem with holding grudges.”
Ben rolled his eyes. “Who, you? Never. But you’re forgetting to mention all the other things we have to celebrate.”
She cocked her head at him. “Oh, yeah? Like what?”
“Let’s see.” He began to tick them off on his fingers. “Karl and Tamsyn’s wedding. Her pregnancy. Oh, yeah. My new job. The new apartment we’re going to find together in New York since I’m essentially homeless right now. And there was one more thing. Ah, I remember now. We need to drink a toast to our engagement.”
Lauren blinked rapidly. “Huh? Come again?”
He grinned lasciviously. “Maybe after dinner, sweetheart. You’ve sort of sucked me dry for the time being – literally, after that really incredible BJ. And of course we’re getting engaged. Just like we’re getting married – as soon as possible. Like next month maybe.”
She stared at him in disbelief, her eyes wide. “Do you really mean it?” she whispered.
Ben slid his arms around her waist and swung her around in a circle several times before setting her on her feet. He cupped her face between his palms and gazed down at her with so much pure love in his eyes that her heart felt like it might burst with joy.
“Yes, I really mean it,” he told her passionately. “Now, listen carefully, sweetheart, and pay attention. I want to marry you on the beach at Big Sur. Nothing elaborate like your sister had, something simple and quick, but just as beautiful. Then I’m going to take you away someplace on a honeymoon where we can lie on a beach or climb a mountain or ride horses, maybe all three. After that I’m going to finish out the last couple of months on my contract before I join your crew as the new travel writer. And then you and I are finally going to see the world together.”
She nodded enthusiastically, tears of happiness glistening on her lashes. “And then?”
He gave her a sweet, soft kiss. “And then we live happily ever after.”