As Ryan climbed the dark wooden stairs behind Ben, she thought about two things. The first was how perfect his ass looked. Ben had one of those firm round ones that flexed even when he was standing still. So watching him do any type of activity that required his muscles to actually be used was like a massage with an extra-happy ending.

The second thing, which she’d almost completely lost focus on as she admired Ben’s ass, was that they’d barely even been there twenty minutes and already he’d been about to get into it with his dad.

“Thanks,” Ben said when they got to the top of the stairs. His soft pink lips curled up at the ends and his eyes caused her to practically melt as he slid his arms around her. “If you hadn’t asked to see the rest of the house, that probably would’ve escalated to something worse.”

She knew that some amount of contention was to be expected, but she hadn’t quite expected it to rear its ugly head so soon. “I get it,” she said, hoping that the acknowledgment of his feelings would put him at ease. “But what I don’t get is why there are two sets of stairs that lead to the same hallway.”

Ben brought his hands to her hips and squeezed gently, making her let out a squeal that she tried to stifle.

When he tickled her again, she pushed her arms down so she could shove his away before her laughter became uncontrollable. Then she grabbed one of his hands and began pulling him down the hall.

“I thought I was giving you a tour.”

Ryan stopped walking and looked over at him. “I thought so too, but the only places I’ve seen are your kitchen and family room. Oh, and the weird staircase.”

Ben rolled his eyes playfully. “Come on,” he said, grabbing her hips once more and giving them another squeeze.

This time she could hear her squeal echo downstairs. “Stop,” she scolded with a whisper. “Your parents’ll wonder what we’re doing up here.”

His eyebrow raised in that cute little way she loved. “You think my parents would assume I’m having sex with you up here? I’m not a teenager bringing a girl up to my room for the first time. I can control myself.” He nearly laughed as he said the last sentence, making her wonder if he knew how ridiculously false the statement was.

“That sounds like a challenge,” she said with a rise of her eyebrow.

“You need your ears checked.”

“Where’s your old bedroom?”

Ben stared silently at her, his jaw lowering a bit. “Why?”

She plastered on an innocent expression. “Because you’re supposed to be giving me a tour. Your memory’s horrible,” she said with a smile.

He stared at her for a moment longer before he finally seemed to decide she could be trusted. Then he nodded over his right shoulder. “This way.” He led her two doors down and gestured for her to walk inside. “Nothing special.”

“I disagree.” She walked around the perimeter first, noting all his trophies and team pictures. There were a few of him playing other sports besides hockey: football, basketball, swimming. “Aww, look at little Ben here,” she said, pointing to the swim team picture.

“It’s not nice to call me little when you’re looking at a picture of me in a Speedo.”

She strolled over to where he was standing and pressed against him. “Oh, you’re anything but little.” Her hands ran along his sides and over his ass before she slid them to his hard stomach. She traced the lines of his abs and his hipbone with her fingernails before sliding her hands down the front of his thighs.

“What are you doing?”

“Touching you.”

“Ryan.”

She could hear the warning in the way he said her name, but the fact that he made no movement to pull away or stop her told her it wasn’t sincere. He liked this as much as she did.

“You’re testing my self-control, aren’t you?”

“Possibly,” she said, bringing one of his hands up to her mouth so she could slide his finger between her lips. And like she knew it would, a sigh escaped him. It was so soft, so quiet, that she wouldn’t have even noticed it if she hadn’t been waiting for it. “Turn you on?” she asked after he pulled his finger out and let its wet tip brush down her chin.

“Maybe a little bit.”

She looked down at where his erection was already straining between them. “This seems like more than a little bit,” she said, bringing her hand down to squeeze him through his jeans.

“You’re cheating,” he said.

“Cheating? I wasn’t aware there were rules to this game.” She continued to rub him harder, enjoying his thickness in her hand.

“This rule goes without saying. You can’t stroke my dick and expect me not to want you. You have an advantage.”

The way his eyes drifted down to watch her hand on him caused a delicious ache of her own between her legs. It wasn’t long before she could feel herself getting wet, the muscles inside her clenching around nothing until the emptiness was nearly unbearable. “So touch me too,” she said. “I wouldn’t want to be accused of playing unfairly.”

His eyes darkened as they pinned her in place, his hand drifting lightly down her torso to rub her on the outside of her pants. “We can’t have sex in my childhood bedroom with my family downstairs.”

“Who said anything about sex?” She hadn’t come up here to seduce him, but now that she’d taken things in that direction, the idea of getting Ben off right here with his parents nearby caused a rush inside her. “Let’s just fool around a little.”

A twinkle of amusement lit up his face. “I think we already are.”

“How much time do you think we have before everyone starts to wonder where we are?”

Ben reached behind him and shut the door, making no effort to quiet the sound. “Not a lot.” And like that he was on her, pushing her onto the bed, his weight heavy and erotic as he shifted to pull her shirt up and unbutton her pants. Within seconds, his fingers were inside her, stroking all the places that had been aching for him moments ago. Just his touch caused a release in her. But it wasn’t the one she needed.

“If you keep doing that, you’re gonna make me come in my pants,” he said, putting his own hand on hers to stop her from rubbing him.

“What happened to this self-control I heard so much about?”

“I may have exaggerated. Slightly.” His hand went to his belt, unbuckling it with a speed that confirmed how close he was.

Ryan pulled her shirt up higher, and then freed Ben’s cock, which was already slick on the tip. God, was he ready. It was the most erotic thing she’d ever seen.

“I’m gonna bust,” he whispered, taking hold of himself for a moment until Ryan took over.

Ryan wasn’t even able to respond. She could feel how close she was herself, but it wasn’t until Ben began coming, warm bursts of his pleasure settling onto her tight belly that she let go too. Ben stroked her through the very last pulse of her orgasm before pulling away. He then cleaned her off with some tissues he’d retrieved from the bathroom, and they both fixed their clothing.

Ryan ran her fingers through her long, dark hair and smoothed her hands over her silk, cream top which now had some wrinkles she was sure hadn’t been there when she’d come upstairs. She took a deep breath and glanced at Ben, who looked sated and ridiculously happy. “You know if the hockey thing doesn’t work out, you should consider being a tour guide.”