Later that week, Ben surprised me by showing up one morning as I was getting ready to go for my run. I groaned. “You're not going to make me run up a giant hill again, are you?”
Ben laughed. “Nah, I thought that maybe we'd just take it easy through the arboretum today,” he said. “I know it's not much to look at this time of year, but I really just wanted to spend some time with you.”
I shrugged. “Sure.” Then, I looked at him with a challenge glinting in my eye. “Think you can keep up?” It was a pretty stupid thing to challenge him with since I knew that he could outrun me already. But it was fun that he gave me the illusion of leading the way up through campus and out into the arboretum.
We had a good long run, and eventually we ended up back at my dorm. I laughed as he sped past me right at the end, looking back at me and sticking out his tongue. “I win!”
I shook my head and shoved him a little before beginning to do my cool-down stretches. Ben paused, watching me for a moment, and I laughed again. “What?” I asked. “Are you going to join in or are you going to run off for work or…?”
“I was kind of hoping that maybe I could take a shower,” Ben said. “I have to get to work, and I don't particularly want to show up like this. And...” he trailed off.
I frowned at him. “I mean, yeah, I don't think that'll be a problem,” I said. “There's three showers on our floor, and it's pretty early in the morning for your average college student, so I doubt they'll all be in use.”
“That's not quite what I'm asking,” Ben said, cocking his head to the side.
“So what are you asking?” I asked, standing up putting my hands on my hips as I tried to read something from his posture or his expression.
Ben finally rolled his eyes and caught me around the waist, tugging me towards him and then giving me a heated kiss. I practically melted against him, my knees going weak as his tongue explored my mouth. It was everything that I might have wanted it to be and then some, and I couldn't help moaning softly, pressing infinitely closer against him.
When we pulled breathlessly apart, Ben's thumb came up to light stroke across my jawline and then across my lower lip, making my nerves practically sing with desire. “You're going to need to take a shower,” Ben pointed out. “And I'm going to need to take a shower. And I just thought...”
I laughed a little incredulously. “You've hardly kissed me, and now you suddenly want to hop in the shower together?” I asked.
“Am I moving too quickly?” Ben asked, his brow furrowing. “I'm not trying to make you nervous or anything like that. Just, I've been practically dying to get you out of your clothes but I didn't want you to think that I didn't respect you or anything like that. And I also had to...think some things through. But I...” He trailed off, shaking his head. “I'm not asking you to have sex with me or anything like that, but maybe we could...explore a little.”
I frowned up at him. “You wanted to make sure I knew that you respected me,” I said. I shook my head. “What kind of a guy are you, anyway?”
Ben laughed a little and kissed me again, this time even more tenderly, his tongue slipping sensually alongside mine and his hands coming up to cup my cheeks.
“Okay,” I said as we pulled apart. I shook my head, unable to keep a grin off my face. “Okay.” I led the way into the dorm and up to our floor. “Let me just go grab a towel,” I said, pushing him towards one of the showers.
“Sure,” he said.
In the shower stall, we both stripped down naked, and I couldn't help staring at his tanned and toned skin. “I thought English people were a lot paler than that,” I teased, reaching hesitantly out to stroke a curious hand down through the soft, curly hair that led towards his…
I blushed, gaze jumping away to anywhere other than his penis, which wasn't hard yet, as far as I could tell, but it was definitely interested.
“My mother's Italian,” Ben said. “And my father's French. I grew up at a boarding school in England, and my brother grew up at a boarding school in Switzerland. To this day, I have no idea why.”
I laughed a little, even though I was honestly still totally distracted by the fact that I was here naked with Ben.
He reached out to lightly cup one of my breasts in his palm, rolling his thumb against the nipple until it stood pert and perky. Then, he bent his mouth down towards the other one, asking with his eyes if it was okay. I didn't stop him, but I did gasp a little as his warm lips closed around the nub, and I couldn't help arching against him.
“You like that, hmm?” he asked, a devilish smirk on his face. He traced hot trails of kisses along my skin, finally ending up back at my mouth for another kiss. He had me pressed back against the wall, and even though I should have been shocked by how cool the tiles were, that was of secondary importance to the way he was currently plumbing the depths of my mouth, drawing needy little moans and whimpers out of me. Meanwhile, his deft fingers continued to play along my sides, giving me goosebumps and making me shiver with desire.
Suddenly, he pulled back and flicked one of my nipples, a sharp little note of pain-pleasure that had me rocking down against the legs that he had, at some point, slotted between mine. “We're never going to get you to your class on time if we don't hurry up,” he said.
I blushed a little and stepped into the actual shower area, turning on the spray and yelping at how cold it was.
Ben laughed and tugged me back into his arms, so my back was pressed firmly against his warm chest. “Have you ever had sex in the shower before?” he asked.
I bit my lower lip. “You said we'd just fool around...” I said uncertainly. Not that I didn't want to, necessarily, but… Stupidly enough, now that the time might actually be here to have sex, I kind of wanted it to be...special. It wasn't that I didn't want it to be with Ben or anything like that, but I didn't know if I wanted it to be in the dormitory showers, of all places.
“Shh,” Ben said, kissing me lightly on the temple. “That's what I said, and that's what I meant. If we have sex, I'm going to do things right, with a proper bed for our first time. Trust me. I was just asking. But you can forget the question; I'm sorry. I don't really have any right to ask that, anyway.”
“I've never had sex before,” I blurted out.
I expected him to pull away, but instead, Ben seemed to hold me even tighter. “Okay,” he said. “Have you fooled around at all?”
“A little,” I said, turning to look up at him through my lashes. “Sorry, I know that's probably not what you want to hear—that I don't know what I'm doing and that I might get clingy or whatever it is that females are supposed to get after having sex for the first time. If you don't want to-”
Ben shut me up with a chaste but lingering kiss. “Calm down,” he said gently. “What kind of an asshole would I be if I told you that I wasn't interested in you because you weren't experienced?” he asked. “I'm glad that you told me, though, before we actually...did anything. I want you to feel comfortable with what we're doing. If you want me to leave-”
“No,” I said quickly.
“Okay, then,” Ben said, smiling easily at me. He stepped forwards, backing me up until I was leaning against the wall beneath the spray. Then he ran his hands over me, and oh wow.
I mewled, practically melting into a puddle, and Ben laughed. “So delightfully easy...” he said.
I blushed. “Is that a bad thing?”
Ben shook his head, leaning in to nibble against my earlobe. “Oh no,” he said, his breath hot against my ear. “In fact, it's incredibly sexy.”
He played his hands down along my curves, and I could feel how interested he was in the way that his member pressed insistently against my hip. I brought a hand down towards it and slowly tugged it, surprised to feel how he rocked into my touch. “Bollocks,” he groaned, dropping his forehead down against my collarbone.
I laughed a little. “Something tells me we're both going to come pretty easily,” I said.
Ben raised an eyebrow at me, smirking. “Oh really?” he asked, as though that weren't obvious. But I realized what the smirk was for as he suddenly slid his hands the length of my body and then slipped one of them in between my legs, fingering the soft, sensitive skin there.
I gasped and arched against him. “Please,” I whimpered.
“Yeah?” Ben asked.
“I need it,” I whimpered, not caring how wanton I sounded in that moment.
It was worth it, anyway, to see Ben's expression when he heard those words. His eyes went even darker, if possible, pupils totally blown out. He bit his lower lip, and his eyes fluttered closed. “Can you give me...just a little more pressure?” he asked, one hand coming down to guide mine, to tighten around it.
I felt a blush spread across my face, but Ben shook his head. “No, don't be embarrassed,” he said, his voice breathless as I twisted my hand a little on the upstroke. “Do that again,” he groaned, and I readily complied, even though focusing on setting a rhythm was difficult when his fingers were suddenly slipping back into my entrance, crooking there and plying my slick skin. He thrust a few times, and with my free hand, I clung to his strong bicep to keep myself upright. The hand that I had on his penis faltered, until he brought his other hand down, guiding me.
We both climaxed at the same time, but where I breathlessly gasped out his name, he came with only a soft groan, his seed spilling hot and sticky over our fingers.
We slumped dazedly against the wall of the shower for a long moment, and then Ben finally pulled away, grabbing my loofa and beginning to wipe me down.
I giggled. “You don't have to do that,” I finally managed to say, the words difficult to string together.
“I know I don't have to,” Ben said, rolling his eyes a little. “But I want to.”
“Okay,” I said. “Okay.”