Another knock, louder this time.
Ugh, who the hell is here at this hour?
I push off the couch and shuffle toward the door, my feet as heavy as my heart.
“You’ve got it all wrong,” Benji says, his voice gentle.
But how can I? He’s meant to be coming back. He promised me.
The knock comes again, and, yeah, now I’m pissed off. I rip open the door, then freeze.
“I couldn’t wait another second to see you,” Benji says, smiling in the hallway in a loose shirt and dark pants.
The sound I make is one I’ve never heard before, but there’s no time to be embarrassed because Benji is here and no one has ever looked so good before. He catches me easily when I launch myself at him, and he must kick the door closed, but I’m too busy reacquainting myself with his lips to care.
“You were right,” I say between kisses, wrapping my arms around his neck. “I love surprises.”
The heat of Benji’s palms melts through my shirt, spreading over my back and never stopping in one place. It makes me feral—how much I’ve needed this, needed him. He nips at my lip, then sucks at the bite, swallowing my whine.
I think we must be moving, maybe, but also, we could be standing still. My head is swimming just from his kisses and his touch, and it’s hard to tell. Benji treats me with the same unwavering attention he tends to his commissions with—patient and passionate—and I can’t believe I get to have this.
I pull back, panting against his cheek as he sits on the edge of my mattress, keeping me in his lap. His cheeks are faintly pink, his eyes wild and bright, and I think I’m going to explode with how much love I have for this man. Benji drags his hands up my back, his kisses slowing down, like he’s trying to memorize how I taste.
Fuck.
I cradle his face between my hands, needing the reminder that he’s here with me. He came back. He couldn’t wait.
My heart crashes against my chest. “I hope you haven’t lost your touch,” I whisper, teasing the corner of his lips with my thumb. They’re spit-slick and reddened, and I want to devour him.
Benji stares up, the adoring look in his eyes enough to make my heart skip several beats. “I thought about you every day.” He leans in and trails his nose gently along my cheek, his lips grazing my skin as he speaks. “I never forgot how youfelt or the way you bite your lip when you’re nervous. The little sound you make when you’re frustrated.” When he pulls back, all I see is green. “I thought about you so much; I would stare at your number and dare myself to call you, but I was too scared to do it. I thought I’d ruined it for good.”
Something tender clenches in my chest.
Oh. He’s talking about before.
“I let myself drown in my memories. I was terrified I’d forget if I didn’t, and then finally, my therapist told me to write everything down. That’s how the list started. It was my way of holding on to you, in case I never got the chance to again.”
The world narrows down to him and only him. The grip of his fingers at my waist, the heave of his chest with each breath.
My hands tremble where they clutch his face, and I can’t speak. I’m too overwhelmed. Too far gone to think. I only want to feel.
One pull on his neck, and our lips crash together, fitting like puzzle pieces kept apart for too long. The light scratch of his unshaven jaw sparks the fire burning under my skin, and I tear myself away mid-kiss to throw my shirt to the floor.
Benji takes a moment to admire that I’m not wearing anything underneath, but lifts his arms when I pull at his shirt. Before I know it, we’re down to our underwear, and Benji is twisting to lay me against the pillows.
“You’re still the best I’ve had.”
He hovers above me, resting on his forearms. Like this, I’m deliciously caged in, but I need more. I want to melt under his weight.
His stomach jumps as I slide one hand down, mapping out the rise and fall of his abs. My mouth waters, desperate to follow the path of my fingers. To taste.
Benji groans deep as I slide my hand into his boxers. “Fuck, Paige.”
His whispered curse ghosts my lips, and I arch up to catch his mouth in mine as I close my hand around his hard, hot cock.
He grunts, and I see his biceps flexing. He’s holding back. I need him to let go.
Releasing him, I shimmy out of my underwear and push them to the floor. I lock my legs around Benji’s waist, but he’s still holding himself up, dammit. I see him smiling and realize I made that sound he loves.
