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“Sit down, I will go get some water to clean you up.”
She left him sitting on the bed and hurried to his small kitchen. More dishes lined the countertop. She ignored the mess and drew water and found a clean cloth to bathe his face with.
Stepping back into his room, she nearly tripped when she spotted him pushing his pants down his legs. He kicked them away and the sight of his naked backside tore a shocked gasp from her throat loud enough for him to hear. He turned around and blinked lazily at her.
Morning Dove tried to keep her eyes on his face, but her traitorous gaze slid down his muscled torso and greedily devoured every inch of his exposed skin. She had seen him with an open shirt before, but seeing him shirtless gave her a good look at all those muscles he concealed from the world.
The trail of dark hair down the middle of his belly drew her gaze to his lean, tapered hips--and further down--her mouth going dry when she took him all in. She should be ashamed of gawking at him. She was not. Nor was she looking away.
She had spent over ten years with Walter, ignoring his belly paunch and anything lower than his belt unless he forced her to. He paled in comparison to the man standing across the room from her, who, despite being drunk, was more aroused than he should have been. He was thick and semi-hard and growing by the second.
She cleared her throat and raised her eyes to his face. A tiny smirk tilted his lips. She ignored it and focused on the dried blood that painted his face in shades of brown and red. His nose had stopped bleeding, but his face was a mess of bruises.
Ignoring him as best she could, she crossed the room and set the bowl of water down on the bedside table. Thankfully, he had sense enough to sit down and cover himself when her back was to him.
“It took me longer to undress than it should have.”
Morning Dove imagined it had. “Well, you have nothing I have not seen.”
“You’ve seen me naked before?”
The grin on his face should not have made her pulse leap the way it was. “No, I have not seen you naked and you well know it.”
His smile vanished. “You mean the old coot you lived with?”
She nodded as she dunked the washcloth into the water before squeezing the excess out. Ben was staring at her when she turned to face him, an unreadable look on his battered face. “You ever get the notion to go back to him?”
The horror she felt must have shone on her face because he said, “Good,” before she could answer. “You deserve better than him.”
Some days she was not so sure of that. She cupped his chin in her hand and began washing the blood from his face, careful where obvious bruises were forming. “So,” she said, to break the silence that had fallen between them. “What did you get thrown out of the saloon for?”
He snorted and rolled his eyes. “Some no good saddle bum got his feelings hurt when I beat him at a card game. Accused me of cheating.”
“Did you?”
His grin told her he had and she laughed despite trying not to. She rinsed the washcloth before taking another pass over his face. She pushed his hair back, lacing her fingers through the strands to keep it out of the way, and his eyes drifted shut. He sighed long and loud, and the tiniest of smiles turned the corners of his mouths.
“I like the feel of your hands on me.”
The words were spoken at a soft whisper and Morning Dove wondered if he meant to say them out loud. His eyes opened a moment before he grabbed her at the waist and spread his legs to pull her closer.
“I want you.” His hands tightened on her waist.
Her heart skipped a beat at his bold statement. He is intoxicated. He does not know what he is saying. She shook her head. “You are drunk, Ben Atwater.”
“I’m very drunk.” He grinned again. “Doesn’t change the fact that you’re beautiful or that I want you.” He looked down, and she followed his gaze. How much he wanted her was obvious by the tenting of the sheet over his lap.
She pulled away from him, her face heating as she rinsed the washcloth again. The bed ropes shifted as he laid back, and she peeked over at him. He had covered himself, but his obvious erection was hard to miss.
There was blood under his chin. She ignored his arousal and sat on the edge of the bed to wash his neck, her pulse hammering under her skin.
“First time I saw you… you took my breath away.”
She stilled and met his gaze.
“I’d never seen anything as mesmerizing as you. As much as I wanted to rip Aaron’s head off that day, seeing you standing there…” He smiled and closed his eyes. “I’ve never wanted anything as much as I wanted to know you. Seeing you were with Aaron made me want to kill him all over again.”
She remembered the day too. It was the day she and Aaron had made it to Willow Creek. Ben had found them not long after and he’d attacked Aaron for no reason she could see, but later found out it was because Aaron had left town with Betsey pregnant with Samuel, something he had not known at the time.
