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Kisses, actually. There were more when it was his turn to touch me. He didn’t just kiss my mouth, but also my jawline, my neck and my shoulders. I had to bite my lip to keep from moaning.
The hike feels like it takes ten hours, and then the shuttle is running late, so we have to keep up the small talk.
“What type of law do you practice?” Braden asks Ben.
“The boring kind,” Ben quips. “You?”
“I do patent and IP.”
Sean takes his husband’s arm, looking at him proudly. “He’s also an electrical engineer. When he works from home and I hear him getting all technical, I require my fainting couch for my heavy swooning.”
I’ve already exchanged contact information with Sean—we’re staying in touch after this trip. We’ve even talked about me coming to visit him in San Diego.
The shuttle finally arrives and everyone boards. I take out my phone, my heart kicking up speed when I see a response to the photos I sent my mom from the waterfall.
Mom: This is better for me than any medicine. I love you both.
She also sent a selfie Andrew took of him, Mom and Val. I don’t let myself focus on how gaunt her face is; instead, I notice the happiness in her eyes.
As usual, she knew best. She needed this time with Andrew and Val and they needed it, too. I’ve taken over her care because it helps me cope to know every box has been checked. I know what medications she’s on, when she gets them, and how she reacts to them.
My brother deserved this chance to care for her, though. There are long days of keeping vigil ahead of us, and this is his time to say all the things we need to say to the people we love when they’re dying, difficult as it may be.
When we get off the shuttle, Ben takes my hand. An invisible barrier between us was broken down back at the waterfall, and I can’t keep the smile from my face.
“Are you hungry?” he asks me.
So hungry. But not for food.
“I want to take a shower. Maybe we can eat after that?”
“Sure.”
The silence between us as we walk across the lobby holds delicious anticipation. I’m half-expecting him to shove me against the elevator wall and ravage me when we step on, but instead, he just stands next to me, solid and warm and shit what if he really does want to go get food?
When we walk into our room, he kicks his hiking shoes off and I pull my T-shirt up and off over my head. Before the waterfall, I would have done that in the bathroom. He kissed me like he was starving for me, though. And I want more.
“Hey, can you undo me?” I ask, moving my hair over my shoulder.
He approaches me and I feel him unclasping the back of my bikini top. He grazes his knuckles down my bare back, sending a tingle of arousal shooting down my spine.
“Don’t stop, Ben,” I whisper.
I feel his warmth as he steps closer, pressing a soft kiss to my bare shoulder. Never did I imagine my sweet childhood friend showing me this side of himself. Making me feel worthy and sexy and desperate for his touch.
As I lean back against his chest, he slides an arm around my waist, using his free hand to help me rid myself of the bikini top. Then he cups my breast, making a gasp that’s half-moan slip from my mouth. He does something to my nipple that’s not a full pinch and I swear I feel it in every nerve ending of my body.
I move my hips against him and he groans as his erection rubs against my lower back.
“Are you sure?” he asks, his voice a deep, sensual caress next to my ear.
“Completely.”
His hands go to the cutoff shorts I’m wearing over my bikini bottoms and he unfastens them, sliding them down to my lower thighs. I turn and push them the rest of the way off, my gaze locking onto his.
The hunger swirling in his eyes matches the feeling I have inside. He looks at me like I’m the answer to every question he’s ever had as he pulls his T-shirt off and slides out of his trunks, his thick erection making my nipples pebble.
I don’t know who moves first, but I’m in his arms, his mouth on mine in a frenzied, passionate kiss. He winds a hand around a big section of my hair, tugging so my chin tips up and allows him access to my neck and chest.
Most of the last twenty-four hours that we were awake have been foreplay—even the frustrating end to our pool day. Now the longing and playfulness gives way to action, our hands everywhere on each other.
He puts an arm beneath my legs and picks me up, carrying me into the bedroom. When he sets me on the bed, he puts me on the edge, getting to his knees on the floor.
