He washed her hair as he continued to tend to her, take care of her, lavish her with attention. And for once she not only allowed herself to be pampered but reveled in the experience.
And then it was her turn to tend to him, her palm slipping down the broad expanse of his chest to where his cock was now standing at full, glorious attention, thrusting out as though begging to be touched. Ben’s breath escaped in a low, almost painful moan, his fingers gripping her shoulders fiercely as she began to stroke him slowly, deliberately.
“That feels – fuck. You’re the only one who’s ever made me feel this way, Lauren,” he panted. “The only one who’s ever been able to make me feel so damned much.”
She continued to stroke him with long, slow pulls, her hand sliding back to squeeze his swollen balls. “Do we need a -”
“No.” He bit down gently on her earlobe as her thumb whisked over the slit at the tip of his penis. “So long as you’re still protected we don’t. You’re the only woman I’ve ever been inside bare.”
She retaliated by sinking her teeth into his shoulder, smiling when she heard his grunt of pain. “Good,” was all she murmured as she guided the thick, throbbing length of him inside of her.
For the second time that day her legs were wrapped around his waist, his brawny, muscular arms supporting her, lifting her higher to meet his deep thrusts. They were frantic, wild, in their coupling, grabbing and clawing at each other like animals in heat. Their bodies were slippery from the steam and soap, their mouths fused together wetly as the hot water continued to pour over them.
Ben’s whole body shook when he came, immediately after she did, and Lauren clung to him tightly, half-afraid that his legs would give out from under him and topple them both to the floor. Their bodies were still joined, limbs tightly entwined, and his semi-hard cock still buried deep inside of her, when they did eventually sink slowly to the floor of the shower. They were both breathing unevenly, exhausted from the effort of their out of control lovemaking, and they could only sit there stupefied for several minutes.
Ben finally turned the taps off and helped her to stand before reaching for a towel. Despite her protests, he insisted on drying her off, wrapping one towel around her body and a second around her wet hair. By the time he’d dried himself off, Lauren was nearly comatose with exhaustion, and offered up only a token protest when he carried her out to the sumptuous king sized bed. He laid her down gently, and began to pull the covers up over her nude body.
“Wait.” She placed a hand on his chest, smiling a little to feel how rapidly his heart was still beating. “Aren’t we going to talk?”
Ben smiled as he pulled the towel off her head, finger combing the long, damp strands of her hair. “Oh, we are definitely going to talk, sweetheart,” he assured her. “For a very long time. But not right now. You’re about ready to pass out from exhaustion. Sleep now, baby. And know that I’ll be here when you wake up. I’ll always be here from now on.”
***
His face was the first thing she saw when she woke a few hours later. He was smiling down at her tenderly, his hand softly stroking her cheek, and it was only when she turned and pressed a kiss to his palm and felt the warm flesh beneath her lips that she knew he was really here, and not just another of the many dreams she’d had about him over the years.
“Hey, Blue Eyes,” she murmured sleepily. “What time is it, anyway?”
“Late afternoon,” he told her. “We still have a few hours until we’re due to meet everyone for dinner.”
“Mmm.” She stretched luxuriantly, the covers slipping down her body to partially bare her breasts. “Best news I’ve had in a really long time. Now, tell me honestly, and no pressure here, you understand. But how many times do you think you can get it up before we have to leave for dinner?”
Ben burst out laughing, but even though his eyes darkened with arousal at the sight of her nearly nude breasts, he pulled the covers back up to her chin. “Sweetheart, with you back in my bed, I think I could possibly break some sort of record in that regard. But not yet. Have you already forgotten what you promised me in that gut wrenching email you sent?”
“Hmm.” She tapped her finger against her chin as she pretended to think. “You mean it wasn’t a really awesome blow job? Followed by the ride of your life?”
Ben grinned as he brought that same finger to his mouth and nipped it gently. “Don’t tempt me, you little devil. I mean, no more than you normally do. And you know damned well what you promised me, Lauren. Now it’s time to finally deliver.”
Her stomach chose that particular moment to rumble quite loudly, and she smirked in reaction. “Oops. Guess it’s been awhile since I’ve fed the little beast. And speaking of delivering things, any chance we could order up some room service?”
“Already taken care of, Your Majesty. Come on, I’ll show you what I ordered. But first, you’d better put this on. Because if you walk around here naked like you always used to do, we’ll never get around to having that talk.”
“Fine.” Lauren resisted giving him a knowing look as she slid out of bed and wrapped the white terrycloth hotel robe about her body, folding the overlong cuffs back twice.
Ben had ordered a pot of hot coffee, some sandwiches, and a plate of assorted cookies and brownies, all of which Lauren pounced on like a bear who had just emerged from a months long hibernation.
Ben eyed her dubiously as she poured herself a third cup of coffee and reached for yet another brownie. “Aren’t you afraid you’ll be too full for dinner?”
She shot him a look of disbelief. “You’re kidding, right? I mean, this here is like a little afternoon snack to me. And considering how many meals I’ve skipped – vending machine peanuts do not count as a meal, I don’t care what Chris says – I’ve got a lot of lost time to make up for.”
“So do we.” His voice was somber as he slid a hand over hers, giving it a reassuring squeeze. “And if you can eat and listen at the same time I’d say that this is as good a time as any for me to start talking.”
Lauren nodded, her mouth too full of an oatmeal raisin cookie to speak.
Ben took a deep breath before he began. “I never told you a whole lot about my family, or what it was like for me growing up. I mean, you know I’m from Ohio and that my parents split up when I was just a kid, but that’s about it. What you don’t know is just how different my childhood must have been from what you and Julia experienced.”
He took a sip of his own coffee before continuing. “My parents got married real young. Barely twenty years old. They had dated since high school, figured they’d get married eventually, but when my mom became pregnant with me they had to hurry things along. And their marriage was probably doomed from the start, even though they toughed it out for seven years.”
Ben propped his chin in his hand. “The town I grew up in was largely blue collar. Very working class. My dad worked as a mechanic while my mom was a clerk at the grocery store. Neither of them had ever once considered going to college, making a better life for themselves, moving away. All of their family and friends were there, and they were all in the same sort of situation so it never occurred to them to want something different. But once my parents split up, those same goals – the ones they didn’t want – were just about the only thing that kept me going – the need to have a different life, a better life, than what they settled for.”
Lauren poured both of them more coffee. “I got the impression from the little you did tell me that things were pretty rough for you after they divorced.”
“Not rough, more like lonely,” corrected Ben. “Within a few months after they split up, both of them had someone new in their lives and they each got remarried within a year of the divorce. My mom was pregnant when she married husband number two – history repeating itself, so it seems. And once she and my father started new families – well, I was never really sure where I belonged or where I fit in after that.”