“I see.”
“Let’s go back upstairs. I bought the stuff to make chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwiches.”
“Oh, um….” I should probably go. It’s getting late, but honestly, I don’t want to.
“Come on.” He nudges me with his shoulder. “Let’s have some dessert.” He winks at me as he says it, and I’m not sure what to do about that. So I just giggle.
Ugh. I’m such a dork.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Ben
She’s perfect. Everything about her is absolutely perfect. This night is perfect. And best of all, my sweet dog is perfect. Well, okay, she’s injured but on the mend. She’ll be back to being perfect in no time.
I lead us back up to my apartment and place Sky in her bed, then hold the small bowl of water in front of her to see if she drinks. She does, thankfully. Standing, I turn to Alison, who’s been watching Sky and me.
“Dessert, coming right up.”
I make quick work of my ice cream treat. It’s one of my favorite things to have on hand—you know, best of both worlds with the cookie and the ice cream. I hand one to Alison along with a paper towel and wait and watch, making sure she likes it. Little did I know the kind of reaction she’d elicit from me with just one lick. Because when she licks the little sandwich, she moans. Do I even need to tell you what that did to my cock? No? I didn’t think so. When I growl under my breath, the reaction from Alison surprises me. She looks at me beneath hooded eyelids and steps closer. Before I know it, her lips are on mine, and our ice cream treats are abandoned on top of the kitchen counter.
I’ll clean that up later.
The kiss goes from zero to sixty in seconds. Our tongues are in each other’s mouths and my hands, both of them, are around her, grabbing that luscious ass of hers.
“Fuck, Alison,” I say as my mouth moves from her lips to her neck. I kiss and lick just a little bit and then give her a bite right below her ear. Nothing that will leave a mark. Just a nibble.
“Ben,” she says in a sweet voice. “I….”
I pull away slightly. “Is this okay?”
I feel her hand slide to the back of my neck and then pressure until our lips are millimeters away from each other. “God, yes.”
Since my hands are still on her ass, I lift her and walk to the place where I sleep. I can’t call it a bedroom, per se; it’s more like a partitioned area in my tiny New York apartment. But it works for me and Sky. At my bed, I lower her back gently and follow her down. When I feel her legs wrap around my waist, I press my body over hers and moan. Now, if only our clothes would magically disappear, we’d be in business.
But that’s moving too fast. I know it. I kiss her plump lips, but this time, I do it softly. Her full upper lip first, then her pouty lower one. She tastes sweet, and that’s not from the ice cream.
I lean back so I can look into her eyes. This close up, I can see everything. Every freckle, her long eyelashes, and her skin. I touch her face and run my thumb across her incredibly soft cheek. “You’re breathtaking, Alison.”
Lashes flutter quickly and, if it’s possible, her cheeks grow pinker. “So are you.”
I kiss her lower lip again, suckling on it for just a moment. Turning my head, I move in for a deeper, more lingering kiss, and she meets me halfway. It’s the most sensual kiss I’ve ever experienced. If I weren’t rock hard, I’d say this would be enough for me, but it’ll never be enough with this woman. I need all of her.
My hand moves from her face to her neck where a thick strand of hair sits. I’ve wanted to touch her hair for so long. It’s dark and so shiny I swear I could see myself reflected there. But touching it is a whole other ball game. It runs along my fingers like a precious silk. I wonder what it’d feel like running over my naked chest. Or better yet, my cock.
“Shit,” I mutter.
“What?” Her face tells me everything I need to know. She’s unsure about me or at least about what I’m doing, and I’m not making it better by muttering random words.
“I was imagining us naked with your hair loose and sliding over my body. My dick is already in a painful state. It made it worse.”
“You were imagining… my hair?”
“I was imagining all of you.” I kiss her on the side of her mouth and then move down, from her chin all the way down to the opening in her pretty V-neck top. I take in her scent up close. I’ve noticed it before, at work. Sweet vanilla and something else. I kiss her there and swipe my tongue across it as well. Moving back up, I kiss her neck and run my hand up from her thigh to her waist, then just below her breast.
Before I do anything else, I look at her again. She nods and I run my hand over her, feeling a hard nipple through her layers. I press my pelvis down just enough so she knows what she does to me.
A moan escapes her, and it makes me crazy. “Alison, honey,” I groan. “What are we doing?”
“Oh.” She looks surprised by my question. “Maybe you’re right.” She pushes on my shoulder enough to tell me to move off her, so I do.
“Right? About what?”
She scoots to the edge of my bed and stands. Turning to face me, she says, “This is a bad idea.”
“No it’s not.” It’s the best fucking idea I’ve ever had.
“We work together.”
“And?” What does that have to do with anything?
She’s busy fussing with her hair, and I want to tell her to leave it that way because it’s a mess and fucking sexy. Hell, everything about Alison Kirby is sexy.
“And….” She sounds hesitant as she steps around the partition and I follow. The first place she goes is to Sky’s bed. She runs her hand over Sky’s head. I want to smile at that, but I’m too confused.
When she reaches for her purse, I repeat, “And?”
With a sigh, she finally faces me. Looking me in the eye, she says, “Look, Ben. I like you. Obviously.”
If she “obviously” liked me, she’d be naked in my bed right now. But I keep my mouth shut about that and decide to play along. “Obviously, I like you too.” I want to point to my tented jeans, but that seems like bad manners, and it’s not like she didn’t see it. And feel it. Instead, I wait for the rest of whatever bullshit she’s about to say.
“Look.” She steps closer to me—close enough for her to reach out and touch my arm. I get tingles just from that. “I need that job.”
I nod but remain silent.
“I’m just starting up, and if I screw this job up, I’m going to have to—” She looks up, and I swear her eyes are sparkling with unshed tears. “I’m hanging on by a thread, Ben. If I don’t do a good job for Graham Morgan, I might as well pack my bags and move home.”
I want to ask her where “home” is, but I’ll save that for another day. Shit. I hate this. “Honey—” Hell, what am I going to say? That I’d take care of her if Morgan fired her? I do okay, but it’s New York. I’m barely making it too.
“Yes, I like you, Ben. But right now isn’t the time for us to start anything.”