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  She smiled and sucked him again into her mouth, working his length with her fist while her mouth devoured him. She couldn’t help it when her free hand slipped between her own legs and started to circle her clit. A minute later she was moaning against his crown, sucking harder and moving faster while she rode her hand. Then all of the sudden, he was gone.

  She blinked up at him as he shut off the water. “Huh?”

  He smiled. “I think you’ve spent enough time touching yourself, don’t you? Why don’t you let someone else have a shot at it?”

  He grabbed two towels and wrapped her in a fluffy white bath sheet, then lifted her off her feet. She kissed the drops of water off the skin of his collarbone as he carried her through the house into the study where a huge fire burned in the fireplace.

  He spread out a plush blanket and set her in front of the fire. “Warm enough?”

  She nodded. “Yeah, but I’d be warmer if you were beside me.”

  “I think I could manage that.” He lay down beside her and his towel fell to the side.

  She couldn’t get enough of him. When he leaned over her and kissed her again, she found his rigid length between them and began to stroke him. He shifted his weight to one elbow and with his other hand, slicked a finger through Sara’s wet folds, making her legs fall open. She shivered, her desire burning hotter.

  Ben pulled back to look in her eyes, but his fingers kept exploring. “I want to make love to you, Sara.”

  A pulse of electricity shot through her—half fear, half rapture. “Ben…”

  Eight years ago something similar had ended in her pregnancy and broken heart. She wanted him, but she wasn’t sure she could give up control again or ever trust a man like she had before she’d lost her innocence.

  The hand that had been between her legs moved up to cup her cheek. “That didn’t come out right.”

  “It didn’t?”

  He shook his head, his gaze burning into her. “Not by a long shot. What I want to say is…I don’t just want to make love to you. I want to love you, if you’ll give me a second chance.”

  “I’m not—”

  “Please.” He pulled the gold band from his pinky finger and put it in her palm. “Don’t tell me too much time has passed and it’s not the same anymore. We were stupid-ass kids, and we should have fought harder to stay together. I hurt like hell after what happened, but I never stopped loving you. Nothing has changed for me. It was only you—my only love—eight years ago, today, and every day in between. Please…just tell me you’ll think about it. Maybe after you’ve had time to process everything we learned today, you’ll feel differently.”

  Sara slipped the band onto the ring finger of her right hand. The walls she had built around her heart were fortified with so many years of bitterness that even knowing she’d been wrong about Ben’s intentions, it was still hard to trust her heart to a man. The fact that she still loved him so much, the fact that it had always been him, only proved that she wasn’t someone who bounced back easily when love was lost.

  She wanted him. God, how she wanted him. But right now, she had to be content with simply having him beside her. “I can’t make you any promises about what the future holds.”

  He picked up her right hand, and even knowing that she’d placed the ring on the wrong finger, he smiled and held it to his lips. “I’d given up hope of ever seeing this on you and still, I loved you. You don’t have to give me an answer now, Sara, but you might as well know that no matter what that answer is, I’m never going to stop loving you or wanting you to be my wife and the mother of my children.”

  Tears stung her eyes, and she kissed his lips softly. “Make love to me, Ben.”

  He leaned away from her and rummaged in the side pocket of his suitcase, pulling out a foil circle stamped with the letters XL. He held it up proudly. “The right-size condoms. See? I’m all grown up now. No more babies until you ask me for one.”

  She laughed and shook her head. “Come here, papi rico. Let me see if my memory serves.”

  He sat back on his haunches, his legs folded under him, and rolled the condom down his length. It wasn’t that they hadn’t used protection back then, but she and Ben hadn’t known about different sizes for different folks and they’d broken one too many.

  He pulled Sara toward him and kissed her hard. She sat on his lap, wrapping her legs around him and allowing him to support her weight, and then, so slowly, she sank down on him until the head of his cock pressed against her tight entrance.

  He stopped her there, not letting her move farther. “Look at me,” he told her. “I don’t want any more misunderstandings between us, no more miscommunication.”

  “About what?”

  “This isn’t just sex for me. I wouldn’t risk this if I didn’t want you back in my life. Do you understand that?”

  She understood him completely. What they’d had—what they still had—was too deep, too strong and too real to pretend this was just two adults having meaningless sex. She might not be sure where they went from here, but in this moment, she was his and he was hers. “Yes, my darling. I do.”

  She cupped the back of his head in her hand and pressed her forehead to his, then she slowly slid down his body, feeling his thick crown push inside, stretching her with every inch. And when she was fully seated astride his shaft, she rested her cheek on his shoulder, just needing a minute to adapt to the rapture of being joined to him again. When she’d thought to make this trip with him, she’d never allowed herself to dream that this would happen.

  But it was real, and it was happening. His ring was on her hand, his thick length was inside her, and his arms were wrapped tightly around her shoulders. In just a few days, he’d gone from utterly out of reach to completely enfolding her, wrapping her in his life and his love again. She moved her hips, lowering herself until she felt his thighs rub against hers and his cock press against the top of her channel, then she rose up again, every beat proof that through some miracle, Ben was still part of her life and she was part of his.

  He looked into her eyes and took hold of her ass, moving her in a rhythm that mirrored the rapid beat of her heart. She couldn’t look away from his intent gaze as she slid her hands over his shoulders and grasped the back of his arms, sinking her fingers into his skin and using him for leverage so she could ride him harder. It felt so good, her thoughts were becoming fevered until all that mattered was this one point where their bodies came together.

  “I haven’t been able to come with another man,” she told him. “Not like this.”

  Would it ruin it for him if she couldn’t this time either? What if she was just too broken?

  “That’s because we were made to fit together, querida, and no other man is going to fill you like I do.”

  “But what if I can’t, Ben? It’s been so long since I came this way…”

  He laughed and thrust his hips when he brought her down on him. “Don’t worry how it happens. I’m gonna make you come tonight if I have to lick you, suck you, and use every toy in your toy box.”

  “But this morning…”

  He kissed her neck and held her tighter while he surged beneath her. “Tell me.”

  “Well, you left last night after I was finished, and this morning, you didn’t seem like it had the same effect on you as it’d had on me.”

  He threw his head back and laughed, causing him to lose his rhythm. “Are you kidding me? You drove me out of my mind last night, and this morning, that was just me playing it cool.”

  “So you liked it…and you don’t mind the way I need it?”

  “I loved it. If you were any hotter you would have caught the sheets on fire.”

  Sara smiled, and she was sure she probably looked goofy. It was just such a relief to know he could still find her sexy if she couldn’t come the old-fashioned way. A little ball of anxiety she hadn’t known she was carrying unwound in the pit of her stomach, and when he took her breast in his mouth, she let her neck fall to the side
as she reveled in the sensations he was stirring in her body.

  With Sara still in his lap, Ben came to his knees and leaned over, bracing one hand on the rug until Sara was flat on her back and he was over her. “Sara, I will take you however I can get you. This is perfect for me. You are perfect for me. Just tell me what you need, querida, and I will move heaven and earth to give it to you.”

  If the past few years were any indication, Sara should ask him to get the toys so she could come as she so needed to do. But his thick length surged inside her, and his body rammed against hers, and she didn’t want him to move or stop what he was doing for anything. “Just like that, Ben.” She swallowed and closed her eyes, her head falling to the side. “Please don’t stop, just keep…going…like that.”

  But he didn’t keep going just like that. He kissed her and then slid a hand under her rump, bringing her closer to his body and adjusting the angle of his strokes. His breath rushed from his lungs and his skin was covered in perspiration, and she ran her hands over his back, doubting she could ever get enough of the feel of him over her. “I love you so fucking much. I know we can work, Sara. I want this—forever.”

  Her whole lower half felt so divine, her eyes threatened to roll back in their sockets. “Don’t stop. Just don’t stop,” she panted.

  Her first cry pierced the fire-warmed air of the study, and Sara dug her fingernails into Ben’s ass, desperate for him not to get away from her. “Oh, God!”

  When she started to moan, he fucked her harder, pistoning his cock deep inside her as he rocked against her clit. Her orgasm was so powerful, she couldn’t even scream this time, she simply opened her mouth in a silent cry and let him do the rest. Through slitted eyelids, she saw the cords of muscle tense in his neck and his arms go rock hard as he spilled inside her.

  Her body shuddered in his arms, and her pussy contracted against his rigid length, milking him from within. And Sara simply clung to him. She couldn’t let this man go. She was probably an idiot and had no sense of self-preservation, but if he would have her back, there was no place else she wanted to be but by his side.

  Ben rolled to his side and came forehead to forehead with Sara. “Tell me you’ll give us a chance, Sara. I can’t lose you again. I love you too damn much.”

  She smiled. “I love you, too, Benji.”

  His eyes narrowed. “How far have I fallen that I’m starting to like the way that sounds?”

  She kissed his muscled shoulder and then looked in his eyes. “So what else do you have planned for the party besides skunks and sex?”

  He laughed. “Plenty, but I figure it might take the rest of my life to show you.”

  She closed her eyes, floating in a sea of bliss, and smiled. “I’ll clear my calendar.”

  Chapter Ten

  Sara and Ben walked through the main residence of the Ashford Estate and through the gardens to a secluded part of the grounds that Sara used to love when she was young. Three weeks had passed since she’d told Ben about her link to Kenton Ashford, and she still wasn’t ready for what came next. “Oh, gaaawd…Ben. Why did I let you tell them? This is a nightmare. I think I’m going to be sick.”

  Ben grasped her arm, and she pressed into his side for comfort. The past few weeks with him had been the best of her life. If she’d thought they couldn’t go back to where they’d been eight years ago, then she’d been right. They’d been in love back then—she wouldn’t deny it—but a love like theirs was hard to navigate with fickle hearts and raging hormones. Sara was a full-grown woman now, and she could say with authority that she loved this man body, mind and soul.

  “You let me tell them because you trust me, and this needed to happen,” he answered.

  They rounded the corner of the hedge and came to a long, rectangular reflecting pool bordered by priceless statues of Greek gods. Rayna and Carolyn sat chatting quietly on a carved stone bench, but Kyle was pacing, and his gray suit didn’t look as crisp as usual. When he saw Sara, he stopped and crossed his arms over his chest. Sara realized she’d slowed when Ben’s grip on her arm became a tug of forward momentum.

  They stopped directly in front of Kyle, and Carolyn rose from the bench. Her pale blond hair was twisted and piled on top of her head, and she wore a peach lace dress, sexy but at the same time elegant. Probably one of her own designs. Sara stared at her for a second, wondering how they could ever be sisters, Sara with her dark hair and eyes, and Carolyn who was as fair as a bar of soap.

  “Hey,” Sara said in greeting. She’d never been awkward around the Ashfords before, but then they’d never had this sort of conversation. “So…Ben told you about, you know…what my mom said?”

  Kyle nodded, but he didn’t look happy. “Yeah, Ben told me. What surprises me though is that you didn’t tell me yourself.”

  “I don’t have any proof, Kyle. It’s just hearsay at this point.”

  “Well, you got your cheek swab that you needed. My DNA sample is at the lab as we speak,” he answered. “But I don’t think we need that to know the truth.”

  “What do you mean?” Sara asked.

  Carolyn shook her head. “My father has never done a kind thing in his life that didn’t come with a significant tax benefit. And he always treated you well, Sara. Paying for school, your birthday parties, your first car. I thought it was creepy, to be honest, and I suspected he was doing it because he had a crush on Lina. I just didn’t realize he was sleeping with her while he was married to my mom.”

  Sara’s cheeks burned with shame. “I think it was just a one-time thing.”

  Kyle shrugged. “Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t, but he’s always loved your mom.”

  “What?” She glared at Kyle like he was crazy, because clearly he was.

  He laughed, low and empty. “He mentioned it again a few months ago, that elusive woman—the only one he could ever trust. It was Lina, Sara. He trusted her because she never came out with the truth. She never demanded what you were due. It all makes sense now. And the fact that she was already married when she moved in here probably just helped to make her the ultimate prize, the one thing even a billionaire couldn’t buy.”

  Sara ran a hand over her cheek and realized she was shaking. Ben wrapped his arm around her shoulder and she leaned into his solid presence. “It’s hard for me to accept. I mean, my mom is still living here as your father’s head chef. How screwed up is that? All those years before my father died and he never knew. What about Javier? What’s this going to do to him?”

  “Yeah…about that…” Ben said.

  “No. You didn’t!”

  Rayna stood from the bench and adjusted her sun hat, glancing at a spot over Sara’s shoulder. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure he did. Hi, Javier!”

  “Oh, shit.” All the color drained from Sara’s skin when she turned toward the path from the main house to see her older brother heading their way. He was dressed in tan khakis and a blue dress shirt, and he had that geeky charm that made smart girls do stupid things.

  Javier was darker than Sara, but she’d never given that any thought as a child. He had inky black hair and obsidian eyes, but aside from looks, they’d been similar in other ways, like both excelling in school. Javier had gone to the local university and their parents had paid for it out of their own pockets, but Kenton Ashford had awarded Sara a merit scholarship from the Ashford Foundation when she’d been accepted into Harvard just two years after Kyle. Holy shit…had she really gotten into Harvard on her own merits, or had her likely sperm donor fixed that, too?

  “Wow, everyone’s here,” Javier said when he got to them. He hugged Sara tight and shook Kyle’s hand, but the rest of them got a nod of greeting. Then Javi saw Ben standing hip to hip with Sara and that earned her lover a brief cock-eyed glare.

  “So…” Javier began, “who wants to tell me what the hell is going on? I flew out here from California, so this had better be good.”

  Sara looked to Carolyn, and Carolyn looked to Kyle. Kyle looked to Rayna, but she just put
up her hands and sat back down on the bench.

  The muscles in Ben’s strong jaw quirked, but he nodded in acceptance. “Javier…hey man. Haven’t seen you in a while.” Javier narrowed his eyes in response, and Ben cleared his throat. “We’re looking into allegations that—”

  “No!” Sara shouted. “I’ll do it. Javi, come with me. We have to talk.”

  Ben watched Sara haul her brother away then he turned to Kyle. “Wow, you Ashfords know how to party. Fun stuff.”

  “Uh-huh,” Kyle replied, but he was looking strangely at Ben now.

  “What?”

  Kyle crossed his arms over his chest. “So what are you doing with my sister, asshole?”

  Ben’s gaze flew to Carolyn, and for a second he was flummoxed. Then Carolyn smiled and said, “The other sister, Ben.”

  Yeah, right. The other sister. “Um…with Sara?” There was so much history they didn’t know. And maybe one day soon he and Sara would need to come clean, but today had enough worries of its own. “I’m loving her, Kyle. I’m wanting to make her my wife. That’s what I’m doing with your sister. I’ve loved her since college.”

  Carolyn and Kyle gave him twin looks of astonishment, but Rayna shot up from her seat and pumped her fist at the sky. “Yes! I knew it! At the engagement party, she looked like she wanted to kill you, but then I saw this look in her eyes like maybe she wanted to rip your clothes off, too.”

  “Rayna…” Kyle scrubbed a hand over his mouth. “Come on, sweetheart. That’s my sister that we’re talking about now. It was bad enough when she was just Sara.”

  Carolyn rolled her eyes. “Yeah, because sisters can’t have sex, right, or be interested in men? Well, at least one sister is living up to your expectations.”

  “Javi!” Sara called. Ben turned in time to see Javier walking back toward the house, his shoulders hunched and his hands balled in fists. He briefly wondered if Kenton was home and if Javier was going to find him and rearrange his nose, but then he realized he didn’t care.