Love Is Overdue (20 page)

I didn’t say anything right
away. I let his words sink in first. “Like losing your brother,” I
said then, understanding exactly what he meant.

He nodded slowly. “Yup. And
there’s too much history between us to go on and accept her
as...what? My sister-in-law?” He sucked his teeth at the thought.
“Does that answer your question, baby?”

“
Well,” I
thought. “Kind of.”

“
Kind of, huh...”
Ben sighed, his fingers easing down under the waist of my tights
and over my hips, stroking me tenderly.

“
If you loved
each other so much why weren’t you happy?” I wanted to
know.

He sighed again, staying
patient with me, although I could tell he would have preferred to
change the subject. “Well...” He hesitated a moment, thinking, his
hands still roaming all over my skin. “Angela never really had much
luck with men before me so...I don’t think she ever really trusted
me. I never see any of that at the beginning because I was so into
her...I thought it was cute how she just made me her whole world,
y’know...but eventually I just started fucking drowning. And in the
end I just did to her exactly what she was always afraid I would
do...which is why I spent so long trying to get her back after. I
just couldn’t live with myself.”

I watched him as he spoke,
letting everything he said sink in. It scared me. Hearing how he
described Angela felt too familiar, to close to how I felt about
myself, and I hated it. Even after just a few short weeks I had
already showed him my insecurities...my
vulnerabilities...

Ben was watching me in my
silence. “Why you wanna know about all this?” he asked, studying me
closely.

“
You fascinate
me,” I admitted simply. “And I’m pushy, I know...”

“
You are,” he
agreed me with me, his hand squeezing my thigh.

“
Maybe it’s
because I met her and...”

“
And
what?”

“
And...” I took a
chance. “She reminds me of myself.”

I tried to read Ben’s
expression, but it was hard. He didn’t take his eyes off me. “Well,
I guess I have a thing for beautiful women...who have no idea how
beautiful they really are.”

“
Hmmm...” I bit
my lip, staring him down, and he leaned forward and kissed me
softly. “What does that mean?” I wanted to know.

“
I don’t know...I
guess in a way you’re right...” His hand was between my thighs,
squeezing, and I caught my breath. “We all just creatures of habit,
though...” He was kissing me again, and I lost myself for just a
moment, but then pulled back.

“
Whoa...wait a
minute...” My eyes popped open and it made Ben smile. It was one
thing for me to say it, but...not for him. That was not fucking
cool. “You did not just compare me to your ex-girlfriend
Ben!”

“
No, I didn’t.
You did,” he reminded me, as I felt his hand run up higher and I
felt him squeeze me between my legs. “But if that’s what it takes
to shut you up and make you stop asking me about all this shit
then...yes I did.”

My jaw dropped and I hit his
arm – a little harder than I had meant to. “Jerk,” I
muttered.

“
Damn...” Ben
laughed, rolling onto his back, rubbing his arm for
effect.

“
You deserved
it,” I said simply.

“
Wow...baby...you
really mad, huh?” Ben was studying me closely, still far too amused
for my liking. “I’m sorry.” He reached out and brushed my cheek
lightly. “You always hit ya man when you get upset?”

I couldn’t keep a straight
face with that one. “Yes I do,” I played along, rolling my eyes.
“They usually fall in line pretty quick after a couple
blows.”

Ben laughed softly again,
but the look in his eyes turned serious rather quickly. “You’re
really turning me on right now, you know that?”

“
Wow.”

“
Wow,” he
repeated me, his hand creeping back up my thigh again. “I have to
tell you something.”

“
You do?” My
heart was fluttering again.

He nodded. “The other
night...you...me...here...in my bed...” His hand was running up my
side, pushing up my t-shirt again. “I can’t stop thinking about
you...and normally I wouldn’t say anything but...you really fucking
scared me these past couple days.”

His words shocked me. The
fact that he could feel for me in way similar to how I felt for him
was still so foreign to me.

“
I just...” I
started, trying to find my voice. “I just felt guilty. And I’m not
a very good liar so...” My voice trailed off.

“
I know. It’s
okay.” His hand brushed my hair back.

“
I think about
you all the time,” I admitted in a soft voice. “I think about you
so much that I forget about everything else
sometimes...”

“
That’s not
good...” His voice escaped him just before his mouth took over
again and his lips and his tongue began teasing mine, pulling back
just enough every time I started to lose myself, his fingers
grazing me between my legs ever-so-lightly through my tights,
making me shudder. He just smiled down at me, enjoying my
reaction.

I caught my breath. “So you
were thinking about the other night, huh?” My voice came out all
breathy, writhing under those fingertips of his.

He nodded slowly, his eyes
burning.

“
What...what
about it...specifically?” I was desperate. He was rubbing me a
little harder now, squeezing gently, my clit on fire through those
layers of fabric.

“
Goddammit, you
ask a lot of questions.” He let his breath out deeply, but his
voice came out sounding much more aroused than
irritated.

I smiled. “I’m difficult,” I
whispered, still squirming, as his lips began teasing my jaw, my
chin, my neck...

“
In more ways
than one...” He pulled my t-shirt up over my head and ran his hand
back down over my breasts.

“
How?” I caught
my breath as he slipped the straps of my bra down, first one and
then the other.

“
Stop it.” He
sounded serious now. “I’m not answering any more
questions.”

“
Oh. I see,” I
whispered, as he pulled my breasts out gently, caressing me so
tenderly with his hand. “What you gonna do instead?”

“
Shhh.” He leaned
in and started sucking on my nipple.

“
Mmmm...” I bit
my lip, deciding to shut up once and for all.

The rain was beating down so
hard against the window. I fell back into his warm bed, that soft
pillow, and gasped as Ben just took complete and total control of
me once again – body and mind – until we were both naked, slick,
wet and clinging to one another.

Ω

I woke up to the light
pouring in through the bedroom window and Ben’s warm body pressing
up behind me, his arms pulling me in close against him.

“
Good
morning.”

“
Hmmm...” I
wrapped my arms tighter around his. “No, not yet.”

He sighed
softly, and I felt his smile behind my head. “It’s gettin’ late,
you know...”

“
I don’t give a
fuck,” I said simply. “I’m calling in sick.”

But Ben just sucked his
teeth at that. “No, you’re not.”

He sounded serious so I
turned my head to look at him.

“
I can’t go to
work in those ratty clothes I came here with!” I protested, and
then pulled his hand slowly down over my body and squeezed it
between my legs, my pussy still so wet from him. I felt him slide
his finger over my clit.

“
That’s a
relief,” he teased me, looking down over my body, giving me a
little glimmer of hope that I had convinced him.

He leaned over and sucked on
my nipple, sending another shiver up my spine. His fingers kept
stroking me so expertly, sliding up deep inside me and then rubbing
my clit so perfectly that I came so hard, so suddenly, all over his
hand...his fingers...shaking and shuddering.

“
Ohhh...Ben...” I
gasped, recovering myself.

“
Hmmm.” He let
out a satisfied sigh as he released my nipple, flicking it lightly
one more time with the tip of his tongue. “Feel better?”

I let my breath out deeply.
“You’re so good at that.”

His hand crept slowly back
up over my belly and up over my breasts, his eyes following the
journey, looking down over me intently, deeply, like he was ready
to pounce. I expected him to just start tearing into me all over
again, but instead he just pulled back quickly – suddenly – and
swung his legs over the edge of the bed.

“
Let’s go,
baby.”

I was shocked. “Are you
serious?”

He turned and glanced back
over at me. “Yeah, why?” he wanted to know, already pulling on his
boxers.

“
So that’s
it?”

He looked a little too
amused for my liking. “You gotta go to work,” he said simply, then
met my bewildered gaze. “I don’t want Tammy to fire you. I kinda
like having you as my neighbour.”

Chapter
Nine

That nurse had been right.
About two days later my mom agreed to see me. And aside from the
broken hip and the fact that she was now pretty much bedridden, at
least for the immediate future, she was back to her old self again.
She apologized for her “accident” – as she kept putting it – saying
it had all been one giant mistake. I did my best to push away all
the residual hurt and confusion and fear I had been feeling and
went about my days like everything was back to normal.

They’d moved her to the
intermediate care wing and I set up a routine of spending a few
hours after work with her every day, and the rest of my time was my
own – for the first time in my life. At first I wasn’t sure what to
make of all this abundance of freedom, but Tony – who was still
single and attached to me at the hip – convinced me to use the time
to my advantage and went and planned a little impromptu dinner
party at my house on my behalf with a few friends of ours, and only
decided to tell me about it with two days to spare.

“
Are you fucking
kidding me?”

Tony broke the news to me
when he stopped by my work on my lunch break. We had walked up the
street to JJ Bean and were sitting out on the patio, enjoying the
sunshine.

“
What?” He looked
at me like he couldn’t understand my horror at the prospect. “It’s
about time you had people over at your place, Gabby. Besides,
you’re such a good cook. Michelle already agreed to bring all the
wine and stuff...”

I thought for a moment,
letting the whole idea of a dinner-party at my house actually sink
in. It did sound kind of fun. “Who did you invite?” I asked,
cautiously.

“
Well, Tasha
because...well, you know, there’d be too much drama on the
homestead if I didn’t...”

I rolled my eyes. Tasha was
Tony’s twin sister/roommate and the two of them had the strangest
love-hate relationship of any siblings I knew.

“
And Michelle and
Corinne...and I was thinking of asking Matt if maybe he wanted
–”

“
No!” I protested
quickly. “You are not inviting any guy you met off the Grapevine on
any blind date – not at my house.”

He sighed. “Fine...but you
have to invite your boyfriend. It’s time I meet him.”

I got a little flutter in my
stomach at the mention of Ben. The past week had been a continuous
fog of pure emotional, physical and sexual bliss... I had already
fallen so hard for him. I had spent the night with him twice more
during the week and on Saturday night he had taken me to see
Gyptian live at the Commodore Ballroom.

I remembered how much
attention he had attracted from the crowds at the show, especially
the women. He looked so gorgeous that night with his dreads hanging
loose, and his body – which could move on the dance floor in a way
that had my pussy dripping just watching him. At one point during
the set I remember a spliff being passed through the crowds and Ben
released me for a moment to take a long hit off of it. A gorgeous
black girl with the body of Beyoncé and the tightest, smoothest
weave to match, had backed right up on him and shoved her perfectly
tight round booty right into his crotch. My eyes went wide at the
sight, but Ben didn’t even seem to notice. He just pulled the joint
from his lips and handed it to her over her right shoulder. This
distracted her for a brief moment and Ben just slipped away from
her so smoothly and before I knew it his arms were back around my
waist. I still couldn’t forget the look of utter disbelief on her
face as she glanced over at the two of us. But I just averted my
eyes quickly and fell back into my groove with my man...

“
Ben?” My eyes
went wide at the prospect of Ben meeting my friends. My
self-conscious fears crept back in my head so quickly and I just
shook my head. “No...it’s too soon. Plus, when did I ever say he
was my boyfriend?” This, come to think of it, was a fair statement.
The topic had never been discussed between us – officially. Of
course the way he treated me, I wasn’t sure what else to call it
myself.