The Stillness Of You (10 page)

“
I can’t
wait anymore,” he rasped against my neck, before kissing me once
more, a quick slide of lips and tongue. “I need to see
you.”

He held me, my
head nestled into the crook of his shoulder, as he slowly made his
way down the hall to my bedroom.

Once inside I
slid down the length of him, though my arms clung to his neck and I
refused to move away from his heat.

For a long
time, Ben held me there his forehead against mine, the two of us
breathing erratically and our hearts beating fast.

His hand
caressed the side of my face and he moved my hair behind my
shoulder, tracing my skin there with soft, butterfly
kisses.

“You’re
beautiful.”

“So are you,” I
answered.

His hands
slid down to the small of my back as his mouth made its way back to
mine. I opened for him and this time the kiss was deep. It was
about touch and thrust and taste.

Holy
shit, but he was a good kisser. I could have spent minutes, hours,
just kissing him. Tasting him and feeling him. But Ben had other
ideas and as his hands gently tugged my dress higher (it was still
bunched around my waist) I leaned back and held up my arms so he
could lift it over my head.

Dilated
pupils stared back at me. “Holy fuck, Georgia, I knew
it.”

“Knew what?” I
said breathlessly.

He nodded and
stepped away, running his hands over the stubble that shadowed his
jaw. “I knew that when I got you half naked wearing those shoes, it
would do me in.”

Something
powerful stirred inside me, something hot and delicious.
“I’m not taking them
off.”

“
Good.”
He said with a devilish grin. “But you should ditch the
bra.”

I couldn’t help
but smile. “I might consider it but you’ll have to take your shirt
off first.” I glanced down at myself. “I’m feeling a little
underdressed.”

He was
unbuttoning his shirt before I finished talking.

Ben

If you
had told me that I was going to be a nut job over a girl last week,
I would have laughed and told you that you were fucking
crazy.
I’m young. Barely
twenty-four. I play hockey in the National Hockey League and in the
last few years I’d seen and had more women, than my mother ever
needed to know about.

Up until
a few days ago I wasn’t looking for a relationship and I sure as
hell wasn’t looking to hook up with Matt King’s sister. Shit, just
the thought of the R word,
relationship
, should have freaked me the hell out
because relationships changed a guy. Case in point? Jim Boone, my
right winger in LA. He got all goofy over an actress he’d met last
summer, started spouting the L word and he even let her convince
him to cut off his signature hockey hair. The dude kept it long—it
was his thing—but after she entered the picture it was one of the
first things to go.

His hair
and then his balls. She said jump and he fucking did. He was so
into her that after hockey she was pretty much it, and I used to
ride him for it big time—we all did. We called him ‘ball-less
Boone’.

A week ago all
I cared about was finding a place in Philly, getting acquainted
with the team and having some fun. Getting laid. Partying a bit
until it was time to crack the whip and start training for the
coming season.

I’d
reached my goal of playing for my dream team and was getting paid a
shitload of money to do it. Life was good.
It was summer and I was ready to kick it
and have a good time. A week ago
that
stuff mattered to me.

But not
anymore. Of course hockey was still number one, but now there was
Georgia. Now it could be so much better.

The difference
between last week and right now was staring at me…a five foot five
slice of heaven in the sexiest come-fuck-me shoes I had ever
seen.

She was
every guy’s wet dream. The girl with a killer bod, hair you wanted
to bury your hands in and eyes that didn’t quit.

But aside
from all that, she was special. She was smart, funny, and kinda
deep—I loved the way her nose wrinkled when she was thinking about
something. She liked to argue and I was cool with that because it
was almost like foreplay. She was one of a kind.

And I was
nervous as fuck standing here in front of her.

Watching
Georgia, watch me.

“Are you going
to take that shirt off?”

I tossed it
onto the floor in less than two seconds. I could tell that she
liked what she saw—I was grateful for the shitload of crunches and
bench presses I’d done—and if I didn’t think I’d look like an
asshole I’d flex, just to see her eyes widen and watch that hot
pink tongue slip over her bottom lip.

But that might
have been over-doing it.

“Okay,” I said
watching her closely. “We’re even.”

“
No,” she
answered shaking her head. “We’re not.”

I didn’t
answer. I took a few seconds to take in every detail because I
swear in this moment, this picture frame that she presented, was
one I’d keep for myself when I was travelling on the road in the
fall. This picture was pretty damn perfect and it was just for
me.

She
wasn’t stacked the way a lot of girls I’d come into contact with
were, but her breasts were real and the bra she wore did a damn
good job of showing them off. And hell, if I wasn’t a fan of those
little, boy thing panties she liked to wear, I was now.

She was
toned—I could tell that she worked out, but there were curves where
there were supposed to be curves. I knew Georgia didn’t survive on
a diet of green lettuce and water. I liked that. There was nothing
worse than being with a girl in a restaurant, getting ready to dig
into prime rib and watching her pick at a plate full of
greens.

Not
Georgia.
She was real.

She
licked her lips and the tent pole in my pants strained even
more.
That was real
too—painfully real.

She
leaned back, her shoulders flush to the wall her legs spread just
enough to get my blood boiling even more than it already
was.

“The jeans, Mr.
Lancaster.”

I
couldn’t smile even if I wanted to. Hell, my teeth were ground
together so tightly that if I wasn’t careful I’d get
lockjaw.

I reached
for my belt, my eyes on her as she splayed her hands onto the wall,
her fingers spread out like a web with their red tipped nails. Her
underwear was a light color, almost nude, and I saw the tops of her
nipples peeking over. Hot. Fucking hot.

I started
to tug on the belt. Shit.

With an
irritated ‘fuck,’ I bent over and unlaced my boots, kicking them to
the side once I had them off and my jeans followed suit. All I had
on were my boxers.

“
Now,
we’re even.” I dinged her with a look that said I was done playing
games. “Off with the bra.”

She
pushed off from the wall and took two steps forward. “You take it
off.”

I was
there in front of her before she could blink and she leaned into
me, sighing when our skin touched. My hands snaked behind her back,
sliding up her spine and for a moment I just held her. She fit
perfectly against me and if I could have stayed like that forever I
would have.

But I
wanted more. I wanted a hell of a lot more. I’d been thinking about
it all day—what it would feel like to hold her, to taste her, to
look in her eyes when I was inside her. To rock into her over and
over again and listen to her whimper because I was making her
come.

Carefully
I reached for her bra and it was like I was fourteen again—I was
all thumbs. A deep breath or two helped things along and when I
felt that little piece of fabric give, I think I stopped
breathing.

Slowly I slid
the little straps over her shoulders, my eyes on hers as she looked
up at me and watched.

It fell to the
floor at our feet and though she was bared to me, I couldn’t take
my eyes off of hers—they were liquid pools that I could drown
in.

We stared at
each other for a long time, as if we were already locked together.
As if I was already inside her. She swallowed and the expression in
her eyes changed. Her lids fluttered and she squeezed them shut
and—wait, was that a tear?

“You’re so
perfect,” she whispered so softly that I barely heard.

What the
fuck? Suddenly concerned my hands slid across her jaw and I tipped
her head up. “Hey, are you okay?”

She
nodded but didn’t say anything and her eyes remained closed as her
body began to tremble. She sank against me—we were skin on skin and
it was all I thought it would be. She was soft, so fucking soft…and
the smell of summer was everywhere but something was
wrong.

I
swallowed and blew out a long, breath. I took a moment before I
attempted to speak because I thought that if I didn’t get this
right, I might blow everything , whatever the hell it was with this
girl. This meant something to me.

I kissed
her temple and wrapped my arms around her, holding her tight so
that I could absorb everything. Every shudder, and tremble, and
breath. It was all mine.

After a while I
realized she was crying and I felt like the biggest shit on the
planet. I didn’t understand what was happening—what I’d said or
did—but I knew I needed to fix this.

“
Hey,” I
said softly, running my hands over her shoulders and down her
spine. “We don’t have to do this. We can wait. I don’t…” God, what
the fuck? “I don’t want to pressure you or anything. I thought…I
thought you wanted this but…” Shit, was I even making any
sense?

“
I want
to,” she mumbled into my neck. Her voice sounded so small and
uncertain that something broke apart inside me. Such a feeling…or a
need to protect filled me that for a moment I was
speechless.

“
I wanted
to,” she repeated. “But I want to do this right and there’s so much
you don’t know about me and if you did you’d probably run the other
way because I would…if I was you. And…” she shuddered again. “I’m
not making any sense am I?”

She
pulled away, enough so that I could look into her eyes again. Thank
the fuck that they were open.

I needed to
make her understand.

“
Georgia,
don’t worry. We can take this slow. This isn’t just about sex,
although I gotta tell you, you’re killing me here.”

A
heartbeat passed. Did I just say that? Holy hell if Rossi from the
team had heard that come out of my mouth he would have pounded me
for sure. I was the no commitment guy.

“
I want
this to matter.” I hoped like hell I hadn’t blown
things.

She was
nodding and whispered, “Okay,” but I knew it wasn’t—there was
something in her eyes that tore at me. And even though my hard on
was going to be a bitch to deal with, Georgia mattered a hell of a
lot more than the state of my dick.

“
Okay.” I
rested my head on top of hers as I tried to take control of my
body. “We’ll take this slow.”

For a moment
there was silence. “Thank you.”

Those two
little words punched me in the gut something fierce. I hugged her
and then picked her up, my mouth seeking hers as I headed for the
bed. Once there, I managed to tug the comforter back and after she
slid inside, I followed her in.

She fit right
into me like we’d been sleeping together forever and I cuddled her
close, inhaling her essence, keeping it as mine. I moved her hair
from the back of her neck and trailed a line of kiss up to her ear
until she was trembling again.

And then
I smiled. “I’m sleeping here with you tonight, no negotiation on
that.”

She nodded, but
didn’t answer.

“
And when
Matt comes home on Monday—”

“He’ll be home
tomorrow,” she whispered, her arms sliding along my forearm and
curling around, holding me in return.

“
Good,
because as soon as I see him I’m going to tell Matt that we’re
seeing each other and if he doesn’t like it, fuck him. I’m not
hiding the way I feel. I can’t be the guy who does that. I want
you.”

A thought
occurred to me and I didn’t like the way it made me feel. “You do
feel the same way, don’t you? Tell me that this isn’t all me,
Georgia. This crazy fucking explosion I feel inside.”

There was
silence, and then…

“
No,” she
said softly. “It’s not just you.”

I groaned
and kissed her shoulder, loving how she shuddered against me. “I
want to learn all your deepest and darkest secrets.” I was teasing
but her fingers stopped stroking my arm and she
stiffened.

“What if my
secrets are things you can’t deal with?”

I frowned
though I tried to keep my tone light. “Have you murdered
anyone?”

“Not that I
know of.”

A heartbeat
passed.

“Then we’re
good.”

***

I woke up
with a stiff neck and an arm that was on fire.
Georgia was still sleeping and gingerly I
pulled my arm free, the ache in my gut still there as I stared down
at perfection. It was late, we’d missed our run, and the sun was
coming in her window causing a kind of halo to dance around
her.