I kept my eyes shut and shook my head again, uncaring. The idea of being watched thrilled me, but only because I was so turned on. I knew in any other situation I’d have never been so brazen.

“They’re watching me fuck you with my hand,” he whispered seductively, “and they’re watching you rock your hips against it. How about you show them the way you look when you come?”

His words tipped me over the edge. I moaned loudly, my body clenching, as my orgasm tore through me. The pleasure was toe curling, sparing no part of my body of its intensity.

“Fuck,” he whispered, kissing me on the cheek as I slowly came down from it. “You’re terribly sexy, Claire.”

Still in my daze, I opened my eyes. When awareness settled in, I startled and looked around. He said I was being watched, and now that I wasn’t in an orgasm-induced haze, I was panicking.

He chuckled, reading my mind. “No one’s there, but it was exciting thinking so, right?”

“Oh, thank God,” I said on a relieved sigh.

“As if I’d let anyone see that side of you.”

“You wouldn’t?”

“No way. I like that look reserved for my own eyes.”

I smiled and turned around to kiss him. “I think it’s your turn now.”

He shook his head. “No. That was just for you, beauty. Besides, I want to go home and destroy you in my bed.”

Oh, this guy.

“Yes, please,” I said, and I was sure that wasn’t going to be the last time I begged him that night.

Chapter Fourteen

I love him

I loved him.

I mean, I was pretty sure I loved him the first time I saw him, but insta-love wasn’t a good enough excuse to go around and tell people I loved him. Because imagine the conversation to be had with that one:

“Oh, you love him, do you? That’s wonderful! How long have you guys been together?”

“Um, two weeks?”

“…Oh…” Insert awkward looks all around. “Well, that’s…that’s just wonderful.” Translation: You’re a fucking idiot.

Yeah, there was no way I’d live that kind of judgment down. Mom would have had a heart attack, and Emily would have laughed her tits off. I couldn’t blame them for their scepticism. It wouldn’t have been the first time I’d made such a declaration of love. In high school I was convinced half a dozen times I was in love, only to be thrown aside when the next bit of fluff came along.

I kept this little secret to myself, and it was the hardest thing I had to do when all I wanted was to blurt it out to anyone within a five kilometre radius.

Especially Ben.

Mostly Ben.

It was inseparability at its finest. The first few weeks consisted of dinners out and sleepovers at his place – the latter due to Mom’s return from her trip. She was a woman on a mission, had put her six weeks’ notice in, and was busy clearing out her belongings and drilling into me how to look after the house when I was on my own.

Then she got all perceptive on me.

“You’re glowing,” she remarked the second week she’d been back. “Who is he?”

Either I was walking around with a giddy smile on my face 24/7, or she had some wicked motherly instincts. My guess was both.

“He’s a good guy,” I told her first and foremost.

She hesitated, looking at me with a grim expression on her face. “Are you sure about that?”

“Very.”

“He treats you well?”

“Yes.”

“When can I meet him?”

Never, I hoped. “Soon, I guess.”

“When do you see him next?”

“Tomorrow.”

“Then I want to meet him tomorrow.”

“Why can’t it wait?”

“I want to thank the man that put a smile on my baby’s face tomorrow. He deserves a medal because you haven’t been this happy in… ever, I think.”

“Right.”

I scurried away before the waterworks appeared – from both sides, I should add. Being with him made me emotional. Show me a video of baby kittens and I was a puddle of goo on the floor. Put a romance movie on and I was weeping like a baby. Make me read a book with no happily ever after and I was tearing the pages to bits and pieces and cursing the author’s demise.

What the fuck had gotten into me?

The answer was simple.

L-O-V-E.

It was sappy, but at the end of the day the sappiest shit was always true.

So knowing Mom would pester me until the end of time, I filled Ben in on the details when he called. “My mom is being weird and asked to see you. She’s being all over-protective. You definitely don’t have to –”

“Of course I’ll meet her,” he interrupted. “I’ll swing around tomorrow.”

He showed up the next day, and he was to die for in casual jeans and a white button up. The meeting was short and sweet. He was calm and happy, not at all effected by meeting a parent of the person he was dating.

“It’s lovely to meet you, Miss Landon,” he said, shaking her hand. “Your daughter’s said a lot about you, particularly of you leaving the state soon.”

“Is she that happy about it?” Mom joked, although I knew she was partially serious.

“I don’t think any child could be happy without their parent,” he replied with an easy smile.

Success!

Mom smiled back. “I couldn’t agree more. You take care of her for me.”

Without a trace of humour in him, he said, “Absolutely.”

They made small chat. Weather, job, blah, blah. While she’d acted normal to him, I could see her restraining the stunned reaction she was desperate to give. She was both impressed and intrigued.

The next day when I got home in the afternoon she went to my bedroom and laid it to me thick.

“He’s a lot older than you,” she said, leaning against the doorway.

“Nine years if we’re going to be exact,” I replied. “Why does it matter? Wasn’t Dad older than you by a lot too?”

There was always the hurt in her eyes at the mention of him. “It doesn’t matter if you’re prepared for something serious. He’s well put together, and the way he looked at you was something else. I don’t doubt that he’s genuine with you.”