First Vision of Destiny - Alicia (4 page)

She moved forward again, raising her hand
slowly toward him. Before she could touch his arm, he clasped her
hand and squeezed it. Alicia let out a breath she hadn’t realized
she was holding. It came out as a shaky huff. He pulled her to him,
enfolding her in his arms and holding her tight even as she looped
her arms around his neck.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured, pressing a kiss to
the crook of her neck. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you.”

She started replying, but already Ben was
continuing, the words fast as though he were afraid to lose his
nerve.

“And I’m sorry for… for more than that.”

Alicia drew back so she would be able to see
his face. He looked as anxious as she had felt moments earlier.
“What you said about not being able to talk to me… It was the same
for me. And then I saw an old girlfriend at the conference last
week. I was a little drunk at the cocktail party. And lonely. I
flirted with her. Nothing more than that, I swear. And when I came
home she called and… I had lunch with her. Just lunch. I
didn’t…”

His voice
trailed off when Alicia closed her eyes tight. She had known
something was going on between him and that woman, but until that
instant, she hadn’t known how far it had progressed. She had hoped,
of course, that holding hands during a romantic lunch was the
extent of what they had done, but she had feared it hadn’t been. A
wave of relief slid over her. She opened her eyes again to find
that Ben was watching her with fear in his eyes.

“Alicia, I’m sorry. I love you. I want to fix
it. Fix our marriage. Do you think…” He stroked her cheek with his
thumb, and she leaned into his touch. “Do you think it can be
fixed?”

If he had asked her whether she could forgive
him, the answer would have been easy. She understood loneliness.
She understood it all too well. And the fact that he had come clean
about his own erring when nothing forced him reassured her that he
truly regretted his lunch date and whatever flirting had
happened.

He hadn’t asked about forgiveness, though.
She didn’t know if their marriage could be fixed. She just knew she
wanted to fix things—like he said he did.

“I think…” She wet her lips, yet again
struggling to find her words. “I think if we both want it… why
couldn’t we fix it?”

She couldn’t have said which of them moved
first. Their lips met, merely brushing together as though
rediscovering each other. They pulled back at the same time,
sharing a look.

Is this OK?
Ben’s eyes seemed to ask.

Alicia’s answer was to kiss him again with
the same tentativeness. His tongue traced her bottom lip. She
parted her mouth, inviting him in. Slowly, he came to meet her
tongue and stroked it with the lightest of touches. Alicia moaned,
the sound very low in her throat. They broke apart again, exchanged
another brief but heated look. Their next kiss was pure fire.

Their mouths clashed hard enough to bruise.
Their tongues tangled, battling furiously. She slid her left hand
up his neck and into his hair. The right one fell down to run along
the fabric of his shirt, caressing and holding him to her. His
hands at the small of her back pressed her tighter against him,
tight enough that she could feel his cock as it began to harden.
Without thinking, she bucked against him. He broke away from the
kiss and gasped. She tightened her hands on his shoulders and
leaned forward, resting her forehead against his. His eyes were
wide, the black of his pupils almost entirely swallowing the
blue.

For a few heartbeats, they remained immobile,
their eyes locked, their breathing slowing down again together.

His lips curved into a lopsided smile and he
said, “You made pie too, didn’t you?”

She laughed, happy that he remembered their
first dinner date. “I did. Want some?”

She could have sworn his eyes sparkled as he
answered. “Maybe later. Right now I’m hungry for something
else.”

Threading her fingers through his hair, she
smiled coyly. She had a pretty good idea what he meant, but asked
anyway, “And what would that be?”

“My wife.”

The strength and intensity behind those quiet
words cleared Alicia’s mind of anything that wasn’t her desire for
him. Swallowing hard, she nodded, then covered his mouth with hers
again, tracing his lips with the tip of her tongue. She started
protesting when he pulled away, but as soon as he had picked her
up, one arm supporting her knees and the other at her back, his
mouth found hers again for a quick peck. She rested her head on his
shoulder as he carried her to their bedroom. When he laid her down
in the center of the bed, she pulled him to lie against her,
unwilling to let go even for the briefest instant.

“Kiss me,” she said, and at once Ben’s mouth
was back on hers. She could still taste the wine on his tongue, but
it was his desire that made her feel drunk. For a long moment,
their tongues seemed to dance together, pursuing each other back
and forth between their joined mouths. At the same time, they
rolled onto their sides. Their hands found each other, holding on
for a few instants before slipping on to tangle in her hair or to
stroke along his throat. All of it remained slow. They had all the
time in the world, after all, to rediscover each other and pledge
their love anew.

Alicia tugged his shirt free of his pants and
inched it upward. She had to break off the kiss to pull it
completely off him, but it was worth it. She now had the whole
expanse of his silk-smooth chest to caress with her hands and
mouth, and she lost no time doing both. Ben alternately tensed and
shivered beneath her touch, quiet hums of approval falling from his
lips.

His own hands did not remain idle, and he
found his way beneath her blouse. Light fingers stroked along her
stomach, briefly dipping into her bellybutton before coming up to
caress her lace-encased breasts. Her nipples were teased into
peaking between thumb and forefinger while in turn Alicia’s tongue
flicked against Ben’s flat areolas. The hint of her teeth scraping
against his flesh made him jerk back.

He clucked his tongue, giving her a
mock-severe look. “No teeth, now.”

She tried to
look apologetic, but it was hard to do when he was urging her onto
her back, his hands already working on her blouse. He popped the
buttons one by one, starting with the bottom one and going up. He
pressed his lips to each new inch of skin he uncovered. When he
reached the topmost button, he opened her blouse and immediately
descended on her right breast, sucking on it through her bra. The
light cotton was soaked through in seconds. Her nipple hardened,
pushing against the fabric.

Alicia moaned and arched up, trying to
increase the feel of suction, but already his mouth was abandoning
her nipple to travel instead along the upper edge of her bra. Tiny
licks wet her skin, and when he blew on the same path his tongue
had traveled, goosebumps raised all over Alicia’s body. He
continued his path upward, pushing the strap of her bra aside to
kiss his way to her shoulder, and from there up her neck.

As their mouths found each other again, she
spread her thighs just enough for him to fall between them. She
angled her hips to meet his unconscious rocking, but it wasn’t
enough. Forcing her hand between their bodies, she found the
fastenings of his pants. She undid his zipper and button then
pressed her hand into the opening and against his cock, cupping it
in her hand over his boxers to feel the hardness and sheer heat of
it for a moment. The barrier of cotton soon became intolerable. She
had to feel him skin on skin. Grasping the sides of his pants and
boxers, she tugged and pushed them off as far as they would go. He
sat up to help and finished undressing himself, then turned burning
eyes to her.

“Lift up,” he said, very low, as he began
tugging her skirt off.

She complied and the skirt went easily. She
kept her hips raised, expecting him to divest her of her panties
too, but soon realized it wasn’t his intention. Kneeling on the bed
between her legs, he laid his left hand on her thigh and traced her
folds through her panties with his right index finger. A tremor
shook Alicia, and she propped herself up with her elbows behind her
to look at him. He was entirely focused on her as he circled her
folds a second time, wetness now seeping through her panties where
he was touching her. Over his slightly parted thighs, his cock
bobbed, neglected, the tip glistening with precome.

“Stop playing.” She tried to sound stern, but
her words came out pleading. “Come here.”

She reached out toward his cock, but he
didn’t move forward, remaining too far away. She didn’t complain,
though, because he finally hooked his thumbs over the sides of her
panties and tugged them off her. As his eyes traveled over her
body, she could see hunger and love in his gaze. In the past
months, she had thought them gone, had thought routine had
smothered the passion he felt for her, but now she realized she had
been wrong. They had been there all along, only waiting for her to
recognize them beyond the mask of her own doubts.

Her need to touch him increased tenfold. She
laid her left hand on his cheek, hoping to draw him to her. He
turned into her touch to kiss her palm, then covered her hand with
his. Weaving their fingers together, he pulled her hand away from
his face and turned it, palm upward. She could practically feel the
touch of his eyes on the bite marks, and had to struggle not to
pull her hand away to hide it. Very slowly, he brought her wrist to
his lips and kissed each round, swollen mark. Alicia shivered.

“Ben...”

“I should have noticed,” he murmured. “I
can’t believe I—”

Unable to listen to more, she slid her hand
to the back of his neck and drew him to her. She stopped him with a
hard kiss that made their teeth clash together. Pushing him onto
his back, she sat astride him, teasing both of them when she
pressed down against his hardened cock.

“Cocktease,” he said, tongue in cheek, as he
rested his hands on her thighs.

Alicia smiled, relieved that the tension was
dissipating. She quickly pulled off her unbuttoned blouse along
with her bra, enjoying Ben’s appreciative gaze. His fingertips
skimmed up her sides, thumbs tracing the underside of her breasts
before they slipped behind her. Hands splayed over her back, he
pulled her down. She supported herself on her forearms while he
raised his head to capture her nipple into his mouth. She hissed at
the feel of the tight seal of his lips and the teasing tongue
flicking over the sensitive tip. Her eyes closed for a couple of
seconds. Her hand shook a little when she reached between them and
took hold of his cock. She pumped it in her fist a few times,
spreading the precome over the length and drawing a chocked moan
from Ben. He released her breast when she guided the tip to her
folds. Their eyes locked just as she lowered herself onto him, both
of them holding their breath for a second.

As difficult as it was, she remained still
for a few moments, enjoying the feel of him stretching her, filling
her, completing her. She held his gaze and tried to put everything
she didn’t quite know how to express into her eyes. There was one
thing she could say, though.

“I love you.”

He pulled her down again, this time until
their lips barely touched. She could feel his mouth moving against
hers as he repeated the words and gave her his love. A slow kiss
sealed the exchange before Ben rolled their bodies, settling
between her thighs as he lay above her. He peppered her face with
small kisses and started moving inside her, each of his slow
thrusts building up her desire.

Gentle touches led each of her legs in turn
to wrap around him. As his pace gradually increased, he propped
himself on his hands, his face just above hers. Their eyes locked
again, and Alicia’s mind struggled to grasp the depth of the
feelings she could see reflected back at her. If she had had any
doubt that they could work through this, it vanished at that
instant.

Her hands flew over him, touching every inch
of him she could reach as though to make up for the past weeks of
distance. Her nails raked over his arms, leaving scarlet trails
that drew a sharp hiss from his lips. She soothed them by arching
up and trailing her tongue and lips over them. A particularly sharp
thrust made her clutch at his back.

Wavering above her, he reached down between
them and pressed his fingers against her clit. The angle was
awkward, but the rhythmic pulse he worked to establish soon had
Alicia thrashing against him and unable to hold her legs up or do
much more than clutch at his shoulders.

“Come on, love.” His breathing was jagged,
his voice shaking. “Come for me. Show me how beautiful you are when
you come. I want to see you. I want—”

She received each word like one more touch
from his hand or lips, one more caress. She followed their lead and
grasped for her orgasm, arching one last time into him and keening
his name. His hips jerked several more times against hers as he
joined her pleasure. Drawing him down to her, she held him tightly
against her body.

Still shaking, he lifted himself off her. A
gentle hand resting at her waist guided her onto her side. She
rolled away from him, and didn’t have to wait long before he
spooned his body alongside hers, his arm holding her tight to him,
his spent cock nestled against her ass.

Feeling him pressed to her back like this,
feeling his strength and support, she wanted nothing more than to
put all of this behind them. They weren’t the first couple to have
problems. They wouldn’t be the first to rise beyond those problems,
either. She just wished she had been sure they could be strong, and
move beyond this.

The suggestion formed on her lips almost
before she was conscious of it. “Do you think we should see a
marriage counselor?”