Stony Creek Hero [Stony Creek 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) (12 page)

Ben stood there unmoving as he was unable to tear his eyes from his enticing woman who was retreating to her bedroom to comply with his request. She already had him pulsating simply with a look, much less the obedience she displayed by agreeing with his request. If and when he was ever to make love to the saucy piece of femininity, he knew he was going to be a goner. Shoot, this was getting more complicated than he had anticipated.

Ben turned and walked himself over to her beautifully set table and plopped down with a loud thud and let out a groan.

Ben sat there looking at his plate while muttering to himself. “Well, now I am ravenously hungry but I will be damned if it is for food.”

* * * *

Lizzie laughed as she witnessed an audiovisual demonstration of gluttony. No sooner than she ambled back to the kitchen, dressed in sensible tan capris that she paired with the new navy soft-wrap top that she had bought with Billie, Ben had dug into the plethora of dishes that she had artfully displayed for him on the table. She giggled as he inhaled her offerings like he obviously hadn’t eaten in about a year and a half. Either that or she would think that he was supplementing his usual portions of her comfort food in an effort to combat his sexual frustrations. Humph, now he knows how she felt on seeing him in all his deliciousness daily!

Ben was currently inhaling Lizzie’s incomparable version of mac and cheese, sighing with pleasure. It wasn’t the first on his list of the pleasures he would like from this woman but damn, it definitely ran a close second. His little sex goddess had even made him the most mouthwatering zucchini sticks, forcing him into eating some vegetables.

“I know that they are fried, Ben, but you need some vitamins and I knew that you loved these. I hope you don’t mind me disguising something healthy by making it into something yummy.” She smiled in his direction, knowing full well that he wouldn’t mind at all.

With a look of pure rapture on his face, he shoved another stuffed mushroom into his mouth as he grinned at Lizzie.

“Baby, with the way you look, you fulfill my ‘yummy’ quota daily. You are my vitamin L. I have a feeling that after tonight, I am going to need a dose of it daily for the rest of my life, baby.” Now where the hell had that thought come from and what possessed him to mention it out loud? The food must be drugged with estrogen or something. Shit. He needed to hang out with the guys more as an antidote to the estrogen poisoning.

“Lizzie, I know your father was the closest family you had around here but with him gone, are there any other relatives, cousins…anyone, baby?” Ben looked quite serious as he softly asked the delicate question.

Looking downward at her plate, Lizzie shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

“No, Ben, there is no one else who shares blood with me, but I definitely have good friends who I consider my family. Besides, they would never do to me what my father, being my ‘blood’ family, did to me.”

Ben leaned back in his chair, partly to relieve the pressure in his belly from consuming so much of her heavenly meal and partly to think on his situation for a moment. He cared for her. He never denied his feelings for this woman. Well, mostly in the past he just stared at her or ate at the café just to be near her without being too obvious, he hoped. Hell, who was he kidding? Everyone in Stony Creek knew he had it for her badly. It wasn’t really a well-kept secret. However, they also knew of his proclivities against permanent relationships. She just got to him in a way no woman or person ever had. She just got him. He knew that she was humbled by his support and assistance with her current situation. Hell, he might as well just dig himself in completely and damn the consequences.

“Lizzie, would you consider coming to my parents’ house for Sunday dinner? It would make me feel good to know that you weren’t alone,” Ben blurted out, completely ignorant that he had just insulted her and injured her pride.

“So, let me get this straight. You are asking me to your family’s Sunday Dinner so
you
will feel better that I won’t be all alone? Nice one there, Ben! Let me explain a few things to you. I am not pathetically lonely, Ben. I am just fine the way I am. I don’t need for you to ‘loan’ me your family so you can feel better. I don’t need you to ‘loan’ me money so you can become my partner to save me so
you
can feel better. If I didn’t need that I money I would shove it right back in your big fat wallet. I can take care of myself. I am not alone. The next time you want to feel better, may I suggest you march yourself right down to The Pump and try being a hero to one of your adoring bubble-breast babes that hang all over you! I don’t need a hero! I don’t need you pitying me and then doing something so it makes
you
feel better!” Lizzie barraged him with her indigence.

Ben was flustered for a moment. “Baby, um, that kind of came out all wrong. I just wanted you to have company. No, that’s not right either. What I mean is…”

“Enough, Ben! Before you stick your foot any farther down your throat, please allow me to help you. Thank you for your concern and fixing the circuit breaker. I enjoyed our ‘time’ together this evening very much but I think I need some rest and alone time right now before I give you a smackdown!” She finished her speech with a stern look in his direction.

He slowly stood up, realizing that she was watching him. Ben felt caution was necessary as he was now unsure of what he should say or do that wouldn’t reignite the anger in his fire-breathing dragon. Suddenly Lizzie decided to take the choice away from him. He felt her take him by the hand and pull him to the front door. With a strong tug, his arm was yanked as she pulled him down to meet her lips and softly planted a no-nonsense kiss on his startled mouth. With that, the door was yanked open and he felt as she shoved his six-foot-five hulk out into the night air.

“Baby?” was all Ben managed to get out as she slammed the door closed in his face. Humm, well, that had never happened before. Women loved him. Women were dying to be the first one he had ever asked to spend time at one of the famous Powell Sunday dinners. Women, give them a little pleasure and they get all cocky. Well, he thought with amusement as he looked down at his seemingly permanent state of rampant arousal that he was cursed with whenever he was around her. At least now he and Lizzie had something in common.

“My son said what? Ugh, you boys know better than to say things like that to a woman, Ben! Your father is going to hear about this one. No wait, I have a better one. I am going to let all the boys know what you said and then let you deal with it!” Lillian yelled at her middle son, looking shocked and disgusted at his confession. Ben had come up to the ranch house and sheepishly explained to his mother and Aunt what he had tried, quite incompetently, to do for Lizzie. After receiving light slaps from both women to the back of his head, he quickly found himself exiled to the barn while his father was filled in via cell phone on his transgressions much to his chagrin.

Ben took off on Cuff, hoping to join up with some more members of the male persuasion who would be more sympathetic to his cause than the female family had been. Women are crazy, he thought. He figured that this was the exact reason that relationships were not in the cards for him. Oh, he cared for Lizzie, a great deal. His gut twisted as he felt a surge of renewed interest in his groin at the mere images her name conjured up. Lizzie looking up at him from a submissive head tilt, her hair flowing down her back as she gently ran her tongue up the underside of his erection, taking care to taste him as she finished her caress. He could feel his hands thread through her long, thick chestnut hair as he gripped her head to him so she could…

“Fuck! I have to stop this shit!” Ben yelled out over the open land, startling one of the calves munching on the grass nearby. He watched as Cuff sidestepped cautiously as though aware of the frustration coursing through his master. Where the hell was Troy or Jackson? He needed one of his brothers to help him either clear his head or to use as a punching bag. As if on cue, he turned in the saddle to see Hunter ride up with Troy. Either one would make a fine punching bag, he mused.

“What is wrong with you, Ben? We heard you yelling from the next pasture. Hunter was worried you finally fell off Cuff as demonstrated by your pathetic riding skills but I figured it is women trouble as you suck at them, too. Who wins?” Troy smirked out to his older brother’s evil gaze.

“Why don’t you get your narrow little ass off of Helen and let me show you? By the way, who the hell names a horse Helen anyway?” Ben asked deviously, hoping to rile Troy up enough so he would be good for at least two punches.

“I am a smart man. This way I can always brag honestly about riding a woman all day and all night. It is the truth in both literal and physical sense,” Troy answered, not taking the bait that Ben had thrown his way. Rather in his usual Troy fashion, he found humor in most things and was able to defuse the majority of his brother’s anger.

Both men swiveled their heads in Hunter’s direction, who just snorted at Troy’s explanation.

“You have an opinion, do you, Hunter?” Ben asked softly. If he could get one of the dumbass twins to engage him, perhaps he would feel calmer. Hunter, however, was a less likely target as he almost always wore a calm air like a warm coat. Hunter didn’t rile easily and didn’t talk much, but a better friend and neighbor they never had.

All Troy and Ben were given was a smile and a softly spoken, “Nope.”

Ben gritted his teeth. “What the hell do I expect from the man who names his horse, Horse! That is some serious creativity there, buddy. Too complicated to think of a real name or is it that you just named it after your favorite animal to sleep with?”

Hunter just quirked an eyebrow up at that question and looked pensive for a moment as though deep in thought. “Seems simpler to me and she likes it. Besides, she is the only woman who I can ride roughshod all day on and not get yelled at. The women are doing a lot of yelling around this town lately. Look at yourself. It is apparently contagious. Control yourself and knock it off. Act like a man for Pete’s sake!”

Well, that was enough for Ben. He jumped off Cuff and walked up to Hunter and yanked him off Horse.

Troy sighed, watching as Ben and Hunter tried their best to bloody the other man’s face. “Mom is not going to like you guys coming over on Sunday with black eyes, guys! Shit, Dad is calling. Could you guys knock it off for a second?”

“Hey, Dad? Yes, he is here. No, um, he is a bit occupied at the moment,” Troy said as Ben was flipped over Hunter’s broad shoulders, hitting the ground with an impressive thud, no easy feat for Hunter with Ben being as big a man as he was.

“He did? No, no I would never do that to a lady, Dad,” Troy promised his father as he got a shit-eating grin on his face watching as Hunter took a hard hit to the side of his jaw. He covered the speaker with his thumb as he looked at Ben.

“You are in so much trouble, stupid. Dad is going to kick your ass when he gets his hands on you for upsetting Mom and Aunt Florence by upsetting Lizzie. I can’t wait to watch!” Troy told Ben with amusement as he watched Hunter land a perfect punch to his brother’s left eye. That was going to leave a mark.

“Oh shit! Oh, um, no, not you, Dad. Um, one of the stupid cows needs help. Yes, I will tell him to call when I find his moronic ass.” Troy finished the call while looking at the two men he called family now covered in mud, grass, and probably a lovely coating of cow manure.

Ben felt better, much better. “Was that as good for you as it was for me, Hunter?” Hunter’s only reply, not shockingly, was to shove Ben as hard as he could before he remounted Horse and rode away, probably to take a shower.

“So, it was women trouble, eh, bro?” Troy asked Ben seriously now. Ben gave off a much more relaxed air, so it was probably safe to ask.

“Uh, yeah. One minute I have Lizzie exactly like I want her and the next minute, she threw me out her door. I cannot figure the female sex out,” Ben stated glumly.

“And how did you want her exactly?” Troy asked with more enthusiasm than Ben appreciated.

“It’s none of your fucking business. Now figure out a way to help me not have all the women mad at me, genius!” Ben growled out. Troy was the business head of the family and usually came up with some pretty savvy solutions.

“No way, man. You are on your own. I am going to enjoy watching you fall for Lizzie, and every damned mistake you make! Mom, Dad, Aunt Florence, and Lizzie are going to stone you. I think I will get popcorn and the boys and I will just sit back and watch. Oh shit, you are in so much trouble. Just wait until Billie hears that you insulted her best friend. Not going to be pretty, my brother. She knows some scary ways to inflict pain on a man, Ben. Nope, not going to be pretty at all. Then Jackson is going to want to kick your ass as you have upset the love of his life, now that he has gone all soft on us. This is going to be some serious fun! I can’t wait. Be scared, Ben, be very, very scared!” Troy looked like he had just won the lotto.

“Shit, I should just move,” Ben mumbled.

* * * *

Lizzie had to smile on Tuesday afternoon when she saw the small but formidable gaggle of Powell and soon-to-be Powell women descend on her. Billie was the meat in the Powell matriarch sandwich. Both Florence and Lillian wore warm, gentle smiles as they greeted Lizzie in the café. Billie on the other hand, still looking rather under the weather, offered her an apologetic grin.