Stony Creek Hero [Stony Creek 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) (18 page)

“Lizzie, baby, please don’t ever do anything like that again. I just found you. Please don’t let your stubbornness take that happiness away. I couldn’t stand it, baby,” Ben whispered in her ear, probably thinking she was asleep.

It felt nice, way better than even just nice, to be cared for, to feel what felt suspiciously like love.

During the long, stormy night, Ben had made love to Lizzie again and again. It was just before dawn that they lay there, cuddled into each other with her stroking the side of his face. Lizzie recalled with a sigh how he had kept nuzzling that sensitive spot on her neck and had placed delicate kisses along her jaw. She gazed off, not seeing anything really, as she savored the soreness of her thighs, tender behind, and feminine places that had received more loving attention last night than they had in her whole life. If she had to go back to real life after such an amazingly bonding experience with Ben, she felt like she might never recover. Finally, she found out personally that he was worth the wait, a man of worth in many more ways than one. He…

“Earth to Lizzie! If I had to guess, I would be betting that there was some serious mouth-to-mouth resuscitation going on last night, huh Mimi?” Vera chortled out. Never one to mince words, Vera had a very knowing look in her eyes, Lizzie thought with a blush.

“Well?” Mimi asked simply.

“Well what?” Lizzie returned saucily with a huge smile on her face that turned to a grimace as she plopped herself down onto a stool in the kitchen.

“Uh-huh? Something wrong with you posterior cushion there, boss lady? You sure look like you could use some ice back there. Hurt it getting out of the creek, did ya?” Vera taunted a now profusely blushing Lizzie.

Mimi just smiled as Lizzie offered, “I will never tell. It is for me to know, Madame Vera.”

“Don’t need for you to confirm a thing, gorgeous. I know a spanked tush when I see one,” Vera confirmed, drawing a shocked look from both Mimi and Lizzie. “What? I was young once, too!”

Looks of horror and disgust briefly flitted over both the younger women’s faces. Vera swatted them both with her spatula as Mimi ran herself back out to the dining room area.

Lizzie took a moment to reread the letter that was addressed to her here at the café. She tried not to allow the icy shivers of fear to crawl up her spine, but she was still all alone. Ben hadn’t pledged himself to her. How was she going to handle a man that wouldn’t take the word no for an answer?

You will be mine soon, dear Lizzie. Then you will have a man that teaches you to behave.

Suddenly a loud bellow shook the peacefulness of Vera’s kitchen and broke Lizzie out of her momentary fear.

“Lizzie! Where are you?” Lizzie felt herself cringe inwardly at Ben’s intense bellow.

“I suppose he wants to talk?” Lizzie ventured in Vera’s direction, taking note of her immaculately clean grill. That small bit of normalcy that was quintessential Vera put Lizzie at ease momentarily. Vera’s cleanliness and Mimi’s never-ending kindness, were a comforting consistency when she was nervous.

“You think?” Vera answered in what sounded like an amused tone.

The door to the kitchen suddenly slammed open and the giant body of the man in question filled the doorway. His gaze scanned the room in search of his prey.

“Hi there, Vera. You got home okay yesterday?” Ben said sweetly.

“Sure did, cowboy. Heard me some rumors that you were some hunky sort of hero. Thank you for saving our darling but dopey girl here. We love her but sometimes she sure can be stubborn, no?” Vera replied with a warm smile of heartfelt feelings that Lizzie knew Vera had trouble verbalizing. She knew that she had definitely scared Vera and Mimi. Well, from the discomfort emanating from her poor tush, Ben was also a member of that club. He just had more privileges. These people loved her and she knew that she was going to have to be more responsible in the future, otherwise there would consequences. She didn’t worry about Vera and Mimi, except that those tattletales would have no issues with putting Ben on speed-dial in order to get him to pull her back into line. They were such lovable traitors.

“Just rumors, Vera, but you are welcome. In fact, I need to talk to her for a minute. We will be in her office, okay?” Ben said with a very intense look on his face while not even glancing in Vera’s direction. He grabbed Lizzie’s hand as he heard Vera yell in his direction.

“Please don’t ‘talk’ to her in any way that will make her unable to sit down. She is having enough trouble as it is already today,” Vera said with a huge grin on her knowing face.

Ben actually felt himself flush alongside Lizzie at Vera’s raised eyebrows. Hell, what did it matter if people knew that he enjoyed several different aspects of his woman’s rear end? His woman, she really was his woman after yesterday, last night, and this morning. She was not a casual-sex type of woman, he knew, and was relying on it. He wasn’t sure what he would do if she backed off now. Nah, it wasn’t even a consideration for her, was it? Nope, he wasn’t going to even entertain the idea. He was here on a serious matter though, one that concerned them both.

He tugged Lizzie down the hall and turned to shut the door in her office once they were both inside. The room was painted in a pale shade of what he thought must be considered a rose color, with light touches of femininity placed everywhere. There were dried flowers in a painted vase, soft, fluttery, white curtains, and frilly pillows on the chairs that sat opposite her desk. It was definitely very Lizzie and very appealing to him. She was very appealing to him. Where were all these overly tender feelings for her coming from? He was considered the quiet, cool Powell, not the one to fall in love easily and wear his heart on his sleeve. That was his brother Troy’s reputation, all charisma and all mush. Now he found himself in uncomfortable territory, liking Lizzie’s chiffon curtains. Next thing they would be discussing what sort of bedding he would like to sleep on and what thread count he might prefer.

Suddenly he had an epiphany. He didn’t care. He could talk with Lizzie about anything and it made him happy. She made him happy just to see her. Watching her squirm on the stool in front of Vera, her posterior obviously very sensitive from his own hand. At the reminder of her soft, reddened cheeks and moans of pleasure, he felt himself harden in a rush. The confines of his jeans felt two sizes too small as he bent slightly at the waist, hoping Lizzie didn’t notice his sudden change in mood. He had something very serious to discuss with her and it had nothing to do with laying her out on her desk and tasting her essence at the source. He began to salivate at the images that began coursing through his head and shook his head to try to clear it.

He focused on her eyes. Yes, Ben laughed to himself, they were a safe place to look. They were gorgeous but safe, the very feeling that he was concerned that Lizzie did not have at this moment, safety.

“Baby, I need you to answer me honestly. Yesterday, well, last night, oh shit and again this morning, we were intimate.” Ben started out his bizarre conversation. The look on Lizzie’s face confirmed that she thought he was losing it.

“Ben, I was there, remember,” Lizzie answered, looking flushed at the memory.

Ben was revealing his own restlessness at the recollection as he shifted from one foot to the other, revealing something was disturbing his normally unruffled feathers. “Baby, are you on birth control of some sort? I was completely irresponsible, not as much as you were yesterday, let’s be clear on that, but irresponsible nonetheless. I didn’t ask if you were and didn’t use a condom. I am sorry, darlin’, but I just had to have you afterward, when you were safe in my arms. I was just, well, overwhelmed I guess.”

Ben thought Lizzie looked stunned as he offered his apology. Was she upset that he asked about the possibility of birth control? Was she thinking that there was a possibility that he could give her “something”?

She shocked him with her own apology. “Ben, honey, I was just as irresponsible. You know that I haven’t made love with anyone for quite a while, and there are no issues on my end except that perhaps, we may need to think about some sort of pregnancy avoidance if you intend to give a repeat performance any time soon. No worries for the moment though, I just finished my cycle the day before you, um, ravished me.”

He felt the soft heat in her gaze as she lifted her eyes to meet his heated one. “Do you want me to, baby?” Ben questioned her. His opinion on the subject was blatantly straining against the zipper of his jeans. He watched as she stepped closer to his hulking form and lifted her arm. Ben closed his eyes as he felt a rush of arousal surge to his already thick erection as she lightly stroked her fingertips over his belly and down past his bellybutton. She had felt him before but the look on her beautiful face was reverent as she seemed to savor the sensation of her hand running over the outline of his cock, lightly squeezing as she relearned his length and thickness.

Obviously Lizzie went for the honest approach. “Ben, please ravish me. Please make love to me over and over again until we both drop from exhaustion. I have never felt that way before, not with anyone. I had wanted you for so long and will be crushed if you turn away from me now.”

Ben looked down at her with such tenderness at her confession. He couldn’t help himself with her. One minute he was going to spank her bottom raw and the next he wanted to chain her to his side for the rest of their lives. This moment was a mixture of both.

“Baby, I promise I am not running anywhere on you. I don’t know where we are going but you are bewitching me in a way that I just can’t fight. I thought that once I had you, perhaps this need would lessen but if anything, it’s gotten worse. I think we should take care of this right now, Lizzie. I need to fuck you, several times in fact, and we are going bareback. Let’s go.”

Ben grabbed Lizzie’s hand and pulled out of her office door and down the hall.

“Vera! Mimi! Answer me!” Ben hollered out so loudly, Lizzie was sure people heard him in Colorado.

Both women came running into the hallway at his bellowing command, looking concerned.

“Lizzie has an issue and we need to take care of it right away. Please watch the café until she returns.” Ben didn’t even pause in tugging her after him in his determined wake.

“You can’t order my staff around and force me to do…whatever it is you think we need to do at this moment! Ben, are you listening to me?” Lizzie hissed.

Without offering a reply, Ben efficiently bent and hoisted his luscious cargo over his shoulder without any effort. With no embarrassment and no concern for hers, he issued a resounding slap to her exposed rear and continued to walk through the café.

“I can do anything I want, darlin’. You are crazy about me and I am crazy about you. Deal with that!” he arrogantly declared. There were loud hoots and catcalls as he passed both Sean and Adam Taggart, who gave Ben thumbs-ups while enjoying their burgers. Lizzie’s humiliation was furthered as she heard Mayor Elijah Carson and his wife Thea laugh and simply mention something about being young and hot-blooded.

“Ben, put me down! I take it back! I don’t want you to touch me again if you are going to be a caveman. Put me down! Ugh, this is what Billie was talking about when she was frustrated with Jackson. You Powells are ridiculously overconfident!” Lizzie yelled at his back from her upside-down position. She must have liked the view it afforded her because she changed tactics and squeezed his buttocks in each hand in her quest to gain his attention.

“You can ask Billie all about the Powell arrogance disease as that is exactly where we are headed right now, baby.” Ben sounded like he was smiling at the show he was putting on for her customers.

Apparently those same customers liked her efforts to gain Ben’s cooperation, as she heard Mabel call out advice. “Squeeze them harder, Lizzie, honey. Those cheeks are like heavenly rocks of muscle!”

Really? That made Ben pause, turning slightly with his precious cargo and look directly at Mabel Winston, who was known for her naughty ways, with a raised eyebrow. Mabel at least had the decency to blush and stammer out, “Well, so I’ve heard, Ben. Your aunt and your mother love to brag you know.”

Ben shocked the populace of Stony Café by releasing a hearty laugh and resumed his original mission of getting Lizzie to Dr. Rothman’s office immediately.

* * * *

The moment Ben cleared the front door with Lizzie still slung over his towering shoulder, he convinced the waiting room that he not only had a voice but knew how to use it.

“Billie!” Ben hollered again, so loudly that he shook the painting on the wall behind Julia’s desk.

Lizzie heard Julia on the phone, much to her dismay, already getting the 411 from the traitors at the café. “Mabel, I will get back to you as soon as I find out what the heck he is doing. I promise, I won’t leave out a single detail!”

“Billie!” Ben bellowed impatiently for the second time.

“Benjamin Powell! You will stop bawling like a wounded animal this instant! This is a doctor’s office, not a rodeo chute. Control yourself and tell me what is the problem, little man!” Julia stood with her hands on her hips, reprimanding Ben like he was a wayward child. Well, he was acting like one.

“Julia, this is an emergency! We need Billie right now,” Ben quickly mumbled out, somewhat chastised by Julia’s condescension. The entire waiting room fell into a solemn hush, probably to find out what he considered such a life-threatening emergency. Probably furthering their interest was how she was casually draped over his shoulder as opposed to cradled gently in his arms.