BenMy trip to New York was quick. There wasn’t much I could do other than making sure the business ran the way it was supposed to and offering my condolences to Penny. Uncle Dean had taken care of her in the event of his death, so other than making sure she was all right, there hadn’t been anything I could do. Uncle Dean’s lawyers were still working on his estate, and everything else had come to a standstill without the sole owner of the company.Going home had been the only other option.By Saturday, I was back in Portland, and I felt like I’d been hit by a train. I had to carry on with my life here until there was any news about the will, about what was going to happen to the company and everything else that Uncle Dean had left behind.I dialed Mila’s number and waited for her to take the call or get her voice mail. I wasn’t sure if she was at the hospital today or not.“Yeah?” she answered. She sounded like she’d been sleeping.“Did I wake you?” I asked.“Ben? Oh my god. How are y
Ben“I’ll have you know, I’m not that kind of woman,” she said with a giggle. I laughed, grabbed her hand, and we ran through the rain to my car. I was lucky I hadn’t drank more than I had. No damn way I’d drive if I were over the limit.By the time we reached the car, we were drenched.“This weather is crazy,” Mila said when lightning zigzagged across the sky and thunder followed on its heels.We made it back to Mila’s apartment. The rain had made it a little harder to drive, but it felt like we were enclosed in a bubble with the rain showering down all around us, and I loved it.“Let me walk you inside,” I said when I stopped in front of Mila’s building. “You could slip and fall in this.”“Then, I’ll have a handsome fireman to save me,” she said with a cute smile. She was cute and sexy and beautiful and fun all in one go, and I couldn’t believe it was possible for one woman to be so perfect without even trying.We jumped out into the rain and ran to the front door of the building. M
MilaWhen Ben left, I was stunned. Emotions had been running high. My body had been on fire for him. I had wanted him to touch me in ways I had never wanted from anyone.His kiss had been even better than I had remembered it, and even though we hadn’t ever spoken about what had happened between us in the taxi, it had seemed like Ben wanted me as much as I wanted him.Then, he had stopped it all as if it had been a switch he could just turn on and off.It wasn’t that simple for me. I was still horny as hell, almost trembling with the need for a release, an ache in my gut for the connection with a man I hadn’t only crushed on for as long as I could remember but someone who had come to mean so very much to me.Instead of having the best sex ever, of losing my virginity to someone I deemed worthy of something that serious to me, I was alone in my apartment, frustrated, abandoned, and stranded with my own tumult of emotions.I paced my apartment, pressing my hand to my forehead. When I tou
MilaAfter paying attention to my breasts for a while, my pussy begged for attention enough to distract me, and I ran my hands down my body, over my stomach. I pulled up my knees and arched my back, curling into the bed before my thighs fell open. I played my fingers over my pussy lips, gasping. My touch was almost electric after I had teased myself for so long, and I gasped, wanting more. I tried to hold out and drag it out, but my clit throbbed, and I pushed my fingers into my slit. I was so wet, and I shivered when I touched my clit. I smeared the wetness all around my pussy, moving slowly and gently. With my eyes closed, I pictured Ben. I imagined it was his hands on my body, his fingers on my clit.I had never masturbated thinking about someone in particular. Even though I had crushed on Ben for ages, I hadn’t used him as fuel for my sexual fantasies. Not when I had thought he didn’t even think about me. It had seemed wrong somehow.But now, I knew he’d wanted me. His dick had be
BenOn Sunday morning, I woke up with a hangover again. It was so much the same as the last time Mila and I had gone out drinking together, but this time, I was filled with regret. There was no uncertainty about what she felt for me now. I was the one who had stopped it from going further between us. But I was sure that if I hadn’t, we would have slept together. Or come a lot closer to it.Mila had kissed me back with the same kind of passion as she had the last time, and she had known what she was doing. We’d both had time to think about the first time we’d kissed, and neither of us had been as wasted as we had before.I did regret walking out on her, though. I would have loved to spend the night, to explore her body and everything else that could have happened. But it hadn’t been the right time.When I rolled out of bed, my head throbbed, and my stomach turned. But I wasn’t so sick that I was going to throw up. Still, I felt like shit. Maybe it was more my emotions than anything els
BenI nodded. “I didn’t think about that,” I said. “Thanks, man. That puts it into perspective a little.”“Everything happens for a reason,” Jerrod said.Immediately, I thought of Mila. But she hadn’t come into my life at the right time. I would have liked that, but she wasn’t one of the things that had happened for a reason. Or if she was, I wasn’t sure what lesson it was that I was supposed to learn from loving and losing her.My stomach flipped when I thought about love in those terms. I wasn’t nearly that far, I told myself. Maybe Mila had been put on my path to help me through the worst and to teach me how to be strong. No matter what.Even if I lost more and more people who meant something to me.“You know I’m always here when you need to talk,” Jerrod said. “Even though us real men never talk about anything serious.”I snorted. “Of course not. We just get wasted and get laid. Nothing serious here.”Jerrod laughed. “You’re so full of shit.”“You started it,” I said with a grin.
MilaOn Monday, I was back at the hospital, and life carried on as usual. I had enough work to distract me from everything that had happened, or hadn’t happened, between me and Ben.I had struggled on Sunday. My mind had jumped between being upset, angry, and hurt that he had left me hanging after things had escalated between us and understanding why he’d left. I hadn’t been able to get him off my mind at all, and Skylar’d had a family thing she couldn’t get out of, so I hadn’t even been able to cry on her shoulder.But I was a big girl, and I could handle shit myself. Being back in my normal routine and having enough work to keep me busy helped a lot.Despite having work to distract me, even work made me think of Ben in some ways. The two firefighters who hadn’t been too severely injured were being moved out of the ICU and into regular recovery rooms. I was relieved for Ben’s sake. And for theirs.It was horrible to end up in the ICU at all. I was so glad they were doing as well as t
MilaThe phone rang, and I waited for Ben to pick up. After a couple of rings, it rolled over to Ben’s voice mail. I felt a little deflated. I had hoped to speak to him in person so we could clear the air, but he was probably busy. Maybe it was another emergency, although I hadn’t heard anything.“Hi, it’s me,” I said after the tone, “I just wanted to check in and see how you were doing. And let you know what’s going on here at the hospital. Two of the firefighters have been moved to regular recovery rooms, so that’s great. They’re healing well, and they’ll be out of here soon. Jonas is still in ICU, but he’s awake and making progress. At this rate, he shouldn’t be here much longer.” I paused. “I just wanted to let you know. Give me a call when you have a chance.”I hesitated, not sure how to end the call. In the end, I merely hung up. I had left him a message, and that counted for something.My shift finished at a decent time. When we didn’t have a lot of ICU patients and there were