And he wanted everything for her to be good.
Leaving the door ajar in case she called to him during the night, he went into his own room, took a quick shower, and crawled beneath a light cover.Lacing his fingers together behind his head, he tried and failed to relax.
It felt new and different, to put another person’s well-being ahead of his.Oh, he’d done it plenty while serving in the SEAL teams.The brotherhood was strong, and on dangerous missions, every life was equally valuable.And he’d done it professionally, in his business contracts.
This was different.This was a woman he wanted to bed.
His body demanded he woo her sexually, and in her exhausted, weakened state, he knew he could have seduced her.
He could have, yet here he was alone in bed, perspiring, and tenting the damn sheet.
He really did not know how much longer this could go on.
****
Sarah woke early.Themoment her breathing changed as she came awake, only steps down the hall, and with both bedroom doors open, Ben noticed.Just the small change awakened him.He was that attuned to her.
The bedsprings squeaked as she left the bed and quietly closed the door.The shower started and he imagined her pulling her clothes off to drop on the floor, leaving nude the incredible body he’d fantasized about so many times.
In his mind, he saw her take a dainty step into the shower, turn her face up, the water streaming down her long hair, over her skin.She’d soap herself, of course, lather her smooth flesh, wash her hair, stroke her hands over her slender curves.
Abruptly, Ben sat up in bed and dug his fingers into his eye sockets.It wasn’t a new fantasy for him, but the fact that Sarah was naked in his house, only a few feet awaywasnew.
All the while, he was quite sure she had no idea that she was slowly, maddeningly killing him.
Throwing back the sheet, he grabbed his own shower, dressed in cargo pants and a t-shirt, and then in the kitchen, started defrosting bacon and bread for toast.His eggs were ten days old, not bad, so he set six on the counter.Butter and jam from the fridge followed.
In Sarah’s bathroom, he heard a hairdryer start up.She must have brought her own.He hadn’t ever put anything in the guest room except a couple of bath towels in case a buddy spent the night after they’d had one too many beers.Occasionally an old out-of-town teammate visited, and even Rio had slept there.That was before he’d married Becca and spawned a family, but still.Ben’s housekeeper arrived every week and she regularly changed the bed sheets, so at least everything was clean for company.
Strange, it had never before occurred to him to worry if the guest bath and bed were clean.Yet for Sarah he did.
“Hi.”She took a barstool at the counter and gave him a soft smile.Faint shadows under her eyes reflected her tears from the night before, and her bruise was blue, but she appeared to have rebounded.Spots of color shone in her cheeks.Her long golden hair fell straight and thick to her hips.She wore her customary jeans and a fitted baby t-shirt that left no question about the size of her B-cup breasts.“I slept well.The bed is comfortable.”
“Is it?Well, my bed is especially comfy,” he said, making it his mission not to stare at her chest.How well he remembered those breasts pressed to his side.“You should try it.”
As she tried to suppress a grin, her lips twisted.“Do you ever give up?”
“Give up?Speak English, please.I don’t know what that means.”He flipped a metal spatula around in the air and caught it neatly by the handle.“Fried or scrambled?”
She looked at the items he’d laid out.“Yum!I love breakfast food.Fried, please.”
“How many eggs?”
“Two.”She watched him take thawed bacon from the microwave and lay it slice-by-slice in a frying pan.“I’m so hungry.When I was modeling, I had to cut every meal into a third.That’s all I could have.Now, I’m eating the whole plate.”
“Cut portions into thirds?I can’t imagine doing that.”
“Models have to be thin.”
“You were too thin,” he told her.“You’re perfect now.You could even gain more.”
“I’m getting fat,” she said.
“Sweet Pea, you’ve got a long way to go before you’ll ever be fat.”
She eyed him narrowly.“Why do you keep calling me that?”
“Because.”On the stovetop the bacon sizzled, and he used his spatula to move it around the pan.“You’re my Sweet Pea.”
