They fell back onto the mattress together, her hands tugging at the buttons of his shirt, working them open with fingers that had stopped trembling somewhere between the apology and the kiss. The shirt came off and landed on the floor beside the bed.
Her dress had a zipper in the back, and Ben found it without fumbling, which she appreciated. The zipper slid down with a soft sound, and she shimmied out of the dress, letting it pool on the carpet next to his shirt.
His hands moved over her with a sureness born of familiarity. They'd learned each other's geography last night, mapped the terrain in the dark. Tonight was different. More deliberate. Less frantic. Last night had been about discovery. This was about confirmation.
She traced the line of his jaw with her fingertips, feeling the scratch of stubble that hadn't been there that morning. He turned his head and pressed a kiss to her palm, a gesture so simple it caught her off guard.
The rest of their clothes joined the growing pile on the floor, but she didn’t even spare it a glance. All she wanted to focus on was this man and the magic they made together.
Ben's body against hers was solid and warm. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down, his lips finding the sensitive spot on her neck. Her nails dug into the muscles ofhis shoulders as his tongue slid down her torso, stopping every now and then to nibble and lick at a nipple or belly button.
He took his time, lazy and languid as if they had all night, which they kind of did. She wasn’t going anywhere, and neither was he. She could stay there until dawn, completely blissed out as his mouth blazed a wet trail over her abdomen and then between her thighs.
Her fingers curled into his hair as he found what he was seeking, setting off fireworks in her veins and behind her eyes. Her entire body was on fire, and she was sure she heard herself saying his name over and over again, but she wasn’t thinking straight enough to be sure.
She wasn’t thinking at all. Only feeling existed. Thoughts, doubts, hopes, dreams. They could all come later. Right now, she only wanted to drown herself in the delicious sensations of his body so close to her own.
She’d barely caught her breath after her climax when he pressed himself inside of her, rubbing against all the sensitive spots she hadn’t even known existed until he’d found them. After last night, they easily found their rhythm, building toward another precipice.
The lamp threw their shadows against the beige wall, elongated and intertwined like x-rated shadow puppets. The room was filled with the aroma of arousal, their gasps and moans, and the almost lewd sound of their now damp flesh slapping together.
It was hot and a little raunchy, and she couldn’t get enough of it.
But paradise couldn’t last forever. She was standing on the edge of a cliff and ready to fall. Ben’s own breathing had become more ragged and labored, his frame tightening under her palms. He was close as well, his head buried in her neck.
When her orgasm took over, she didn’t fight, letting the pleasure and heat roll all the way to her curled toes. If she could have opened her heavy lids, she imagined that she’d see a light show in front of her eyes, sizzling and popping like a sparkler on the Fourth of July.
Ben hit his peak right after, his muscles going rigid, and her name on his lips. When he collapsed afterward, he pulled her close into his side, her head pillowed on his shoulder.
“How did you know I was here?” he asked after their heart rate and breathing had returned to normal.
“There’s only one hotel in Bergen, and it’s full because of the wedding,” Kelly explained. “The next closest is here. I figured you’d get on the interstate and find this one. Luckily, I was right since I was in a cab. I saw the rental car in the parking lot.”
“That makes sense.”
They were quiet again, but eventually she rolled onto her side to face him. His hair was wrecked, sticking up in five different directions. His expression was relaxed in a way she hadn't seen since before the rehearsal dinner. Maybe since before Bergen entirely.
"Are we okay?" she asked.
"We're okay," he said. "Although the people in the room next to us might file a complaint about the noise.”
They hadn’t exactly been quiet.
“They’re just jealous.”
He reached over and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. A small thing. The kind of gesture that could go unnoticed if you weren't paying attention. Kelly was paying attention to this man.
"The wedding's tomorrow afternoon," she said. "We should probably get some sleep."
"Probably."
Kelly pulled the sheet up to her shoulders and settled against his side, her head finding the space between his shoulder andhis chest that seemed designed for exactly this purpose. Ben's arm came around her, his hand resting against her back. His breathing was already slowing, evening out into the steady rhythm of approaching sleep.
Tomorrow would bring Celia's wedding, her family's judgment, and the continuing mystery of who had killed Lori Powell. None of those problems had disappeared. They were all still out there, waiting.
But tonight, in this unremarkable hotel room with its beige walls and bedspread, they didn't matter. Tonight was about two imperfect people who had chosen each other anyway.
Chapter
