After some serious kissing, we finally arrived and tumbled onto Ben’s bed, but the second we did, Ben stopped kissing me.
“What?” I asked, breathless.
“You really are something, Sera,” he said, running his hand over my naked stomach.
“Something?” I lifted my hand to his hair—I’d wanted to play with it for so long. I brushed it back and it stood up like a Mohawk, causing a small chuckle to escape my mouth.
“What have you done to me?” He lifted his hand to his hair to investigate.
I smoothed it down again and it flopped into his face, causing another small chuckle.
“You’re terribly cute,” he said, circling my belly button with his fingers, which made me giggle.
“Ticklish.” I pushed his hand away.
“Really?” His eyes lit up with one of his now famous devilish looks. “And this?”
He lowered his mouth to my stomach and started kissing it. Kissing it all the way up to where my bra started and then down to where my pants started. I wriggled, but not because it was ticklish.
“No,” I said. The word was breathy.
“And this?” he moved his mouth over my bra and up to my neck.
“No.”
“And if I did this?” he asked, taking my bra strap between his teeth and pulling it down over my shoulder.
I shivered as the one side of my bra came off and he traced his mouth over my bare breast.
“No.”
“Good,” he said, undoing my bra rather stealthily and tossing it aside.
But instead of continuing, he just lay there and stared at me for a moment. “We should do this properly, the good ol’ fashioned way,” he said, gently stroking his fingertips over my naked chest.
“And what . . . um, what way . . . is that?” I was barely able to form words, let alone sentences at this point.
“Well, we still haven’t been on that date.” He smiled, planting a kiss between my breasts. “Go out with me? Let’s start from the very beginning again. A clean slate.”
“And Mei? I thought you said she hated other women? That it might jeopardize things with Li.”
Ben smiled, it looked like it wasn’t for my benefit. “I’m very confident I’m going to get joint custody. Probably in the next week actually. The court-appointed social worker has recommended joint custody, and I also think Mei is tired of fighting. Not to mention broke. Once I legally have joint custody, there is nothing she can do to me.”
“A completely clean slate?” I asked.
“Sparkling clean.” He leaned in looking excited. “We put everything behind us, and start over.”
“Okay,” I finally whispered.
“Tomorrow night then?” he asked, and teased me with some more small kisses.
“Mmmm-hmmm,” I said—that was all I could manage at that stage.
“Good,” he said, coming up to my lips again. “By the way, I’m not going to sleep with you tonight, Sera . . .”
I nodded, waiting for him to say more.
“. . . I’m going to wait until you’re madly in love with me.” He smiled that naughty smile and I burst out laughing.
