Part 21 (2/2)
”You're driving me crazy,” he said against the side of her neck. ”I think about you all day. At night, I dream of being inside you.” He eased out and drove into her again. He touched her, stroked her, pounded into her until she cried out in release and her head slumped onto his shoulder.
She let out a sigh of pure contentment, but Ben didn't let go.
Instead, he nipped the side of her neck. ”Hold on, baby, we aren't finished yet.”
Her body tightened in antic.i.p.ation. Desire sprang to life once more. True to his word, he kissed her deeply and started moving, turning her insides hot with need. His big hands cupped her bottom as his rhythm increased, driving himself harder and deeper, bringing her to a second shattering climax.
They reached the peak together, both of them shaking, their bodies covered with a thin layer of perspiration. Autumn barely noticed when he carried her down the steps to the master cabin and settled her in his bed. As she snuggled beneath the comforter he tossed over her, he leaned down and kissed her softly on the lips.
”I'll wake you when supper's ready.”
Autumn didn't argue. She just wanted to lie there, relaxed and content, feeling completely sated and utterly feminine.
Later she would think about what she had done and what she should do about Ben.
”Come on, sleepyhead. Dinner's on the table.” Ben held out her clothes and Autumn yawned and stretched and swung her legs to the side of the bed.
”I need to make a pit stop and I'll be right there.” She pulled on the soft plush pants and zipped up the matching jacket, went in to use the head then joined Ben at the table. He had set it with white porcelain dinnerware on aqua blue placemats that matched the interior of the boat and refilled their gla.s.ses of wine.
”Supper looks fantastic.” Autumn's stomach growled at the sight of the lovely pasta in cream sauce piled high with fresh mussels, clams, scallops and shrimp.
”I hope you like it.”
What was not to like? The food looked delicious and she dug in with relish, even hungrier that she had thought. Autumn took a sip of her Chianti, which was rich and delicious, her body still faintly tingling from the great s.e.x they'd had. She set her gla.s.s back down on the table.
”There's something I've been wanting to tell you.”
A dark eyebrow went up. ”How much you like it when I take you to bed?”
Her cheeks warmed. ”Well, that, too.”
His look turned serious. ”So what is it you've been wanting to tell me?”
”I think I've figured out why I started having these dreams.”
Ben eased back against the padded leather seat of the booth, his gaze fixed on her face. ”Why?”
”It occurred to me that when I had the dreams before, back when I was in high school, they didn't start until I met Tim Wiseman. I had known Jolie and Jeff for years-they were two of my closest friends-but it wasn't until I met Tim, the kid who was driving the car the night of the accident, that I started to dream about the wreck.”
”Go on.”
”It wasn't until twelve years later that I started to dream again. I think there has to some kind of link between the people involved. In this case, I saw or met the blond man somewhere before I ever knew you. It must have been just sort of in pa.s.sing because I still can't remember where it was. But I didn't start dreaming about him until I saw you at the gym. You were the link, just like Tim Wiseman. If I hadn't seen both you and the blond man, I don't think I ever would have dreamed about Molly. I think I had to come in contact with both of you, the same way I did with my friends and Tim Wiseman.”
”I guess that makes an odd sort of sense.”
”And I think the event has to be very traumatic-the violent death of three teenagers or in this case, a child who's been kidnapped from her parents.”
”If you're right, at least it won't happen to you very often.”
Autumn's fingers tightened on the stem of her gla.s.s. ”If it never happens again, it's fine with me.”
They finished Ben's fabulous supper, enjoying the wine and casual conversation. He told her a little about growing up in the Mid-west, about his years in college, that his parents had both pa.s.sed away and that he still missed them. They avoided more talk of Molly. If luck was with them, they would be meeting the FBI profiler tomorrow and both of them knew it could be a very rough day.
As soon as the dishes were cleared, washed and put away, they headed down to the cabins in the bow of the boat. Autumn didn't protest when Ben opened his door and waited for her to walk past him into the room. She could read the desire in his eyes and a soft ache throbbed inside her. Ben wanted to make love to her again and dear Lord, she wanted him to.
To h.e.l.l with tomorrow, Autumn thought. If this was a fling, she was going to enjoy every minute of it.
Standing in the narrow s.p.a.ce next to the bed, she went up on her toes and kissed him and Ben pulled her down on the mattress.
The big boat rocked softly in the sea. Last night, after another wild round of lovemaking, the rhythm had lulled her gently to sleep. The sun was well up by the time they sat in the booth in the salon drinking rich black coffee and eating cinnamon rolls. Outside the windows, a seagull screeched and wheeled on the wind and the sky was a crystalline blue.
Over the rim of her steaming cup, Autumn looked at Ben. ”There's something I've been wondering...”
He set his mug down on the table. ”About what?”
”Last night...when we were in the galley and you first kissed me...would you have stopped if I'd really wanted you to?”
Ben's eyes met hers. A faint shadow of beard lined his jaw, which tightened just a little. ”If you were any other woman, the answer to that would be easy. I would never force a woman to do something she didn't want to do. Last night...” He shook his head. ”I wanted you so d.a.m.ned much. I honestly don't know.”
But Autumn believed that he would have stopped. Ben was just not the kind of man to force himself on an unwilling woman. That he was being honest about his feelings was refres.h.i.+ng and incredibly flattering.
Ben released a breath. ”I brought you here to seduce you, Autumn. That is the flat-out truth.”
She couldn't have been more surprised.
”I was determined to have you. I wanted you back in my bed and I was sure you wanted that too. Last night was every bit as good as I thought it would be-h.e.l.l, it was better than good. It was fantastic. I probably ought to feel guilty, but the truth is I'm glad things turned out the way they did.”
She couldn't say she was sorry either. Last night had been the best night of her life.
Ben studied her with his tawny dark eyes. ”There's something going on between us, Autumn. You must feel it, too. I don't want you to run from me again.”
Her heart was pounding. She had never known s.e.x could be the way it was with Ben. But there was a lot more to consider than the incredible physical attraction the two of them seemed to share. Ben was beginning to sound like he wanted a relations.h.i.+p and that was never going to happen. They were completely unsuited. She could never be enough for a man like Ben and she didn't even want to try. She opened her mouth to tell him that when his cell phone started to ring.
Ben flipped it open. ”McKenzie.”
She couldn't hear the conversation on the other end of the line, but Ben was nodding and he seemed relieved.
”We'll be there in twenty minutes.” He slipped the phone closed and looked at her.
”Riker?”
”Yeah. There's a coffee shop downtown. He'll meet us there in twenty minutes.”
Autumn was on her feet in an instant, grabbing their near-empty coffee cups and heading down to the galley, picking up her purse and making her way to the big gla.s.s salon door leading out to the deck. They left the boat, hurried along the dock, then climbed the stairway leading up to where the s.h.i.+ny red Jeep was parked. Twenty minutes later, they walked into the Seaside Cafe near the ferry boat landing.
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