Page 63 of In Just a Year
Ben laughed. “Not exactly. I dove to distract myself. I had to cool off somehow.”
“You could have killed yourself!”
“I was dying, Esther. I couldn’t just come home and kiss you.”
“Why not?”
“Because you’re the Rabbi’s daughter.”
“I’m still his daughter now. And you’ve kissed me.”
“You kissed me first. And you’re my bride.”
He nodded and looked at her with hungry eyes. Then he licked his lips and let his eyes trail down to the lace of her decolletage.
“But then how did you know how to kiss me? That night, when you climbed into my r—”
“I followed my heart, that was all.”
“How very Klonimus of you.” Esther smiled. But her smile melted away as Ben’s face was so close that their noses could touch.
His eyes sparkled at her and then his gaze fell to her lips. “May I kiss you again, Mrs. Klonimus?”
Esther’s heart lurched.Mrs. Klonimuswas Chawa. Not even Lizzie called herself that. And yet it felt right. New and odd and oh, so right. For she wanted to spend the rest of her life blending their families more and more, making them one, just as her heart had become inextricably connected to his.
In this moment, she felt the cool teeth of his smile as Ben kissed her again. She wasn’t ready and his lips met with her front teeth.
“I’ll always kiss your smiles.” He touched her cheek. “My sweet, precious love.”
That was Esther’s undoing and she plunged her tongue into his mouth. His large hot mouth that she’d dreamed of every night—and many a day—for a year. All inhibitions vanished, and she gave herself over to explore him.
He responded in kind, taking her mouth ardently as if he were a blazing fire in her forest.
“I’ve wanted to do this for so long,” he whispered when he broke the kiss and found her earlobe.
Esther was ticklish and pinned her head to the side. “I thought you’d never…”
“I have never.”
“Then how do you know what you want to do to me?”
“Didn’t you read my letters?”
“Over and over.”
“Then you know what I want to do over and over.”
He climbed onto the bed and Esther lay on her back. She removed the pins from her hair and let it cushion her. Slowly but deliberately, she shrugged out of the yellow dress. Ben watched her and helped, peeling her out of the layers as if she were the most precious gift. That’s what Hannah must have meant. She was giving herself to him. And he was most receptive.
“You are so beautiful, Esther. So very beautiful.” He grabbed the slimmest part of her waist and pulled gently. His smile transformed to a feral look, serious and earthen as if she could ground herself in his eyes and yet take flight like a flock of butterflies.
Esther flexed her right leg and put her naked foot on his side.
He straightened and took off his coat. Then, his vest and cravat, and finally, he unbuttoned his white shirt and let it fall to the floor. Half-naked at the foot of her bed stood an Adonis with a rippled chest. Esther swallowed hard. She felt as though she’d bitten off more than she could chew and yet she wanted it all.
Ben reached for her ankle and pulled her foot to his mouth. Her hair flowed away like a wave retreating from the shore as she lifted her head. Ben lifted her leg higher and gently kissed the back of her foot, then her ankle, as he trailed his hands over her calf and climbed onto the bed. The fabric of her unmentionables seemed to withdraw further, and Esther’s hands rushed to her middle.
But Ben was faster and caught her hands. “May I? Please?” His voice was dark and serious. Grown up, indeed. Gone was the careless boy who joked with the other children. He was all man, muscular and strong, brimming with feral determination and a weathered edge that left Esther more awake and famished for him than she’d ever felt. Perhaps the time apart had given them time to grow up and be ready for exactly this moment.
