Page 38 of The Destined SEAL
“My dry cleaning lady.”
“Oh,” I reply, feeling my cheeks heat. I wasn’t drunk. Not by a long shot. Last night was all me.
He walks over and pulls me close. “Last night you showed me your best work to date. Don’t be embarrassed. I had to physically restrain myself from pummeling your sweet pussy while you slept. It’s why I made breakfast.”
My core clenches at his words, but my stomach grumbles. “Can you pummel me after breakfast?”
“My god,” Ben says, setting his thumbs on my lips. “I’ve entered heaven, haven’t I? You’re my gift for serving my country well.” Ben leans in and barely touches his mouth against mine.
Everything in my body focuses on where he’s touching me. “It was so good. I didn’t know it could be that good.”
He smiles against my mouth, and I have to open my eyes to view it. His dimples are out, and his hooded eyes tell me he thinks last night was more than good. “Just think. Today we bowl.”
“Don’t you have work?” I ask, pushing away from him to go into the bathroom. I pee with the door open as Ben tells me he’s taken some time off work for a few days. It’s because another team has taken over this week, so some of the guys were able to put in successful leave requests. I wash my hands as I survey myself in the mirror. Ben’s back in the kitchen attending to our breakfast. Last night I told him this was the beginning of our new, truthful life, and I don’t look the same.
I look happy. A truthful happy. The kind you find when you finally stop lying to yourself and give in to what you know you need. I need Ben more than anything else. He doesn’t complete me. I don’t need a man to do that. I need a man to love me more than he loves anything else. There’s no question in my mind that he does. That regardless of his career choices or how busy he is, Ben will always love me most.
I smile at my wild-eyed reflection and head to the living room to search my suitcase for something to wear to bowling on our first real date. I mark the day in my head as the one where we started our forever over again. I’m sifting through my suitcase, folding and refolding as I organize.
“Move it into my closet, Harper,” Ben says, appearing behind me, hands on his hips. “Solves the problem, right?”
“It does. You’re okay sharing that space?” I ask, wiggling my eyebrows.
He shrugs. “You’re doubting what I’d do to keep you here.” He nudges me out of the way and grabs my suitcase and carries it to the bedroom.
The doorbell rings while he’s gone. “Shit,” I say under my breath. I pull on the hem of Ben’s shirt. All of my clothes just left the coffee table and entered his room.
Ben runs out, his lounge pants slung low on his hips. “I’ll get it,” he says, eyes flicking from my bare legs to the door as he jogs.
Of course it’s Norah, and blessed be, she didn’t use her key to waltz right in. “Ben. Sorry I didn’t call first,” she says. If I’m correct, like I probably am, she’s been crying. I have a reverse memory. The one where I barged into this house after Marcus ruined everything. Norah was so kind and gentle with me. The mere sight of me right now is going to be the opposite of that. My gaze darts around to find a hiding place.
I can’t make it to the kitchen without being seen. I swear in Arabic under my breath and duck down next to the couch, getting on my knees to try to make myself smaller. “What happened? Are you okay?” Ben asks.
“I need to talk to you,” she says, sobbing a little.
Ben clears his throat. “It’s not a good time, Norah. Can we talk tonight?”
“Oh. I guess so,” she replies. She’s getting the brush-off, and she’s still being perfectly polite. I know I couldn’t do that. “Whattime works? It’s important I speak to you about something, Ben.” My stomach knots, and an uneasy feeling invades the place that just held nothing but love.
I peek out and Ben spies me in my hiding place, and his eyes widen. Norah steps inside and immediately catches sight of me. “I was just cleaning…something. Over here. Dirty. Ah, it needs to be cleaned.” The only dirty thing is Ben’s cum dried on the inside of my legs and on my stomach and neck, and I’m pretty sure it’s in my left eyelash.
I stand quickly in one fluid movement. She’s a woman. A smart one. It takes nothing more than a nanosecond for her eyes to dart to my bare legs, my appearance, and the smears of the lipstick on Ben’s shirt. The same shade she helped me select the day before to know everything that matters right in this awkward moment.
“I’m so sorry, Norah,” I say, swallowing hard. “I need to use the restroom.” I excuse myself and flee the room with hot cheeks and a shame so deep I’ve never felt the likes of it before in my life. That’s what happens when you follow the straight and narrow path without deviating. Last night felt like flying. This morning, as it makes perfect sense, I’m crashing.
The front door closes with a thud, and I think they’re probably going to talk in the living room, but Ben strolls into his bedroom right behind me. “Harper. It’s fine. Don’t be embarrassed.”
“How was that okay? She didn’t do anything wrong. That was cruel.”
He throws his arms out. “She knew! That’s why we broke up! She knew. She didn’t call. It’s okay. Everything between us is fine.” Ben takes me in his arms, and his scent comforts me even if it’s the one thing that marks me as a traitor. “We weren’t together. There wasn’t cheating or lying. I was honest with her about my feelings for you, and that was when I wasn’t sure if youfelt the same way. This was always going to happen between us. Always.”
“It doesn’t mean I feel any better about it. I actually feel pretty shitty. Is she okay?”
He sighs long and hard—relieved I seem to be coming around to his logic. I’m not. But I can let him think so because I don’t feel like arguing with him. “I’m sure she’s just torn up about the breakup and wants to talk. I’ll call her later on tonight. The scene in there, as awful as it was, was what she needed to see.”
I widen my eyes. “No one deserves to see that. I would have sat her down wearing a nice sundress and strappy sandals in a little café, and I’d tell her over coffee. Like a real woman would. Not some dirty whore. You’re all over my body. Literally. All over it.”
“I’m sorry. It does make things easier, though, regardless of what it looks like. Plus, you just made my cock hard.”
