“Okay then,” I said, starting to turn my back to him.
“You look really good in my shirt,” Benji said, his voice muffled. “I’m just trying to keep my promise.”
“You did promise to sleep on the floor,” I said.
Benji slammed his face into the pillow. “I did. I promised. And I will never break a promise to you.”
I could barely understand him, but it made me giggle.
He looked up. “There is nothing about this that’s funny.”
“I don’t know. You’re pretty funny right now.”
“You’re really tough, talking from up there when you know I can’t touch you.”
I stopped smiling and tried not to think too much about what I was getting ready to do.
“What?” he said, taken aback by my sudden change in mood.
I crawled down from Benji’s bed. He turned onto his side, watching me move toward him.
I lowered myself to the floor next to him and leaned in. “What if I want you to touch me?”
Without skipping a beat, Benji put his hands on both sides of my face and pulled my lips against his. His mouth immediately opened, and I slipped my tongue inside, caressing his tongue with mine. He moaned in my mouth and laced his fingers at the nape of my neck. I lifted my leg and straddled him, and he rolled onto his back, his hands leaving my neck and firmly grasping my hips.
“Rory,” he said against my lips.
“Shh, don’t talk,” I said, covering his mouth with my hand and kissing down the side of his neck in a straight line. Once I got to his collarbone, he pulled his T-shirt over my head, and then I kept going, planting tiny kisses and licking his skin down his tight chest and then his ribs before stopping at his hip bone.
Abs. Jesus H. God, nerdy Benji Reynolds has abs and that sexy V from his hip bone that points to exactly where I want to be.
I took the top hem of his shorts and tugged gently, kissing and tonguing the places that were exposed as I pulled the fabric down.
Benji’s breath caught as I pulled his shorts toward me, over his already hard dick, and then down to his ankles. He kicked them off and then looked down at me, touching his thumb gently to my cheek. He shook his head infinitesimally with the smallest trace of a smile.
I took all of him into my mouth, and he closed his eyes and groaned loudly, every muscle in his body tensed. With one hand on his shaft, I tasted him—sucking lightly, using just a tiny bit of my teeth, and licking the tender underside of his head. He lifted his hips, pushing more of himself into my mouth.
Benji’s fingers dug into my shoulder, and before I even had a chance to give him a proper experience, he pulled me up and above him until we were facing each other.
He kissed me again. “I want to be inside you. Please,” he whispered against my lips.
I reached up to grab the plastic square I had tried tossing into the trash can. While I tore the wrapper open, I took a second to thank Bobby Peck for being a jerk.
I slid the condom over Benji’s skin and then stood, sliding my panties down until they dropped and hit the floor. Stepping away from the fabric, I repositioned myself over Benji’s lap, and then I let out a sigh as I slid him deep inside me.
Benji cupped my br**sts in his hands, slid his fingers down my stomach, and finally gripped my hips. He lifted me up, pushing me away from him slowly, and then pulled me back down. “Holy…is this really happening?” he whispered, lifting his h*ps as he pulled mine down against him.
Once we both began to break a sweat, Benji rolled over, placing me quickly but gently onto my back. He grabbed my ankles and lifted them up, letting my heels rest on his shoulders. On his knees, he sank himself inside me even deeper.
I gripped the blanket beneath me, my nails sinking through the cotton and into my palms. The tendons behind my thighs burned in a wonderful way as he leaned against them. I spread my legs wider and let them relax, allowing him to lean in, his chest to touching mine.
As Benji kissed the edge of my ear, I let my legs fall, and I locked my ankles at the small of his back.
“You are so beautiful,” he whispered, letting his lips graze my cheek before sinking his tongue in my mouth again.
He pumped and rocked against me, faster and stronger each time, rubbing against every part of me that I wanted him to until I could feel the build, until it consumed me, overtaking my entire body, finally making my thighs twitch uncontrollably. I moaned and let my arms fall back with my hands over my head. Benji reached for them, intertwining his fingers in mine. He rocked against me, each time making the smallest, most amazing humming sound until he came. He squeezed my fingers until his hands shook. His moans sounded euphoric as he pressed his cheek hard against mine.
“You feel so good, Rory. My God, you feel good,” he said between groans.
He collapsed for a few seconds, breathing hard into my ear, and then he leaned up, kissing me tenderly. “I love you,” he said, brushing my hair back from my face. I wasn’t sure what expression I had, but it made one corner of his mouth turn up. “It’s okay. You don’t have to say it back.”
He rested his chin on my shoulder, his face buried in the blanket beneath us. I closed my eyes, refusing to think too much about what we’d done or what he’d just said, just enjoying having someone so close who loved me that much. I wasn’t sure if what I was feeling was love, but I’d never felt this way before.
Chapter Nine
I WOKE UP ON THE FLOOR of Benji Reynolds’s dorm room, wearing only a sheet, held over me by one of Benji’s arms.
I maneuvered out from under him gently, trying not to wake him. In the dark, it was easy to pretend I wasn’t covered in scars but not in the daylight. I hurried to get dressed and then retreated into the bathroom. The toilet flushing must have woken Benji up because he was lying on his side with his head propped on his hand when I came out.
“I’m going to go home for a bit. Take a shower and change before I go to the lab.”
“I’ll walk you.”
“That’s really not necessary.”
“C’mon. I’m not letting you take the walk of shame. This wasn’t a one-night stand for me. I just want to walk you to work.”
He wasn’t being weird at all, which was a huge relief.
“Okay, but you can’t come in,” I said.
“Deal.”
Benji walked me to my dorm and waited on the front steps while I showered and changed, and then we walked the three blocks to the Fitz, mostly in silence. The campus was empty, and it felt as if we were the only two people on earth. He kept his hands in his pockets, but at one point, Benji offered his arm, and I took it. It was warmer that way, but it was also nice to be so close to him.