Ellie couldn’t believe how patient he had been with her today. He never once looked exasperated or fed up with her need to explore the old used bookstores. Bennett even helped her make up her mind on a few choices that stores had more than one copy of in stock. All the while, his smile remained easy and carefree.
Right now, he carried her four bags of books she’d purchased. He guided her to the left and she didn’t understand until he paused before a large red truck.
“Climb in.”
“I’m fine walking home.”
He opened the door and put the bags in the back. “Get in.”
“I’m fine walking. In fact, I prefer it.”
He hooked a finger in the gap of her shirt and tugged her closer. Until she was between his powerful thighs and his heat surrounded her in ways the Hawaiian sun wouldn’t ever be able to accomplish. Not even on its brightest day.
She reached up and touched the scruff on his face, loving the contrast in their skin tones. She burned out in the sun while he just utilized his Hawaiian heritage and grew bronzed.
“I’d prefer taking you.”
“Home?”
His smile sent up quivers in her belly.
“Sure, we can go with that.”
Her knees buckled and his smile told her he caught it. Lord, he was dangerous to her senses and her sanity.
“Is there a reason you don’t want me to walk?”
He pulled on her shirt more, creating even more of a gap. From his height, he could look directly down the front. And he did.
“I can think of a few. Namely it’s almost time for you to be at work.”
She’d forgotten all about the time. And food.
“If you insist.”
Another unabashed glance down her shirt. “I do.”
“Sure you’ll be able to drive if you keep looking down there?”
“I’m willing to give it a go.” He never looked away from her breasts. To be fair, she more than kinda liked him checking her out. She didn’t mind so much being ogled by him.
She shook her head. “I’m sure you are.”
Ellie gave a pointed look at his groin then climbed up in the truck, making sure to put an extra sway in her ass jiggle as she crawled across his seat to hers, avoiding the books as she went. While she didn’t understand what he said, she got the gist from the tone.
Bennett settled in beside her and got them on the road. The windows were down and the air flowed over her skin as they went. Being as she’d not gotten tons of sleep last night, she nearly dozed but she sat up when he took a wrong turn.
“Where are you going?”
“Taking you to lunch.”
“That’s not necessary.”
“Says you.”
“Well of course I say it, it’s not. Take me home.”
“Nope. I’m kidnapping you for the moment. I’ll take you home then walk you to work.” A pause. “After we eat.”
She glared in his direction as he turned into the Ala Moana Shopping Center and parked.
“Adventure feeds the soul.” He hopped out and headed around to open the door for her.
“I can find adventure in bed,” she muttered, sliding out, her hand in his.
“And we will.” He gripped her around the waist. “But right now, I am taking you to lunch.”
They crossed Piikoi Street and made their way up Hopaka to the nondescript inn waiting there for them to enjoy. She smiled as they entered. This was her kind of place and had only eaten here once before.
Their meal was lighthearted and fun. The man had a wicked sense of humor and loved to see if he could make her choke. As was apparent when he somehow got hold of a full cucumber and held it up.
She shrugged her shoulders. “What’s that?”
“A cucumber.”
She sipped her drink and rolled her eyes. “I know that, why are you holding it like that? Should I leave you alone with it?”
“I was going to ask you the same thing. I mean, I know it’s not turquoise, but the size is similar.”
She squeezed her eyes shut briefly before casting her glance all around to see if anyone had heard him. No one paid them the least bit of mind, for which she was eternally grateful. Ellie slipped to the edge of her seat and dragged her foot up the inside of his leg.
“Should I be more concerned that you remember the size of my Big Blue Beast or that you seem so familiar holding that vegetable in your hand? Are you worried you won’t measure up?”
She twined her tongue around the tip of her straw, loving how his brown eyes managed to get even darker. It was so damn difficult to pull her eyes from the curve of his fingers around the thick item. In her mind, it was no longer the cucumber but his own dick, and he lay there naked before her, stroking himself. Gliding up and down his length with a fist. Watching her with those deep pools of sexual promise.
Her pussy pulsed and she would have squeezed her legs together but one was still on him and she didn’t want to move it.
“Now, we both know how little I have to worry about measuring up to this cuke.”
She lowered her eyebrows and allowed the small teasing smile to turn up her lips. “But it’s so hard.”
He captured her ankle in the space of a heartbeat and she jumped but he wouldn’t let go.
“Yes, it is plenty hard. Something else you are well versed in. Unlike your Mr. Blue.”
She lifted her chin and stared down her nose at him. “That’s Mister Big Blue Beast to you.”
Ellie adopted the snidest, snarkiest tone she could possibly manage while speaking in a public place about her named vibrator to a man who’d completely rocked her world last night.
“I’ll show you big.”
She grinned, completely on board for any and all demonstration in that regard.
αβ
Bennett sat in his usual spot in the back of the bar. More so than usual, he wanted to be closer to the tiny spitfire he’d nicknamed Smash. Nearly two different people she had combined within her. The woman he found at the bookstore was quiet and reserved versus the one he saw here, edgy and dangerous. Relishing in her sexuality without even being consciously aware of that fact. One, however, he was totally aware of.
He tipped up his beer and allowed his brew to slide down his throat. Tonight was busier than normal but they’d had a ship come in this afternoon and that brought a lot more patrons. And while he was happy for the business, he wanted to be able to see Ellie more.
“What’s up with you, Bennett?”
He glanced at an old teammate who sank his lanky body beside him, beer in hand, and shot him a wide ass grin.
“Drummer. How the fuck are you? When’d you get in?”
“Just today, came in on the carrier.”
They shook hands.
“Damn good to see you again. Where are you staying?”
He caught a glimpse of Ellie as she laughed and joked with two tall sailors. He frowned.
“I was going to say with you but what the fuck, man?”
Bennett cocked an eyebrow. “What?”
“What nothing. You look like you’re sucking on lemons. Who is she?”
“Who’s who?”
The last thing he wanted to do was introduce Drummer to Ellie. He was the quintessential All-American man with his perfect blond hair, dazzling smile, and all that other shit that went along with the title. Call him selfish or whatever, but he didn’t want to share her.
“That’s what you’re coming with? Either you tell or I’ll go find out.”
No idle threat coming from Drummer. The fucker was eternally nosy. Always asking why. He was a damn good SEAL, just curious as all get out.
He grunted. “Fine. Let me break it down for you. The bartender—”
“Oh yeah, noticed her right away when I walked in. Hot number. Wouldn’t mind having a few rounds with that.”
He narrowed his eyes, clenching the bottleneck of his beer. “Is mine,” he growled.
Drummer gave a low whistle while rocking back on two chair legs. “So that’s how it is.”
“Precisely.”
“How long has this been a thing?”
Quite possibly longer in his mind than hers. “Long enough.” God, he sounded like a right prick.
Drummer sent him an easy grin, not at all perturbed by the not so subtle threat coming from Bennett. He pushed a hand through his blond hair and rocked forward once more, chair legs landing with a thump.
“Because I’m off the ship and I have a beer, I’ll let it go. For now. Catch me up with you.”
Grateful for the reprieve, he did just that and it was wonderful catching up with his old friend. Bennett had kind of isolated himself once he’d come back from serving his country. He waved goodbye as Drummer walked away with his arm slung around a woman he’d picked up for a night of—well, he didn’t want to think about that.
“You looked like you were having fun.”
He stared at the waitress who was going by with dirty glasses and empties. Rachel was her name.
“I was.” He gave a short nod and handed her his bottle.
“Another?”
He flicked a glance over to the bar where Ellie stood. His heart thudded in his throat. She had her head back as she laughed with the group around her. Bennett craved her in a way that beyond scared him. As a man who’d faced a shit ton of fucked up situations without blinking or hesitation, this freaked him out past any belief he could have thought anything could or would.
The room closed in around him and his instincts screamed for him to evacuate. He listened.
“No.”
“Holler if you need anything else.” She gave him a look as she dragged her tongue along her lower lip. “And I do mean anything.”
“Right.”
On his feet, he wove through the tables until he hit the door. After which he continued on until he was streets away. Avoiding the pedestrians, he got to a small café with outdoor seating. He claimed one for himself.
“What can I get you?”
He struggled to push past the pounding of bass drums in his ears to focus on the woman standing before him. Bennett pinched the bridge of his nose and longed for his board and the quiet lap of the waves against as he sat surrounded by water.
“Coffee, please.”
“Be right up.”
She was gone with a smile.
He sipped the coffee and worked to slow that insane beating of his heart. Panicked. I fucking panicked.
It wasn’t a feeling he appreciated. At all. He couldn’t recall the last time he’d done so.
When the café closed he set back out once more and found himself staring at the darkened storefront of Last Call. Ellie had gone home. Above the bar the lone light for Dogfish’s place snuffed out.
Bennett strolled to his truck and got behind the wheel. He didn’t live as close as Ellie, but he wasn’t far. Of course, far was relative. He was on an island, nothing was that far. He sat in his idling truck and debated. With a small laugh, he shifted into gear and departed the lot.
A short time later he was again out of his vehicle and strode to the door. He knocked and waited.
“Why are you knocking on my door, son? You can just come in.”
He bent and kissed his mother and entered his childhood home, closing the door behind him. Padding into the living room, he inhaled sharply and smiled over the familiar smells. She turned and faced him, reaching up to cup his face. He loved her so much.
“Who is she?”
Bennett never hesitated. His mom may be small but she was ferocious and relentless.
“My one.”
A small smile turned up her lips as her gaze softened. Then tears glistened and he frowned.
“Why are you crying?”
“No tears, son. Only memories. You are so much like your father.”
He gazed over to where the portrait of his parents on their wedding day sat. How she saw it, he wasn’t sure. He didn’t see any resemblance to the haole his mom married all those years ago. Aside from height, that’s what he got from his old man.
“Why are you up?”
She put her arm through his. “I’m always up at this time.” She led him out the back to the swing. “You should move home.”
“No, Mama. I can’t live with my uncles. I’m fine where I am.”
His five uncles also lived in this house and he would go crazy if he had to live with them.
She tsked. “Fine. Tell me about her.”
So he did. And when he finished telling her all about it she hemmed and hawed for a moment.
“Why are you here with me then?”
“I came to visit you.”
“And I welcome any chance I have to see you, but you’re full of hogwash—excuse my poor language. You are here in the middle of the night when you didn’t even know I was awake so I’m not buying your excuse.”
He hid his laughter at her distaste for foul language. And what she considered bad.
“It’s not an excuse,” he protested.
“Son. I know you and I know when you’re lying.” She glanced at him. “You just told me she is your one. And yet here you are, running from her. You’re so much like your father you don’t know what to do with this newfound information.”
“Wise beyond your years, Mother.”
“Your father—God rest his soul—told me before the end of our first date that I was the one for him. Then he had a panic attack.”
Her tone lost its sadness for a hint of amusement.
“It embarrassed him. Personally, I thought it was cute. Big bad Navy man, frightened by me.”
“I’m scared of you,” he said.
“I’m your mother, you should be.”
“Trust me, I am.”
She zipped her pendant along the necklace and tucked her feet beneath her.
“He never gave up on me, Bennett. Don’t give up on her.”
“When did you know?”
She rested her head against his shoulder. “A lot sooner than I allowed myself to admit. Either to myself or to him.”
“Have you met her?” He could totally see Ellie doing this.
“I know things, is all. Go. The sun will be up soon. You can surf with your uncles.”
She left him there with a peck at on the cheek.
Once she’d gone inside, he went to the water lapping the shore at his mother’s house. He ignored the liquid seeping into his shoes. He hung out, surfed, then ate breakfast with his mom and his five uncles.
“Bring her by,” was his mama’s command on his way out.
Not much later after he got into his truck, he parked before Ellie’s apartment and headed up the stairs to her door. He rang her doorbell and while he waited he propped his shoulder against the door frame.
“Who is it?”
The sleep laden question reminded him he’d not yet been to bed.
“Bennett.”
All her locks disengaged and she swung the door open. Her short dark hair was mussed and she looked so adorable.
“What are you doing?”
Her thin shirt couldn’t hide her taut nipples. And he was glad. His palms burned with the need to touch her all over. As if it was the first time.
“Let me in.”
There was command buried with those three words.
She stepped back and he moved by her, inhaling deeply as he did, drawing in her scent. Ellie shut the door and yawned as she leaned against the wood panel.
Part of him felt bad for waking her but most didn’t. Without a word he headed to her and gathered her close to him. She went willingly and settled against his chest with a little sigh.
“You left abruptly, is everything okay?”
“It is now.”
“Good.” She moved back fingers gripping his shirt and backed to her bedroom. “We can talk later, right now I need more sleep.”
“I was thinking about my dad.” He joined her in the bed.
“Something happen?” Concern lined her voice as she rose up to gaze at him.
The morning sun wasn’t completely blocked so the light illuminated her creamy skin.
“Just wondering about him, he died before I was born.”
“I’m so sorry.”
Yes, it was something that had been said many times to him but, coming from her, he believed it was something else. There was more in her statement that conveyed something much deeper.
“Hard to miss what you don’t know.”
She curved back into him. “I disagree. When you see what others have and you are missing it, I believe you can miss out on what you don’t get to experience.”
There was something in her tone which alerted him to the fact she was speaking about something personal. He wanted to know the reason for her pain. It would have to be later, she’d fallen asleep, her scantily clad body pressed tight against him.
He shut his eyes and allowed the lure of the sandman to sweep him away. Contentment covered him like a warm plush blanket on a cold night.