Ben (The Sherwood)

Sure, he was a big man like all Hatfield men were. He was like stone most of the time. AJ rarely smiled. He was gruff and intimidating but still he was an accountant. A big nerdy man who loved numbers. The glasses really made him look like an accountant except for the physique. The man was built like the linebacker he was in high school and college. He was a tank. While AJ had size, Heath had crazy. A quiet fierceness that spoke of his strengths.

Now, I wondered what they were up to. Was Jameson a one-time thing? How much did Dad know about their antics as Sherwood’s vigilante duo?

“We should get going, Heath,” AJ informed him.

My brother rose with my daughter. He cradled her carefully in his big hands. Then he kissed her forehead. The more I saw him with Asia, this different side of him came out. This tender side that few ever saw of Heath Hatfield.

He handed her to me. Then he looked at Disa. “Don’t worry,” he told her. “We’ll take care of everything.”

We walked them to the door. We stayed inside watching them head to Heath’s truck because the evening air was cold, and I was holding Asia. Disa glanced up at me. “Should I be concerned about what they are going to do?” She asked me.

“Yes,” I replied but I couldn’t tell her anything else because I had no clue about what they were up to.

We closed the door. I carried Asia to her room and put her down. Then I met Disa in the hallway. “I’m going to shower, she said.

“I’ll meet you in bed,” I told her.

I undressed to my boxers and crawled beneath the cool, cotton, sheets. I could hear the water running in the bathroom just on the other side of the wall. I closed my eyes trying to unwind but images of a naked Disa swam behind my closed eyes. I wanted to join her in the shower but that wouldn’t do. She wasn’t ready for that yet.

A sigh escaped me. A heavy, frustrated sigh. I hadn’t been with a woman in nearly a year. A long stretch for me. It couldn’t be just any woman. I wanted to be with the woman in the shower.

I hadn’t realized that the water was off now or that Disa was in the room with me until she cleared her throat. I opened my eyes. She was standing inside the door, wearing only a towel. Her hair was piled on her head secured with one of her many hair bands.

“Do you need a shirt of mine?” I asked. I started to get up and she stopped me cold with her words.

“No, I don’t.”

My legs hung over the side of the bed. My hands were gripping the edge of the mattress ready to push myself to a standing position when I glanced up at her. “You don’t? That’s right, you have a nightgown or pajamas in your suitcase.” I remembered.

“I don’t,” she replied. The corner of the towel that was tucked in at her breast came undone so easily when she pulled it loose.

Disa dropped the towel to the floor and stood in front of me bare and unashamed. I can honestly say that I forgot breathing was a necessity. She was stunning, more beautiful than I could have thought possible.

“Say something, Ben.” Disa’s voice was soft and afraid now. She twisted a loose curl between her thumb and forefinger.

“I can’t speak,” I whispered. She chuckled at me. “I don’t know what to say.”

She smiled at me. Then she walked to me and stood at my feet. Her pretty, pink painted toes touched mine. She reached out and caressed my face, rough with a couple days’ worth of whiskers.

Honestly, I was afraid to touch her. Afraid this was all a dream and if I touched Disa, she would vanish, and I would awaken.

“Ben, I want you to show me how it could be between us,” she said. She picked up my hand and guided it to her waist. I was grateful she didn’t put it anywhere else. I exhaled sharply.

My thumb rubbed across the soft firmness of her skin. My eyes traveled the length of her. She glistened like silk, like she felt beneath my fingertips.

Her waist dipped in where my hand rested. Her breasts were in my face and oh boy were they enticing me. “Baby why are you doing this? You’ve waited this long. Wait until we’re married.”

She sighed. “That sounds wonderful, but I don’t want to wait a moment longer. Ben, seeing Elder Ron today…hearing my parents are dead, reminded me that I don’t know what tomorrow will look like and I don’t want to live my life and never know what being with you is like.”

I laid my forehead against her belly. I wanted this more than anything, but I wanted her to do it for the right reasons. “Disa, we can wait,” I reassured her and kicked myself in the ass for saying so.

“We can but I don’t want to.” She choked on her words when she replied. I didn’t want her to cry. “Ben, don’t you want me?”

I tugged her roughly to me, gripping her arms in my hands fighting with myself about what I wanted and what was right for her and for us.

I laid Disa on the bed and hovered over her. “I want you so much I can’t stand it but Disa, I don’t want you to regret this. I want to do this the right way for you, for us because baby, I love you so much.”

She was pinned beneath my weight. Unable to move but one arm. She used that to reach out and caress me. That was my undoing. I crushed my lips against hers. Disa pulled me closer. I dragged my lips across her cheek. Trying to regain control. Not wanting her first time to be like this, out of desperation and fear of a man we had run into in the park.