When You Were Mine (Stone Lake 2)

A firm hand drifts under my shirt, sliding against my stomach. His touch heated, skin rough, searing me.

“Ben…” I moan, my legs going weak. I hold onto the stove as he moves against my ass. I can feel the hard outline of his erection, the coarseness of his jeans through my soft gray pants. I tilt my head to the side, giving him access, pushing back against him, wanting more of everything he’s doing.

It’s been quite a while since I’ve been with someone, and then it was more about loneliness. Ben is the first man that’s mattered since Gavin.

The thought of Gavin makes me tense up without thought.

“No you don’t damn it,” he grits in my ear.

I gasp, trying to catch my breath as he spins me around, pulls me up so I’m in his arms, no longer standing. He sits me on the counter, his hands going to my neck, forcing me to look at him.

“Whatever is going on in that pretty head of yours, Luna—we’re going to ignore it tonight.”

“Ben—”

“Tonight is just about feeling good. Nothing more, nothing less,” he says. He reaches up, his fingers pushing into the waistband of my yoga pants and shoves them down my hips. I lift as I need to so he can get them off. He whisks my shirt over my head, and I’m in my bra and panties before I can barely catch my breath. He pushes my panties to the side, not even taking the time to remove them, his fingers sliding through my wetness to find my clit.

“You’re wet for me, Luna,” Ben growls and I am. Christ, I could probably come instantly it’s been so long and everything he’s doing is that good.

My head goes back at the pleasure as his other hand captures my breast to toy with my nipple. My fingernails claw into his back, my other hand going to his pants to unbutton them. Then…

I go stiff.

A large crash comes from the living room.

“Ben!”

“Stay here. Don’t leave. Fuck, I don’t have my weapon with me.”

“I’ll—”

“Don’t leave, Luna. Get dressed. If I tell you too, you yell and go out the back. Call backup.”

I nod yes, even though I know I won’t leave Ben alone. He moves slowly from the room, and my heart feels like it’s about to explode. I slide to the floor, righting my underwear, grabbing my clothes. I reach over and turn off the now ruined food. Then, I throw my clothes on and do my best to fight down my rising panic. I grab a large butcher knife from the block and follow Ben, thanking God that Joshua’s not home….

Luna

When I get to the living room, it’s empty. Ben is nowhere to be found. I clutch the knife tightly to my chest and move quietly through the room.

“Ben?” I hiss out, afraid to make a noise, but worried. When he doesn’t answer I panic more. I couldn’t have been more than a few minutes putting my clothes on. The wind is blowing the living room curtains, and I could have sworn I closed the windows earlier, because they were forecasting rain. I walk to the window to close it before looking for Ben. There’s shattered glass everywhere and before I notice it, I step on a large shard.

“Shit! Damn, damn, damn!” I curse under my breath, hopping on my foot so I don’t put pressure on it and sink the glass in deeper. I hold the curtain back and see a giant hole in the window. I need to inspect my foot, but I’m afraid to take the time to do that because I still don’t know where Ben is at.

I gingerly half walk, half hop toward the front door. It’s wide open, and I approach it with my knife out as if a murderer will walk in at any second—because, really, who knows at this point.

I’m standing at the threshold, looking around like a madman, knife at the ready.

“Didn’t I tell you to stay inside?”

I scream as Ben comes from around the side of the small, front alcove. Automatically I move the knife in his direction. He jumps out of the way with a curse. “Shit! Watch what you’re doing, Luna,” he rumbles, grabbing my wrist and thankfully taking the knife from me before I can do more damage.

“You scared me! Where were you?”

“Trying to see if I could spot whoever threw this through your window,” he says holding up a red colored brick.

“Someone threw a brick through my window?” I stupidly ask, mostly because I can’t imagine why anyone would do that.

“Yeah. Luna, I need you to go inside, while I call for backup.”

“Backup? That’s silly. It’s just a brick. It was probably some kid, there’s no reason in calling anyone out here tonight. We can deal with it all tomorrow—”