Author's Note: Last chapter was SUPPOSED to be the beginning of the stages getting frisky, but the chapter was almost twice as long so I had to split it. Sorry! Lol However, things took an unexpected turn for the serious toward the end. Warning: Rated T as there may be some strong language & suggestive themes. Hope you all are still enjoying it!
Safe Cin
Part 7: This is part of Stage One?
Ciara stared at Ben, who stared right back as his hands continued working their magic on her leg. "This is part of Stage One?"
"Yup!"
"What about—"
"What about the kissing?" he asked, receiving only a nod as his hands worked up her leg to just above her knee. "There'll be plenty of that as well."
"But for now, the massage."
"Uh-huh," he agreed. "The whole point of this first stage is to get you used to me in your space in a non-threatening way. And this has the pleasant side effect of relaxing you and allowing me to get used to feel of your body under my hands."
Ciara shivered. "O-ok."
"I'm gonna stop before I reach your upper thigh and start on the other leg," he explained suiting his hands to actions. "Because your inner thighs are a very intimate, sensitive area of your body."
"Right," she agreed shakily.
"I'll work my way up your body," he continued explaining. "I'll caress your outer thighs & hips. I'll feel the muscles of your stomach tighten under my hands." Ciara swallowed hard as she felt his hands doing exactly as he promised. "I'm going to run my hands up your sides, and I may graze those full breasts, but no matter how your nipples beg for it. I won't touch them."
"You won't?" she asked, sounding a bit forlorn.
Ben shook his head. "Nope," he answered. "Too intimate. For now, I'll work my way up to your shoulders and down your arms. Then it'll be time for you to turn over and lay face down."
Ciara stared at his mouth as his hands worked over her tensing stomach towards her sides. "Or we could just kiss?"
"We co—" Ben didn't get to finish responding as she launched herself at him taking what she needed from his mouth.
Ciara's hands sank into Ben's hair as she straddled his hips. Instinctively, his hands slid up her back & then down to her hips, pulling her closer. He had already been aroused by his own words, thoughts, and actions, but feeling the mouth that kept him up nights on his while her thighs squeezed his hips as she tried to get closer almost made him lose his load right there.
Grasping every ounce of self-control he had, he pulled away just enough to speak: "Yellow."
It took a moment for the word to land & make sense in her lust-addled brain, but when it did, she took a deep breath and rested her forehead on his, too reluctant to put any more space between that. "Ok. Slowing down. Got it." She took several deep breaths. "Why are we slowing down again?"
"Because we are moving a little fast, don't you think?" he whispered, as he careful slid her undulating back slightly. "We've only just begun and you're already halfway to home base."
"I'm not seeing the bad here," Ciara replied, moving her head so her nose danced along his cheek until her mouth reached his ear. She bit down on his ear lobe. "Sounds more like progress to me."
"Yeah," he breathed, as her teeth and tongue moved from his earlobe to his neck. "But we, uh, need to, ah! We need to make sure we master—right there—each stage before we, uh, we move on."
Ciara lifted her mouth and met his gaze. She slid her hands from his hair and rested her hands on his shoulder. "Ok. Mastery." She bit her lip. "Stage one is about me getting used to being touched & kissed & held with my clothes on, without my… more sensitive areas coming into play, right?"
"Right," Ben agreed, unable to resist squeezing her hips.
"Ok, then," she said, clearing her throat. "Touch me." She brought his hand to her face, and her eyes drifted closed. Rubbing her cheek in his palm, her eyes opened looking into his. "Kiss me." She kissed his palm as her other hand slid his from her hip to the small of her back. "Hold me."
"You are so bad," he chuckled, caressing her cheek with his thumb. "Do you have any idea how beautiful you are?"
Her breath caught in her throat. "You really think I'm beautiful?" she asked, looking down nervously as she played with the hair at the nape of his neck.
"No," he replied, his other hand coming up & cupping her cheek and pulled her closer. "I know you are. And not just out here." He caressed her lips her mouth, her chin, and down along her clavicle to rest over her heart. "But in here. You have the most beautiful heart."
Ciara smiled gently, looking up into his eyes. "Yeah? Really?"
"Yeah," he replied, leaning in and rubbing his nose against hers. "Really.
Just as his lips brushed hers, her phone rang. They froze. Ciara glanced toward her phone and closed her eyes. "I should get this."
"Your mom?"
"Unfortunately," she grumbled. "Hey mom! What's up?"
Ben started to get up, but as much of a turn-off as her mother calling was, he was still hard. Despite their closeness, he wasn't sure how comfortable he was to be walking around in front of Ciara with his dick hard.
"Mom," Ciara huffed, rolling her eyes. "Mom! MOM! Jeez, breathe!" She got up, and his concern for her finally softened his arousal. "Well, I don't like raising my voice, but it's kinda hard to get a word in edgewise with you ranting like a crazy lady."
Ben stood up, headed to the bathroom to give her some privacy. Ciara watched and released a breath she'd been holding. "I planned to study late at a friend's, so I brought a change of clothes in case I decided to spend the night. Considering the hour, I probably will."
"Why is your car still in the garage at the loft?" Her mother demanded to know.
"Mom, please," Ciara huffed. "Are you kidding me? Salem is not that big. I can walk, Uber, or catch a ride anywhere I want to go. Why waste gas if I don't have to? You really need to calm down. I'm fine! Embarrassed & annoyed at having my mother checking up on me & giving me the third degree like a common criminal? You bet, but perfectly fine!"
"I'm just worried about you," Hope replied. "This friend you're spending the night with… it isn't Weston, is it?"
"Mom! I'm 21! If I want to sleep at a friend's place, including Ben's, that's up to me!"
"So you ARE at Weston's?! I'm coming to get you right now!" Hope persisted.
"Oh my god, MOM!" Ciara gasped. "I never even said which friend!"
"Then, who are you staying with?"
"What? So you can show up and embarrass me because you're having trouble cutting the cord!"
"Ciara!"
"Mom, I'm sorry, but you're being ridiculous," Ciara sighed exhausted. "What part of 'I'm 21 & it's none of your business' are you missing?!"
Hope sighed. "Ok. Maybe I am overreacting a little."
"You think?"
Hope sighed again. "I just worry about you."
"And I'm worried about you, Mom." Ciara rubbed her forehead trying to relieve the tension headache building there. "I-I love you, Mom. You know I do, but when you get like this, I… have you been going to your sessions and taking your meds?"
"Ciara."
"You're scaring me," she blurted. "Mom, you're so obsessed with Ben & 'keeping me safe' from him, but Ben has proven over and over again to be fine & not a danger to me or anyone else. But you won't stop obsessing. If you can't get past this soon, Ben won't be able to talk me out of-"
"Talk you out of what? Huh?" Hope asked, tentatively. "What did Ben supposedly talk you out of?"
"Getting a restraining order against you," Ciara admitted sadly.
"You would-you would do that to your own mother?" she asked, sounding devastated & breaking Ciara's heart. "You would really cut me out of your life over that 'serial killer'?"
"IT'S NOT ABOUT BEN!" Ciara snapped in tears but sick of this merry-go-round. "It's about how you're suffocating me with your need to 'protect' me from everyone & everything, but especially from Ben. Mom, Chase raped me. And I get that I wasn't the only one who that hurt, but how am I ever supposed to get past it and move on with my life if you're always trying to control me in some misguided attempt to protect me! It has to stop. Please." She felt Ben's arms wrap around her from behind, holding her & offering comfort. "The last time you started losing control like this, I almost got a restraining order & left town. But Ben wouldn't let me because he knows how much you & I mean to each other, but if you keep this up, he won't be able to stop me. And if you can't get control of yourself, this time when I leave Salem, I will disappear completely, and I will NOT come back." Ciara took a deep breath. "Please, mom. I love you, but you need to fix this. Because I can't keep living like this."
"Baby, I—"
"Please, Mom," she whispered. "Promise me you'll try. Dad wouldn't want this for either of us."
"I promise, Ciara," Hope swore, her voice trembling, but filled with determination.
"Thank you," she breathed, slouching back into Ben's arms. "I lo—um, love knowing I have you to lean on."
'I love you, too, Ciara Alice,' Ben thought answering what he hoped she'd been on the verge of saying. "And you always will."
"I know," Ciara replied tiredly. "Good night."
"Good night."
Ben held Ciara as she fought not to cry in his arms. When she seemed to calm, he spoke, "So you were planning to spend the night, huh?"
Ciara laughed hysterically for a moment. "Surprise."
"Then let's head to bed," Ben said scooping her up and carrying her to his bed. "I think you've had more than enough of today."
"Ok." Her small, drained voice reached out and squeezed his heart, as he slipped into bed to hold her as she cried herself to sleep.
