Hey, everyone! I meant to post this yesterday, but I forgot, so you get two chapters in one day!
Disclaimer: (better late than never!) I don't own the Virals series or its characters (oh, the things I'd do if I did!), but I DO own Cain and I kind of own Ronnie. (You don't know her yet, but she's important, although not necessarily to this story.)
Chapter 12
"I had no idea you could cook," Tory said as she dried and put away a plate. "You almost put Whitney to shame."
It was eight-thirty. We were at her house, doing the dishes from dinner. I'd decided that one way to open up without making myself vulnerable was to cook for her. And she was apparently impressed with my skill.
I shrugged. "I'm not that good, Tor."
She snorted, putting up the last dish, then placed the towel on the oven handle. I drained the sink and rinsed it out before popping in a breath mint and taking a deep breath. I turned to face Tory, and found her washing the table. I subtly admired the view as she leaned closer to the middle of it, causing her bend over slightly. Her capris fit so well.
She brought the rag back over to the sink and smiled up at me. "Once again you have surprised me with your many hidden talents," she whispered, stepping closer. Her face reddened slightly as she slid her arms around my neck. "I wonder what else you can do."
My breath caught in my throat as she pressed her lips to mine. I returned the kiss for a few minutes before pulling back. Now that we were actually here, I was afraid. We were unsupervised until morning, possibly later. The amount of freedom we had was intimidating.
"Ben?" she purred. "What's wrong?"
What was wrong? Why had I stopped, again?
Tory smiled sexily and took my hand, leading me out of the kitchen, past the living room, up the stairs.
To her bedroom.
"I, um, thought it would be more comfortable than the couch," she said.
It made sense, but it didn't really help with the nervousness I was feeling. A couch was a little bit less... serious... than a bed. The mattress that was less than ten feet away was putting ideas into my head that really shouldn't be there. I shoved them away and took Tory's hands, leaning down and giving her a soft kiss. She sighed happily and pulled my head closer. I wrapped my arms around her waist, tugging her body closer to mine. She backed us towards the bed, and I sat down with her right next to me. She moved one of her hands to my face, which she cupped as she moved her lips against mine.
We broke apart, and she lay down. I looked down at her, confused. She smiled and patted the spot next to her. I lay down next to her, and she curled into me, head moving onto my chest. I tensed up, shocked, but relaxed and wrapped my arm around her. My eyes closed in bliss as she began tracing invisible patterns on my chest.
They opened when she moved down to my stomach.
After a few moments of waiting, I said, "My leg's not gonna bounce, Tor."
She jumped. "I-I wasn't-"
"Sure you weren't." I heard myself chuckle.
"But are you ticklish?"
"No." I thought for a second. "Are you?"
"No," she answered half a second too quickly. I smirked and lightly ran a finger over her ribs. She squirmed. "I'm not ticklish."
"Oh, really?" I rolled over and did it again, adding more pressure. She tried to fight her giggle. "It's not nice to lie, Victoria Grace."
She tried to swat my hand away, but I pinned her hands above her head without a second thought, actually tickling her with my free hand. She laughed, fighting my grasp with a blush. "Y-you're so mean!" She might've been trying to sound angry, but was laughing too hard to succeed.
Tory managed to get her hands free enough to flip us, holding my arms down, breathing heavily as she desperately attempted to keep her laughter quiet. When it finally died down, she seemed to realize that she was straddling my hips. I hadn't really paid attention to the fact until her cheeks darkened. But instead of getting up like I'd figured she would, she leaned down and kissed me. Her grip on my arms disappeared, and I wrapped them around her. She moved her legs so she was practically laying on top of me, which I didn't mind. She was supporting her weight with her forearms, which were on either side of my head.
As she deepened the kiss, I ran my hands up and down her back. She moaned softly, shuddering. Then she sat and pulled me up, too, scooting closer. I pulled her hips closer to mine; she leaned closer and began kissing my jaw, trailing down to my neck. My eyes rolled back into my head and I heard myself sigh her name. She whimpered in response.
I once again rubbed her back, afraid to touch anything else, focusing on her shoulder blades, which I'd learned this afternoon were very sensitive to the touch. She squirmed in appreciation, and the feeling of her hips moving against mine made me feel like I was going to lose it.
"Tory," I said warningly, but it came out as a groan. She crashed her lips to mine again aggressively. I didn't know what had gotten into her, but a part of me never wanted her to stop. She grabbed one of my hands and moved down to her hip, and I tangled the other one into her soft, dark red hair.
Just when I thought Tory couldn't make me feel any better than I already did, she started to suck on my tongue.
When my biology teacher had said that the tongue was the most sensitive part of the human body, I'd disagreed. Only now did I realize just how wrong I'd been.
I tightened my grip on her, slowly losing control. I knew I had to stop her soon, as I knew I was rapidly reaching the point of no return. And even though I wanted her so badly with every fiber in my being, I knew we weren't ready for it. We'd just made our relationship official today.
And yet...
When she pulled back for a breath, I made the mistake of meeting her big green eyes that were clouded with lust. I made the mistake of committing the sight of her disheveled clothes and messy hair to memory. I made the mistake of listening to the way that she breathed.
Any bit of self control that I had been saving completely fizzled out, and that was it.
I attacked her neck with sloppy kisses, hearing her breath pick up as she dug her nails into my shoulders. It felt so good. I pulled her hips into mine, holding her as close as humanly possible. As my lips skimmed her pulse, she whimpered, and I latched onto it, nibbling and sucking lightly. She whimpered again, and gasped when I added tongue.
"Oh Ben," she moaned. "Oh Ben."
I growled. This still wasn't enough for me. I needed more. I pulled back and pinned her to the mattress, picking up with where I left off. She panted hotly, holding my head in place with one hand, using the other to touch my chest and abs. I pulled back, only to reclaim her lips, thirsty tongue battling with hers for dominance. Some feral part of me wanted to make sure that she knew she was mine and no one else's, that only I would be able to make her feel this way. When I was satisfied she understood, I rolled us onto our sides and rubbed her waist, breaking the kiss. If she wanted me to continue, she'd tell me.
Her lips chasing mine was the only confirmation I needed. Our lips moved together hungrily, desperately. My hands explored her body, finally touching what I'd been terrified to touch before. Hers did the same, learning all the spots I loved to be touched; where I loved to be caressed, where I wanted her to use her nails. I growled when she ran her hands over my back, underneath my shirt. My own hands were snaking their way up her tank top; I needed skin-to-skin contact. I touched her smooth back, her firm abs. And still I needed more. My hands came into contact with the lace of her bra.
It was like someone had dropped a bucket of freezing water on my head. I pulled back as if she had burned me, hands moving out of her shirt as I stood, struggling for breath and wondering what had made me stop, what the hell was wrong with me.
Tory looked up at me, confused. Her shirt was pushed up just past her ribcage; her capris had ridden down. Her crimson hair was even more messed up than before and her eyes were darker than ever. She was breathing like she'd been running, her cheeks divinely flushed. And her lips-
Oh my God.
They were dark red, almost the color of her hair, and swollen. They'd parted in that sexy way that had always been hot before but was now unbearably so.
I wanted to do so many things to her at the moment.
"Ben?"
Even the way she said my name radiated sex. She reached for me, and I shook my head, taking another step back. I was trembling. "I should probably go," I said, voice deeper than usual.
"Why?"
She was so perfectly innocent sometimes. It killed me. "Because I don't know if I can stop myself again."
Tory scooted closer to the edge of the mattress. "Why would you need to stop?" Her eyes said, Why did you stop in the first place?
In spite of the situation, I gave a short laugh. "I don't have your self control, Tor."
After a second of her trying to figure out what I meant by that, she grinned and approached, wrapping her arms around my neck. "No, you don't. If you did, we never would've stopped." She leaned up to kiss me. I shied away, feeling my face heat up. This was too much. There was only so much I could handle. We could only do so much before I really lost all resistance and gave into every one of the urges coursing through my veins at this moment.
"Bad idea," I said.
She smiled and kissed my cheek instead. "You don't have to go."
I closed my eyes at her soft pleading. "Tory," I sighed.
"Well you don't. You can stay the night with me." She turned my head and gave me a kiss. I didn't object because it was chaste. "And we can slow down." Kiss. "Or we can pick up where we left off." Kiss. "Or we can stop altogether if you want." Kiss. "Just stay with me." This kiss was sweeter than the other ones. "I'll be all alone."
"Tory," I heard myself groan. Then I inhaled deeply and my shoulders slumped. "You really think this is a good idea?"
"Yes."
I shook my head. "You have no idea what you're getting us into."
She simply shrugged. "I trust you, Ben."
And for some stupid reason, those four words shattered my resolve and I gave in. "Okay, fine. I'll stay." I opened my eyes and looked at her. "But Tory?"
"Yeah?"
"Fix your shirt."
She giggled and pulled it down over her stomach, then kissed me. "So, what do you want to do?"
It's more of a question of what I can do without losing it. Even now, after a few minutes of being away from that bed, I was walking a very thin, fine line.
She must've read my face, because she bit her lip and blushed, looking down. "Ben, I wouldn't hate it if we did lose it for one night. I mean, what other chance will we get?"
I stepped closer and gave her a long, lingering kiss. "Plenty. There's no rush."
Her eyes studied mine before she gave an abashed smile. "Okay." She took my hands. "So what do you want to do?"
I remembered my original plan for the night. Decided to go with that. I slid my arms around her and gave her a slow, gentle kiss. She let me take the lead, seeming to finally understand. When I pulled away, she looked up at me, her eyes filled with something I couldn't name. I began to massage her back and pressed my lips to hers once again. I could feel her slowly relaxing, melting into me. I trailed soft, tentative kisses down to her neck, backing us up toward the bed as I did so. She pulled my head closer, and I could practically see her eyelashes fluttering.
"Oh, Ben," she said.
Cue sexual growl. I have many mixed feelings about this chapter. I kind of wanted to show Ben's conflicting emotions concerning his... attraction to Tory. It can't really be easy for him, can it? I mean, he's been into her for over a year and a half, and now he finally has the chance to get into her... (sorry, bad, bad, bad pun) I also wanted to show how much respect he has for her, and his self control that I think Brendan seems to brush over.
It also doesn't help that it adds to the sexual tension (evil grin).
Also, don't be afraid to call me out on anything if you think I'm getting it wrong. I need all the constructive criticism I can get, since I'm going to major in creative writing and become an author (hopefully).
Have I mentioned that I love reading reviews, by the way? Because I do. Sometimes they're the only things that keep me going. That, and watching the number of views go up. :)
