Ben and Ciara walked into the Brady Pub completely rocked to their core from their spontaneous kiss; neither saying a word to the other.
Though he knew exactly what he wanted to dine on before Ben grabbed the menu and started studying it intensely. Ciara picked up her menu as well trying frantically to hide her disorientation. She tried to keep herself preoccupied looking for new entrees added to the Pub's reputation. But her continuous attempts proved futile.
Ciara couldn't stop thinking about how she couldn't stop herself from kissing Ben. Yes, he was supposedly her husband and she had made a commitment to be his wife in her former life and kissing came with the job accepted. But Ben's kiss went through her body like electricity. The taste of his top lip on her tongue still had a remaining hint of chocolate mixed with mint on his teeth. All it took was her tongue to invite itself gently to his mouth and the next thing she knew his tongue made a full reintroduction into hers. At first, she felt like she couldn't breathe but the more intense Ben got it was as if he was breathing for the both keeping her alive. When they broke from each other she wanted him to take her to the brink of losing consciousness and revive her again. He asked her if she was alright and she responded no, then grabbed the middle of his shirt violently and pulled him towards her and initiated another kiss. Her heart felt like it was going to explode with exhilaration, and she could feel the adrenalin running through body as he held her in his arms. She felt a burning in her soul as she could feel his heart beating aggressively against her chest. They probably would have been still locked in their rapture if she hadn't spotted Xander staring from a distance at the car's window. Ben jumped out of the car to confront him but Xander made a comment that humiliated him instead.
"Glad to see things are rising up for you again." The Scots man beamed from ear to ear as he studied Ben's crotch.
She could feel Ben's embarrassment a mile away.
Ben felt like he was finding hope in their steps to a reunion but wanted to remain cautious. He couldn't help beating himself up over hearing Ciara's words. It was a sharp reminder that he really had no idea what she was really going through. The feeling of helplessness was overpowering him. All he could believe was that he let her down. If he had believed harder and trusted his instincts more, he could have gotten to her before the explosion. His wife was alive the entire time. She needed him that entire time being held prisoner and having God knows what being done to her and he wasn't there to protect her. And to top it off then he had to go and turn into a beast on her. Ciara was possibly feeling uncomfortable in her own skin and experimenting when she kissed him, and he had to battle himself not to make love to her in the car. He berated himself. What kind of man must fight himself to stop making love to his wife when she can't remember him?
Ciara could see Ben was hiding from awkwardness and decided to break the silence, "The corned beef not calling your name anymore?"
"I still have it on my radar. But I'm trying to decide if I want it or something a bit lighter so I could have a hot fudge sundae. Your Uncle's sandwiches are pretty thick." He looked back at the menu, "Maybe the fried shrimp."
"There is fried shrimp on the menu now?" Ciara asked surprised.
"Yeah your favorite. You look like an otter when you eat it..." Ben quickly apologized, "I'm sorry…I"
"It's Ok. I guess it's one of those things in the I lost my memory column." She could see the pained look on his face. "Let me take a better look at this menu to see what I might like. Mmm… chili dogs…"
It was then Ciara was hit with a serious pain in her head and felt her vision blur slightly. She then saw a flash of Ben in a shower with a tattoo in black ink on the upper right side of his back. He then turned around to face her and she could see all of him including his male anatomy. Ciara gasped hard and nearly fell off her chair.
Seeing out of the corner of his eye, Ciara almost falling Ben jumped up and ran to her side, "Babe are you Ok?"
Ciara took a moment to figure out what she envisioned. Was it an actual memory or something she desired that was brought on after their kiss? If it was a memory, why that one? Calmly she put the pieces together in her mind. Their kiss was very steamy, it could have triggered her having thoughts like that. She did see steam in the shower, and it looked very real. Then there was Ben's private parts which she saw very bold and detailed. That was not an image burned into her brain and eyes from old high school biology classes. She saw every detail of it vividly. There was a tattoo on his back? Did Ben have one. She needed to know. Ciara closed her eyes and tried to compose herself. But when she did, she not only saw that again, but she saw him coming towards her and pressing her against the shower wall and slowly gliding his mouth down her body kissing her all the way down."
Slowly Ciara came out of her trance and felt Ben's leather jacket covering her. She could feel her blouse soaked with perspiration. Ciara then heard Roman talking to Ben.
"I put the heat on. Do you think I should call Kay?"
Ben knelt besides, "Ciara do you want your Uncle Roman to call Kayla?"
"No. No. I'm fine." She started to enjoy the feeling of his jacket on top of her.
"Are you sure? You went cold and limp for a few minutes." Ben started to stroke her cheek, "Maybe this is too much for you. You just got out the hospital and…" he didn't think it was a good idea to remind her of their kiss in the parking lot. "And this was too much for you so soon."
Ciara looked at Ben's eyes and they were soft and genuinely caring, "No. I'm good now. Maybe I'm just a little hungry." She could see he was still very concerned. "And did you know you have turtle eyes?"
Ben began to laugh in amusement, "What?"
"Yeah, small. I never told you that before?" She smiled at him.
"No this is the first time you've said that." He smiled back at her enjoying that she seemed more relaxed with him.
"Well that's terrible. To think I either just noticed or did before and have been keeping that to myself." Ciara mused seeing Ben Weston the man for the first time and not The Necktie Killer.
Ciara continued to deliberate more about her vision or possible flash of memory and how many more would be coming until she got it back. As she continued to study Ben, she couldn't remember who he was with her but was dying to find out what attracted her to marrying him and more importantly loving him.