“You lookfucking hot,” Ben says, stopping short before me. “Like, too hot to be seen with a shmuck like me.”
“Yeah right,” I protest, but I can feel myself blushing at the compliment. “You don’t look so bad yourself.”
Ben has changed too. He’s still wearing his usual ripped jeans but they’re black instead of blue, giving a more formal vibe. He’s paired them with a pair of black motorcycle boots and a black t-shirt, slightly tighter than what he normally wears. It shows off the light bulge of his biceps and gives a hint of his toned chest and shoulders underneath.
“Hey, I’m just trying to keep up with you,” Ben says as he pulls me closer. He runs one hand through my hair and the other one down to the small of my back. “I’m not going to be able to leave you alone for a second tonight, or some John Mayer type is going to come steal you away.”
“Then you better stick by my side,” I say demurely. I feel a new confidence I’ve never experienced before in this outfit, here with Ben, in this luxurious penthouse. It’s exhilarating. I feel like I’m on a high and I don’t want to come down.
“You can count on it,” Ben says, his voice a low growl as he cups the side of my face with his hands and pulls me in for a deep kiss, his tongue finding mine.
I notice the slight scratch of his stubble as I return his hungry kisses. We’re pressed together tightly, and I can feel the heat of his body through his t-shirt as he moves the one hand from the small of my back down to my ass, gripping it firmly. I feel a tingle of electricity between my legs as my stomach flip-flops, and I grip his shoulders more firmly.
“You look like a rock’n’roll dream girl in all black,” Ben whispers, pulling back as he gazes at me. His eyes are sparking with a fiery anticipation. Then he leans back down and pulls me back to him, this time cupping my ass with both hands and lifting me up.
I give a small yelp of surprise but then instinctively wrap my legs around his waist for support, kissing him eagerly as he walks us over to the bed. He throws me down on the soft mattress, standing over me, his eyes blazing with wanting. Under his gaze, in this strange outfit, in this strange penthouse, I’ve never felt sexier. I wriggle my skirt up ever so slightly, giving him just a peek of my panties—a lacy red thong.
“Notallof my outfit is black,” I say suggestively.
“I see that,” Ben says, crawling onto the bed on top of me and gently lowering his body on top of mine. With a start, I notice the hardness pressing against me through his jeans. The realization of Ben’s physical excitement makes me even more eager. I wrap my arms around his neck, pulling me down firmly on top of me and gyrating my hips lightly against his crotch, feeling him getting even harder at the touch.
“Ben, I—”
Beep-beep-beep-beep! Beep-beep-beep-beep! Beep-beep-beep-beep!
“What the—” I sit up, startled, as Ben rolls off me with a groan.
“That’s the alarm,” he explains, grabbing his phone and turning it off. “I set one to make sure we didn’t leave for dinner late because of uh, you know, something like this,” he says, with a wry smile.
“Good thinking,” I say with a smile.
“But you know, I’m sure Rob and Ella won’t mind if we’re a little late,” Ben says, crawling back toward me on the bed, an eager smile on his face.
“Uh-uh, nope!” I bound up before he can reach me. “This is the first time I’m meeting your people and I don’t want them to hate me because I made us late.”
“I’ll take full responsibility,” Ben says with a smile.
“No way. Come on. Let’s go. Besides, now you’ve got a little preview of what’s underneath this dress,” I say saucily, feeling my confidence growing. “And you can think about that all night,” I add as I strut to the door, making sure to sway my ass from side to side as I go.
“Ughhhhhh,” Ben groans but he gets up and follows me to the door, a smile on his face. “I guess you’re the boss tonight, rock’n’roll goddess.”
I can feel my heart racing and my cheeks flush as we step into the elevator that will take us down from his penthouse suite to the ground floor.Rock’n’roll goddess. It’s the last moniker I would have ever thought of giving myself. But tonight, in this getup, on Ben’s arm, I actually feel like one.
“Wait, you got Ben to help you strip wallpaper?” Rob, Ben’s bandmate, is sitting across the dinner table from me, eyes wide.
“I demand photographic evidence,” Ella, his girlfriend, chimes in with a giggle.
“I wish I had some!” I reply with a smile. “You will just have to take my word for it.”
“Good enough for me,” Rob says.
“Is itthathard to believe that I can do some manual labor?” Ben asks, using his chopsticks to pick up a piece of sushi.
The four of us are eating at a trendy sushi restaurant—and I’m having a great time. I was apprehensive about meeting “Hollywood types” like Rob and Ella, but they’re both so low-key and unassuming in person, I immediately feel at ease.
“I mean, I never thought I’d see the day,” Rob says leaning back with a grin. He and Ella are seated next to each other in a booth, while Ben and I are seated together on the booth opposite them. Throughout the night, Ben has been giving me light touches under the table, out of sight. He can’t keep his hands off me and it’s had me on pins and needles all night—in a good way.
“Clearly, you’re a good influence on him, Lacy,” Ella adds with a wink.