Forever Is Not Enough [Council Enforcers 2] (Siren Publishing Classic)

Normally, she slept with one eye open for fear of her father finding out what she had done or one of his men thinking he would be the one she let into her bed. There had been plenty of times she had been woken up from her light sleep by the sound of her bedroom door opening and one of his guards easing in. Once her father found out, that guard was never seen again, but with new rogues constantly coming in, word that she was off limits didn’t get around fast enough, and there was always someone new willing to try.
    Now, she knew the warm, hard chest she was pressed up against was Ben’s, and it didn’t frighten her to wake up with the large guy in her bed next to her. He wasn’t the largest man she had ever seen, but compared to her petite stature, Ben was huge. Even with her head resting on his muscular chest, her feet only reached the middle of his calves. His size should have frightened her, but for some reason, Jacqueline wasn’t scared of this shifter. In fact, Ben made her feel safe, safe enough that she was willingly curled in his arms. Being next to him made it seem as though the outside world didn’t exist. There was no man hell-bent on taking over the world, no shifters going wild, and no drugs meant to turn innocent men into raving mad lunatics. There was no guilt, just the two of them in bed together, happy and relaxed.
    Jacqueline opened her eyes and came face to face with the most handsome man she had ever seen. In sleep, Ben’s face was relaxed. She studied his thick, long brown lashes as they fanned out against his cheeks down to his thick lips, slightly parted. In her twenty-six years, she had never had the urge to kiss anyone, but suddenly, Jacqueline barely held back the urge to lean over and press her mouth against Ben’s. She traced the lines on each side of his mouth and the corner of his eyes with her finger. They were laugh lines, and to her, they were his best feature. In her eyes, the instant he smiled and the lines appeared, they made him go from handsome to devastating.
    Laughter was something she had rarely seen or heard in her life. At lunch, Jacqueline had seen how the guys, and even Tessa and Nico, had joked and laughed with each other. She could tell they all loved each other in some way. They had the kind of life she had only ever dreamed of. She wondered if that was what her life would have been like if her mother hadn’t died. Was her father the way he was because he missed his mate? Or had he always been so evil and determined to take over the world? Sadly, there was no way for Jacqueline to know the answers to those questions.
    “You keep staring at me like that and I won’t be held responsible for what I do next.”
    Jacqueline jumped at the sound of Ben’s voice, rough from sleep. “I wasn’t staring. I was just admiring the view and wondering how we ended up in bed together.”
    “The view is nice, isn’t it?”
    A shiver run down her spine from the way Ben was looking at her. She was used to her father’s men staring at her with lust in their eyes and was able to ignore it with no problem. With Ben, she didn’t want to ignore the lust. In fact, she welcomed it, which was a first for her.
    Their faces were inches apart, and all Jacqueline could think of was if she leaned in those last few inches their lips would touch. She wondered if his lips would be soft. Her breath hitched from the thought.
    Ben groaned. “You’re killing me, Jacqi. I’m trying to be good, but your scent is making it hard.”
    Jacqueline giggled and shifted her hips. “I can tell.” Not only was she shocked at herself for being so bold, she was surprised at Ben as she watched the blush slowly creep up his neck and into his face as he tried to move away from her.
    “I didn’t…I wasn’t…”
    His stammering made her laugh even harder. “I know what you meant, Ben. It’s okay. I was just joking with you.” She held on to him, not ready for him to move yet. She didn’t know what it was about Ben that made her want to be next to him, but she wasn’t going to question it. For the first time in her life, she was attracted to a man, and she was going to do something about it. Not giving herself time to chicken out, she closed the distance between them and pressed her lips to his.
    At first, Ben was stiff in her arms, and she wondered if she was doing something wrong, but then Jacqueline heard him groan and felt his hands in her hair. He tilted her head to the side, as his tongue