On an Edge of Glass

mine. 
    The kiss begins timidly but grows more intense as his tongue parts my lips and his hands make their way under my sweater to the bare skin just below my belly button.  When his mouth moves down my throat and his tongue finds the hollow space just above my collarbone, my knees start to go.  An embarrassingly loud moan escapes me.  
    I try to pull away so that I can bury my face in my hands like any properly ashamed girl, but Ben won’t let me.  Chuckling, he tightens his arms around my waist and does it again.
    I let go of a second moan.
    “I’m not going to let you go so easily.  In fact, I think I’d like to see if I can make you do that a third time,” he says quietly. 
    I tilt my head so t hat I can see him properly.  “What about sushi?”  I ask, though I really don’t care about sushi right now.
    His eyes travel down my body suggestivel y.  “Let’s make our order to go,” he says. 
     
     
     
    “So, what you’re saying is that you think that you can take me?” 
    I square my shoulders, drawing on a confidence that I don’t really feel.  “Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying.”
    Ben tilts his head sideways, letting his arms drop down to my green duvet.  His mouth parts and he flicks his tongue over his lips.  “You know that I won’t take it easy on you?”
    The look that he’s giving me , and the fact that he’s doing it from the middle of my bed, makes my heart jump.  I shake my head, playing it as cool as I can manage. 
    “I don’t want you to, ” I say boldly.
    My direct answer seems to please him.  He smiles just enough so that I catch a glimpse of the dimple. 
    “Okay, then let ’s do this,” He says.  He shifts so that he’s sitting with his back against my pillow.  “Close your eyes and reach inside and…”
    I c lear my throat melodramatically.  “I think I know what I’m doing.  It’s not like I haven’t done this before.”
    “If that’s how you want to play, then fine with me,” Ben says glibly as he passes over a velvety sack full of Scrabble tiles.  “But, don’t say that I didn’t warn you.”
    And twenty minutes later , when he’s kicking my butt all over the Scrabble board and giving me a look that’s too smug for words, I want to pinch myself for not listening.
    “You’re enjoying this a little too much,” I say as he lays down another thirty-plus point word.  “How in the world are you so good at Scrabble?”
    “My family takes board games pretty seriously.  One time , my mom and my uncle didn’t speak for two months over what we now refer to as, ‘the great Monopoly disaster of 2010.’” 
    I laugh.
    His smile widens.  “I’m not even joking.  It was pretty vicious.  There were tears and maybe even some blood drawn.  And, I won’t even get into the wars that have been fought and lost in my family over Chutes and Ladders…”
    “You are so full of shit, ” I say, nudging him with my right elbow. 
    “Me?  I think you’ve got the wrong guy.”  He lifts his head.  The smile that crawls over his face is knowing and too superior for my liking. 
    “Pfffhhh …”
    “I did warn you Ellie,” he insists, winking at me.  “You could surrender the game and this would all be over a lot faster.
    I frown, shuffling my tiles in an attempt to make my brain spit out a word from the jumble of vowels in front of me.  “ Yeah, just so you know, pompous doesn’t really suit you, Benjamin Hamilton.”
    Ben tips his head back and laughs loudly.  “Well, just so you know, stubbornness is a teeny bit adorable on you, Elizabeth Glass.”
    I want to keep a straight face but I can’t.  Letting my hair fall forward over my shoulders, I place the tiles down on the board earning a measly six points. 
    “Oh yeah?” I ask.
    Ben’s eyebrows pull apart.  H is dark irises lock onto mine, and suddenly things don’t seem playful anymore. 
    He lifts one hand and touches the side of my face.  “Yeah.”  His splayed fingers push back through my hair.  “In fact, adorable isn’t even a good enough word to describe you, Ellie.”
    Pleasure flushes my cheeks. 
    Ben leans in to me, so that the tip of his nose brushes the line of my jaw.  I hold my breath. 
    “And when you blush like t hat, it drives me completely crazy,” he says quietly.  He slips his other hand to my hip.
    I inhal e and push Ben onto his back.  Scrabble game be damned! 
    Swinging my legs around, I cl imb over top of him.  With my