Temptation

Six Months

"Come on out, love," Ben chuckled, as he had his phone pointed towards the dressing room curtain. "I don't want to," she whined. "I look chubby and...weird." He tsk'd, then said, "Come on, baby. I'm sure you look beautiful."

A few minutes later, Cassie came out with a look on her face that said she was dreading this. Ben took a quick picture, which made her face fall all the more. "Ben," she whined, "don't. I don't like this." She looked down at herself in the tight dark blue dress that made her curves show in all the right places. 

To show her how beautiful he thought she was, Ben got down on his knees and said, "My darling, you are a goddess. Command me to do anything in that dress and I will not deny you." That got her to crack a smile, which was his goal. 

"I'm buying this for you," he said, still on his knees. He slowly stood up, as she said, "Ben, this is way too expensive. Besides, I have plenty of dresses at home."

He shrugged and told her, "I know. I just think you deserve some Paris clothes and I want to see you in this again. Really, Cass, you are not chunky or weird...you're bloody gorgeous." She looked away from him, blushing as red as a tomato. 

He pressed a kiss to her cheek, then said, "Go change and hand me the dress when you're out of it." She nodded, then went back into the changing room. He took the dress from her hand when she stuck it out of the curtain, then went and paid for it. 

By the time she came out, he was holding it in a gown bag, waiting for her. "Thank you, Ben," she told him. "You didn't have to do that." He pecked a kiss to her lips, then said, "Yes I did. Remember, I'm spoiling and pampering you on this trip." 

With his arm securely around her shoulder, they walked back to the hotel. On their way there, they stopped in a shop and bought some sweets for later. "Hey, darling," he said, as they walked out. She looked to him and asked, "Yeah?"

He took her hand, then said, "I just realized I want you all to myself tonight. Going out last night was great, but thinking you, me and that spa in the bathroom. I'll order up some fancy soda or water with champagne flutes and we can just enjoy each other. Unless you want to dawn this beautiful dress and go out."

Cassie stood up on her tippy toes and gave him a lippy kiss. "I love the sound of having each other alone for the night. You know me, I'm up for anything." He gave her a hard and tender kiss, then led her to a movie shop where he bought a couple of romantic french films. 

When they got back, they made a b-line to the spa. Without bothering to get their swim suits, they stripped down and got in. Ben had to get out to answer the door for room service at one point, but came back in with a bottle of soda and champagne flutes. 

"To my amazing girlfriend," he said, as he held up his glass. "Happy six month anniversary, Cass." She smiled and said, "Happy six month anniversary, Ben." They clinked their glasses, then took a sip of their soda. Ben set his aside, then eased all the way into the hot water. 

It was silent between them for a few moments, mostly because Ben was enjoying the feeling of his muscles unwind and Cassie was lost in her own thoughts. She had a lot of feelings going through her right now and, even though she isn't one to express them, she wanted to. 

"Things have been so much better since you came along," she suddenly said, making Ben open his eyes and look at her. She wasn't looking at him, but off to the side. "Things were fine before you came along, but after that...I've never felt more alive. More loved. More...everything."

Ben pushed himself over to her and rested his hand on her leg under the water. She continued, "I know I haven't been completely honest about everything. I should have told you about the sex addiction, about how I've been craving alcohol for a while now. You barely learned that I had a smoking addiction. I'm sorry."

He pressed a light kiss to her temple and softly said, "It's alright." She took a deep breath, then finally looked at him. "You keep me grounded. You keep me sane. There was only one person who could ever do that before you and that was my dad. It makes me miss him even more."

With a small smile on her lips, she told him, "He would have loved you. He wouldn't have been as rude as my mom when meeting you for the first time, but he did have an attitude. He showed it a lot, but I saw the effort he made to contain it, especially my sake. When he and my mom would fight, it's like he was a completely different person. But then he'd take me out for ice cream to get us away from her and he was back to normal."

Ben rubbed her arm and listened to her with a smile. "He was a big guy, very muscular. Actually, he was all muscle. He scared off a lot of my friends with how intimidating he looked. God, I miss him." She started to tear up, but he quickly shushed her and said, "This is the most you've told me about him. He sounds wonderful, Cass."

She smiled and a few tears escaped, but he caught them with his thumbs. "We should visit his grave when we get back," he suggested. "I would love to properly introduce myself to your father and thank him for giving the world this amazing girl I have fallen deeply in love with."

"That sounds nice," she said. He gave a small smile, then said, "I'm afraid I'm guilty in not being completely honest with you, as well. Since being here, it's brought up a lot of...unhealthy memories. I told you I used to go here during summers...well, I used to go with my family and another's. We would stay in a small house in town, split the rent."

He took a deep breath, then continued, "There was this girl, the other family's daughter. We had known each other for years by taking these holidays. When we got older, we decided to give us a go, start a relationship. Well, that lasted all of two seconds because she cheated on me with my best friend who came with us one year. His name was Tom."

He let out a sigh and said, "I have a track record of women cheating on me. Almost every relationship ended that way. Anyways, this girl, she reappeared in my life almost five years later. She wanted to catch up, so we did and next thing I know, I'm in a relationship with her again. Only this time...things were different."

Shaking his head, he continued, "She controlled me. She told me what I could and couldn't do, who I could keep as friends. I wasn't allowed to have any women friends, I could never hang out with my mates because she thought I was cheating every time I did. I tried to get out, but...she was ruthless. She promised she would make me pay if I left."

Cassie put her hand on his chest for comfort, as he was getting worked up now. "I lost friends, Cass," he said. "So many friends. I lost my job because she made me think she was more important. When I finally broke it off, I realized it was the best decision I had ever made."

He let out a light chuckle and said, "Of course, going after you has easily made its way to the best decision I ever made." He smiled when she leaned up and kissed him. "I'm sorry that happened to you," she said after pulling away. "I promise, Ben, I would never..."

She stopped when he started laughing. "I know you would never do that, darling," he told her. "I knew you weren't like the rest the moment I saw you. I took a chance in going after you and you ended up teaching me that taking chances lead to even greater things."

"You've taught me that, too," she told him. "I was done taking chances...then you came along." Ben kissed her, then scrunched up her hair in his hand and pulled her head closer to him. She put her fingers through his hair, making him moan. 

When he pulled away from her lips, he said, "Bloody hell, I love it when you do that." She ran her nails down his scalp, causing his eyes to roll into the back of his head. He put his face in her neck and groaned, "Don't stop." 

She smiled as she did it over and over until she figured he had enough. He placed a soft kiss on her neck as a thank you, then nudged his nose against hers. "Promise me we'll stay like this," he whispered. "I have to keep you, Cass, for as long as I can."

Cassie put her hands on either side of his neck and said, "I promise."

After a few more kisses, they eventually got out of the spa. They threw on their robes, then Ben opted to order them room service for dinner. As they waited for it, they popped in one of the movies they got. 

"I don't understand a damn word," Cassie giggled, as the black and white french film played. Ben chuckled, then put on the subtitles for her. "You should keep speaking french to me," she told him. He smiled, then put his lips to her ear and said, "Joyeux anniversaire, mon amour. Je t'aime."

She smiled as she said, "I love you, too, Ben."