Impromptu Attraction Ch. 04

"No. It just didn't feel right, even if her husband knew what she was doing. So I panicked and said I had to be somewhere early the next morning." He covered his face with his hands. "And then she asked where and I panicked again and said church."

"Church?" She barely got the word out before having to cover her mouth against the rising wave of laughter.

He managed to bury his face even deeper in his hands. "Where else do people have to be early on a Sunday morning? And then I felt so bad about it that I actually did go to church the next day."

By the time Julia finished laughing there were tears streaming from her eyes. Ben had lifted his face from his hands, and even had a small smile on his lips. "Your turn, truth or dare?" he asked.

"I'd better pick dare, I don't think I can top that story," she answered as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

The small smile turned into a wicked grin as he set his challenge. "I dare you to take off all my clothes without using your hands."

She frowned. "Can I finish my ice cream first?"

That effectively brought an end to their game. After a clumsy attempt to get his shirt over his head with her teeth, Julia gave up all pretenses and just pulled all of Ben's clothes off. Her own were soon to follow, and before long they were laughing and rolling on the floor together in the dying candlelight.

Ben was easily able to pin Julia beneath him, keeping her still long enough to gently spread her legs apart. Her mock cries of protest were immediately forgotten once his lips crept up the inside of her thigh, and she spent an enjoyable amount of time writhing beneath the movements of his darting tongue. By the time he moved his lips up her body she was gasping for breath, her face hot and flushed.

Before she could even pretend to object she found their positions reversed and Ben lying on the floor beneath her. She wasted no time in impaling herself on his entire length, sinking onto him with an appreciative moan. From then on she let him do all the work, raising his hips up off the floor to thrust deep inside of her.

Their moans and sighs mingled with the sound of the rain pounding against the windows, their bodies still moving together toward climax long after the candle burned out. After they had completely satisfied one another they fell asleep in a tangled heap on the floor, safe from the storm still raging outside their windows.

The month of May was a busy one at work, but amidst the chaos they managed to get a weekend away. It wasn't a relaxing vacation, but rather a visit to Chicago so Ben could meet Julia's father.

"What's your dad's name?" Ben asked once they were strapped into their seats on the plane.

"Mr. Daily," Julia answered. "That's what I would recommend calling him until he tells you differently anyway."

Ben smiled. "I think you're more worried about this weekend than I am," he said as the plane taxied to the runway.

Julia didn't deny it. "My dad tends to intimidate people, so he's scared off a lot of guys before. Some of them not even on purpose. That and he doesn't think anyone is good enough for me, so I'm afraid you have your work cut out for you this weekend."

"Is he really that bad?" he asked.

She tried to think of the best way to explain it. Julia's father was an imposing figure both in stature and personality. He was a head taller than the average man, and his broad build and booming voice always made a lasting impression.

His job as an investment banker meant he needed a strong personality, and his hard work and cleverness had gotten him to his position at the top of his company. But despite his power of intimidation over other people, he was a total pushover when it came to his daughter.

"I'm his little girl, and I've been the only family he has left since my mom died," she replied. "He can't help being a little protective."

Ben nodded and took her hand, but still didn't seem worried. "I'm just looking forward to seeing your bedroom, has he kept it just the way you left it?"

She smiled. "We've only lived there since I was in high school, but as far as I know it's still the same. Not that you'll be seeing much of it though, you'll be staying in the guest room." As the plane left the runway, she crossed her fingers for a good weekend.

As it turned out, Ben should have been more concerned about the meeting. From the moment he set eyes on Julia's father he was under scrutiny, inundated with a barrage of questions about everything from his family to his job. Ben never faltered in his responses, but by the end of the first night he was exhausted and rattled.

As the weekend wore on Ben began to worry that he would never get along with Mr. Daily. Julia did her best to keep the conversation going, but her father remained cool and aloof when he spoke to Ben. Just before he lost all hope, Ben had a breakthrough: he looked through the bookcases in the house and noticed all the books on military aircraft. He called on everything he had learned from hours of listening to his grandfather's war stories and struck up a conversation with Julia's father, who was impressed and delighted with his knowledge.

In the end Ben was able to win him over, and Julia was thrilled to get the boyfriend stamp of approval from her father for the first time in her life. He still had a quiet word with her about his concern over their living together without being married, but overall the result was better than she could have hoped.

The return flight back east was much more relaxing, and as the pilot announced their final descent into Reagan National Airport their conversation was calm and casual.

"What made you go to school so far from home?" Ben asked.

Julia remembered the decision she made to move halfway across the country to go to college. Ben had gone to school barely two hours away from home, so she could imagine how difficult it must seem to him. "I had it down to two choices, but my dad always said I should go to the best school I got into. So that's why I became a Hoya."

Ben shook his head. "Couldn't just be the bulldogs could they? Had to be fancy."

She gave him a wry smile before saying, "That's big talk coming from a Nittany Lion."

The beginning of June brought with it lazy days of lounging around outside in the sunshine, and the arrival of an important decision: what class to take at the gym now that their boxing class had ended.

"How about yoga?" Julia asked, flipping through a brochure.

Ben was lying with his head in her lap, his legs dangling off the end of the couch. He gave her a skeptical look. "Not sure I'm bendy enough for yoga."

"I think the point is you do it to become more bendy," she answered with a smile.

He considered this, but was still not convinced. "I don't do so well standing on one foot either," he said, "so why don't we keep that as a maybe."

She continued through the list. "Swimming?"

"Sounds good, but we wouldn't really need a class for that, would we?" he asked.

"Those of us who don't know how to swim might," Julia said. She had always been embarrassed to admit it to Ben, who had been a swimmer and lifeguard all through high school and still regularly swam laps at the gym. "Unless you'd like to teach me that is."

He grinned. "I had to teach a class of little kids once, think I can cope with anything after that. Compared to them you should be easy."

Julia imagined the prospect of getting private lessons from her boyfriend, who would be wearing nothing but his low-slung swimming trunks. "OK fine, you can teach me. Just don't make fun of me for being slower than you, not everyone has feet like big flippers."

Before they knew it the week of the wedding arrived. As the long weekend approached they made sure all the loose ends were tied up at work, which for Julia included a promise to Marilynn that she would call if anything exciting happened. She had gotten off easy: Ben had to spend a night at the office completely reworking the layout of that month's issue before taking it to the printers, the consequence of two staff writers missing their deadlines.

Late Thursday morning, Ben and Julia packed up the car and headed north. The wedding was in the small Pennsylvania town where Ben had grown up, and they had booked a room in the hotel where the reception was being held.

Julia spent the journey poring over the family tree Ben had drawn at her insistence. She was determined to learn the names of everyone in his family before she got there, but she kept getting stuck when she got to the cousins.

"No one is expecting you to know who everyone is, especially before you meet them," he reminded her.

"There are too many men in your family, I'm getting them all mixed up." Julia sighed. "This would be a lot easier if you had put pictures on here, I'm better with names when they have faces."

"Not to mention it's infinitely creepier if you know who everyone is before meeting them," he said with a laugh.

She decided to ignore him, and turned her cheat sheet over to go through the list one last time. "OK, so there are your grandparents on your dad's side, Grandma and Grandpa Wilson. Your dad has three brothers: Charlie, Brian and Carl. Charlie is married to Kristine, Brian to Rita, and Carl to Lisa. Charlie and Kristine have two sons: Peter, who is married to Liz, and Richard who is married to Mia."

Ben nodded, so she continued. "Brian and Rita have three sons: Eric, Scott and Danny. Carl and Lisa have one son named Brandon. Does that cover your dad's side?"

He shook his head in amazement. "I'll bet you got an A in Biology, you're very good at memorizing lists."

She smiled before continuing. "Your grandfather on your mom's side passed away, but your maternal grandmother is Grandma Rosie. Then your mom has a younger sister named Abby, who is married to Ted. They have two sons named Jeff and Luke."

She had gotten to the end of her mental list, and started counting in her head. "So that's grandparents, all four aunts and uncles, all eight cousins and two spouses, plus your parents and your sister who I already know. Did I leave anyone out?"

Ben changed lanes to pass the car ahead of them. "Don't forget Archie."

"Right, and your dog Archie who I also already know." She glanced back at her list, content with herself for learning all the names. "Is there anything I should know about anyone before I meet them?"

Ben took a deep breath and exhaled slowly before answering. "If I tell you one thing about each of my cousins, will you promise to relax?"

"Fine," Julia replied, digging a pen out of her purse to take more notes.

He started at the top of her list and made his way down. "You'll know Peter right away, he's about seven feet tall and usually has to duck to go through doorways."

Julia dutifully made a note of that as he continued. "Richard loves to play practical jokes but he only really knows one. At some point he's going to tell you an outrageous lie about me and try to get you to believe it, so respond as you see fit."

Julia wrote herself a reminder of this, and wondered what the lie would be. She decided to go along with whatever it was and see which one of them cracked first.

"Eric drives a very nice car, and he's extremely proud of it so he'll probably offer to take you for a ride at some point." Julia wrote "autophile" next to his name. She had already decided she would need to destroy her list once she got there in case anyone found it.

"Lately Scott only ever talks about his job, and it sounds like a very boring job so conversations with him tend to be dull." Ben continued.

"What's his job?" she asked as she underlined the word "boring" on her list.

"I have no idea, I've never been able to pay attention long enough to know for sure. I think he's kind of an accountant, but not exactly," he said. "Danny just turned 21, so he's probably going to be challenging people to drinking contests. Under no circumstances should you participate, he'll drink you under the table in under a minute."

Julia made the proper notation. She was starting to wonder if all families were like this, or if Ben's was particularly interesting.

"Then there's Brandon, who is probably the nicest person you'll ever meet." He waited for her to make a note of this before he continued. "Unfortunately he's in Switzerland right now, so he won't be joining us." She crossed the name off the list, content with one less to remember.

"So that leaves Jeff, who has entered his awkward teenage years and probably won't speak to you. And then Luke, who is seven years old and already a heartbreaker. Just don't let his innocent routine fool you, and watch where he puts his hands."

Julia looked over the notes she had made on her list, matching names with personality traits. "So basically your family is composed of a bunch of boring alcoholic liars, is that it?" she asked with a smile.

Ben laughed. "They're all very nice, just some of them can get a little carried away. But be warned: they're all excited to meet you, and they'll all want to dance with you."

Julia nodded; he had already told her about his family's collective enthusiasm for dancing, and she was prepared to keep up with them as best she could. She was still having trouble picturing Ben doing the same though: she had heard stories of his high school swim meets and how often he lost his balance and fell off the starting block, so the thought of him doing anything as coordinated as dancing was beyond her imagination.

"If you were on my list, what would I write next to your name?" She asked as she folded the paper and tucked it away in her purse.

"Nice guy, just don't try anything or his girlfriend will take you down," he answered with a grin.

Soon they were crossing the state line, and not long after they left the interstate for local streets. Their first stop was the hotel where they would be staying that weekend, and after they stretched their legs and unpacked their bags they made their way to Ben's parents' house.

They were barely inside the door before a hand attached itself around Julia's wrist and started pulling her toward the stairs. By way of greeting, Alison whisked her away to an upstairs bedroom to try on her bridesmaid dress and make sure her shoes fit.

There was no mistaking that Alison and Ben were related: they both had piercing blue eyes, and Alison's chin-length hair was the same thick light brown as her brother's. They even had the same warm smile and infectious laugh. But unlike Ben, Alison seemed to have an inner grace and poise that permeated every movement she made. She bustled around the bedroom, her words flowing as smoothly as the rest of her body.

"There shouldn't be any problems, but if there are I have a few people on hand who can fix them," Alison chirped as she pulled a garment bag from the closet. She unzipped it to reveal a silky dress in a deep pink, and tossed a shoebox on the bed beside it.

Julia balked at the height of the heels she would have to wear, but slipped into the dress without any trouble. Meanwhile Alison busied herself around the room, keeping up a running dialogue the whole time.

She helped Julia zip up the dress and slip on the shoes before standing back and looking everything over with a critical eye. After scanning every inch, she gave a satisfied nod. "Perfect! I'll just go see how Benji is getting along with his tux, and then I'll introduce you to the other bridesmaids."

Julia, alone in the sudden silence, realized she had yet to say a word since arriving.

Once she was back in her own clothes, the dress safe in the closet, Alison took her outside where several people were mingling around a grill and a table of food, enjoying the summer sunshine. Julia just had time to say hello to Ben's parents and give his dog a pat on the head before being thrust into a small group of women.

"I'd like you to meet my maid of honor Claire," Alison began, indicating the shorter of the two. Her red hair fell just past her shoulders, framing her smiling face.

"And my other bridesmaid Kim," Alison continued, pointing to a tall brunette with a slim build. "Ladies, this is Julia." Alison made the introduction and then immediately ran off to check on some other pressing matter, leaving Julia to get to know them on her own.

"You must be the new girl Ben has been seeing," said Kim, her mouth stretched into what was supposed to be a smile. Her tone made it sound like Ben was with a different woman every week and Julia could only nod in response.

"It's very nice to meet you, Alison has told us so much about you," said Claire with a genuine smile on her kind face. Julia liked her immediately, and asked how long she had known Alison. The two of them fell into comfortable conversation as Kim looked on warily.

"So, how long have you and Ben been together?" Kim interrupted, sweeping her unruly brown hair behind her ears.

"About six months," Julia replied. She got another warm smile from Claire, but only a smug laugh from Kim.

"So you two are still just getting acquainted then," Kim said. "I probably know him better than anyone else, so if you have any questions you should come talk to me."

As she spoke her eyes wandered back to the house, and lit up with what she saw. She excused herself, saying she wanted to say hello to someone, and when Julia turned around she saw Kim making a beeline toward Ben. She threw her arms around his neck, and Ben flinched before gingerly patting her on the back.

"Alison's oldest friend," Claire explained gently, following Julia's gaze. "She's lived next door her whole life, that's how she knows them."

Julia was busy watching the body language. Ben was standing with his arms folded across his chest looking uncomfortable, his eyes darting around in a desperate search for someone else to talk to. Kim didn't seem to notice, and was instead taking every opportunity to touch Ben's arm as she spoke.

"I'm not sure he likes her very much," Claire added, and Julia was glad to see that someone else had noticed too. As they watched they saw Ben make his escape to help his dad with the grill; Kim pouted, then went inside the house.

"I seem to invite drama everywhere I go," Julia said with a sigh. "I just got here and already someone doesn't like me."

"I wouldn't take it personally. Before you came out she was asking me why I thought I'm the maid of honor instead of her."

Julia was perfectly happy to stay talking to Claire, who turned out to be Alison's best friend from high school. She had just finished her first year as an elementary school teacher, and had an endless supply of stories to tell.

Neither of them knew who everyone else was, but between the two of them they were able to identify and compare notes on most of the other guests. Julia spotted a gawky-looking teenager standing by the house and correctly identified him as Ben's cousin Jeff, and Claire was able to introduce the groom's parents when they walked by.

Periodically Ben would come over and talk to them or introduce someone, but he would never stay long. Almost as soon as he came over to check in someone new would arrive and he would go over to say hello. Alison was also keeping him busy, and between greeting friends and family and running small errands he was never in one place for very long.

"Ben seems...different," Claire said thoughtfully at one point, twisting a lock of her auburn hair between her fingers.

"Mm, he's a little more of a social butterfly than usual. But then again he does know everyone here," Julia said with a shrug.

"It's not just that. He always struck me as being kinda quiet, but he seems to be much more outgoing now," she replied. "He seems so, well, happy."

Julia watched as an incredibly tall man snuck up on Ben and gave him an enthusiastic bear hug from behind. She laughed at Ben's vain attempt to flip his cousin Peter over his shoulder, and realized that her boyfriend did seem to be happier lately.