476

Book:Mafia Desire (Erotica) Published:2024-6-4

The next morning Ben watched the crane lifting in the I-beams for the second floor and saw them bolted and welded in place. When he began to get fidgety he was shooed away once again.
He went back to his engineering puzzle and set up a test program to run simulations.
Once more Lucy had to find him at dinner time and drag him upstairs to join them. Ben smiled when he saw Ashley and her kids had joined them. Her girls burst into giggles when they saw him.
“What?” Ben asked looking at them.
“Your hair!” Savannah and Madison snorted.
“My hair? What’s wrong with my hair?”
Lucy went to the bathroom and returned with a hand mirror which she handed to him. “Ben, it may be time you got a haircut.”
He looked and saw his hair at his temples was curling up like two devil horns. He snorted. “Oh, that’s because I was unconsciously playing with my hair while I watched the simulations run.” He tried to flatten the hair down but it refused to lie flat. “OK, maybe a haircut is in order,” he admitted with a grin.
“Momma can cut your hair! She cuts ours!” Madison insisted.
Ashley looked at Madison in surprise then turned to Ben with a big smile. “May I cut your hair for you? I’d love the opportunity to repay you a little for all the wonderful things you’ve done for us!”
Ben looked at the smiling faces across the table and nodded. “Sure, that would be nice. You have a bowl large enough for my head?” he said with a grin.
“Hey! I’m an expert! I have bowls of all sizes,” Ashley fired back making Ben chuckle and tip his head to acknowledge her win.
It was spaghetti with rich meat sauce for dinner and dinner rolls with garlic butter. Ashley said grace while everyone held hands. Karen and Penny were wide eyed as they’d never done that before. The food was delicious and Karen was the recipient of thanks for making the meal. She gave thanks to Tina for watching her so diligently and ensuring she got it right. Ben gave Tina a round of applause as well. She smiled at him, her eyes shining with love.
Talk during dinner revolved around the courses they were taking in college and the progress on Ben’s renovation. He grumbled a little at not being allowed to participate in his own project. That led to talking about the fact that he was going on a short vacation to avoid the temptation to join the renovation team.
Once dinner was over Ben was excused from dishwashing duty so he could follow Ashley and the kids over to her place. Ashley sent the kids upstairs to get ready for bed, Madison taking Joshua with her. She then directed Ben to the kitchen while she went to get her haircutting kit.
She returned with a frown on her face. “I seriously doubt the cape is going to fit you as it’s a kid size one for the girls,” Ashley said as she held up the small fabric shawl.
“Yeah, you’re right.”
“You should take off the sweater so it doesn’t get full of hair,” she suggested.
“Sure,” he said and pulled it up and over his head. His white undershirt stuck to the sweater so he was topless in the kitchen.
“Oh!” Ashley squeaked quietly as she took in Ben’s wide, muscular chest.
And the scars. The ones her deceased husband had inflicted. Ashley hadn’t seen the final result of the attack so she stood frozen, unable to move except her eyes which moved from scar to scar, unable to understand how Ben had survived. Tears began to well up in her eyes. “Oh Ben…” she whispered.
Ben suddenly realized his shirt had come off. He tried to pull the clinging garments apart and cover himself at the same time but Ashley blocked him as her hand went out to touch the largest scar near his heart.
“Oh Ben, I’m so sorry…” she continued softly.
“It wasn’t your fault,” he responded gruffly. “You aren’t to blame for any of these. Please don’t cry.”
Ashley’s bottom lip was trembling and her hands were shaking. A tear dripped from her eyelash and ran down her cheek. Ben dropped his twisted up sweater on the kitchen table and pulled her into a hug as he didn’t know what else to do. She gasped as she was pressed against the broad, warm expanse of his chest. Her arms naturally wrapped around his back and she breathed in deeply, enjoying his clean, masculine scent. Eli had always smelled a little sour which might have been due to his drinking.
They stood like that for some time. Just holding each other, enjoying the comfort of each other’s touch. When Ben eventually pulled back Ashley made an involuntary noise of protest and blushed when she realized it had come from her. They glanced over to the doorway and saw Savannah and Madison watching them with wide eyes. It was Ben’s turn to blush as he turned to reach for his sweater again.
“Oh my gosh! What happened to your chest!” Madison gasped.
“Madison!” Ashley scolded the girl.
“No, it’s alright. It’s just scarring from my injuries. They’re all healed and I’m fine now,” Ben said with a gentle smile.
“Are- are these from when daddy attacked you?” Savannah said quietly.
Ben looked at the young girl and nodded. “Well, most of them. Some are from another man who attacked me with a knife and the ones on my back are from the man who shot at me with a shotgun.”
The girl’s eyes went huge and they rushed into the kitchen to see Ben’s back. Ashley looked as well.
“Why are there five scars? He shot at you more than once?” Madison asked.
“No, he was using a shotgun which sends out a whole lot of small pellets at once in a spray. I was lucky to be far enough away and moving so only five of the pellets hit my back. The smaller scars are from when I fell off my bicycle and got all scratched up,” he explained.
“How did you survive all these injuries?” Ashley breathed.
Ben thought about that for a second. “I have a lot to live for,” he finally said with a smile.
Ashley’s smile was dazzling and Ben’s eyes widened in delight. She blushed and looked to her daughters. “Shouldn’t you two be in your beds now?”