Romance: Love Left Behind - A Mystery Romance: (Romance, Mystery, Mystery Romance, Romantic Suspense) Read Free

herself firmly on an extremely bushy area of grass, but the slight grimace on her face gave way to the realization that her behind was just as wet and soggy as Ben’s. 
    He reached out, slid his arm around her shoulders, and pulled her in towards him.  She turned her face and their lips met, softly at first, then stronger, hungrier, needier.  He used his tongue to push her mouth open, sinking himself into her depths.  Her tongue responded and together they danced and twirled like their owners had at prom just hours before.  A low moan escaped from Ben; he pushed his mouth harder onto Starla’s, then his body, until he lay on top of her, pressing her into the ground.
    She wrapped her legs around him, her plum dress rising, her pale thighs shining white in the moonlight.  Their kiss continued, growing more and more fierce.  Ben wanted her so badly, wanted her in a way that he had never wanted anything else.  It was love and lust and everything in between.
    But then Starla’s legs dropped and she turned her head, murmuring, “I can’t, Ben.  Not right now.  Not like this.”
    And he remembered.  She wanted to wait, wanted it to be special.  He wanted to wait with her, for her.  She was worth it, his Starla.  She was worth every moment of his life.
    “It’s alright, babe.  I understand.”  He released her, and then rolled over so he was next to her.  His hand snaked down her side, grabbing hers.
    “Over the summer, maybe,” she said.
    His heart skipped a beat.  “You know that won’t work, Starla.”
    “It could.”
    “It can’t.  It won’t.”  Ben took a deep breath, and released it, shaking the air.  “I’m going to New York City for school, and I need to leave early so I can make sure I get a nice place to live.  I’ve already started apartment searching.  I’m leaving at the end of June at the very latest.”
    Starla didn’t answer, just squeezed her fingers a little tighter against his.  The silence set back in and for a few minutes neither of them spoke.  They just stared at the sky, at the hundreds of thousands of stars glittering up above them.  The universe seemed so vast and they were so small, so Ben couldn’t figure out how, in this grandiose world, the girl next to him meant everything to him. 
    “Come with me,” he said, already anticipating her answer.  It was a conversation that they had been through before, months ago when Ben received his acceptance letter to NYU.  He had brandished the letter in his hand as he had knocked excitedly on Starla’s front door, only to be met with a face of defeat.
    “You know that’s not possible.”
    “It is.  I want you to come with me, Star.  We can get a little apartment.  You can find some work and I’ll go to school.  We can be together.  You know how badly I want that, don’t you?  For us to be together?”  Ben let go of her hand so he could prop himself up on one arm.  He stared deep into those green eyes that he had fallen in love with and felt his heart jerk when he saw that they were full of pain.  “Please, Starla.  I want to give you everything you deserve.”
    There was a slight stretching of skin as she withdrew her fingers from his.  She sat up, wrapping her arms around her slightly shivering frame.  “But Lisa,” she said simply, letting the rest of her sentence fall away into the dark. 
    Lisa…now Ben knew that Starla would never leave that small town of Bellen, New Jersey as long as Lisa was still around.  She was Starla’s younger sister, only sixteen years old, and suffered from a condition known as Hutchinson-Guilford Progeria Syndrome.  Basically, Lisa’s body looked and acted like the body of an elderly woman.  She was stiff, couldn’t move easily.  Her skin was paper-thin and tore easily.  Worst of all, Lisa had heart disease.  She wasn’t going to live for a long time.
    The two sisters had grown up as close friends despite the difference in appearance and lifestyle.