“Can I sit with you, please?” I fidgeted with the skirt of the short summer dress Levana coaxed me to wear after lunch. Although I wasn’t comfortable with the scars on my arms and legs, her gentle smile told me to appreciate my body for just being alive.
“You don’t have to ask permission to sit, Ella.” Xavier cocked his head to one side, smiling. “Come.” He patted his thigh, and I frowned. His laugh soft, he spread his legs to the edges of the chair and waited.
I looked toward the pool. With Levana’s back to his chest, Saint massaged her breast while sucking on her neck. My cheeks heated. When I looked away, Xavier was watching me. I couldn’t see his eyes behind the shades, so I had no idea where he was looking. Aware that he knew what I’d seen, my insides flamed with embarrassment.
“Sit, love.” He patted the space between his legs.
Climbing on, I rested my back against his chest and kept my hands in my lap. Xavier lowered his book and began reading again as I admired the view. The entire building was made of glass with a blue tint. While the sun drifted in from the roof, one side overlooked the ocean I’d seen from my window and couldn’t wait to visit. The other opened into pretty gardens filled with different colored flowers and trees I began painting before the miscarriage. The third one faced tall imposing mountains that would make pretty landscape paintings.
Without meaning, too, my gaze drifted to the pool. Saint was now standing in the water with Levana seated on the edge, her legs wrapped around his body, their mouths locked in a passionate kiss. Xavier’s free hand sliding under my arms to curve around my stomach had me averting my gaze. Whether my body grew hotter from watching the other two kissing, or the weight of that muscular arm on me, I had no idea and resisted the urge to squirm.
My gaze dropped to the page Xavier held open. I began reading with him, my hand unconsciously moving over his hand lying on my stomach, my fingers digging into his skin. The crime scene was intense, detailed, and bloody. He was about to turn the page, and I stopped his finger, wanting to finish.
“Enjoying it?” His chuckle rumbled through his chest, vibrating over me.
“Yes,” I replied distractedly, turning the page for him. Oblivious to the sounds around us, we continued reading until the couple in the book began kissing. I felt a sudden shyness creep over me, but I didn’t want Xavier to know, so I remained still until...
“I said get on my fucking cock, girl.” My dick ached, my muscles spasming with agonizing tension. I felt my balls squeeze and contract...I blinked, skipping lines, aware of the sharp throbbing between my legs...I thrust up hard, forcing myself as deep as her body would take me. “Do you like that, baby girl?” I hissed as I kept moving, biting her bottom lip...
I bit my lip, wanting to keep reading yet conscious of the hard chest at my rear and even breaths in my ear, and as I did, I became aware of the slow circular motions of Xavier’s thumb on my stomach. The squeeze of my thighs was involuntary, the sudden wetness in my knickers, not so much.
Biting on a moan gliding down my throat, I turned away. Saint and Levana were gone. I couldn’t help being envious of what she had with Saint, hoping to have the same one day. My gaze latching onto the tattooed arm holding me, I traced the patterns with my eyes, wondering if they meant anything.
“Are you okay?” the husky whisper had me squeezing my eyes shut, the deep voice adding to that thrum between my legs.
Unsure why I did, I leaned my head on his shoulder to look up at him. “Please teach me how to kiss?”
The only response I felt was his abdomen muscles contracting behind my back. Wanting to see what he was thinking, I removed his sunglasses. Through the loops in my stomach and the chaos in my mind, I noticed how the sun touched the deep blue tones in his eyes, making them challenge the hue of the water from the pool.
Lowering the book to the floor, he took the glasses from my hand and set it down on the book then his eyes caressed my face. There was no anger, just the usual warmth, and I might be wrong, a hint of arousal lurking in the shadows.
“Why?”
I shrugged. “A mother’s kiss and a lover’s kiss are so different, yet both have the power to heal. From the movies I watched, I believe a kiss can probably makeyour pulse race, your skin sing, and your heart flip the perfect handspring without toppling over.” My gaze dropped to his lips. “I want to feel that.”
“Why me?” he asked, his knuckles grazing a heated path down my arm. If it weren’t for his chest supporting my back, I would’ve dropped to the floor in a shaking mess.
Swallowing, my lids drifted downward, letting the feel of his touch sink into my soul. Never had I felt this safe, this special, like I belonged. For so long, I’d wished my life had been different, that I’d been given more love, that Mama had stayed for longer and taught me about love, a woman’s body, and its natural responses. Yet this man’s touch alone wiped that desire with a blink, stirring sensations I’d never felt before or thought possible.
“Because you make me feel things I’ve never felt before,” I said aloud. “Things I can’t explain, but know they make me desperate to feel your touch. Things that make me question how a woman should respond to the perfect man.”
His gentle laugh kissed my ears. “I’m not the perfect man.”
“To me, you are,” I replied without hesitation. He was so quiet I lifted my gaze to meet his again.
“And what if I kissed you here?” His finger traced a slow line along my neck.
“I don’t think it would be the same,” I said despite the shiver skating down my spine.
His face inched closer, his warm breath blew over my lips. My breath caught in my throat. “Never underestimate the supremacy of a kiss to your neck, Ella.”
To prove his words, he placed a soft kiss where my neck met my shoulder, his warm lips fire against my skin. Goosebumps tickled my flesh. I couldn’t stop the shudder that shook my body or the gasp that flew out my mouth.
I’d known only one mouth over mine as Master’s guests weren’t allowed to kiss me. Still, he’d rarely kissed, and when he did, it was an agonizing shove of his tongue followed by biting my lip until it bled. With just a simple touch of his lips to my neck, Xavier had arousal seeping through every inch of my skin, my chest rising and falling quickly to gather oxygen.
“Breathe, love.”
I tried. I was trembling too much because his hand on my stomach drew lazy circles over my dress. All my awareness focused on that area, anticipation swirling over my heated skin until his fingers slid upward to close around my neck, squeezing lightly. I felt no fear, only needing him to stop the pain between my legs. His thick fingers forced my chin to tilt upward, and he stroked his thumb along my bottom lip. I held my breath, not knowing what to expect as time stood still between us. My skin heated, my body growing sensitive to his touch, while his scent, the essence of desire—if desire had a smell—had me forgetting everything but him.
