Page 66 of Lessons with the Mothman

I clamped my hand over my mouth as I screamed, annoyed and delighted at his mastery over my body, still as shocked by the orgasm as I had been the first time but too busy swirling and drowning in sensation to care. Elias threw himself down onto me, his hands pulling on my hair, body weighing me to the mattress, pinning me for his thrusts as he groaned in relief.

The warm, dark pleasure I took when he came blended with my own heady satisfaction, my body still quaking around his, his jerks and shudders slowing until he lay unapologetically on top of me, my breath tight with his weight, but my body so sweetly relaxed.

"Your dirty talk is so…psychological," I mused, stroking his back, loving the feel of the feather soft velvet of his wings on the backs of my hands.

"Victoria," Elias sighed, and then he hushed me with a licking kiss. I recalled our conversation about aftercare and decided he probably preferred a quiet cuddle to my sexual analysis. I wrapped him tighter in my arms. He pulled from the kiss with a final brush of his lips and then rolled us to the side.

"The more I talk, the tighter you get," Elias said simply. He was quiet for a few moments, and then he gathered my hair in his hand, twisting it and lifting it from my sweaty neck, letting the cooler air of the room soothe my bare back. When did he learn how much I liked that?

"WasBrettreally so bad in bed?" Elias asked, and there was something about the words that came out grudgingly.

I shrugged. "I don't know. It was a relationship that should've ended in high school. Except I didn't know how to…even communicate with myself, let alone with him. And he andmy parents and his parents all seemed to think we belonged together, so that was what I thought too."

"You speak your mind to me easily enough," Elias said and then stiffened. "Don't you?"

I nodded and kissed the center of his chest. "And you listen." I smiled as he relaxed once more. "He's marrying my younger sister."

Elias almost sat up, but we were too tangled together, so he put me on my back once more and stared down at me. "I beg your pardon?"

I laughed. "I know how it sounds, but I think they make sense." He arched an eyebrow and I flushed. "For real this time. I've talked it out with Emma. They really are happier."

"And you don't mind?"

"No," I said, and then considered his question more carefully. "I don't mind. I don't look forward to what other people in our family circle will think or act or how they'll look at me. But Emma and Brett being happy together makes it feel like I made less of a mistake."

"You didn't make a mistake," Elias said roughly.

"I mean by staying so long." He humphed and I smiled, greedily combing my fingers through his hair and mane. He was so wonderfully soft to the touch. "The fallout was bad at the time. No one thought I'd made the right choice when I broke up with Brett. And even though I knew I had, I couldn't help but feel like it was because there was something wrong with me." I covered his lips before he could object on my behalf. "I've unraveled that in therapy. So we're all better off now. I'm going with Emma to look at wedding dresses next weekend."

Elias relaxed and slid down the bed slightly so that he could leave damp kisses on my throat and shoulders.

"I knew from the start I could make you come," he said, and I snorted at his easy arrogance. "You either need your mindsilenced or it needs to be engaged, that's all. Left to wander, and it will distract you from your own pleasure."

"A very logical conclusion. What is your prescription?" I asked, smiling.

Elias lifted up, black eyes possessing my gaze, holding me trapped beneath him. "Why, myself, of course," he said, voice low and dark. He shifted, and my legs parted for him automatically. "I know your body, Victoria, and I am learning your mind. I am your lover now, and I mean to excel at the job."

I shivered, a wary note whistling at the back of my mind, but my body was already yearning in his direction, arching for his touch, trembling as his fur grazed against my breasts and belly. His mouth covered mine and swallowed my moan.

The warning bellgrew louder by little increments.

I miss you. Any chance you'll come for a drink tonight?

I stared at the first three words of the text, trying to shake off the unsettled mix of excitement and confusion. I'd just left Elias's this morning. It hadn't even been a full day.

At the library till close and I've got an early morning. Tomorrow night?

I watched the text bubble float for a few moments.

I'll be patient if I must.

I rolled my eyes and fought my smile.

Brave of you.

Rafe's first supper club is coming up next month. 11.15. Make sure to schedule yourself off.

I stiffened. Next month. Two weeks ago, we'd been planning hookups on a sparse schedule, and now Elias wanted me in his bed every night and at his friend's debut supper club event in amonth.

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