Page 45 of Phoenix Academy: Mayhem

"Never."

And I find that I mean it, heart and soul. About each of them in their own way. Xavier's quiet trustworthiness and incredible intelligence, Reggie's infectious laugh and spontaneity, and David's brooding nature that hides a deeply caring soul—I want them with me, now and always.

Until the day is done and the goddess rests.

Walking around the picnic table, I slide onto the bench on Xavier's side and throw my legs into his lap. As the moon lights his face and reflects in the deep pools of his eyes, I gaze at him, my heart fluttering and beating wildly.

"You're not as alone as you think," I reassure him. "I love you, Xavier Black. I really, really swear that I do."

"I love you too, Ari."

His hand curves around my neck as we kiss. I sink into his mouth, hard shivers going down my back, heat curling inside me like a big cat by a fire. Xavier's tongue is patient but insistent, diving between my lips and stroking desire within me. I respond to his kiss with movements of my own, enjoying the hardness I feel between his legs as I press my body against him.

Putting his hands on my waist, he draws me into his lap and swings his legs over the bench of the picnic table. Then he carries me a few paces over and sets me down in the soft embrace of freshly fallen leaves. My legs instinctively go around his hips as he braces himself above me, panting at the breaking of our kiss, looking deep into my eyes.

"Do you think... without that magic..."

"That I could fuck you?" I raise my brows and wriggle my body against him, enjoying the flush of heat that crosses his expression. "Xavier, I've wanted you since the first time I saw you shirtless. And every time since."

To demonstrate, I curl my fingertips into his flexed biceps and cup the strength of his shoulders in my palms. He groans, hips flexing down, his cock a hard length inside his sweatpants. Fingers finding the bottom edge of my night shirt, Xavier pulls it off and reveals the pink flush of my naked breasts beneath.

Sliding down my body, he dips his mouth to my nipples and sucks them between his lips. I gasp and cry out at the sensation, so much more aggressive and alive here, in the real world, with the chill of late autumn on my skin and no magic to dull my senses. The brush of his teeth and tongue against the pink of my nipples leaves them wet and hard as his mouth draws lower to suck and kiss the skin just below my belly button.

"Oh my god... Xavier..."

His fingers crook into the waistband of my pajama bottoms and yank them down to my knees. Leaves rustle and crinkle underneath me as I kick them the rest of the way off, heat stretching from my cheekbones to my clavicles at the scandalous reality of what we're doing. Here we both are, in the middle of the woods where anyone could stumble on us, my body naked and aroused beneath his touch.

"You're beautiful," he says, just before he dips his mouth between my thighs and presses his plush lips against my vulnerable skin. I shiver, and his hands brush against my waist, filling me with warmth. "I can't believe you're mine, Ari. In my wildest dreams I couldn't have imagined you."

"Same," I confess.

Then I part my thighs for his mouth and throw my head back as his strong lips and wet tongue press against me. He strokes his tongue inside me and holds my bucking hips down with strong hands, licking and sucking at my lower lips and clit until I'm gasping and crying out, not caring who might overhear. My fingers cup his head and dig between the edges of his braids, urging him on, his hair brushing up against me just like his mouth.

As I moan and shudder beneath his touch, Xavier reaches one hand beneath his sweatpants and strokes at his hardness. Wetting my lips, I part them and gasp, "Your cock. Fuck me with it."

His head snaps up, his eyes reflecting the crescent of the moon, pupils blown with desire. "Say that again."

"Please." I whimper and wriggle beneath him. "Fuck me with your cock, Xavier."

He growls, the sound half-animalistic, his eyes briefly reflecting light just like the panther that leaves beneath his skin. It's erotic and tantalizing, a promise of the raw strength and hunger he possesses.

"Who am I to deny a lady?" With a white flash of his teeth, he throws his sweatpants off to reveal the full glory of his naked body. "Your wish is my greatest desire."

I giggle a little. "Somehow I think it's your desire too, based on how hard you are."

"Guilty."

Scooping his hands beneath my thighs, he pulls my lower body up off the ground and wraps me around his waist, his legs bent at the knees. Then he lines his cock up with my lower entrance and teases my with it briefly before pressing one hand against the ground for leverage and stroking inside my wet, willing body.

I gasp as his cock pierces me.

The head of it is flared, pushing my lower lips apart and filling me in ways that make whimpers leave my lips. I know we did this before, can remember every inch of his shaft driving inside me, but this time it feels different. This body—my real body—has never had him inside before, and in a way it feels like losing my virginity all over again.

My fingers curl against his shoulders and I cry out as he strokes inside me with a grunt, his shaft parting my body and diving inside. Xavier pauses, eyes wild, pants leaving his breath, clearly concerned. But it's pleasure that fills me, not pain—pleasure and a kind of agony at the feeling of doing this all over again from the start.

Pushing my heels against his back, I urge him on. "Fuck me like you know you want to. I'm okay."

"You sure?"

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