Page 46 of Claiming Xan
Guilt and shame flooded in. Growling under my breath at my own stupid thoughts, I silenced my phone, then rolled onto my side and attempted to take a nap, but my thoughts just kept circling the drain.
Later that evening, when Xan came home from work, I was still in a mood—and Xan could tell.
“Hey, why don’t you help me rearrange Kace’s old room and we can move our stuff in there?” He smiled at me, big and bright and sunshine-y, like he hadn’t just gotten off an eight-hour shift. Did the guy never get tired?
“Why?”
“Well, for one, it’s the biggest room in the house besides the master bedroom. For two, we’d have our own private bathroom.” He winked at me. I huffed a laugh despite my attitude. “For three, we need a room that’s ours, and Kace’s bed is a king. So all we need to do is jockey some furniture around and set it up the way we like it and voila! Insta-bedroom.”
I had to admit, I liked the idea of sharing a room with my mate, even though he’d been sleeping in my room the past couple of nights. But this would beourroom. A shared space, not just the guest bedroom that I was occupying.
So we got to work, and of course, I did all the grunt-work with Xan barking orders from the doorway like the little twink prince he was—“A little to the left, no, too far!”—but it made me smile, and when I finally collapsed on the bed, I felt a bit better.
Xan snuggled in beside me. “Look at this. It’s all ours. It’s nice,” he said with a happy hum.
“It is,” I agreed softly.
He craned his neck so that he was looking at me. “What’s bugging you, River?” Damn. Astute as always.
“Hmm? Nothing.”
“Liar,” he shot back. “Something’s on your mind. Wanna talk about it? You know I’m here to listen.”
I sighed and closed my eyes. “It’s just my brother. Nothing major, just some leftover guilt, I guess.”
“Do you miss him?” Xan asked.
I laughed, abrupt in the quiet of the room. “Not as much as I should? Is that awful of me or what?”
“Riv…” His tone went soft. His hand found my chest, rubbing slow circles, and my eyes found his once more. They were gentle and warm, like melted chocolate, and just as sweet. God, could he be any more perfect?
“It’s not awful. Your bond is fractured already, and the only way to gain clarity was to separate. This is your clarity,” he said.
“Yeah.”
Xan rolled closer, into my space, and kissed me. It was quick, over before it’d even begun, and I growled when he pulled away. I wanted more, damn it, but he was smirking.
“You know what would make you feel better?” He slithered down the bed until he was kneeling between my thighs, his hand cupping me through my jeans in a way that had my dick instantly perking up.
My gaze darted to the closed door. “Xan. Your mom will hear,” I warned.
Xan simply shrugged. “Let her. We’re mates, baby. But if you’re worried, we could play a little game… Let’s see just how quiet you can be with your cock down my throat, hmm?”
Licking his lips, he popped the button and slowly unzipped my pants, freeing me. His slim fingers wrapped around my shaft as he began to stroke, and I bit down on my bottom lip, my gazeboring into my beautiful mate as he parted his lips and licked a stripe up the underside of my cock.
I had to swallow a moan. “You play dirty.”
“Oh, baby, I know,” Xan drawled, flicking his tongue along my crown. “But you love it.”
God, I did. I really did.
27
XAN
Today was a great day.
I was delightfully sore from the good, hard pounding River gave me last night and wrung out from the mutual blowjobs this morning—god, how did I ever live without this?
