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“Don’t be.” His thumbs rubbed circles against her skin. Tender, reassuring. “It surprised me, but I enjoyed it. It’s…” He trailed off, searching for the right word. “I appreciate a female who knows what she wants and is eager to discover more. Besides,” His gaze dropped back between her legs and a wicked grin stretched across his lips. “I have discovered things about you. Which reminds me…”

A shot of pure electricity raced through her as Baxian’s tongue found her clit and flicked against it. She squealed and bucked her hips in pure reflex. The uncertainty that had momentarily plagued her vanished, obliterated by his eagerness. Anyfaux passhe’d made was swept away by a tide of desire. The way he sought her pleasure, hungered for it, made her skin tingle and the pressure building in her core knot tighter.

“This magical spot.” He placed a kiss against it for emphasis before pulling back just slightly to stare up at her. “What a delight.” His blue eyes almost glowed where he loomed between her legs.

That look alone would haunt her wickedest dreams for years to come.

They hooded further, glittering with mischief. “Perhaps if I…” He took her clit between his lips and sucked.

“Oh, God!” Aivey screamed.

He growled against her pussy. “There are no Gods here. Just me.”

Then he shoved two fingers deep into her pussy and Aivey shattered. “Baxian!”

The sudden intrusion, the fullness of him inside her, combined with his lips against her clit sent her soaring into the stars. She gripped his horns, fingers tangled in his hair, holding on for dear life as her release rocketed through her in wave after wave. Baxian didn’t let up and continued to stroke her with his tongue and fingers, drawing out the pleasure until her whole body was twitching with ecstasy. At some point, she must have closed her eyes because when she opened them again the room spun, and it had nothing to do with the drinks she’d consumed that evening.

From between her legs, Baxian looked up at her again, wetness glistening on his bluish lips as he grinned. The thrust of his fingers slowed, drawing her back to him in a smooth rhythm. “There’s my little Earthean,” he crooned.

His Earthean.Yes, she was. She wanted to be. Stars above, no one and nothing had ever made her feel quite like that, and she hadn’t even had his cock inside her yet.

When he finally pulled his fingers free, she immediately mourned their loss. Not that she could do more than whimper, given the boneless, panting mess she’d become.

Baxian sat on the bed beside her and leaned over. With the back of his long fingers, he traced a path down her cheek, along her jaw, the column of her neck, and between her breasts. “You flush such a lovely shade, like the petals of the Lal’ae flower, and you’re even softer.”

The Lal’ae flower. Deep inside her chest, something unfurled, long tendrils spilling open like the petals of the flower itself. He didn’t know,couldn’tknow, that it was her favorite. That during many of her research expeditions, she’d slipped away from her group at night just to wander through the valley in search of the elusive blooms that would close back up into tight buds when the sunlight touched them. They could not be pried open either, not with the tiny needle-like fibers along the back side of the petals. Those fibers could pierce many fabrics and cut skin as easily as a sharp blade. The flowers only bloomed on their terms when they felt the safest.

“Baxian,” she whispered, awed.

Something soft and tender broke across his face. He cupped her cheek, rubbing his thumb across her skin. “Those flowers are beautiful, as are you. You know them?”

She gave the smallest nod. “Yes, from the Crathian mountains.”

He mirrored her nod. “A secret bloom some call them, as many never wander out in the darkness to see them, but I’m glad I did.” The way he looked at her, how his sapphire eyes seemed to reach into her soul, said he was no longer talking about the flower.

“Do you still want me, Aivey?” He caressed her cheek.

And she knew with a certainty that if she said no, he’d make no argument and would let her walk out the door. But she had no intention of that. He’d awakened something in her, a fearlessness and courage that she thought perhaps she simply lacked. Maybe it was because he made her feel safe and desired. She wasn’t about to miss the chance to be with someone like that and soak in as much of that feeling as she could.

Aivey pushed herself up until their faces were a breath apart. His hand had fallen away as she moved, but she cupped his cheek now and smiled. “Yes. I want to know all of you, Baxian.”

She closed the last of the distance between them and kiss him. Not hard and fast, not with the eagerness coursing through her veins, but softly, tenderly, like the gentle side of that delicate bloom that opened itself up to the cool night air.

The kiss transformed from sweet to searing as they scooted further toward the center of the sumptuous bed, never breaking apart. If anything, they found a way to move as one, Aivey’s nipples grazing the firm planes of Baxian’s chest in a repeated tease that she could only assume was somehow deliberate. Their sensuous dance made it easy for Aivey to hook her legs around Baxian’s hips, bringing her aching center against the muscles of his lower abdomen. Unlike most Earthean males, he had no body hair but was just smooth, hard flesh and muscle. She gasped against his lips as her backside met his hard length, which he thrust lightly against her.

Baxian eased her back onto the fluffy bedspread before covering her with his body, careful to keep much of his weight on his arms so as not to crush her into the mattress.

With one last kiss and a flick of his tongue against her lips, Baxian pulled back, rising on his knees between her spread legs. He took himself in hand, stroking from the base all the way to the tip where a bead of pearlescent moisture glistened.

Aivey watched in rapture as he positioned himself at her entrance. When the head of his cock pushed against her, she bit her lip, her body tensing in anticipation laced with uncertainty. He was massive compared to any male she’d had before. Could he fit? Would he?

It’d be a terrible turn to the evening if they were somehow incompatible and she couldn’t give him the same pleasure he’d given her, at least not without leaving him partially unfulfilled given his biological needs.

“Eyes on me, little beauty.”

Baxian smirked down at her, the portrait of a confident male who knew he’d enraptured her. The was no uncertainty there. No question. He believed they were compatible and that surety gave her body what it needed to relax as he pressed the tip inside her.

His pupils blew wide. She saw the breath catch in his throat as it did hers. He’d barely breached her, and yet her body stretched to the border between pleasure and pain. Despite the urge to watch as his cock sank into her, to marvel that it was possible, she didn’t let her gaze wander from his. Nor did he. Baxian fisted the sheets as he slid ever so slowly deeper.