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RAVEN

I think Hallie and I would have been friends.

That’s the conclusion I come to as I make my way to the kitchen after I’ve settled Fen in bed a few hours later. He was so tired he fell asleep almost immediately.

I love Hallie’s taste. The house decor was all her, according to Axel, and it’s perfect for this house and view. The wood and soft furnishings bring the outdoors in.

The kitchen layout she designed is a chef’s dream, and there’s a shelf of recipe books, many of which I used to own. A poster on the wall proclaims Kitchens are made for dancing , which makes me smile.

Making dinner was easy. When Wraith shops, he shops. The fridge was stuffed full of food. Meat. Vegetables. A whole lot of apples. There was also plenty of beer and sweet treats.

Who knew Wraith liked cake so much?

I settled on making cheese-and-ham-stuffed chicken breasts and sweet potato fries. Both Wraith and Fen devoured the food while discussing which animal should have been designed with wings. Fen argued dogs. Wraith was adamant it should be snakes, given they don’t have legs and have to crawl on their bellies. I thought it would be funny to slap a pair of wings on a hippo or giraffe.

When I finally find Wraith after settling Fen in bed, he’s wearing a black T-shirt that stretches across his back and shows the width of his biceps. He loads the dishwasher as his head bobs in time to some old-school rock. I say loads , but it’s a wonder anything in there gets properly cleaned given the way it’s all stacked together.

“You know, they say in every relationship, there’s one person who loads a dishwasher with the efficiency of an engineer and another who loads it like a raccoon on meth.”

Wraith glances over his shoulder at me and grins. “Are you saying my dishwasher loading is shit?”

I raise my hands in surrender. “Not saying anything. You keep loading it while I watch your butt in those jeans.”

Wraith’s smile changes from amused to soft in a way I can’t describe. “Gimme two minutes and you can watch my butt out of them.”

I hop onto the kitchen counter. There is no point offering to help. He has two water glasses left to load. He puts the tab in the dishwasher slot, then sets it to run. Once done, he comes over and steps between my legs.

I put my arms over his shoulders. “Thank you, for accepting Fen the way you have.”

He places his palms on my lower back and tugs me forward. “He’s a good kid. Even if he does ask wild questions.”

“He’s always been curious.”

Wraith grins. “Speaking of curious, I’ve got a question for you.”

“What is it?”

“How freaky do you like fucking?”

My eyes go wide, and I swear my mouth must drop open because Wraith laughs as he puts his finger beneath my chin to close it. “What?”

“You heard me. Where do your kinks run? We all have ‘em. I want to hear yours.”

I glance in the direction of the hallway, nervous Fen can overhear.

Wraith chuckles. “Blue, your kid was out so hard last night, we could have had a dance party in that bed, and he wouldn’t have woken up. Answer the question.”

“I feel like that’s a question you should answer first.”

His hands rub up and down my spine, making me feel gooey. “The color in your cheeks right now suggests the order won’t help. Just tell me what you like and want to try. What works well for you or turns you off?”

I try to think of an answer, but all I can think of is Wraith’s request that we’re honest, even if it’s hard. “I’d be happy with an orgasm every time we sleep together.”

He raises his eyebrows. “That’s a really low fucking bar, Blue.”

I shrug. “My sex life has been fine. Perfunctory, maybe. I don’t know. It’s never been the breathtaking kind of deal. The two times we’ve been together, it’s been better than everything else. But…”

Wraith presses his mouth to mine, then bites my lower lip gently. “But what?”

“I’m scared, I guess. I liked when you bit me in the bathroom, but I don’t know that I want that everywhere, or harder, or always…but maybe I do. I just don’t know.”

Wraith smiles. “I get that. I don’t want the same every time, or sometimes I want exactly the same because it was so fucking good, I want it again.”

“Do you think we could…you know…explore what else there is together?”

He buries his head in the side of my neck and bites the skin firmly. Not enough to draw blood, but harder than I would have. And I feel it all the way to my core.

“Would be my fucking pleasure.” He lowers his shoulder, placing it against my ribs, and hoists me over his shoulder. “We’re starting now.”

“Ahh,” I squeal, then slap his butt. “Put me down.”

Wraith just laughs. “Shh. You’ll wake Fen.”

“Fine,” I whisper as he walks us to the main bedroom. “But I feel like you should tell me what you like.”

He nudges the door open with his foot, then closes it again with his heel before locking it behind us. “On the vanilla end, I love a rainy day spent in bed just being naked, really feeling each other. Napping together, wrapped up in each other. Intimate shit where I spend time edging you for hours. Or a quick fuck before we start our day.”

He drops me onto the bed and unbuttons my jeans. There’s something about the size of his hands and the small button and zipper that quickens my arousal.

“On the kink end, I get turned on watching others fuck,” he says. “The trust that comes from wax play and getting primal as shit. I like wild ideas and trying them and not overthinking how I look or sound…just if it feels good. Dreamt of fucking you on my bike last night. Fucking you this morning, I wondered what it would be like to cover us both in oil, so we were so fucking slippery, and just rail you hard. I feel like you might have the fixings of a praise kink, and I want to explore that some more.”

I blow out a slow breath. I think he’s right about the praise. “That’s definitely a very complete answer. And wax?”

“Yes, wax.” He grabs a lighter from his jeans and lights a candle on the side table. It’s enough of a warm glow that we can see each other properly. Then he pulls a box of condoms and a bottle of oil from the drawer.

When he returns to the bed, he tugs my jeans down my legs and pulls them off my feet. He places his thumb above my clit and rubs it through my cotton panties. “The truth is, I just like trying what feels good. You don’t like it, then we stop and don’t do it again. There’s enough shit out there; we can find things we both enjoy.”

I gasp at the sensations gathering at my very core.

“I want to be brave enough, young enough, and fun enough for all that.”

“I have faith in your efforts,” Wraith says, before bending to place a warm kiss on my panties.

I smile. “That’s not what I meant.”

He looks up at me. “You’re enough, Blue. Just as you are. Just be you. That’s the only person I want.”

That one sentence is enough to put me at ease, and I settle back.

Wraith hooks his fingers in the waistband of my underwear and pulls it down my legs. The callouses on his fingers gently scratch my sensitive skin.

But when he licks me, stroking through my wetness, my back arches, and I stop worrying.

The sheets wrinkle beneath my feet as I dig my heels into the edge of the mattress and grip Wraith’s hair when he buries his face between my thighs.

“Ah,” I cry out as he nips at my clit, then licks it to soothe it.

Wraith looks up at me. “You taste really fucking good, Blue.”

An epiphany hits me. I’ll get the sex I want if I’m honest with him. And it’s that simple.

I don’t have to lie back and settle for any of it.

Wraith stands sharply and rips his T-shirt over his head. “I want you to be a good girl and ride my face like it’s a fucking Harley.”

Even his words have the power to fuel my arousal. I want to be his good girl so badly.

He kicks off his jeans and shucks his socks and underwear, utterly comfortable being naked in front of me.

Within a minute, I’m naked too. And while he climbs onto the bed and lies down in the middle of it, I feel exposed.

“Face the headboard,” he instructs.

Butterflies flutter in my stomach; I’m nervous, but I want this.

I want him.

“Oh, and Raven,” he says with a grin, “when I say ‘ride my face,’ I mean it. None of this ‘I don’t want to suffocate you’ shit. Not being able to breathe will be half the fun.”

I climb over him, and he’s swift to grip the cheeks of my ass and pull me down until I’m seated on his face.

The sensations overwhelm me. The brush of his scruff on my thighs. The feel of his mouth all up in me.

His hands encourage me to do as he asks.

To ride his face.

I roll my hips against his mouth and lean forward, putting my palms on his headboard.

Maybe it’s cowardice, but I close my eyes. Seeing nothing helps me let go of the lingering embarrassment, allowing me to just feel.

“Axel,” I cry as my body climbs closer to orgasm.

I hear his gasp for air.

It shouldn’t turn me on that he’s choosing to suffocate himself.

One of his fingers slides between the cheeks of my butt, touching me in the most intimate of places. I’ve never tried anal sex. It’s never appealed to me, but suddenly, I’m thinking anything is possible with this man.

In the moment, I’m able to disassociate from all the things that might distract me. Instead, I remain present to all the sensations I’m feeling, which…

“It feels so good,” I say. The words come out on a breathy sigh.

Wraith’s fingertips dig into my skin. He’s rough, uninhibited, a little wild. The feeling is contagious as I look back over my shoulder. His cock stands erect, the head glistening with precum.

He’s enjoying this as much as I am, and that feels powerful. That pleasuring my body like this arouses him too.

The sucking and biting of my clit in cycles is relentless. I lose any sense of rhythm or control.

My orgasm sneaks up on me, and I squeeze my eyes shut and tense as it hits me.

Biting down on my knuckle, I try to stifle the cry I make when he finally tips me over the edge.

I’d be happy with an orgasm every time we sleep together.

This man knows how to keep his promises.

My knees shake with the intensity of it as my hair falls forward over my face. My skin feels sunburned. Prickling with too many sensations.

But I barely have time to ride out my pleasure before he flips me onto the bed and slaps my pussy.

“Ahh,” I cry out, the aftershock sending me spiraling into a weaker second orgasm.

Then his lips are on mine.

It’s an invasion. An onslaught as his tongue finds and fights mine. I taste myself on him and it’s so unbelievably hot.

I can’t keep up with all the feelings swirling inside me beyond the thought that this is how sex should always be.

An out-of-body experience with someone you really want more of.

Wraith reaches for the bottle of oil from the bedside table. “I want to drip the wax over your breasts. It’s gonna be hot. How do you feel about that?”

“Yes,” I say quickly. I have no idea what it will feel like, but I’m buoyed by the suggestion I can try anything once. And I feel brave with this man. Like I don’t have to hide but can also contradict myself and he won’t get mad.

Wrapped in a post-orgasmic haze, anything feels possible.

He flips the cap and then lets cool oil drizzle onto my skin. “This will make sure it doesn’t stick or burn.” Gently, he starts to rub the oil in, but it soon becomes an erotic massage, where he palms both breasts, then tugs on my nipples.

Impossibly, I feel myself getting aroused again. And when I rub my thighs together, Wraith slaps my mound. “Open ‘em. I want to see how wet you are. Fucking love that you get so turned on for me, Blue.”

He grabs the candle and takes a deep breath before tipping it slightly, so a single drop lands on the rise of my sensitive breast.

I gasp at the contrast. Tender skin. Hot wax.

Wraith groans. “Fuck, this is gonna kill me.”

“Why?”

He looks away from the wax splat. “Because you took it so well. You’re lying there like such a good girl. Waiting for me to spill the wax on you. You want some more, don’t you?”