Page 38 of The Live-In Temptation (Steele Brothers of Starlight Cove #2)

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

XANDER

The second we stepped inside after getting home from Sunday dinner, I knew Chloe was going to run. Hide. Try to do what she did best.

I’d known it as soon as Emma had asked to stay with my mom tonight and Chloe had realized she wouldn’t have a four-year-old buffer keeping her safe.

The trouble was, neither of us was safe. Not with this inevitable end we were careening toward.

She didn’t even bother to turn on any lights as she slipped off her shoes and walked upstairs, her body stiff in a way that told me she was trying like hell to ignore my presence.

As though if she didn’t acknowledge me, I’d just go away.

Leave her to hide in her room. Spend the night out of my bed when I had only a handful of nights left when she’d be by my side.

At the doorway to her bedroom, I hooked an arm around her waist and tugged her back against my chest. She stiffened before slowly melting into me, just like always, her hands resting on my forearm.

Lowering my head, I settled my lips against her ear and murmured, “Where do you think you’re going?”

“To sleep?”

Shaking my head, I made a low noise of disagreement. “You sleep in my bed.”

I guided her toward my room, loving how easily she came. Like she didn’t want to fight it anymore. Like she knew it was exactly where she belonged.

“I’m afraid I have some bad news, though,” I said once we were tucked away inside, the sliver of moonlight the only illumination in the room.

“What’s that?”

I traced along the low scoop neck of her dress, brushing my fingertips over her skin. “We’re not going to sleep for a while.”

“No? What are we going to do instead?”

“Make sure you can’t hide.”

“I wasn’t?—”

I nipped her earlobe, cutting off her words. “You don’t get to lie to me. Not here. Not like this. Not when I’m about to have you spread out, dripping and begging for me. Not when I’m going to give you everything you need.”

She parted her lips, no doubt in an effort to challenge me or say something funny or clever or distant—slot that armor she loved so much right into place—but I didn’t allow it to come.

Instead, I kissed her. Not slow or sweet. This was a claiming, pure and simple. I captured her lips with mine, tasted her tongue, and breathed her in, sure she was the only oxygen I’d ever need.

As soon as the backs of her knees hit the mattress, I reached down, gripped the hem of her sundress, and tugged it straight over her head. Then I rid her of her bra and panties before pushing her flat on the bed and standing back to take her all in.

Fucking stunning. Hair spread out around her like a halo, her tits tight little handfuls, nipples pointed directly at me, her pussy—pink and smooth and already wet, just from my kiss.

But it was her eyes that got me. Dark and pleading—confusion and hope and trepidation all swirling in their depths.

And I was right there with her, feeling all of that and more.

I couldn’t tell her to stay. Couldn’t tell her any of these thoughts buzzing through my head, mostly because I couldn’t even admit them to myself. But I could do this—I could be this for her. Could use my body to tell her everything I couldn’t with my words.

I tugged off my shirt and tossed it to the side before going to work on my belt. “You know what you look like, lying here and spread out on my sheets like a fucking wet dream?”

“What?” she asked, her gaze tracking my movements as I slid off my jeans and boxer briefs, eyes zeroing in as I wrapped my hand around my cock and gave one firm tug.

“You look like mine.” I started at her feet, kissing my way over her ankles, up her calves and knees, brushing my lips along her inner thighs. “You look like every inch of you belongs here—right here. Just waiting for everything I want to give you.”

Her breath hitched as I swiped my tongue through her pussy, her hands flying to my hair as I feasted on her like she was my last fucking meal. “Xander.”

“See?” I murmured against her flesh, rubbing her clit with my beard and reveling in her answering moan.

“It’s my name you’re saying tonight, isn’t it?

My name you’re going to be crying out when I eat this delicious cunt.

My name you’re going to moan when you ride my fingers.

And it’ll be my name you scream when I make you come all over my cock and beg for more, won’t it? ”

“Yes.” She tightened her fingers in my hair, attempting to tug me closer to her pussy. To give her exactly what she wanted.

“Because even though my dirty girl likes to be used—likes to know I can’t hold myself back anymore—I make sure that perfect little pussy is nice and ready to take everything I give, don’t I? I don’t stop until you’re dripping with your need.”

I didn’t give her time to respond since we both knew it was true. Instead, I dove in, licking a line straight up her seam and groaning at her taste. I slid two fingers into her, curling them inside and stroking that spot that had her hips arching off the bed, her fingers tugging harder at my hair.

“Oh fuck,” she breathed, her hips rolling beneath me as she rode my face from below, fucked herself with my fingers like she couldn’t help it. “God, you’re gonna make me come.”

I hummed a self-satisfied sound directly against her pussy, the vibrations shooting through her and sending her straight over the cliff. She cried out my name as her cunt squeezed my fingers, her hips rolling as she moaned and gasped and came apart beneath me.

There was no sound in the world like Chloe coming undone.

I wanted to make her do it again and again and again, just like that.

With my mouth on her pussy and her thighs wrapped tight around my head.

Wanted to drink down every ounce of her pleasure, but I needed to be inside her just as badly.

And from the way she tightened her fingers in my hair and tugged me up her body, that same desperation was beating like a drum inside her too.

I covered her body with mine, sucked one of her nipples into my mouth, and then cupped her face and captured her lips. I kissed her like I’d never get enough. Like I never wanted this to end.

Settling into the cradle of her thighs, I hooked one of her knees over my elbow, spreading her wide for me as I sank inside the hot fist of her cunt. Everything in me easing the second I was as deep as I could get. The second she was filled to the fucking brim with me.

“You feel that? That pressure? The way your little pussy stretches so fucking tight to take me inside?”

She nodded, her eyes wild as she stared up at me, her fingers digging into my sides, my ass, pulling me even deeper.

“That’s what you do to me. No one else gets me this hard. No one else takes me this deep.”

“God,” she choked out, her pussy fluttering around me, already desperate to come again.

“But my dirty girl can take it, can’t she? You can take every fucking inch of my cock because I make sure of it. I make sure this sweet cunt is satisfied, don’t I?”

“Every time,” she breathed, her hips rolling beneath me, meeting my every thrust.

“That’s right. Every fucking time. And you love it, don’t you? Love how I take you. Like you’re mine .”

“ Yes .”

“You think anyone else knows how to touch you like this? You think anyone else knows exactly what you need?”

She arched off the bed, her back bowed, hips rolling and chasing a release I wasn’t yet ready to give her.

“Answer me,” I growled, sinking deep and grinding my pelvis against her, basking in the sharp gasp that fell from her lips. “You think anyone else could make you fall apart like this?”

“No,” she whispered, her words barely more than a breath, but I heard them. “Only you.”

“That’s right,” I murmured into her neck, my cock jerking at her admission, my hips driving into her a bit harder. “Just me.”

She raked her nails down my back, her hips restless beneath me as she whimpered and moaned, desperate for whatever I could give her. “Xander, I need you.”

On a groan, I dropped my face into her neck and sank as deep as I could. I knew she meant this, here, now. That she needed me to make her come, make her fall apart and be stitched back together all at once. But in my mind, I let it mean something else. Something more.

A life. Here. With me and Emma and this home that had just been a house until Chloe set foot in it.

I rested my forehead against hers and fucked her slow and deep. Every thrust was a confession, every stroke a wordless plea I couldn’t bring myself to say aloud, every kiss against her lips a promise I couldn’t voice.

She gripped my shoulders, her nails digging into my flesh as if anchoring herself right here, in this moment. To me.

“Come on, baby. Give me one more. Let me feel this sweet little cunt milk my cock while I fill you up, while I give you everything.”

Her whole body shook, her legs tightening around me as she stared at me with wide eyes. And then, all at once, she broke. She sobbed out a moan, her eyes fluttering closed as she shattered beneath me.

I couldn’t do anything but follow her over the edge, a groan so raw torn from my throat that it felt like a confession all on its own.

Even after the last ounce of pleasure had seeped out of me, I didn’t move—couldn’t. I just stayed right there, settled on top of her, her heartbeat hammering against mine, her fingers curled into my hair as if she wasn’t ready to let me go just yet.

She didn’t say a word, and neither did I. But every breath we shared was a plea I was both desperate and terrified to utter aloud.

Stay .