Chapter 15 Kayla #2
“Do you like the club?” He sounded genuinely curious.
“I think so.” I liked my new status, but it seemed a little forward to confess that.
I didn’t need to say anything further because we pulled through the gate and he cut the engine.
I got out before leaning back in so I could see his face. “Can you come up to my room?” Then I turned and ran through the house to the stairs and hurried to the guest wing.
Hopefully, he’d respond to that vague invitation.
Once there, I reached under the bed, right to the back because I didn’t have a protection spell or anywhere to hide my treasures here, and grabbed my box before dragging it out.
I sat cross-legged on the hardwood floor and pulled it into my lap.
I always did that with it because something about the motion felt right, ritualistic, the weight of the box pleasing.
When Sebastian knocked and stepped inside my room, I beckoned him over.
“Come and sit with me. I want to show you this to see if it helps you understand everything. This is my memory box.” I opened the lid of the small chest-shaped container, my hand rubbing over the carvings smoothed by years of touch.
I drew out the photo from the top and passed it to Sebastian.
He looked at it before turning it over to read the writing on the back. “This is you and Lettie when you were a teenager?”
I nodded. “Yeah. I don’t know if you get quite how big a deal Lettie was in New Orleans.
We don’t have one witch leading all the covens, or anything, but she was the closest thing to that one person we all looked to for guidance.
She provided advice for all witches, regardless of coven.
Even those without—like me. When I lost all of my status in the city, she was still there for me.
She’s always been there for me.” I stopped talking as it hit me once more that Lettie would never be there for me again, and I pulled another picture out, then a second and a third.
“This is me and Naomi, this is me after I’d just successfully cast my first circle.
Mom and Dad…” I spoke as I placed each picture on the floor in front of us, talking about each of them in turn.
There were many more of Lettie and me at various stages of the last ten years. She cropped up more often after Mom and Dad left for Florida, too.
“She was like family to me, really,” I said. “More than family because she chose me.”
“I’m so very sorry,” Sebastian whispered, and I believed him.
“This box pretty much contains my whole life. If I’d lost this as well, I’d have lost everything. These pictures plot my journey so far. I’m showing you exactly who I am right now.” A tear rolled down my cheek.
I was so lucky the box had escaped the fire and all of the water damage. That no one had discovered it and mistaken it for something valuable. It held no value for anyone else, just sentimental value for me.
I breathed out in an effort to try to contain my tears, and Sebastian cupped my right cheek with his left hand. Closing my eyes, I leaned into his touch as he pressed a kiss to my temple, his lips soft and warm.
There was the snick of paper as he moved his hand and gathered the photographs back into a pile. “We need to keep these safe.”
I opened my eyes as he put them gently back into the box and closed the lid.
“We’ll find somewhere for them so you don’t have to worry, even if you have to create your very own hidey-hole somewhere here again. I’ll get whatever you need so you can do that.” He was so very earnest, and it softened my heart even more.
“Thank you. That means a lot.” For now, I just pushed the box back under my bed and wrapped my arms around my knees.
I leaned against Sebastian, seeking solace and comfort.
I just needed him close. He ran a hand over my shoulders, massaging softly as he went, and I turned to face him.
There must have been something in my eyes, a question, a need…
Perhaps even permission, because he leaned forward and pressed his lips to mine.
I responded right away, desire creating spirals of heat right through me. I wrapped my arms around his neck and tugged him closer. He intensified our kiss, nibbling a little on my lower lip and slipping his hand under the hem of my T-shirt to rest on my waist.
I wanted this man again. Something in him called to me, and I couldn’t get close enough.
He tugged at my T-shirt and we broke apart briefly as he drew it over my torso and I raised my arms. Then he discarded it on the floor.
“We’d be more comfortable on the bed,” he murmured between placing delicate kisses along my jaw and down onto my neck.
I arched, tilting my head away to expose more of my neck, always offering more of myself. Always wanting to give him more.
For him to take more.
“Okay.” I rested a hand on his shoulder and stood. “The bed.”
But we didn’t get that far. He stood and pulled me against him, cupping my ass as the hard bulge in his pants pressed against my hip. I sucked in a breath at the evidence of his desire and worked my hand between us to smooth over him.
He hissed a breath, and I moved my hand to his belt.
I wanted to touch him, too, to hold him in my hand and feel that heat and that weight of him as he swelled in my grasp.
I used both hands to work his belt loose then unfastened his button and zipper before pushing his pants down his thighs.
They dropped the rest of the way to the hardwood with a satisfying clunk.
Sebastian hissed again when I teased the tips of my nails over the delicate skin just above his underwear, and he impatiently pushed his underwear down, too.
But I quite liked teasing him. I trailed my fingers closer to where the head of his cock almost touched his abs then away again.
Always promising, never quite delivering, until he groaned my name.
“Kayla. For the love of God, woman.” He pressed wet, open-mouthed kisses along my forehead and down my left cheek. “Please, just touch me.”
I wrapped my fingers around his hard shaft and gave him a long stroke upward before swirling my thumb over the tip of his cock, smearing the precum I found there over the head.
He gripped my ass again and yanked me against him as his mouth captured mine, something almost desperate and wild in his kiss. His tongue caressed the inside of my mouth, and I released a sigh of pleasure.
I stood on my tiptoes, flattening myself against him, and he walked me backward the couple of paces to the bed. Without warning, he shifted his weight, and we bounced against the soft mattress. I giggled before resuming our kiss, leaning into him, and tucking my leg over his.
He ran his hand over my back and paused briefly where my bra fastened.
He unhooked it effortlessly. “Easy setting again.” He chuckled and resumed our kiss, and I lost myself in him.
He unfastened my pants. “What are you doing?” I whispered against his lips.
“This,” he replied as he drew down my zipper.
I held his head as he kissed me some more, and I wriggled as he pushed at my jeans, working them downward.
“Off,” he demanded, and I giggled as I rolled away to give myself the space to pull the skinny jeans off properly.
Damn things looked great on but never wanted to come off.
He ran his palm up my thigh and danced it over the front of my panties. Then he slipped a finger between my thighs. I pressed myself closer to him as he ran his finger over the fabric, teasing me with his muffled touch.
“Tease,” I mumbled, calling him out.
“Turnabout is fair play.” He laughed again, but it was gentle.
We were in this together, and he wasn’t laughing at me.
I felt safe.
He pushed my underwear aside and drew his finger between my folds, finishing right at my clit, and I pressed my teeth into my lower lip and squeezed my eyes closed as he rolled it under his finger.
I breathed out a long sigh and he did it again.
“Right there?” He spoke against my temple, and I nodded.
“Yes.” It was an effort to force the word out because all I wanted to do was gasp and writhe against him, to encourage him to touch me again.
And he did.
His touch was slow and steady, and I sighed my pleasure as I pushed back against his hand. Slowly, each of my muscles began to tense and coil, and my breathing ramped up, until my own pleasure and what Sebastian was doing to me were the only things I was even aware of.
I could barely think as he pressed his lips against mine, consuming me and muffling my gasps. I grabbed his wrist as my body seemed to pause, hovering for a moment before each of my muscles let go and my body pulsed under his touch.
He didn’t let up, though, and I tightened my grip on him. “Too sensitive,” I whispered as another wave of pleasure ripped through me and I jerked.
He kissed the corner of my mouth, it was sweet and earnest and his touch slowed, becoming softer until he eased his hand away.
Then he positioned himself over me. “You sure?” He always checked in, and I appreciated it, but I was more than sure.
“I’m ready,” I replied. “I want you.”
The head of his cock nudged against me then he pushed a little way in before withdrawing and pushing in a little farther. I gasped each time he entered me. The sensation was almost too much as more waves of pleasure spread through me.
I’d never known I was so sensitive right there.
We were so close. His hands were on me, his skin was against me, he was inside me.
And everything felt right.
My body welcomed him, and I wanted more, so much more. I wanted faster, harder… But I also liked it like this, gentle and slow. Careful not to hurt me. Always so careful.
He breathed out and waited a moment as he pushed fully into me, and I wrapped a leg around his waist, my heel pressing against his ass. I wanted to hold him there, but I also wanted him to move, and I whimpered when he did, his withdrawal setting off a shower of sparks inside me.
He set a steady rhythm and I met him at each thrust, small moans escaping me as he pressed deeper inside me, like he was trying to know all of me. Cocooning me with his body and arms, he pressed over me.
I moaned for him without thought, my body whispering my pleasure on its own, the sounds quiet but unmistakable expressions of pleasure. Appreciation for all he was and all he was doing.
His breathing rate increased, until he suddenly didn’t make a sound and stilled above me before he gave a few more gentle thrusts and held his weight off my body.
I looked up at him. “You okay?”
He laughed and leaned down to kiss me. “With you? Always.”