25. Cheribelle
Cheribelle
The Perfect Nightcap
BANG!
My front door slammed into the wall hard enough that I heard one of my many picture frames clatter to the floor, but I didn’t give a fuck. And that was probably because Paul’s teeth were nipping at my lips, the gentlest of bites as we stumbled through the entrance of my house.
“Sorry,” he murmured into my mouth, but I only replied by pushing him with my body until he was against the wall.
I knew he was approximately a billion times stronger than me and could lift me off my feet and deposit me on the credenza if he wanted, but he let me bully him just long enough while he blindly reached out and closed the door.
“Oh, so it’s gonna be like that?” he asked me as I tried to press him into the wall, my nails already sinking into his sides. I had to admit it was a lot less intense with my human fingers through his clothing compared to the claws I knew he could grow.
“Yeah, it is,” I answered, breaking our kiss to grin cheekily up at him. “What’re ya gonna do about it?”
“ This, ” he said before picking me up and whirling me around so that I was the one pressed against the wall.
If I was giddy when we got to the skate park, I was over the moon now, practically drunk on a cocktail of happy chemicals from our time together trying to get Paul to balance on the board, and also for just getting to hang out and laugh like we were regular folks.
If I thought Paul was insanely hot while we were running around and solving crimes, he was somehow even more so when we were playing like we were average people.
It spoke of a future that I’d never thought was for me, and also never thought I was interested in.
Boy, was I wrong on that!
“Come on, is that all you got?” I teased, wrapping my legs around his waist and squeezing my muscled thighs as hard as I could. For most people, that would have been quite painful. But when dating a shifter, it turned out that you could be a whole lot rougher than you’d think.
Lucky me!
The rumble that issued from Paul’s chest was just as good as any vibrator I’d ever had, but he also could kiss me and tell me I was a good girl. And that’s exactly what he did, making that fluttering feeling in my stomach go from exhilarating to a downright inferno.
I had no idea how long we stayed in my foyer, pinned as I was, nails raking down his back while he dominated my mouth, but it was a damn good time. And that good time grew even better as he finally pulled me away and carried me over to my reading table.
I hadn’t used it since I’d first met Paul, and there really was no reason for it now considering I was no longer pretending to be something I wasn’t. So, when he sat me down on it and my crystal ball got knocked off its stand, rolling to the side to crash on the floor, I could only laugh.
“Sorry… again,” Paul murmured, already kissing his way down the side of my neck and grazing his teeth against the spot where it met my shoulder.
“Don’t worry about it. I don’t need it anymore.”
Because I really didn’t. I’d spent far too long believing my abilities weren’t enough, that I had to live up to a precedent my mother never wanted for me.
Strange, how she had never been anything but completely supportive, yet I was the one who had convinced myself I wasn’t enough.
That an empath could never follow in the footsteps of a precognitive.
I was foolish. And if one day my spirit ever got to rejoin with my mother, I was going to hug her and apologize for being so unkind to the daughter she’d loved and raised.
But for now, I was hoping to see heaven in an entirely different way.
And Paul was the one issuing my round-trip ticket.
He sucked on my neck, and I got the distinct impression that he enjoyed marking me, as it wasn’t really something that existed for shifters outside of mating bonds.
It was just another way we were compatible, because I loved those little bruises way more than the ones I still had lingering under my foundation.
Instead of being signs of violence, they were physical, colorful proof of pleasure and enjoyment.
And boy was I enjoying it.
I groaned, and although it was only our third time participating in this particular activity, I already knew what noises to make to get him to go really feral.
And while I realized that the sharp teeth, claws, and his dominant nature wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea, to me they were better than any energy drink I could ask for.
He grounded me at the same time that he stimulated me.
He flooded my brain with dopamine but also let my thoughts finally calm down so they weren’t all layered on top of each other and twisted like a bowl of yarn.
It was more than I could ever ask for, but he opened the door to allow me to ask anyway.
Well, it was more like demanding it, but that was half the fun of being a brat!
“More,” I urged as his teeth again ghosted over that spot that meant so much in his culture. And it didn’t matter that I didn’t actually have a gland that he could puncture there. What mattered was that he wanted to. “Bite me. Bite me hard. ”
“Cherry,” he growled, and ooh, a girl could get used to how he said my name—as well as the plumes of so many colors, I couldn’t list them all out. It was more than a rainbow of emotion; it was an entire kaleidoscope ranging from the palest pastels to the richest neons, and it was all for me.
“Do it. I’m a big girl, I can handle it.”
“You don’t know what you’re asking,” he said into my neck.
At this, I caught his chin, pulling him away from the crook in my neck so I could look into his eyes. I knew he could resist me if he wanted to without so much as batting an eye, but he went with the motion.
“Yes, I do ,” I said with all the seriousness that I could muster. “The same way I knew about your knot. So, when I say bite me , I promise you from the bottom of my heart that I mean it . ”
I didn’t have a word for the sound Paul made in response, but it sure did make my brain light up like a Christmas tree when he captured my lips again. Biting. Bruising. Soothing. Caring. It was everything all at once, and I enthusiastically let myself get carried away in the deluge.
Caught up in the thrill of it all, and the rush of happy emotions, I didn’t even realize his mouth was once again at that special spot in my neck until his teeth sank in.
It hurt, but in such a delicious way. It wasn’t like the various bumps and bruises from the funeral, or the hideout.
It was something perfect and precious between the two of us.
I knew that some people wouldn’t get it, but that was okay. They didn’t need to. The important thing was that Paul and I got it, and he understood me better than anyone walking the earth.
Head tilted back, I melted into him until it was all too much, and then I began to tear off his clothes.
It was a clumsy attempt, my coordination tanking in a direct inverse to how fucking turned on I was, but it did get a chuckle out of Paul.
He took a step back, and I might have outright rioted at the loss of contact if he hadn’t captured my chin in his hand and lifted my head so I was looking him in the eyes.
“You want this?” he asked, his question more rasp than actual words.
“Yes,” I answered, equally breathless and twice as desperate. “ Please. ”
“Then be a good girl and come get it.”
Although this wasn’t our first time, or even our second time, at the rodeo, this was the first time where we were allowed something other than just blowing off steam and finding comfort in each other.
This was playful. This was for fun. This was because we wanted to and not because we couldn’t admit the actual nature of our feelings and could only find an excuse in pure lust.
And I, for one, was thrilled with the change.
I slid from the table, grateful that I had chosen to splurge on such a plush carpet as my knees pressed against it. With hands trembling from excitement and nerves, I undid his slacks and pulled them down enough for me to free him from his briefs.
I might have yanked them all the way down in my eagerness if he wasn’t still wearing the knee pads from the skate park. But since I didn’t have the wherewithal or the patience to unbuckle them, they and my birth control were going to be our protection for the night.
Nice, I’ll have to steal these to walk around in later! Girlfriend tax and all.
Oh, so we’re his girlfriend now?
Shut up, brain! This isn’t your time.
He shuddered as I curled my fingers around him, and I couldn’t help but feel powerful with how much I could affect him.
I’d heard various friends of all genders throughout my life mention that they didn’t like giving head because they found it demeaning, but there were fewer things that made me feel as mighty in the bedroom.
The very idea that I could make Paul, such an intelligent and composed man, become entirely undone with something as simple as my mouth was a heady one.
I didn’t waste any time. I flicked my tongue over his dripping head, enjoying the gasp he let out and the way he gripped the top of my skull.
At first, the pressure was barely there, and I could tell that he was trying to be a gentleman.
I wasn’t in the mood for that. There would be times for gentle, sweet, and tender, but not now . Now was for raw, for real.
I gripped his hand, forcing it down onto my scalp, and he got the message.
Once I was sure he had a good hold, I thoroughly laved him with affection, making sure he was properly slick and my mouth was warmed up.
While I wouldn’t call myself a throat goat, I was both experienced enough to know things worked better when he was pre-lubricated, and horny enough not to care if he wasn’t quite as wet as he could be.
So yeah, maybe I rushed it a little, but it was hard to care as he filled my mouth, his grip on my head holding me steady as my nails bit into his thigh.
Maybe it was a neurodivergent thing, maybe I was just a little perverted, but having to focus on breathing through my nose and having my jaw stretched so wide gave me a comfort I couldn’t find anywhere else.
The world narrowed down to sensations and affection, to breathlessness and fresh gasps of air.
There was no anxiety. No worries about tomorrow, and no cyclone of thoughts that often had me going in a million different directions.
There was peace.
It wasn’t hard to get lost in it. My eyes closed as he plundered my mouth, my lips swollen and slick with spit. But it felt like it ended almost as soon as it began when he pulled me off him.
I started to protest, but he gently tilted my chin again, and I looked up at him with watery eyes.
“You did so good,” he whispered. “I was about to lose it.” He said it almost apologetically, but I thought it was one of the hottest things he could utter.
“Do it,” I challenged.
He shook his head. “I want to be inside you when I come.”
Sign me the fuck up!
“Okay,” I said.
Paul helped me to my feet. I got the impression that he might be about to sweep me up bridal-style again, but I was feeling too wild, too wanting, and too free for that. I was having so much fun that I wanted to indulge in the irreverence of it all.
So, once I was steady on my own two legs, I turned around and rested my elbows on the table before looking as coquettishly as I could over my shoulder.
I didn’t say anything, but I didn’t have to. Paul licked his lips as he looked me over, and that made me feel like the sexiest woman in existence.
“Are you sure?” he asked, sounding barely contained. Fuck, I loved how punch-drunk his voice was. I loved that I did that to him. And I also loved how, no matter how deep in it he was, he always triple-checked that I was fully on board.
But right now, I mostly wanted him deep in me , so I nodded before facing forward again. It made the anticipation that much more intense, so that when he finally lined himself up with me and started to push in, all the breath was driven from my body.
“Fuck!” I cried, not feeling one ounce of shame at how loud I was being. And judging from the throb that channeled through Paul’s cock and then me, he quite liked how loud I was.
Inch by inch, he filled me, sending conflicting sensations of too much and not enough . It was the perfect blend of ecstasy, and with that, I let myself succumb fully to our passions.
But as I did, I couldn’t help but think that if our first real date was already this good, then our second one was going to be a real killer .