18. ~Kai~
~Kai~
I couldn’t believe it.
The moment I awoke, I could feel the change in me.
That irritation in my chest that had resulted in that nasty cough was gone.
I was energized again.
My strength had returned.
And, best of all, I could feel that my magic was back at full capacity.
Finally.
I didn’t want to spend another second in bed.
Or, so I thought.
Up until I went to move, only to find resistance in the form of Ariana’s leg flung over mine and her head on my abs.
She’d stayed.
And now, here she was, sleeping right next to me in my bed.
Her amazing golden waves were all over my torso as well, and I couldn’t stop myself from reaching out and running my fingers through them.
“Morning,” she murmured, startling me.
“How long have you been awake?”
“Since you started shifting around moments ago.”
“You slept in my bed? Stayed the whole night?”
“Well, you wouldn’t let go of my hand.”
“Why didn’t you just pull it away, or use a spark of your magic?”
“I realized I kind of liked it. Then I settled into the bed and the next thing I knew, I was falling asleep next to you.”
“Huh.”
“That’s all you have to say about the matter?”
I grinned down at her as she lifted her head to look at me. “You didn’t want to leave me.”
“Fine. No. I didn’t.”
“This honesty and non-shutting down thing with you is definitely going to take some getting used to.”
She went to get up. “If you’re going to be an ass about it—”
I was on her in the next second, rolling her beneath me, my hands slapping down either side of her head, and my thighs straddling her.
“I love that you’re here. I love that you stayed the whole night with me, that you’re being so brave and opening up, letting us in.
I heard you that night outside Polaris, and I swear to you that we’ll fix it, that we’ll find a way for your life to actually be your own.
” I reached out and stroked her soft cheek as she gazed up at me in a mixture of surprise and adoration.
“We’ll fix everything. Together. You’re not alone anymore.
” I smiled sadly. “You never really were, Ari.”
Her enchanting electric-blue eyes shone at me.
“Thank you.”
In the next second, she was flipping us, so that she was the one straddling me, her fingers weaving with mine either side of my head. “I like when you call me that.”
“Ari?”
“Yeah. It’s a callback to a simpler time.
When there were no walls between us.” She ran her hands over my pecs, eliciting a deep groan from me at her heated touch, and the way even just her fingers on me was so fucking consuming.
“And it’s also an indication that you’re at your most pleasant—it’s your sweet side coming to the surface, all the kindness and compassion, and love that you bury most of the time. It’s the sign of it breaking through.”
“Normally, that would have you running.”
She frowned down at me. “Is that why you took to burying it?”
“Partly. But I also realized that being too emotionally open could make me too vulnerable.”
“You see, though? You see the issue of not doing that in what’s become of me, right?”
“I do,” I admitted.
“For the record,” she said, trailing her fingers down to the waistband of my boxers, the glorious sensation making me undulate beneath her.
“I like all sides of you.” She tugged and pulled my boxers down to my thighs.
“Even when you’re being your most insufferable, it’s actually a challenging experience. Kind of makes me feel alive.”
“Mmm, is that so?” I breathed, as her fingers hovered just out of reach of my cock.
“Unfortunately for your massive ego that really doesn’t need another boast, yes.”
She grasped my cock then, wrapping her hand around it tightly.
“Fuck, sweetheart,” I moaned, throwing my head back.
“You’re already so hard. I’ve barely touched you yet.”
“I was hard the moment I woke up to find you sleeping on me.”
“I was wet the moment I felt you stroking me.”
My eyes widened. “Really? Tell me more.”
“How about I show you instead?” she said, her magic sparking for a second to remove her tank and bare her breasts to me.
“Mmm,” I groaned, reaching out and palming them. She moaned beautifully and arched her back in a silent plea for more. “I love these. So perfect, so fucking exquisite,” I said, feeling up the soft flesh and rolling her nipples between my fingers.
Little pants came from her and she rocked on me, becoming immersed.
“You’re not… you’re not talking dirty.” She released my cock, then shoved her pajama pants off, exposing the rest of her body for me. And then she shifted and rubbed herself up and down my shaft.
“ Fuck,” I rasped at the sensation sending sparks of pleasure straight through my dick.
“Nothing about my wet cunt slicking up your cock?” she questioned, clearly not sure what to make of it, of me, like this.
“Not right now.” My hands left her breast and came up to cup her beautiful face. “Not with this.”
Her eyes burned into mine and she grasped my hands on her face. “Is this the right time for you? Do you want this now?”
“Yes,” I breathed. “Do you?”
She answered me with a coy little smirk.
And with her grasping the base of my cock and guiding it between her legs.
I choked as she took me inside, her hands clamping down on my shoulders as she sank deep, moaning, and throwing her head back as she took me in, inch by inch.
I fisted my hand in her hair, needing it to ground me to the moment with her, to bring what had been a long-time fantasy of mine into reality. “My sweet Ari,” I uttered on a groan as she started to move, riding me slow and deep. “Ungh… the way you take me… yes.”
She leaned down and crushed her breasts to my chest, grasping my biceps tightly as she ground on me. She beamed at me, her gaze locking with mine, so intensely that I could barely breathe with it. “I need you, Kai.”
Her confession was more than I’d even imagined, more than I could have ever hoped for, what I’d been missing for so long.
“Don’t leave again.” The words just spilled from me without a filter. Raw and deep. Open and so fucking honest. And with a vulnerability I usually hated.
But, in this moment with her, that vulnerability wasn’t just safeguarded between us, it was valued. Deeply so, judging by the emotion I saw all over her face, tears even springing to her eyes.
“I… won’t,” she vowed, overcome.
I rolled us over and then gathered her to me, so she was straddling my lap, my cock still lodged deep inside her warmth.
She moaned and clutched at my biceps as I thrust up into her.
We moved together as one as pleasure held us in a death grip, escalating with every moment. Neither of us looked away for an instant, our gazes holding one another captive, holding us both in this enchanting space that we’d so long denied ourselves.
But there was no denial right now.
No hiding.
No shutting down.
It was all there stepping into the light.
She trembled in my arms as I angled my cock and hit her sweet spot. “Shit, Kai!”
As I did it again, she crushed her lips to mine, taking me in a deep kiss that had my head spinning, my balls drawing tight at the added stimulation.
Our tongues tangled, passionate fury ramping up, until we were gnashing teeth, nipping at one another’s lips, then she bit down on my tongue, her eyes sparking as she slicked up the blood.
I was right on the edge.
I pulled back, breathing heavily. “I’m right there, but I need to feel you first.” I slid my hand down between us and teased her clit, rolling and tapping, making her thighs shake for me. “Come for me, Ari.”
I felt her energy surge, and she grabbed my hand. “Ah, Kai… I can’t… I’m losing control.”
I squeezed her hand, but didn’t activate my magic. “This is here and now. You’re stronger now, capable of handling this. I know it.” I brushed my lips over her cheek. “I know you.”
She squeezed her eyes shut even as she bounced on my cock and I teased her clit, her whole body trembling, as she teetered on the periphery that she was resisting falling headlong into.
“No, sweetheart. Open those enthralling eyes and look at me.”
She did, and they flamed at me.
“Let go, Ari.”
In the next moment, she trusted in me, and in herself, and she let it all go, screaming out into the room as she clenched around my cock fiercely and drenched me.
“Fuck… that’s it… ungh… yeah,” I choked, a moment before I came inside her, filling her nice and deep with my hot cum.
She trembled and threw her arms around me, holding me tightly to her.
“Okay?” I asked, stroking her hair.
“No.”
I frowned. “What’s wrong?”
She looked up at me, and her eyes were blazing.
“We’re not done. I need more.”
In the next second, she was shocking the shit out of me as she pulled off my cock, then shoved at my chest. The moment my back hit the bed, she was there, digging her nails into my thighs, then opening her mouth wide and driving my cock deep inside.
“ Fuck!” I cried, bucking my hips.
The movement choked her in the process, shoving my dick further down her throat, but it just spurred her on, and she was all over me like a ravenous animal.
The mood had certainly shifted from sensual and deep to… this.
She was opening up further by doing this, by actually chasing her pleasure, instead of walking away before she was fully satiated.
Well, I was here to serve.
No fucking doubt about that.
She ripped her mouth off my cock, making me buck for her. She gazed at me, licking some of my pre-cum off her lips and making a hot little show of it. “Do it,” she urged me. “Take it there now.”
I smirked, then gave her what she wanted, “Get on your knees, so I can force-feed you my cock, toy .”
She trembled all over, then got onto her knees, looking up at me with glazed, turned-the-fuck-on eyes.
I reached around her and sank two fingers into her cunt, driving my cum back inside where it needed to stay for a whole lot longer. She moaned and ground against my fingers.