Page 25 of Magic and Muffins

“Say it again.”

“I love you, Cross.”

He groaned and cupped my face between his hands without lifting his head.

“I know I’m not the only one in your heart,” he said. “And I’m okay with that. I am yours forever, Everly. However you want me in your life, you only need to say the word. But I want to be selfish just once. I want all of you. Please.”

I tipped my head up to brush my lips against his.

“I’m yours. I’ve been yours since the first time you saved me. I just wasn’t sure what I felt for you was real. Now I am.”

He made a feral sound, and a second later, I was back in the bedroom and pressed into the mattress as he kissed me hungrily. When he pulled back to look at me, his eyes were pure black, and his fangs were showing.

“Say it again,” he rasped.

Despite his eyes, I could see his uncertainty.

I cupped his face and leaned up to kiss the edge of the dark veining on one side and then the other.

“I see all of you, Cross, and it doesn’t change how I feel about you or about us. What do you need from me right now?”

He groaned and dropped his head to my neck, where he marked me with a kiss. His teeth scraped me lightly, telling me what he needed without words.

CHAPTERSIX

Threading my fingers through Cross’hair, I basked in the sensation of his mouth on my skin. His hot exhales warmed it. His teeth teased it.

I loved it but needed more, and he seemed to sense that. The gentle suction of his mouth as he left another mark on my skin fed that need, and I wrapped my legs around his waist. But it wasn’t enough. I wanted what he wanted. I wanted to feel all of him…to give him everything. And I arched my neck to give him better access, openly inviting him.

He groaned and pulled back enough to look down at me. The skin around his eyes was so webbed with dark veins that very little of his paleness remained.

We were both breathing heavily. I could see his need for me but also his fear.

“When you said all of me, you didn’t just mean sex, right? You’re going to feed too?”

“Only if you allow it.”

“Allow? I think I crave it more than you do.”

“I doubt that,” he said, his eyes completely black.

“Show me what it means to belong to you, Cross. Take all of me.”

He made a pained sound before kissing my mouth hungrily.

“You are my everything, Everly. I didn’t know I could love someone as much as I do with you.”

He kissed my chin…my neck…my collarbone. Lips, tongue, and a little scrape of teeth each time. As he trailed kisses, his hands slid under my shirt, caressing the skin he revealed inch by inch until he dipped his head and kissed my stomach.

My breathing grew more ragged in anticipation of what he’d do next. When he moved farther down, slowly revealing more skin along the way, I cried out as he kissed methere.

I lost all sense of time, floating in a sea of passion as the pleasure he gave climbed higher. Abruptly, his mouth left me. His warmth settled over me.

“Look at me, Everly.”

I did. His beautiful black gaze held mine as he kissed the back of my hands and then caged them over my head. His free hand slid down my side and hooked the back of my thigh, lifting it as he pressed against my entrance.

“I’m yours. Forever,” he said, entering me slowly and watching my reaction to his sweet invasion.

---