“Xavier!” I swatted his shoulder. “You just got me all worked up.”
He tightened his hands against my back and pressed me into his hips. “Oh, don’t worry. I was planning on eating the cake batter off you.”
With one swift move, he lifted me up and tossed me over his shoulder. I squealed with surprise and pleasure. “Xavier!”
He didn’t respond, just slapped my ass and carried me to the bedroom. I fell onto the bed and bounced against the mattress, my dress flying up around my waist. Xavier didn’t hesitate. His clothes were off in what seemed to be an impossible amount of time. Within seconds, he’d pulled my dress off and thrown himself down onto the bed.
We rolled across the comforter, first his weight on me, then mine on him, then his on me again. Our hands tangled up in each other’s hair, and our hips pressed hard together. Our tongues fell into their familiar rhythm, giving everything they had to each other.
I was already soaking wet, ready to accept Xavier inside of me. I reached down and ran my hand over his length. His cock jerked against my palm, warm and soft as velvet. Eagerly, I guided it toward my opening. With a forceful thrust, Xavier entered me.
He filled me completely, his thick girth claiming every inch. I wrapped my legs around his waist, digging my nails into his back, holding onto him as tight as I could. Xavier slipped his hands under my ass and lifted me, the angle sending him deeper, each thrust hitting the end of me. Pleasure swirled through every cell, and I closed my eyes and released myself to it. I came with a crazed intensity, my nails cutting into Xavier’s shoulder while his mouth sucked on mine.
With a few more pulses, Xavier roared through his own release, his hips pounding into me one last time. I held him as he filled me, groaning my name over and over. I took his full weight when he collapsed, his breath warm on my cheek.
“I love you, Riley.”
I smiled. “I loved you too.” Holding him tighter against me, I added, “That was almost perfect.”
“Almost perfect?” Xavier lifted his head to look at me, an offended look staining his beautiful features.
“Well, yeah,” I innocently said. “There was no cake batter.”
A slow smile stretched across his face. “I didn’t say I was done yet.”
I laughed softly. “You’re not?”
He rolled over, pulling me on top of him. “Hell no. Now get your ass in that kitchen for round two.”
CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT
Xavier
Riley slept on her side, the sheet half-covering her nude body. Her shoulders rose and fell as she took in slow, languid breaths. Reaching over, I pulled the sheet up and tucked it under her chin. She didn’t move. She was lost in her slumber, adrift in a world of dreams. I hoped they were good ones, and I hoped at least one of them was about me.
With her taken care of, I sat up on my side of the bed and stared at one of the slats in the half-closed blinds. How did everything change so quickly? A few months before I was going about business as usual, clocking in sixty to seventy hours a week and enjoying a fling here and there, always with whoever the girl of the moment was. And now everything was different. The list was gone and my habit of fighting in the club’s alley as good as dead. Those things had been replaced with something better. Now, I cared about a woman for the first real time in my life. She was mine. It was my job to protect her and keep her happy.
Three months before, that thought would have terrified me. Today it thrilled me. Doing things right with Riley was a challenge to be met. I was excited to prove my capability. I was also scared, but Rochelle’s words rang in my head.
Just because your parents did things one way doesn’t mean you’re doomed to do the same.
She was right. And I just had to keep reminding myself of that. With Riley’s sunny presence, it shouldn’t be too hard.
Thinking about my parents made me remember that I hadn’t talked to my mother in weeks. The last time, like all the others, didn’t go very well. It was probably time I tried again… even if I didn’t want to.
Rolling out of bed, I grabbed some boxers and tugged them on. I snatched my phone from where it was plugged up to charge and crept into the living room. Settling down on the couch, I started to dial my mother’s number — and stopped.
Why was I doing this? Really? Why did I call her up once a month and try to convince her to leave my father? That tactic hadn’t work the last fifty times I tried it. Did I really think that this time would be any different?
I shut my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose. What I’d been doing was living the definition of insanity. I’d been performing the same action over and over under the belief that I’d get a different result. Of course, I never did. My mother wasn’t going to change.
Because I haven’t changed.
It was a realization that rocketed through me. I opened my eyes back up and shook my head in amazement. It was so obvious… what I needed to do so clear.
I couldn’t keep pushing my mother, always telling her what to do. Who liked that, anyway? Of course she pushed back. I would too if I were her. But what if I tried a different tactic? What if I tried to be more understanding?
Suppose I called her just to talk and not to make demands or suggestions. What would happen? The answer was that I couldn’t even imagine how the conversation would go. Which meant it was worth trying.
I didn’t have a plan. I didn’t know what to say, but I dialed her number. She picked up on the second ring.
“Hey, you.”
“Hey, Mom. How are you doing?”
“I’m good, babe. Just wondering when you’re coming to see me. Are you going to do that sometime soon?”
It was something she mentioned a lot. I hadn’t been home in years, and for an obvious reason. I had no interest whatsoever in seeing my father.
I could almost hear her bracing, waiting for my inevitable no. When I opened my mouth, though, I remembered my promise to myself before I dialed her number.
“That sounds nice, Mom. Maybe I can come next month.”
There was a brief pause. “Oh, Xavier, that would be nice.”
The pleasure spilled from her voice, making me smile in response. “I’ll get a hotel in the city… because I might be bringing someone with me.”
“A girl?” she excitedly asked.
“Yeah, a girl.”
“Xavier Fields, get out of town. You do not have a girl. You’ve never once told me about a girl in your life.”
I grinned into the phone. “It’s a pretty recent thing.”
“Is she pretty?”
“She’s gorgeous,” I said instantly. “And sweet too. She has a really big heart.”
“That’s good, honey. I’m happy for you.”
“Thanks, Mom. Maybe...” I swallowed and deliberated how best to present my question. Finally, I just went for it. “Maybe after we visit you, you can come here for a bit. Riley and I can show you around the city.”