Exes and Exorcisms by Keira Blackwood (uplifting book club books .txt) 📗

Kelly’s face looked angelic and sweet, but her breathing had changed and I could tell she’d be waking soon.

As content as it made me feel to give her pleasure, uncertainty still lingered.

She peered up at me through her thick lashes. “Awake already?”

With a stretch, her naked breasts pulled against the sheet, nearly slipping out into the cold morning air. I was tempted to take a breast into my palm, rub a thumb over her nipple and watch her arch her body against me. I could go for another round.

“Xavier?” She spread her fingers over my chest.

My voice came out like gravel as I responded, “Yes?”

“We didn’t talk about what happened,” she said.

“Do you want to?”

“Hell no,” she said. “But say...hypothetically, if two people had a terrible past, they’d be worried that their future could be terrible, too, right?”

“Hypothetically, people could change, and learn from their past mistakes.”

“True, true. But one could see how nerves might cause one to make bad decisions, before one realized things could be different, right?”

A smile pulled at the corners of my mouth. Was this an attempt at an apology without actually saying she was sorry?

“In the same way that one could understand how hard it is to not get a real apology from one’s mate?”

She dropped her jaw and sat up in bed, pulling the sheet off of me to wrap it around herself. Shit. I’d screwed up.

“I get it,” I said. “It’s work. But with as hot and cold as things have been between us—”

“It’s not your request for an apology that has me shocked, Xavier Matthew Breene.”

I rolled to my side. “Then what?”

Kelly’s gaze roamed over my nakedness, then she cursed under her breath and narrowed her eyes at my face. “You said the biggest, baddest, most weight-filled word in shifter vocabulary.”

“Mates.” I shrugged it off like it was nothing. “I thought we were speaking in hypotheticals.”

“Nope. You don’t get to throw around that word and pretend it means nothing.”

“Okay,” I said. “Just as soon as you tell me straight about the dildo.”

She rolled her eyes. “Fine. You’re impossible, you know that? But I’m not going to let you bait me into a fight when I’m trying to talk about feelings.”

“Me bait you?” I bit my tongue. Nope. I didn’t want to fight. “I’ve tried giving you space, let you set the rules and the boundaries. And if you want to push me away, I’ll take it. I love you, Kelly Flowers. I always have, but it wasn’t right for us before. We weren’t right together. I know that. Now, I can’t imagine my life without you, and I don’t care if it’s scary, because it’s the truth—you are my mate. You’re it for me, even if you don’t feel the same.”

She grabbed my face and kissed me hard, stealing my words and my breath. Then she leaned her forehead against mine. “You said I had to tell you first, but I didn’t.” She laughed, pulled back and did a little dance. “I win.”

“That’s what you want to say when I bare my soul to you?”

She nodded and bit her lip like she was holding back another chuckle. “Yep. But don’t worry, I feel the same.”

I sat up and pulled her into my lap, having to hold her in my arms. “Tell me,” I said.

“I was afraid.” She put her hands on my shoulders, sliding her palms down over my collarbones.

“That I would smother you.”

“No. I mean yes, at first. But that’s not what I meant. That’s why I got the dildo. I needed an out, one that didn’t involve violence or confrontation. I needed to know that when this—” She gestured between us. “Got messy, that I didn’t have to fight with you over why we needed to stay apart. And I didn’t want it to be me who had to leave.”

“I won’t make you leave,” I said.

“I know,” she said. “But I didn’t then. And when I said that I was scared, I meant when you left. I needed space, but I didn’t want you to leave. When you did, I had a vision.”

“A vision?”

“Yeah, I see the future. It’s my vampire thing. Like how Peter can give people diseases, and Marla can manipulate people with her mind.”

“Right,” I said, still a bit confused. What else had she seen about our future?

“So in my vision, I saw a vampire hurt you. I was scared that I might lose you, because I love you.”

I let those three words sink in through my skin, through my head, my chest, and my soul.

“Tell me again,” I said.

“I love you.”

I kissed her, and I held her, and I pinned her to the bed and showed her exactly how I felt with my tongue.

KELLY SWAYED on her feet as she half-walked, half-danced across the room. Her hair was wet from her shower, which she did not let me join her for, much to my dismay. She’d said she needed time between bouts of orgasms, and as I’d promised to let her set boundaries, I’d obeyed and showered first, alone.

“You’re probably starving,” she said.

“I can always eat.”

“We should pick something up for you, especially after I fed on you. We can’t have you walking around all anemic and tired.”

“You’re worried about me,” I said.

“Never,” she teased, even though she’d already admitted the truth in bed. “Just looking out for my food source.”

“Oh, is that all I am?” I asked.

“Would it be a problem if you were?”

“No,” I answered honestly. “You biting me was hot as hell.”

It had surprised me that I didn’t mind, but I was more than down to do it again, as often as she liked. It was a new way to care for her, which soothed my inner wolf, and it was definitely my kink.

“There are at least a few other things I like about you,” she said.

“Just a few?”

“I don’t want you getting too cocky,” she said as she grabbed her coat. “Now let’s go get you some protein. Another burger,