I kissed his chest and squeezed my legs around his hips, and Khell purred, hips flexing and stav pumping inside of me.

"It's all right," I said, thinking of everything I had done in the past month.

I had been miserable, yes. But I'd made my home my own. I'd grown closer with Natalie, more honest with myself. I'd missed Khell's presence terribly and accepted that while we'd spent a week having sex and maybe that shouldn't have meant much, Khell made the act personal and intimate and more than just physical release.

"Look at me, petal."

I obeyed immediately, and my entire body perked up at the fix of Khell's gaze on me.

"It's over now. This is real."

I smiled up at him and Khell purred again, rocking gently into me, stav pumping steady and opposite of his thrusts.

"It is. Kiss, please."

Khell had to hunch for us to be able to kiss in this position, but his mouth was eager, coated in my flavor, and his claws pinched my jaw, holding me in place. He pulled my hips away from the wall, tilting me for a deeper angle, and I moaned into his mouth, his tongue mimicking the motion of his cock.

My hands held his ass, enjoyed the flex of his muscles as he fucked me, and the kiss continued, breaking for brief gasps of air.

"Mine," Khell growled, his hips starting to snap, the punch of his cock flaring bursts of pleasure inside of me, the warning of the rising release.

"Mine," I answered.

Khell huffed and his head bent, tusks biting my shoulder gently, hand tightening on my throat, holding me in place for his taking.

"Yours," he snarled, the word muffled around my flesh.

I hung onto Khell like he was my anchor as the orgasm tore through me, my shout buried against his shoulder, my teeth grabbing on in a mirror of his. He roared, plunging deep and holding himself there as his stav stroked us both through his release.

We remained there, tied together, for a long moment, catching our breath and shivering through aftershocks as his stav bucked, milking him to completion. I kissed the spot I'd grabbed with my teeth, smiling privately at the temporary marks I'd made. Khell released his jaws slowly, his tongue flicking over my skin.

"Yours," he said again, turning his head and pressing his lips softly to mine, lingering there until our racing hearts slowed and matched time.

CHAPTER 23

Khell'ar

Sunny took her coffee with an absurd amount of coarse brown sugar. I'd watched her tear one packet after another and pour it into the cup she'd ordered at the little breakfast diner she'd chosen. We'd been seated across from one another, and I'd given up my seat before we'd ordered our food, moving to squeeze onto the same bench as her, wanting to feel her close.

Now I was missing that view of her face.