by Zoey Draven
Eve licked her bottom lip, catching a stray drop of the glaze and his pupils flared, lingering on the spot her tongue had dabbed.
His fingers were distracting and the backs of them would brush the bared flesh of her thigh every time he smoothed the hem. Arousal flooded her belly and as if Khiva knew, his nostrils flared in response.
Somehow, Eve managed another bite of the steak. And another. And another. All while Khiva watched. She took a bite of buttered bread, which was equally as fantastic as the steak, and Eve thought Madame Allegria employed the best, unknown chef in all of Everton.
“Is it satisfactory?” Khiva rasped, still watching her with darkened eyes. Her sex gave another pulse just from his voice alone.
“Yes,” she said quietly. “This is amazing. Do you eat like this all the time?”
Khiva’s eyes flickered to the food. “Mostly, yes.”
“I would probably gain a hundred pounds if I lived here then,” she murmured, a soft smile on her face, feeling the food settle in her stomach, filling her.
Khiva’s gaze ran over her body and Eve had the urge to retreat. “I would not mind that,” he murmured. “But I enjoy your form. Very much.”
Her cheeks warmed. Her eyebrow rose, “You can’t be serious.”
It was Khiva’s turn to look confused. “Of course I am.”
“I’m considered…fuller by Everton’s standards already,” she found herself saying and she wanted a hole in the floor to swallow her up for saying it.
Khiva’s eyes flickered. “I never understood Everton females’ obsession with this ‘standard,’ as you say. While all females are beautiful in their own right, when it comes to sex, I am certain most males would want healthier partners. Half the time, I am worried I will hurt them.”
Eve swallowed and look down at her emptying plate. For a brief moment, she’d actually forgotten who he was…one of the Krave, who had sex with numerous women. She couldn’t help but wonder if Mrs. Langley had visited Khiva before and she felt the steak turning in her stomach at the thought, remembering the older woman’s moan as she climbed into her driverless car that night.
Khiva added softly, “Even though you say you think you are ‘fuller,’ I still need to be careful with you. Humans are much smaller than Keriv’i. We are much stronger. I could hurt you if I forget myself. Which I just might, with you.”
He said those last words so softly that it seemed he was saying them to himself.
And Eve didn’t know why, but that made her chest warm.
Khiva focused his eyes back on her, his fingertips still warm on her thigh.
“What do you want of me this night?” he asked softly.
After taking a single bite of the cake, Eve knew she wouldn’t be able to eat any more and she pushed the plates away.
“I…I don’t know,” she confessed, carefully laying her napkin next to the tray.
Khiva’s head cocked to the side and he leaned forward a bit, pressing closer. “May I make a suggestion?”
Eve blinked. “Yes.”
“You like to be touched, pax?”
Her lips parted. Had she been that obvious? Softly, she said, “Yes.”
His chin lifted up. “We can start there. We can finish there too, for tonight, if you do not want more.”
Her heart thudded in her throat. What did ‘touching’ mean exactly?
But she didn’t ask. Instead, she whispered, “Okay.”
A soft growl rose in his throat. “Would you like to touch me as well?”
Her sex throbbed at the question.
God, yes. She wanted to touch him.
“Yes,” she whispered, surprised at herself when she held his eyes and didn’t shy away. “I do.”
His fingers clenched around her thigh before they released.
Then he asked, almost with hesitation, “Where would you like to start?”
“Can I make a request?” she asked, looking down at his hand before meeting his eyes again.
His brow furrowed. “Pax. Of course.”
“I’m new to all of this,” she said. “And because of that, I don’t really want to lead anything. If I don’t like something, or want to do something different, then I’m not afraid to say so. I just want to…experience this without having to worry about the little decisions that go with it, like where to start or where to sit.” Taking a deep breath, she continued, “I know I’m your client and I know you’re supposed to follow my requests, but I’m requesting that you lead everything tonight. Will you?”
His pupils flared and Eve couldn’t help but wonder if he preferred leading.
Yes, she knew. She’d observed many men in her life and the way they acted. Some were gentle, some were aggressive, some were dominant, some knew exactly what they wanted.
Something told her that Khiva could be any of those things. But one thing she couldn’t picture him being was a follower.
“Pax,” he finally rasped. “I will lead tonight. But promise me that if you want a change, you will tell me.”
“I promise,” she said quietly, anticipation beginning to rise in her belly.
His gaze flickered to the half-empty plates in front of her. “Are you finished with your meal?”
“Yes.”
No sooner than she said that did he pull her from the chair, his hands wrapping around her hips in an almost possessive way. It made her belly clench at how erotic she found that.
“Good,” he murmured, his eyes connected with hers. “Then let us begin.”
Chapter Six
Khiva carried her over to the armchair she’d first seen him in earlier that evening, like he knew that immediately going to the bed might give her pause. He held her easily in his arms, like she weighed nothing, and Eve shamelessly inhaled his spicy scent. It wrapped around her brain and muddled it, like she’d had a couple glasses of Everton’s berry wine.
The armchair was leather and a dark, worn cognac color. Khiva sat and then pulled her across his lap until she was straddling his waist, her silk dress bunching across her widened thighs. He maneuvered her with ease, just more evidence of his strength…or perhaps his familiarity with this position.
She didn’t want to think about that, or how many women he’d had on his lap that way. Instead, she watched the way his gaze flickered over her body, the way he grew comfortable in the chair and leaned back, his fingers making lazy circles where they held her hips in place.
Between them, his cock was hard not to notice, bulging and tenting the material of his loose pants. When he noticed her gaze, his lips twitched and he reached down to adjust himself. Eve’s lips parted, finding his nonchalance about his erection incredibly…sexy.
Her mind went blank when he guided his hands up her body, from her hips to her waist. His eyes darted from the slow progression of his hands to her eyes and back again. And Eve watched the utter focus and intensity on his alien features, which were already becoming so familiar to her.
“You are an innocent in sex,” he suddenly murmured, pressing her closer, straining her dress, “but have you pleasured yourself? You must have.”
His question caught her off guard. “Y-yes, I have.”
Khiva made a sound in the back of his throat, the pleased one she felt all the way to her sex. “And what is it like when you cum?”
Eve sucked in a breath. “I…” His hands glided over the sides of her breasts before making their way around her back. “I—it feels good. Don’t all orgasms?”
His pupils flared and his fingers played with the hooks at the back of her dress.
“When we have sex, it will not be just ‘good.’”
Eve almost whimpered at that.
When…not if.
As if he was confident that she would return to him after that night…or he was confident that she would give into him that night.
“It’s true then?” she couldn’t help but whisper.
His fingers flicked open the top hook at the back of her dress and then he watched her,
seeing how she’d respond. Whatever he found seemed to satisfy him because he flicked the next one open.
“About the Keriv’i?” he questioned softly. His lips tightened briefly. “The Krave, I mean.”
Eve couldn’t help but say, in his language, “Pax.”
His fingers stilled and his chest grew as he dragged in a deep breath. His eyes flickered down to her lips and then he popped open the next hook down. And the next. And the next, much more quickly than before.
Her belly tightened with every one.
His voice was deeper and rougher when he answered, “Our cum, our teela, creates pleasure, pax. There are other species known to have similar…attributes. But the Keriv’i’s teela works across many species. Humans included.”
Eve licked her bottom lip. “And as long as it’s inside…”
“You will be cumming,” he rasped, working on the last hook of her dress, which he undid easily. “How long do you think you could orgasm?”
Her head spun and she answered, “I don’t know.”
“We will find out,” he purred. Then he added, “Not this night, but when you are ready.”
Slowly, he pushed her dress off her shoulders until it pooled around her lower waist. The bra she was wearing was made of black lace, her prettiest one, and even though the room was warm from the fire and the heat of Khiva’s body, she shivered. She still had her bra on and her dress was still covering half her body, but it was the most naked she’d ever been with a male.
“Or I could give you a taste later if you wish,” he suddenly growled, his hands spanning the expanse of her bared back.
“W-what do you mean?”
“It depends how far you want this night to go, Evelyn,” he told her. “I can pleasure you without sexual intercourse. While the teela is most potent within the body, it still creates pleasure if it is not.”
While she didn’t feel bad about backing out on the sex that night, erotic curiosity plagued her. She realized that she wanted to ease into her sexual education and just the fact that she was straddling this attractive male’s hips and he had her dress half-off, murmuring to her about orgasms…well, it was already big step in the right direction.
But she couldn’t deny that she was curious about what he was implying. Even if she didn’t want to have sex that night, she wasn’t opposed to beginning to explore the pleasure she could find with him.
“I’m open to it,” she whispered and he growled in response, his hands tightening. “But just keep touching me for now. Please.”
“With pleasure, female,” he rasped.
His hands were strong and warm, but the texture was just rough enough to make her shiver. Slowly, he drew circles on her bare back, scraping over the straps of her bra. She held her breath when he dipped his fingertips just beneath the band.
And not once did he ever look away from her. His eyes could almost be considered pretty, but she would never use that word to describe him. He wasn’t pretty. He had strong, raw features, too masculine and rough. The swirling colors seemed to glow as he watched her. It made Eve feel vulnerable…but in the best way possible.
A soft, shuddering sigh escaped her and it was then that she realized her hands were clenching into his shirt. She’d told him the truth when she said she wanted to touch him so, with a courage that surprised her, she started to tug up the soft material covering his torso.
Khiva growled, briefly letting his hands leave her body to pull up his shirt, answering her unspoken request, and tossed it behind her. Immediately, his hands returned to her, this time skimming down her arms.
“Vauk,” he murmured, his eyes burning. “You’re so soft, female.”
But Eve was too busy looking at his now exposed chest to respond. She realized that somehow, his clothes made him seem less massive. But without his shirt…
He was ripped. Pure strength and cords of muscles lined his arms, his shoulders, his pectorals, his abdomen. He wasn’t built like a human man. He had the body of a soldier, a warrior, meant for battle and combat because he was brute power.
Sitting in his lap, she suddenly felt much, much smaller and again, it aroused her to think that she could be at his mercy. Was it a strange fantasy to want to be overpowered by him?
His skin was mostly that blue-grey, but his arms and part of his chest and sides held the mottling of grey and black, the colors blending together like a dark oil painting. His nipples were black, standing starkly against his bulging pectorals, which shifted as his hands moved over her.
Slowly, she let her fingertips glide down the middle of his chest. Khiva growled again, low in his throat, and his hands stroked down her sides, cupping her hips, gripping her flesh there in an almost appreciative way.
She spreads her palms wide, touching his hard abdomen and when she pulled her hands away, she noticed a slight sheen on them.
“You oil your body?” she whispered.
“Pax,” he said. His voice sounded different, more guttural, darker. “Keriv’i…our skin needs it daily. Especially here. The climate is dry for us.”
Eve’s lips parted, already imagining him doing that in her active imagination…Khiva caressing the amazing body beneath her, his skin glinting in the firelight with shimmering oil.
And he did it daily.
One night, maybe he will let me watch him, she suddenly thought. But then she realized she was getting ahead of herself. Her ‘one night’ with a Krave had already turned into two in her mind, since she wouldn’t be having sex with him that night. Now, she was thinking of future visits.
She tuned out her thoughts, choosing instead to focus on the half-naked alien male beneath her splayed thighs. Her shimmering hands returned to his body, liking the smooth glide of her fingertips over him. Eve noticed that the grey and black colors had a different texture, rougher, whereas the rest of his skin felt like suede.
Khiva hissed out a sudden breath when she brushed one of his nipples and Eve snatched her hand back, fearing she’d hurt him.
“Veki,” he rasped. “I liked it.”
“Oh,” she whispered, before returning her hands to him, hesitantly stroking over the black pads of his nipples.
Khiva’s hips bucked in response, his hands moving from her hips, down to her bared thighs. Eve moaned softly as his rough palms dragged upwards, pushing up the silk hem of her dress until Eve felt his body heat caress the front of the black underwear she’d chosen for the night. When she looked down between their bodies, she could see them and Khiva’s thumbs pressed close to their edge before he retreated down her thighs again.
Slowly, he repeated his actions, patiently stroking up her body, making her hands tremble over him. Her breathing was already ragged and unconsciously, her body pressed closer to him.
Suddenly, Khiva tugged her forward until their fronts were flush, her hands trapped between them. Then she gasped when she felt his lips caress the top of her right shoulder. Pleasurable tingles radiated from that spot and zinged down her spine. His breath was hot against her bare skin and she’d never felt anything as intimate as that moment in her life.
And she knew it would only get better.
Desire and lust ravaged Khiva’s body, two emotions he was, ironically, not all that familiar with. Sexual arousal was what he knew best with his clients, but sexual arousal did not necessarily mean that he felt desire or lust. He had practiced enough to be able to control his arousal, regardless of whom he was with.
It would be disastrous, after all, if a Krave couldn’t please their demanding clients.
But right then…he didn’t need to control anything.
His raging, pulsing cock wanted the lush little female squirming in his lap. Khiva almost groaned in frustration, knowing he wouldn’t have her the way he wanted that night.
You might never claim her, he couldn’t help but think. What if she didn’t return after that night?
Determination rode him hard as he glided his lips over her soft skin. Her scent was strong and he drew it greedi
ly into his lungs, catching her heady arousal mixed in. Vauk, he could get addicted to her smell.
Khiva ignored his Keriv’i instinct to bite her, to mark her flesh as his, just another dominant trait that he pushed underneath the surface as an obedient whore. He had been filled with a raw anticipation when she’d asked him to take the lead that night. Occasionally, his clients asked him to, but not nearly enough to sate his baser, natural desires. He knew that his ‘Krave brothers’ at Madame Allegria’s struggled with the same issues, denying their Keriv’i need to dominate and claim.
But Evelyn had given him this freedom, to touch her however he wished, to guide her during their night, and hopefully early morning, together.
Khiva intended to savor this unexpected gift and opportunity from her.
Her forehead fell into the middle of his chest, her muscles relaxed and loose around him, and he trailed his hands across her exposed skin, wanting to touch all of her at once.
Gently, his head nudged hers to the side so he could suckle on the delicate skin of her neck. A shuddering gasp escaped her and Khiva groaned when she instinctively moved over his aching cock. She might be an innocent, but her body knew how to attract a mate, Khiva thought.
Evelyn’s face turned towards him, her forehead lifting from his chest for a brief moment. An unspoken invitation she might not even have realized she’d offered him.
Khiva’s breath hitched. Unable to resist, he turned from her neck and leaned towards her to brush his lips across her own, testing her boundaries.
Her eyes flashed open, right into his, but then they softened, her eyelids going heavy as he continued to brush soft kisses across her lips. Hesitantly, she drew her palms up his chest until she wrapped her arms around his neck.
That was all the invitation Khiva needed.
Angling her head, he softly gripped the back of her neck, feeling her silky hair tease over his arm. He swallowed her gasp as he kissed her properly, working his lips against hers the way he liked it…soft and slow and deep.
