While I lay there, his hand traveled lower, caressing my ass cheek before dipping between my legs to stroke my inner thigh. Each sweep of his hand drew closer and closer to where I wanted him most, but he never hit the spot much to my dismay.

I rolled to my side, dislodging his hand in the process. Now that I was facing him, my hand was free to roam over his skin as well. Which it did with relish, taking in every bump and groove of his muscular chest and toned abs.

His hand stroked up my outer thigh, then up higher on my hip, to my waist, and then settled on my chest. He cupped my breast and his thumb swept back and forth across my nipple, hardening it into a peak and making me squirm with need. My legs turned restless between the sheets and my breathing became heavier.

“You ready for me?” he asked, his forefinger joining his thumb to tug on my nipple and shoot a bolt of desire straight between my legs.

“Yes,” I moaned.

“Let’s check to be sure.” His hand left my breast to skim down my belly and between my legs where a finger dipped inside my body. “Oh, you’re ready.”

I leaned forward, seeking his mouth, but I was met with air when he rolled to his back, pulling me on top of him.

“Your turn to do the work,” he informed me. His hand gripped my legs and yanked them up so I was straddling him, and I had to admit I kind of liked it when he manhandled me that way.

“You sure you deserve it?” I asked with a coy little tilt of my head.

“Five orgasms last night didn’t earn me that?” His eyes were lit as he quirked his eyebrow playfully, and I had to smother my jubilant expression that I got to witness a playful Xavier. The girls would die if they knew this side of him existed.

“Well, let’s see.” I squinted my left eye and curled my lip in mock thought, but my ass wiggled backward, finding Xavier hard and ready. With no other words, I sank down over him. My head fell back as I was overwhelmed from being so full of him.

Xavier’s hands gripped my waist as I lifted up and then sank back down over him, slowly at first. With his hands guiding me, I began riding him harder. As the pressure in my core started radiating up through my body, my movements became more out of control as I bucked and circled my hips on top of him.

“That’s it,” he whispered, his finger going between us and running along our connection before honing in on my ultra-sensitive clit. Within minutes, my body stilled as I came in a blinding rush. My eyes rolled into my head and I cried out loudly when Xavier’s hands on my hips slammed me down on him, his hips thrusting up brutally.

When I came back to earth, I leaned forward and with one hand on the headboard, my other planted in the bed to hold me up, I took over the movements, wanting to give him something beautiful like he had just given me.

I was rewarded when he slammed me down on him, his hands digging into my hips and holding me in place as he groaned through his climax.

Dropping my upper body down on his chest, my arms at my sides, I snuggled into the light smatter of hair on his chest, enjoying my spot on top of him.

His hands came up and moved idly over my skin, and I practically purred like a kitten from contentment.

“I like your house,” I said conversationally as he lulled me into a near comatose state with his tender touches.

“Good.”

“The house you had rented—”

“Was next door,” he finished with a bit of a bite to his tone. Okay, it would seem he didn’t appreciate the reminder of my turning down his offer. Deciding I didn’t want to ruin my post-coital bliss, I changed the subject.

“What made you decide to run The Den?” Odd subject, I know, but I had been curious since the day I’d stumbled into The Den about what made someone turn pimp. Plus, no one knew anything about Xavier or what made him tick. He was a mystery that I was intent on solving.

Xavier didn’t answer, and I guessed this was his way of telling me he wasn’t going to. Figuring we’d get back to that another time, I decided to go a little lighter.

“When’s your birthday?”

“Why?” he asked warily.

I lifted my head and grinned, saying, “I’m curious.”

“August eighteenth.” Mentally calculating the date, I realized we had just missed his birthday by less than a week.

“I missed your birthday,” I pouted. “I didn’t even get you a present.”

His hand cupped my jaw and his thumb ran over my plumped out lower lip. “I think this was present enough.”

Time stopped with his compliment. I swear my lungs forgot how to work and my heart stopped beating.

Oh. Wow. Okay. Alright. What did I do with that?

With no answer to that question and afraid to ruin the moment, I didn’t respond. Instead I said, “Sucks I have to go to work today.”

Xavier’s body tensed and I raised my head to see a hostile look on his face.

“What?” I asked when he didn’t say anything.

“No more clients, Aurora. No one gets to touch, taste, or fuck what’s mine,” he declared.

“Am I yours?” I asked breathlessly.

“For as long as you’re in my bed, yeah.”

I felt a grimace form on my face and my brows draw together. I didn’t like the sound of that.

“Don’t fall in love with me,” he whispered with a ferocity that startled me. “That look on your face says it all. You’re disappointed by what I said, but it’s the truth. I don’t do relationships. We can fuck and we can enjoy each other. Don’t expect any more.”

I wasn’t a fanciful woman by any stretch of the imagination, but every girl at some point in her life had notions of the white knight riding in to sweep her off her feet. Xavier might not have been a white knight, but he felt an awful lot like a dark knight to me. He made me feel safe and cherished, even if he didn’t realize it. I hadn’t had that in a really long time, if ever. What was so wrong with wanting more of it? Last night and today had been spectacular up until this conversation.

“I see those wheels turning in that pretty little head of yours,” he warned. “Don’t. Do. It.”

“I won’t,” I hastily told him even though I wasn’t sure how someone was supposed to just turn feelings off on a whim. There was no way I was going to walk away from him now. I would just have to worry about it when we crossed that bridge, and I was almost positive we would.

His body relaxed marginally at my consent, so I lowered my head back to his chest while his hands resumed caressing my back.

“I owe Marx an apology,” I mumbled several minutes later.

He stilled his hands and bit out, “You owe him shit.”

I lifted my head again so he could see how serious I was about this. “I do too. I was on a date with him. One that you ruined, by the way.”

“Are you complaining about the outcome?” His eyebrows raised in disbelief.

“No. I guess not,” I mumbled, causing him to chuckle.

“Didn’t think so."

Lying in a companionable silence, I hadn’t even realized how much time had passed until Xavier’s phone started ringing on the other side of the room.

I rolled off him while he got out of bed and padded naked to where it lay under his discarded clothes from the night before.

Before he answered it, he said, “Why don’t you go shower while I take this?” It was worded as a suggestion, but I knew it was anything but. Knowing that the call must be private, I chose not to give him any lip and did what I was told.

With my back to him, I missed the softness on his face and the burning intensity in his eyes. Even if I had seen it, I wouldn’t have understood why it was there. But if I had known that it was because I was the first woman in fifteen years who’d given Xavier exactly what he needed without thought, not just physically but emotionally, I would have bent myself over backwards to find ways to make him feel that way forever.