“Have you ever had anyone tell you that you have a nice cock?” I murmur as I rub my lips against the head.

“Never.”

“Never? No one’s ever told you what a nice, thick shaft you have?” I give it another squeeze just to prove my point. “Or that it’s got a big fat head that’s just begging to be nibbled on?” I flick my tongue against it. “Or that there’s this little vein underneath that looks very, very sensitive?” I move lower and lick the vein, and then cup his balls in one hand. “Or that these are so nice and plump?”

“Can’t say the boys in the locker room ever said such things,” he grits out, panting. It’s clear he loves my touch. His cock jerks in response every time I move, which is almost as exciting as touching him. Almost.

“What about the women you’ve dated in the past?”

“Can’t remember a thing about them other than they weren’t you, so they don’t matter.” And he gives me a look filled with such longing that it makes me quiver all over again. “Nobody mattered before you, and there ain’t gonna be anyone after you, Lexi.”

I don’t respond to that, because what can I possibly say? It’s too soon for someone like me to make such a commitment. Commitment’s definitely not my strong suit. But I’m not going to let that ruin the moment. I just give him a sly smile and lean in to lick the head of his cock once more. We can talk about where this is going another day. Right now, I just want to enjoy what we’ve got right now. I drag my tongue over him again, and then take him in my mouth.

The breath hisses out between his teeth and then Knox caresses my cheek again, burying his hand in my hair. “Fuck, you’re pretty like that.”

I tighten my lips around him and then take him even deeper. I love the way he gives this masculine gasp, like he’s forgotten that air exists until this very moment. I need to hear that, over and over again. So I do my best to make him wild with desire, employing everything I know from past experience. My hand is tight around his shaft, and I work it slowly even as I use my lips and tongue to pleasure him. I hum a little as I move up and down on his shaft, until I hear that intake of breath again and taste a hint of salt in my mouth. He’s close.

I kick things up a notch then. With my tongue, I work the underside of his shaft, alternating between that and sucking. I plunge deeper, taking him as far as I can until he’s butting up against the back of my throat. He encourages me with heated words and small touches to my face, even as his hips lift up, as if he wants to desperately fuck my face but won’t push me into it. That’s sweet, but I’m enjoying this as much as he is, and so I take his hand and put it on the back of my head, showing him that it’s all right to be as forceful with me as he wants. He groans when I do, and then begins to guide my head, pumping into my mouth until he comes with a hoarse shout of my name.

I swallow his spend and drag my tongue over him as I lift my head, then give him a sly look. “You know you’re allowed to touch me, right? I won’t break.”

His face is sweaty and flushed, his eyes heavy with his arousal as he pants. “Didn’t want you to feel like you were forced into anything.”

“If I feel that way, you’ll know. Until then, I’m yours to play with just as much as you’re mine.”

“That so?” he asks, breathless, and locks an arm around my waist, dragging me up against him. He holds me close even as he moves our bodies to the floor, and a moment later, he’s on top of me, and his hand is going back into my pants. “You want to do some ghost huntin’ now or you want to hand over these panties?”

“I think we’ve scared away any ghosts that might be here,” I murmur, my arms going around his neck. “They’re scandalized by me deep-throating that hammer of yours.”

He snorts and a moment later, I feel his fingers brushing over my folds again. “If they’re scandalized by that, they ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”

“Oh?” I ask, breathless. I can’t believe how aroused I am again already. Giving him a blow job was exciting, but I’ve never been this turned on in the past. Guess I really haven’t seen anything yet.

I can’t wait for him to show me.

Chapter 12

Lexi

Sometime in the early hours of the morning, I’m roused from an exhausted sleep cuddled against Knox’s chest. What woke me up? I hear something a moment later, a muffled thumping sound. I freeze in bed, my heart pounding. Is it . . . ghosts? Is there a haunting here after all?

Knox rubs my naked ass with one big hand under the blankets. “S’your phone, sweetheart. Don’t be scared.”

Oh. Jesus. I exhale slowly and sit up in bed, looking around. “I knew that.”

“Sure you did,” he says with a yawn, and tries to pull me back down against him. “Ignore it and it’ll stop.”

I lean in and tease his nipple, just to make him groan. “Be right back.” I slide out of bed, not caring that I’m naked, and start digging around in the strewn clothing and bedding to figure out where my phone is. We’ve pretty much demolished this room after another round or two (or three) of sex. I find a sock hanging off the flat-screen TV, and my phone’s in the ice bucket, under Knox’s T-shirt. I have no idea how either one got there, but that answers why there was a weird thumping. With it tucked against my chest, I crawl back into bed and let Knox pull me back against him. He tangles his legs with mine and his hand goes back to my hip, as if he just wants to touch me while he sleeps.

I tilt my phone away from his face so I don’t blind him with the screen and click on the text messages. It’s Natalie, and she’s sent me a flood of texts.

NAT: Hey! I know it’s late, but I can’t sleep and I’m peeling wallpaper at 3 in the morning.

NAT: In case you’re asking WHY I am peeling wallpaper at 3 in the morning, let me tell you. I can’t sleep. This house is such a fixer-upper that it’s keeping me up at night.

NAT: There is teal wallpaper in the bathroom and yellow countertops from the 70s. I’m going to let that sink in for a moment.

NAT: I know it might not be the brightest idea to decide to remodel when we’re just starting out. I’m realizing that . . . now. But we couldn’t find anything we liked and Clay wanted the baby to have a home (aka not his trailer) and I was all, “Hey, I can do that, no problem.”

NAT: Next time I say it’s no problem, slap me in the face. I said this would be exciting. It’s not exciting.

NAT: Well, the teal wallpaper isn’t exciting BUT the house is big and it’s fun to pick my own decor. But the bathroom wallpaper bothers me, so here I am in the middle of the night, peeling.

NAT: Well in between peeling, I’m texting you like a madwoman.

NAT: Which brings me to my question of how come you haven’t moved into my guest house yet?

NAT: It’s set up to be the perfect sort of apartment, you know. And rent free!

NAT: Not that you’re a charity case!

NAT: But like, I know your yoga business has been in the toilet back at Luka.

NAT: And I know San Antonio is a big relocation for you.

NAT: But I’d hate for the place to sit empty and I’d love for you to be nearby . . .

NAT: Just think about it, okay?

NAT: Talk to you in the morning when you get this. Wallpaper is calling my name.

Knox groans and buries his face against my hair, hiding his eyes. “Did she write you a fuckin’ book?”

“Seems like it.” I click the screen off and toss my phone aside, then snuggle close to him again. His hand immediately goes to the curve of my ass and he squeezes it possessively. I breathe in his scent. He’s a little sweaty, but instead of it being a turnoff, I like the smell of his skin. I rub up against him and close my eyes, trying to go back to sleep. I can’t, though. Instead, I keep thinking about Nat’s one-way conversation on my cell phone. She’s offering me the guesthouse on her property.

It’d be cheap. I’d pay her rent, of course, because I’m not a freeloader, but I could name my price. Nat likes to take care of people. I’d be in San Antonio, where Knox lives. Best of all, I’d be away from Keith. He could leave me the fuck alone for once. It’d be a fresh start in what has felt increasingly like a stale dead end. As a place to live, Luka sucks. The only person that I liked that was there was Natalie, and she’s moved away. There’s nothing holding me back, in theory.

Except . . . that’s where my business is. My studio is there. Everything I’ve worked for in the past five years is there. Sure, it’s a small apartment and an equally small studio, but it’s mine. I’ve worked hard to build that up. Every customer that comes to my studio for yoga is an accomplishment that I made on my own.

Moving in to a friend’s guesthouse doesn’t exactly advance my independence. But . . . it’s tempting. My credit cards are in the red thanks to my business, and they don’t look to be in the black any time soon. My studio rent is going up and attendance in my classes has fallen off dramatically. Some of it is because there’s a gym that opened up one town over, and some of it . . . well, it’s because I’m shitty with people. I have no patience and I’m weird. In a small, conservative southern town, I’m the weirdo that dresses in black and doesn’t go to the town social events. In the last three days, my classes have been nearly empty. I’ve been worrying over how I’m going to make the rent.

Or I can say fuck it to all of it and move into Natalie’s guesthouse. I don’t know what to do.

Knox

Best thing in the world is wakin’ up with your woman naked in your bed. Lexi’s tucked against me with that flexible, bendy little body of hers that makes me so fuckin’ crazy, and her head’s against my chest. Fills me with all kinds of pride and possessiveness. This beautiful woman is mine, and she’s carryin’ my child. I’m overwhelmed with how good it makes me feel, how happy, how satisfied.