Chapter 228
Jaxx’s Point Of View
The world didn’t just tilt… it shattered. Not because she’d flipped us, though the way she’d moved, with fluid grace and raw power like a goddamn storm given human form, had been enough to steal my breath and knock the fight clean out of me.
No, it shattered because of the way she looked at me now. Not uncertain, not startled, not submissive… certain. Something in her gaze had shifted, some quiet tectonic thing I couldn’t name, and I felt the ground beneath my ribs give way.
One second, I had her beneath me, her body arched, her moans filling the room, her nails digging into my skin like she was trying to brand and claim me. The next, she’d flipped us, her thighs straddling my hips, her fingers pressing into my chest like she could hold me down. Like she could own me. Her palms were warm and steady against my chest, not shaking at all, and the worst part was that I let her. Not because I couldn’t stop her… fuck, I could’ve turned us back in a heartbeat.
But because of the way she looked at me right now, the fire in her eyes and the challenge curling her lips, I didn’t want to stop her. I let her because, for the first time in my life, I wanted to. That realization alone should have scared me straight off the bed, and some distant part of me screamed that it should, but I stayed exactly where I was.
Because when Elena looked at me like this… eyes dark with challenge, lips swollen from my kisses, her skin flushed with the kind of heat that made my cock throb painfully between us… I didn’t just feel powerless. I felt undone and alive at the same time, and that was fucking terrifying. I’d never given anyone this kind of ground before, not an inch, not willingly, and yet here I was, handing her the whole damn map.
“Still with me?” she murmured, her tone light… too light, like she wasn’t sitting on a loaded weapon she was deliberately refusing to fire.
My jaw tightened. “Careful,” I warned, my voice low. “You’re playing a dangerous game p>
Her lips curved into that slow, knowing smile that said she already knew. Her fingers wrapped around my cock, her grip firm and possessive, not rushed, not desperate, and I hissed, my hips jerking off the bed despite myself. I bit back a curse, muscles tensing as sensation ripped through me. She felt it, of course she did, and her smirk deepened, slow and wicked, like she knew exactly what she was doing to me. Like she loved it. I wanted to be annoyed by that, but surprisingly… I wasn’t.
“Sensitive,” she teased softly, her thumb barely brushing, barely moving. “Did I catch you off guard p>
“You know damn well you did,” I shot back, breath rough. “Let go p>
“Make me.” The words came out quiet and absolute, and my cock pulsed so hard in her grip it was fucking embarrassing.
She didn’t let go. Instead, she leaned down, her breath hot against my ear, her hair brushing my jaw, her voice dropping into a dark, velvety purr. “Boy p>
I froze.
Boy?
The word hit harder than her grip, like I was something she could command, like I wasn’t the one who’d had her begging just minutes ago, like she hadn’t been screaming my name with her nails raking down my back and her body clenching around me like she never wanted to let go. A strange heat crawled up my neck, something between indignation and want, the two feelings so tangled I couldn’t separate them anymore.
“You’re pushing it,” I muttered.
Then she bit my lip, hard, hard enough to sting, hard enough to make my blood roar in my veins, sharp and electric. Her teeth tugged and her tongue soothed the bite before she pulled back, her gaze locked onto mine, dark and hungry and unafraid.
“Seriously?” I growled, my voice rough as gravel, my hands flying to her hips, my fingers digging into her skin. Not to control her, not to stop her, just to feel her, to remind myself this was real. That this woman, this fucking force of nature, was right here. Mine. The thought settled somewhere deep in my chest, equal parts comfort and threat.
She laughed, and that sound hit me like a bullet… bright, unexpected, so fucking beautiful it hurt. For a second I forgot how to breathe, forgot how to think, forgot everything but the way her laughter wrapped around me, the way her eyes sparkled, the way her fingers stroked me slowly and deliberately, like she was savoring this, like she was savoring me. I’d heard that laugh before, dozens of times, but never like this, never aimed at me from somewhere so far above, so thoroughly in charge.
“You don’t like it?” she asked softly, tilting her head. “Being looked at p>
I smirked, because fuck it… if she wanted to play, I’d let her. For now. There was a strange thrill in surrendering the upper hand, one I hadn’t expected and wasn’t ready to examine too closely.
“If I’m not in control here, baby,” I murmured, my voice dark, my thumbs brushing over the dip of her waist, my cock twitching in her grip, “then who is?” My hands slid up, cupping her face, my fingers tangling in her hair, and I pulled just enough to make her gasp, just enough to remind her I was still choosing this. “You, mama p>
Her smirk didn’t falter. She nodded slowly, deliberately, her lips brushing mine, her teeth nipping at my bottom lip before she bit down hard enough to draw blood, hard enough to make my vision white out.
“I do, Jaxx,” she whispered, her voice a dark, filthy promise.
I groaned, my hips bucking, my cock pulsing in her hand. “Prove it,” I challenged, my voice a growl, my gaze burning into hers. “Show me just how much control you think you have over me p>
Her fingers tightened around my cock, her thumb swirling over the tip, her grip perfect and maddening, and I hissed, breath breaking, my body coiling tight with restraint. Every muscle in me fought the urge to flip her over and take back the reins, and every second I resisted felt like its own small, reckless victory.
“Princess,” I growled, dark amusement curling through my voice, “you don’t seriously think I’m actually one of those guys that think through their dicks, do you p>
She laughed again, and that sound, that fucking sound, wrecked me and owned me completely. Then she leaned in, her lips brushing my ear, her voice a dark, seductive whisper. “I know you ain’t one of them, Jaxx p>
Her hand stroked me slowly, teasingly, her thumb pressing just right beneath the head of my cock, making my toes curl despite myself. “But this morning?” Her breath was hot against my skin, her lips trailing down my neck, her teeth grazing my pulse point. “Today?” She pulled back, her gaze locking onto mine, dark and promising and unflinching and fucking mine. “I’m gonna make you one Her fingers tightened, her grip firm, her voice dropping to a whisper, dark and filthy and perfect. just for the plot p>
The words lingered between us like smoke that refused to clear. I stared up at her in open, amused disbelief, my chest rising slow and controlled, even as every nerve in my body lit up like she’d struck a match inside me. The audacity of her, the confidence, the way she sat there like she hadn’t just thrown my entire sense of balance off its axis. For a moment, I actually laughed, low and breathless and disbelieving, because what else was there to do when the ground kept shifting beneath me and I kept choosing to stand on it anyway.
“Don’t push it, mama,” I said, voice rough, warning threaded through every syllable. My hands slid to her thighs, firm and grounding, like I needed the contact to keep myself anchored. “You really don’t want to do that p>
She tilted her head, dark eyes glinting. “I shouldn’t push it?” she echoed, slow and deliberate, a smile curving her lips that was neither soft nor shy, but sharp and curious. “Or what?” She leaned in just enough that I could feel her breath against my face, feel the heat of her body without fully touching me. “What are you going to do p>
That stopped me. Not because I didn’t have an answer, but because something about the way she said it told me she wasn’t asking out of fear. She was asking out of challenge.
I studied her then, really looked, and wondered what the fuck was happening. This wasn’t Elena… not the Elena I knew, not the one who cursed when I did nothing more than existing, who bit her lip when I got too rough, who melted when I took control.
This Elena was different. This Elena was fearless, and fuck, was it hot. Minutes ago, she’d been pliant under my hands, responsive, melting into every touch like she trusted me to lead her through the fire, and now she was here, in control, tormenting me.
And fuck, I loved it, but I wouldn’t admit it, not out loud, not to her. Some stubborn, prideful part of me needed to hold onto that secret like it was the last thing keeping me steady.
I frowned, suspicion curling tight in my gut. “Why are you suddenly different?” I asked, voice low, careful. “You still riding whatever you drank last night at the bar p>
She shook her head slowly, curls shifting over her shoulders, her gaze never leaving mine. “Nah,” she said softly. Then she smiled again, lazy and dangerous. “But I will be Her fingers tightened around my cock, her thumb pressing just right beneath the head, making my toes curl. if you don’t show me what happens when I push it p>
My jaw clenched. That did something to me, something deep and instinctive and hard to ignore. I forced myself to breathe, to keep my tone even, even as my body betrayed me in every possible way.
How the hell did she do this? I’d spent years mastering control over my urges and my needs, discipline drilled into muscle and mind until it was second nature. When I said no, my body followed, and when I drew a line, nothing crossed it.
But with her, it was like she walked straight through every defense I’d ever built and rearranged the furniture, leaving me standing in the wreckage without the faintest idea how to rebuild it, or whether I even wanted to.
I swallowed, my hands flexing on her thighs, resisting the urge to pull her closer or flip her back under me where I knew how to handle her.
“You’re playing a dangerous game,” I murmured.
She leaned closer. “So are you,” she shot back.
The air between us tightened, breath to breath, eyes locked, neither of us blinking. It felt like standing at the edge of something enormous, something neither of us had named yet but both of us could feel pressing in from every side.
I felt it then… that slow, deliberate shift. Warmth, wetness, heaven. The way she moved was not rushed, not clumsy, just enough to remind me she was fully aware of what she was doing to me. She rose up on her knees, guiding my cock to her entrance, dragging the head through her folds, letting it catch on her clit, letting me feel exactly how soaked she still was… and then, still holding my gaze, still wearing that smirk, she sank down, slow and deliberate, inch by fucking inch.
Her lips parted, her breath shuddering out of her as she took me deep, her walls gripping me, fluttering and clenching as she stretched around every thick inch of me. A broken groan tore from my throat, my hips jerking off the bed, my fingers tangling in her hair.
“Shit… Elena p>
“Shh,” she breathed, smug as the devil, rolling her hips once she’d taken all of me, seated to the base, her pussy pulsing around my cock. “The plot thickens p>
I sucked in a sharp breath despite myself, a sound I hadn’t meant to let out. Her lips twitched.
“Thought so,” she whispered.
I growled under my breath, my fingers digging in reflexively. “Careful,” I warned again, more strained this time. “You keep testing me like this, you’re not gonna like how it ends.” Even as the threat left my mouth, some reckless, hungry part of me hoped she wouldn’t listen.