POV Lucian

"We need to establish a couple of ground rules," Akhyra announces before digging her spoon into her raspberry smoothie bowl.

Last night, I ended up sleeping over, with her smuggled into my arms, and this morning, I woke up early to make breakfast. I found a notebook with her nutritional plan in the kitchen from which I chose a recipe. I'm no Valentino, but I've got some decent cooking skills.

Akhyra briefly closes her eyes, and a satisfied hum of approval rises from her throat. This delicious sound ticks all the right boxes for me, but I shake myself into focusing on her previous statement.

"Some rules?"

"About this relationship, I mean," she answers, picking up some blueberries and a slice of banana with her second bite.

"Alright. I'm listening."

"If we're going to break up," she begins, causing me to almost choke on my food. 

Akhyra patiently waits for me to drink some water, then I ask, "Why are we talking about breaking up? I'm pretty sure this brings bad luck."

She shrugs at my remark. "We're humans. You never know what might happen besides..."

"I'm really loving the faith and enthusiasm you're putting in this relationship," I joke even though there's a rising panic hiding behind my pleasant demeanor. 

Akhyra finally looks up at me with a raised eyebrow. "You said you were listening, and yet you keep interrupting me."

"Sorry. I'm all ears now."

"The reason why I'm addressing breaking up is because my therapist always wants me to let potential partners know that they're free to walk out of this at any given moment."

I start laughing until I realize that she's actually serious. Now that I think of it, Akhyra did mention during our first date to always be the one who wants to break ties in a relationship. 

"What are you trying to say?" I ask careful not to show that my mind has started to come up with all sorts of wild scenarios in which Akhyra dumped me, and I spend the rest of my life in agonizing despair.

"If one of us, for some reason, ever gets tired of this relationship despite our feelings for each other. It's best to communicate that we want to put an end to it."

Her declaration is followed by silence. Akhyra continues to eat, probably giving me time to react. I twirl my spoon around the pink slimy texture of my smoothie as my brain tries to come up with the right thing to say. One thing for sure is that I can't even bring myself to imagine a future where Akhyra and I wouldn't be together. 

"I have a counter rule to that," I suggest. 

"Let's hear it."

"Whoever initiates the break up needs to provide an indisputable valid reason."

She frowns. "What if we can't agree on the validity of the reason?"

I drop my spoon and lean back against my chair, eyes boring into hers. "It feels like you're planning how to get rid of me already."

"What? No, that's not what I...ugh!" She brings her hand to her face with a deep sigh. "I can't believe that my therapist is responsible for our first fight."

"We're not fighting. Because if we were, I'd slowly walk up to you, with a menacing glare, and then I'd dart around the room to chase you for a tickling attack."

When Akhyra raises her head from behind her hand to realize that I've almost reached her, she squeals as she bolts out of her seat using the table between us to keep me away. However, when I lunge for her, she sprints to the bedroom. My ballerina might be agile, but I run for a living, and she stands no chance. In the blink of an eye, I've captured her. I yank her off the ground and she lets out a surprised yelp that transforms into a laugh when I start tickling her while holding her with one hand. 

"Lucian, let me go!" She orders in a fit of giggles.

"Not a chance, Princess. You're not getting rid of me anytime soon."

We both fall on the bed, struggling to come on top and I eventually let her roll away from me.

"Oh you're going to regret this!" she yelps, then grabs a pillow to attack me. I let her get a couple of hits in before overpowering her to pin her against the mattress.  

Akhyra's playful smile instantly fades away as her eyes become distant.

"You're okay?" I ask warily.

"I need space," she breathes out, and I immediately get off her.

"I'm sorry," I say as she sits up.

"It's not your fault. It's just... there are some things that I thought wouldn't trigger me anymore when I'm with you, like the idea of having people on top of me."

"I get it. It won't happen again."

"But we need to work on that," she says before lying back. "Get on top of me."

"You just said that this could trigger you."

"Yes but practice makes perfect."

"What are we practicing? The best ways to trigger you?"

"More like how to have sex with you without having a panic attack." 

"I..."

Don't know what to say to that, but we're clearly not going to try that again.

"Are you coming?" She asks in that bossy tone of hers that might have worked on me in different circumstances. But I'm not about to play with her boundaries even if she's asking for it.

"There's more than one way to have sex. We don't have to practice a position that makes you uncomfortable."

Akhyra seems to consider that for a moment, then she snaps her fingers with an "eureka" expression enlightening her face.

"I just had an idea!"

"Something tells me it will be a terrible one," I answer with a teasing smile. She throws a pillow at me in response.

"We should practice several positions to see which ones I'm comfortable with."

"When you say "practice,"what do you envision exactly?"

"We get in position and stay like this for a couple of minutes to see what happens."

Trust me when I say that it barely takes me five seconds to imagine a multitude of ways that this plan could backfire.

"I feel like this should be vetoed by your therapist."

Akhyra laughs, "You wouldn't say that if you saw what was on her Lucian List."

"Can I see that list?"

"Maybe later. We've got some practice to do."

Damn I guess this is really happening then. 

"Okay. We've already established that me on top of you is a big no. That rules out the missionary position. Let's see if being a cow girl might be your thing."

I lay on my back to let Akhyra straddle me. She's wearing a two-piece pajama set that I believe has the sole purpose of torturing me. The gray satin shorts mold her ass like a second skin, and the v-neck top leaves me with no doubt that she's not wearing a bra underneath. 

I'm not strong enough for this.

"I wouldn't know what to do with my hands," Akhyra says, bringing me back to reality.

"You can put them on me for leverage," I instruct, and she places her palms on each of my pecs. 

"So it would go something like this?"

With her gaze locked in mine, Akhyra rolls her hips above my pelvis. I don't have enough self-control to prevent my body from reacting, but Akhyra doesn't seem to pay attention to the fact that there's a suspicious elevation in my jeans. 

"Yeah, uhm... that seems accurate."

"I'm not seasoned enough for this to be our first position, though. It looks like I'd be doing all the work."

"It might not be our first position, but we could still try it out in the future."

"You're right. I kinda like being up here."

"Also you don't have to necessarily do all the work. I can help you."

"Really?"

"Yeah there are ways to..."

"Show me," she interrupts.

I could argue about the reasons why this is a dangerous idea but a) I don't really want to, and b) Akhyra wouldn't let me win this anyway.

With my hands placed on each side of her hip, I guide her as she pulls herself up then raise my hips to meet her as she comes down, her pussy comes in direct contact with my erection.

"Oh," Akhyra whimpers with a fiery glint in her eyes. "We'll definitely save this for later."

"Noted. So we need something more beginner friendly for you."

"And you have to be in charge. Also, I want us to be able to look at each other while we're at it."

"Let's try this."

Akhyra gets off me, and I shift to lie on my side with my elbow raised under my body. 

"Now come here. Spoon against me, but keep your back on the mattress."

She does as instructed, aligning her ass against my erection. I slide one leg in between hers and hook her thigh above mine to open her up for better access. I'm not on top of her, but the position is quite cagey. I check to make sure that it's okay. 

"Is this good?"

Akhyra nods, her eyes hooded with desire.

"Try to move. Just to make sure it's going to be comfortable."

"Sure, Princess."

I begin at a slow pace, setting a rhythm that would match our first time together. Each time my front pushes between her parted legs, Akhyra's breathing accelerates. With our faces inches apart from each other, her microexpressions are easy to decipher. She's hungry. As much as I am.

We're both beyond pretending that this is purely for the sake of simulation. When I increase the pressure in my thrusts for the bulge in my jeans to collide with her soft center, a feral moan breaks free from Akhyra. 

"More," she pleads, and I lean forward to steal a kiss.

Akhyra's hands immediately find their way around my neck. She pushes her body against mine as if there could never be enough contact between us.

"This was supposed to be a practice session," I remind her in between kisses, pulling on her bottom lip with my front teeth.

"We are practicing," she breathes out.

A low chuckle escapes me, while my face travels downward to uncover one of her boobs from the satin fabric. The state of her nipple tells me all I need to know about her arousal. Before diving into my second meal of the morning, I look up at Akhyra.

"We should do this more often," I suggest with a devious smile. "You know what they say. Practice makes perfect.

Akhyra nods as she pushes my head down to get me to work.

"Less talking, more sucking," she orders. 

I'm more than happy to oblige.

I would have probably spent my entire day cocooned at Akhyra's place, but reality kicks in when she has to get ready for the rehearsals of Enchanted Shadows. She drives me back to the training base, and the kiss we exchange when we arrive at our destination is passionate enough to make us both consider going back to her home. 

However, as a responsible adult, I say goodbye to my horny girlfriend with a forehead kiss before stepping out of her car. When I get back inside my room, I receive a call from my agent that I answer right away.

"Hey Kevin."

"Thank God," he exclaims. "I've been trying to get a hold of you for days."

"Sorry about that. My coach confiscated my phone. Got any news for me?"

"Yeah but they're not good."

"What's wrong?"

I sit on the edge of my bed, bracing myself for whatever he's about to tell me.

"That journalist you told me to keep my eyes on. Patrick Juste. He's been asking around about you," my agent informs me in a weary tone that indicates I'm not going to like what he's going to say next.

"What is he asking about?"

"When I first got wind of this through a contact of mine I thought that Patrick Juste planned to do a profile piece about your upbringing as a soccer player but apparently he's investigating your past like someone who's digging up dirt. I found this strange, and I decided to take a look at his YouTube show, "Le droit de savoir", to see the kind of stories he's used to cover." 

Kevin takes a short pause that does nothing to appease the beating of my heart that has begun to accelerate. 

"What did you find?" I urge him to speak even if I'd rather remain blissfully in the dark.

"Well, it turns out that his specialty is exposing dark secrets of people that are on the verge of becoming famous. His whole internet persona is based on this idea that people have 'The right to know' about the lives of celebs whom they're supporting. Hence the name of his show."

Fuck. I know what this is about.

"What else do you want to tell me?" I ask knowing that Kevin wouldn't call me without having a plan to take out this motherfucker. 

"Look, as your agent it's my job to warn you about these blood thirsty sharks like Patrick Juste. You don't have to tell me anything that you don't want to. But if there's something in your past that might endanger your career, we need to take preemptive measures to not be blindsided if this journalist decides to go public with whatever he finds out."

"Fine. I'm listening."

As Kevin goes through different case scenarios, it occurs to me that I might need to hire another professional aside from my agent to help me deal with this situation. If Patrick Juste is after what I think he is, I'm going to need a lawyer. I can't let this little shithead expose the secret that I've been keeping from my sister for the past four years.