A Million Tiny Pieces (39 page)

Mia’s
face turned serious once more. “I know what it’s like to have your heart
shattered in a million tiny pieces, Tarik. It sucks big-time. But what I didn’t
know, until you and Phoenix, was that those tiny pieces could be pulled back
together. Only when they do, the bond is stronger, more solid. That’s what I
feel for you and Phoenix. I love you both. With my whole heart. Every single
one of the million tiny pieces that it once was. It’s whole again. Stronger
than ever.”

Tarik
rested his forehead against Mia’s, closing his eyes. If she could tell him all
that, her heart in her beautiful eyes, then he knew he could tell her just the
same.

“You’re
right, Mia. I do love you. And I love Phoenix. But it
is
foreign. It’s
not something I’m familiar with, but I can promise you that I’m working toward
it. Getting comfortable with it. I want to get there, to be able to express it
in words—”

“You
don’t have much of a choice,” Mia countered. “Because I plan to spend the rest
of my life making sure you tell me how much you love me. After all, I have
every intention of telling you how much I love you. Every single day.”

The
door opened once more, and Tarik reluctantly pulled away from Mia. He turned to
see Phoenix standing there, a solemn expression on his face. The door closed
behind him, and Tarik noticed that Phoenix turned the lock on the knob.

“What’s
the matter?” Mia asked.

“It’s
done.”

“What’s
done?” she inquired, her voice rising slightly.

“Damien’s
dropped all of the lawsuits. Phil is putting together paperwork for him to sign
stating he won’t pursue this in the future.”

“So
why do you look upset?” Mia questioned him.

“I’m
just trying to figure something out.”

Tarik’s
brow furrowed as he attempted to follow where Phoenix was going with this. If
it was all over, they shouldn’t have anything else to figure out.

Phoenix
thrust his hands into his pockets, glancing down at the floor as he headed
toward them.

“Why
is it that you,” Phoenix said to Tarik, his face grim as he lifted his head,
“told her that you loved me.
Before
you told me?”

Silence
followed Phoenix’s question, and then it sank in for both him and Mia. She
laughed, slapping Phoenix on the arm, probably for making her worry.

“Because
I didn’t know
until
her?” Tarik suggested.

“She’s
good like that,” Phoenix stated, glancing down at her. “But I already knew
that.”

Mia
moved into Phoenix’s arms, snuggling up to him the same way she was still
holding Tarik, and then Phoenix reached up, cupping his hand on the back of
Tarik’s neck, pulling him closer. Their mouths were just a hairsbreadth away
when he said, “I love you. But you already knew that, too.”

“Doesn’t
mean I don’t want to hear it,” Tarik said, the honesty in his statement
surprising even him.

“And
I’ve already told you.”

“No,
you haven’t,” Tarik countered, hating himself for arguing.

Phoenix’s
mouth touched his. “You own me, Tarik. I’ve told you that already. In my eyes,
it means the same thing.”

“So
let me get this straight,” Mia said, taking a step back and forcing Tarik and
Phoenix apart.

“You
own him. He owns you. I love you. I love him. You love me. He loves me. Did I
get it right?”

Phoenix
grabbed Mia, lifting her up and planting her on his desk before his lips met
hers. “That’s the gist of it. Now what do you say we do what you said you
wanted to do earlier?”

“Which
was?” Mia asked, glancing between them.

“Move
on with the rest of your life.”

“And
how do we do that?” Mia asked.

Phoenix
glanced down at his watch. “Well, we’ve got a plane to catch in just under two
hours.”

“That’s
not much time,” Mia replied.

“Agreed,”
Tarik said, looking at them both. “So what do you say we start the rest of our
lives by joining the Mile-High Club?”

The
pretty pink blush that spread up Mia’s neck to her cheeks told Tarik just what
he wanted to know.

She
was game.

“But
first,” Mia said, her smile widening. “We have to go talk to my mother.”

Phoenix’s
face went pale, and Tarik felt his stomach drop to his feet. Talk to her
mother?

“You
didn’t think we’d move forward without telling her, did you?”

Well,
it had crossed his mind.

“MOM!
WHERE ARE you?” Mia called out as soon as the three of them stepped inside the
elegant home that she said her mother lived in.

Phoenix’s
heart was pounding a mile a minute, his palms sweating and his ears ringing.
The last time he’d met a girl’s parents… Well, shit. The last time would’ve been
in high school. Yet here he was, and he felt like that same bumbling teenage
boy all over again.

“You’re
still pale,” Tarik told him, chuckling.

“Shut
up. So are you.”

“You
wish,” Tarik retorted, following Mia as she disappeared down the wide, tiled
entryway.

Phoenix
remained where he was, taking a look around, doing his best to calm his nerves.
It was a little ironic that he could stand up to grown men, both on the rink
and off the rink, without blinking, but he was having heart palpitations
because he was about to meet Mia’s mother.

“Phoenix?
Are you coming?”

Phoenix
looked up to see Mia smiling back at him from down the hall. She was obviously
waiting for him, so he put one foot in front of the other, stopping only when
he reached her.

“Don’t
worry. We surprised her, and her boyfriend’s here. I haven’t met him yet, so
I’m sure she’s just as nervous as you are.”

Right.
Like he was buying that for a minute.

Mia
took his hand, and Phoenix followed her into the kitchen, where he saw Mia’s
mother, the woman who looked so much like Mia, sitting at the kitchen table
with an older man, both of them drinking coffee.

“Mom,
this is Phoenix Pierce and Tarik Marx. Phoenix, Tarik, this is my mother,
Clarice Cantrell.”

Clarice
stood and offered her hand. Phoenix could see the blush that was creeping into
her cheeks as she looked at them both. “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Phoenix
said.

“This
is … uh…” Clarice glanced over at the older man still sitting at the table.

“Her
boyfriend, Al,” Mia supplied. “I’m sorry to be the one to introduce you, but it
seems my mother has misplaced her manners.”

Al
grinned behind his coffee cup as he watched Clarice’s face redden.

“Very
nice to meet you, Al,” Mia said cheerfully. “I just wanted to stop by,
introduce you. We’re going to be out of town for a few days. Phoenix owns the
Austin Arrows, and they’re playing tonight in Buffalo, New York.”

“Against
the Sabres,” Al mentioned.

“That’s
right,” Mia said quickly.

It
was obvious to Phoenix that she was hurrying through the introduction, probably
as eager to get out of there as he was before Clarice began asking questions.
He was all for answering them, but he needed a little time to prepare. Like,
maybe a year. Possibly two.

“Well,
we’ll be on our way. Our flight leaves in an hour, so we have to head to the
airport. It was so nice to meet you, Al. Maybe the five of us can plan to have
dinner sometime in the near future.”

“The
five of us?” Clarice asked.

Mia’s
face turned as red as her mother’s. Phoenix didn’t move. He couldn’t. He
flipped his gaze over to see Tarik standing stone still watching the entire
thing as it played out in front of him.

“Yes,
Mom. The five of us. We really should be going.”

Mia
moved quickly, herding them both toward the door. Phoenix’s feet didn’t argue
as he moved with her. He’d seen the millions of questions that were forming in
Clarice’s mind as they flittered across her face, and he really didn’t want to
stick around to answer them. Not today, anyway.

“Mia!”
Clarice called when they made it to the front porch.

“Give
me a minute,” Mia whispered, pushing them down the steps. “I’ll meet you in the
car.”

Tarik
turned back and said, “It was very nice to meet you, Clarice.”

“You
… uh … you, too.”

Phoenix
laughed, but it was strained. He didn’t know what to say. Wasn’t even sure his
voice would work, so he kept going, offering her a wave as he climbed into the
passenger seat of the Escalade. Tarik joined him, and they sat there watching
Mia have a conversation with her mother.

He
had no idea what they were saying, but when Clarice’s eyes widened, her gaze
landing on the Escalade, he had an idea.

“Oh,
shit,” Tarik muttered.

“Exactly.”

Neither
of them said anything more until Mia joined them a few minutes later.

“Well,
that went better than I thought it would.”

Tarik’s
laughter bellowed through the car as he reversed out of the driveway.

“Oh,
and we’ll be having dinner with them next Wednesday. I’ll let one of you pick
the restaurant.”

Oh,
hell.

»»»»»♥«««««

“YOU
SERIOUSLY HAVE a bed back there?” Mia asked, glancing over her shoulder toward
the back of the private jet that Tarik and Phoenix had steered her onto a few
minutes before. After leaving her mother’s house, they’d stopped by her condo
and given her a few minutes to pack. When she’d started searching through her
closet, Tarik had offered a helping hand, while Phoenix had chuckled at her
after she’d started picking out clothes that obviously weren’t even remotely
warm enough for New York — his words. When she’d questioned what they would be
wearing, she’d been informed that their things were already on the waiting
plane.

She’d
thought they were kidding.

Evidently
they weren’t, because when she’d walked into the cabin, she’d noticed their
coats, which they hadn’t brought with them, were being hung up by a man who’d
been introduced to her as William. When she had questioned her own outerwear at
that point, Phoenix had gifted her with a new coat and gloves, which were so
beautiful she’d nearly sobbed as she’d thanked them. Tarik had assured her it
was their pleasure, not to mention necessary since what she had wasn’t going to
cut it.

And
now, here they were, sitting in the plush cabin of Phoenix’s private plane,
buckled in and ready for takeoff. William, the flight attendant — at least
that’s what she assumed he was — even came by and offered them drinks while the
pilots finished with their procedures. After downing a vodka and Sprite, she
was feeling a tad more relaxed than she had since that morning.

But
her interest continued to be drawn to a door at the back of the plane.

“Relax,”
Tarik told her, placing his hand over hers. “I promise, once we’re in the air,
we’ll make sure you get very acquainted with that room.”

Heat
pooled in her core at his words. Swallowing, she sat back in her seat and tried
to relax. She was strung tight, a nervous energy pulsing through her. So much
had happened, and the day wasn’t even over yet. Now they were about to take a
flight to New York, of all places, so they could go to a hockey game. It seemed
surreal.

The
captain’s voice came over the speaker, and he introduced himself and the
co-pilot. He rattled off something about the temperature and the flight time,
but Mia blocked it all out as she closed her eyes and willed the plane to get
in the air.

She
wasn’t nervous about flying.

That
wasn’t it.

No,
she was anxious to… Well, she was anxious to join the Mile-High Club, as Tarik
had put it.

Twenty
minutes passed before the captain’s voice came back on, informing them that
they were free to move around the cabin.

“Ready?”
Phoenix asked, leaning over her and unbuckling her seat belt.

She
hadn’t even seen him stand up.

Mia
slid her hand into his, her nerves rioting as she followed him to the back of
the plane. She shot a look over her shoulder to see that Tarik was behind her,
a sexy smirk fixed on his sinfully delicious mouth.

Once
inside the room, Mia looked around.

Well,
there was a bed. That was about all that fit in there, but it was definitely
big enough to fit the three of them, and that was all that mattered. Despite
being on the cramped side, the room was nicely decorated. Very similar to
Phoenix’s condo with its black-and-chrome theme. There was a giant television
on the wall.

“Did
you want to watch TV?” Tarik asked, pressing up against her back.

Mia
shook her head. Television was the last thing on her mind.

Phoenix
had climbed onto the bed, fully dressed. He looked as though he didn’t plan to
remove his clothes.

“I
want you naked,” Phoenix told her. “Then I want you to crawl up here and sit on
my face so I can taste your sweet little pussy.”

A
rush of heat flooded her, and Mia was pretty sure her panties were now wet.

Tarik
confirmed that fact a moment later when he managed to rid her of her clothes.
As her panties slid down her legs, his fingers eased between her thighs.

“So
wet,” he mumbled against her ear. “I can’t wait to slide into your pussy and
feel your juices coat my cock.”

Mia
outwardly shivered.

Phoenix
crooked his finger at her, and Mia complied, crawling up on the bed. She
allowed her hands to roam over him as she went. It didn’t matter that he was
fully clothed; she could still see the outline of his rigid erection beneath
his black slacks. She wanted to unzip them and feel the silky hardness of him
against her hand, but he had other ideas.

“Sit
on my face.”

Mia
continued crawling up the length of his body until she was perched above his
head. There wasn’t a headboard to hold on to, so she braced herself against the
wall. Good thing, too. When Phoenix’s tongue grazed her slit, she jerked, the
sensation sending chills racing down her spine. He moaned and the vibrations
lit her up.

“Ride
his face,” Tarik instructed.

Mia
realized he was behind her, also fully clothed. He was straddling Phoenix’s
chest, his hands sliding up to cup her breasts while he pressed against her
back, his mouth to her ear.

“Do
you like when Phoenix licks your pussy?”

“Yes,”
she said on a moan.

“If
he’s like me, he dreams about it, craves it,” Tarik told her.

“Oh,
God,” Mia cried out, grinding down on Phoenix’s mouth, trying to get him where
she wanted him. He was teasing her, flicking her clit, sliding his tongue into
her, but never enough of either.

The
next thing she knew, Mia was on her back, both men kneeling on the bed, staring
at her.

“What’d
you do that for?” she asked Phoenix.

Phoenix
smiled. “You had too much control. I want to play with you for a while.”

Mia
groaned, but that was quickly replaced with a sigh when Phoenix used his
fingers to spread her swollen lips. She watched as Tarik leaned down and
speared her with his tongue.

They
ganged up on her, alternating, driving her mad as they licked her clit, teased
her with their fingers, their tongues, their teeth. “Please,” she begged.
“Please make me come.”

“She’s
so sweet when she begs,” Phoenix said. “And because you asked so nicely…”

Phoenix
inched up the bed, and Mia grabbed his head, pulling him to her and thrusting
her tongue into his mouth. Her body bucked when Tarik sucked her clit into his
mouth, tormenting her as he thrust two fingers into her. And then…

“Oh,
God, yes!” Mia screamed, not caring whether the flight attendant could hear
her. Her orgasm sent shockwaves of pleasure vibrating through her entire being,
leaving her breathless and sated.

“Oh,
we’re not finished with you yet,” Phoenix said as he shifted on the bed.

“Well,
you’re gonna have to do all the work,” she told him sleepily.

“We
plan to, baby.”

Mia
felt herself being lifted, and the next thing she knew, she was lying on top of
Phoenix. He was still mostly clothed, which she found oddly sexy, but he’d
unzipped his slacks and lowered them enough that his impressive erection sprang
free. The fact that she was naked and they weren’t… It was crazy hot.

“Put
my cock inside you,” Phoenix instructed.

Mia
reached between them and guided Phoenix to her entrance.

“Slide
down on me.”

Mia
did as instructed, her body stretching to take him inside. She couldn’t keep
her eyes open as the exquisite pleasure resurfaced, flooding her as he filled
her.

“Are
you ready?” Phoenix asked.

She
had no idea what he was asking, but she nodded anyway.

Phoenix
gripped her hips as he fucked her. His strokes were slow and deep.

But
then he pulled out completely. Mia was about to ask what he was doing when she
felt more hands on her hips and then Tarik was filling her.

“Tarik.”
She moaned his name as he began sliding in and retreating, keeping his rhythm
as slow as Phoenix’s had been.