Love Abstract (The Art of Falling Book 2) (11 page)

“No. Tonight is your night. Whoever that is can wait.”

It rings again, the vibrating sound against the wood irritating us both.

I take the two steps toward the nightstand to pick up his phone. It’s his dad. As much as I need Phoenix right now, he needs to talk with him.

That doesn’t mean I can’t drive him crazy in the process though. I smile sweetly at Phoenix and push the accept button.

“Hi, Mr. Wolfe!” I toy with the lace on the cup of my bra as I watch Phoenix explore my near naked body from afar. “Sure. Phoenix is right here.”

I hand him the phone with a smirk and reach around to unclasp my bra. Phoenix clears his throat before shaking his head with a devilish look in his eyes. He excuses himself to the kitchen. Quickly, I grab my softest camisole and slip into a pair of Phoenix's plaid boxers.

Minutes later he returns, handing me a glass of wine.

“That wasn’t very nice, Ivy.” His voice is low and brooding.

“Neither is ignoring your dad.” I smile sweetly and take a healthy sip from the stemless glass. He mulls over my words, realizing I’m right and swiftly changes the subject.

“Nice underwear.”

“Thanks.” I wink. “And thank you again for the wonderful evening, Phoenix. It truly was unexpected.”

He grins and takes the paper crane charm around my neck in between his fingers. “It looks beautiful on you.” He pauses thoughtfully while savoring a small sip of wine. “So … we could … uh, watch a movie or something.”

A movie? He
’
s kidding, right? Always so unassuming.

I cough demurely and shake my head.

“Or not. I
guess
we could pick up where we left off before you so rudely answered my phone.”

I bite my lip to fight the growing smile on my face.

“Get over here and kiss me, Phoenix,” I husk.

He wraps his arms around my waist and pulls me closer to him. His lips come crashing into mine like waves on a rocky shoreline over and over again. He feels so damn good.

“You’re wearing entirely too many clothes right now,” I state with conviction and anxiously unbutton his shirt, throwing it to the floor. My thumbs refuse to work as I fumble with his belt buckle. I can’t unhook it fast enough, adrenaline charging my body.

We are nothing but a blur of limbs, making out like horny teenagers trying not to get caught by our parents.

Suddenly he stops and pulls back to look at me. And I mean
really
look at me. His breath quivers, and it’s clear he’s nervous. It feels like it’s the first time on so many levels.

“Phoenix,” I pant. “The only thing I want right now …
need
right now, is your lips on my body.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He relaxes his shoulders and gives me a wicked smile. “Now where were we?”

“I believe we were right about here …” I turn off the overhead light in the bedroom and scoot back on the bed, the sculptured lines of his body glowing from the bedside lamp.

I’m far too eager to play coy and seductive. I know what I want right now, and I’m going to get it.

“Come here birthday girl …” Phoenix crawls onto the bed, desire coursing his veins and heat wild in his eyes. Whatever nerves he had moments ago have dissipated.

He plants a delicate kiss upon my lips before his palms skim down my sides, and his fingers splay across my stomach underneath my camisole. My body clenches in anticipation.

I lean up slightly, and he pulls the soft fabric over my head. His eyes flare at the sight of my naked chest underneath him. He hovers over me, taking his time, savoring my body, inch by inch with his tender lips. Kissing down my chest and stomach before sitting up on his knees.

Phoenix hooks his fingers inside my boxer shorts and pulls them down painfully slowly. I watch his face light up when he realizes I’m not wearing anything underneath. My chest heaves in anticipation.

“My god, you're so beautiful.” He looks at me with wonder in his eyes.

This feeling.
This feeling is unlike anything I've ever experienced.

I've had my fair share of guys in the past, but none have come remotely close to this. Nerves wash through me like a live wire and I feel as anxious as I did the night I lost my virginity.

He settles between my legs and delicately kisses his way up the inside of my thigh. His hot breath against my skin charges my body with anticipation. He is moving painfully slow. But when he finally reaches my core, I shamelessly buck my hips to meet his mouth, welcoming him to taste me. And the instant I feel his tongue enter the depths of my body, a savage moan escapes my mouth.

We've fooled around before, but never in this capacity. Never
this
intimate. Never this determined.

We both know tonight is different.

This moment is different.

And our relationship is on the brink of catapulting to a whole new level. There is no turning back.

I’m ravenous for every last piece of him.

“Phoenix,” I pant with frustrated delight as his tongue swirls over my opening. “I need you …
now
.”

He pauses and looks over my naked body, catching my gaze.

“Shh ...” he muses as he delicately glides his finger over my clit in tiny circles. My insides clench at his touch. “Right now you just
want
me. I’m about to show you what it’s like to truly
need
me.”

I moan as Phoenix slowly presses his fingers inside me and leans back down to kiss the inside of my thighs. He traces his tongue back to my center, nipping my clit playfully with his teeth.

Want? Need? The hell with it all! Whatever he is giving I am willingly taking.

My body melts into the bed and I submit myself to his heated touch. Pumping his fingers in and out at a rising pace, I roll my head back on the pillow and try to control my breathing as my body absorbs his every move.

“Phoenix ... I ...” Words fail me and I writhe as he brings me closer and closer to the brink.

Oh. My. God.
He feels even better than I imagined.

I slowly rock my hips in time with his hands, meeting him thrust for thrust. Then in a moment of torture, he stills his hand and watches the rise and fall of my breasts as I pant uncontrollably.

What the hell?

I catch his gaze and he gives me a wicked smile.

“You are so fucking beautiful, Ivy.”

What? No!

“What are you doing, Phoenix? Don’t stop. I want you so fucking badly right now.”

“Right. You
want
me,” Phoenix says simply and licks his lips seductively. I sigh and grip the bedsheets in frustration.

“Please!” I beg brazenly and try to wrap my legs around his body. With that, he buries his face between my thighs, his hot mouth returning to my core, and sets the fire within ablaze.

Somehow his lips are both savage and tender, licking and sucking and kissing my insides. He takes his time and touches me with care. With insanity. With love.

Phoenix continues to bring me to the edge and then back off, tormenting me in the best way possible. But when he curls his fingers up inside my body, hitting that elusive spot that drives me wild, he doesn’t relent. His tongue works skillfully in tandem with his hands, and all the muscles in my body start to tighten.

My chest heaves, desperate for more air, desperate for more Phoenix, desperate for a release. I rock my hips to meet him and claw my fingers in his hair, finding every which way to bring him closer to me.

“Phoenix ...”

I breathe his name over and over as I climb closer toward euphoria. When the intensity of his touch is almost too much to bear, tingles roll through my body in waves and my muscles quake, erupting in pleasure. I can’t see straight, and I certainly can’t form a coherent thought.

“Shit ...” I mutter breathlessly. My body quivers as he slows his tongue, placing soft kisses on my thighs. “That was beyond incredible. I needed that. I need
you,
” I whisper.

Phoenix sighs contently and gives me a satisfied smile in agreement as I rake my hand through my hair trying to regain composure.

“I’m serious, hon. I need you. Please ...” I look at him with such ferocity and intent.

I know what I want.

What I need.

Him.

Phoenix sits up and grasps my hand, stroking his thumb over my palm. The gesture drives me wild.

“Are you sure you want to do this tonight?”

I want to scream that I have never been more sure about anything in my life, but all that I can muster is “uh-huh.” I reach across the bed to turn off the bedside lamp.

“No, don’t,” he commands gently. “I want you to leave it on. I want you to see me. I need you to look me in the eyes and know that it's just you and me. No one else.

“You …”

He kisses my lower stomach as he crawls up my body.

“And …”

He kisses my breasts.

“Me …”

He leans down and kisses me deeply, holding his weight up above my body. I feel his hardness through his boxer briefs and eagerly lift my hips to grind against him.

“Here,” he whispers as he slides off of me and rolls onto his back. “I want you to be in control.”

His comment steals my breath away. It isn’t a gesture of laziness. And it’s not him going all alpha on me, telling me what to do.

It’s an act of love.

Given all that has happened, he wants me to have the power over what happens to my body and when. He wants me to be in charge.

This man. God, I fucking love this man.

With my body still shaky and sensitive, I slowly climb over his body and grab a condom from my nightstand. I’ve secretly kept them on my side, knowing this day would eventually come. But I couldn’t have scripted a more perfect evening if I tried.

I trace my fingers across his chiseled chest and playfully snap at the elastic on his boxer briefs before impatiently tearing them off his legs. Carefully, I open the foil and gently roll it down over his beautiful length. I hesitate a moment, taking everything in. We both know we are standing on the precipice of irreversible change. He smiles warmly, and there is no one else in the world other than the two of us.

Carefully I ease myself onto him, and Phoenix gasps my name. His voice is like honey … slow and smooth and sweet. He feels phenomenal. Phoenix grabs my hips and stills my body, searching my eyes. The moan that passes my lips makes him smile, and I take a moment to allow my body to adjust to his length.

I lean over and softly kiss his lips.

“I love you, Ivy.”

His love for me is like water. It fills me up and spills over. It can reach the darkest places that I don’t even know exist. It cleanses me from the inside out.

“And I love you, Phoenix.” I pull his bottom lip between my teeth before starting to rock my hips back and forth. I feel each one of his fingertips pressing firmly into my skin, permanently searing my body with his touch.

Aside from the soft creaking of the bed frame, the only other sound is our shared breath—subtle gasps, soft moans, hitched breathing.

Phoenix interlocks his fingers with mine as our bodies piece together. His eyes pierce mine and never look away.

“God, Ivy. You feel perfect.”

He leans up and takes my breast in his mouth, grazing his teeth over my nipple. It makes my entire body clench with want.

“Phoenix …” I close my eyes and tilt my head back. Drowning in a sea of emotional sensation, punctuated by physical perfection. Instinctively, I quicken my pace and tighten my grip on his hands.

“Look at me,” he whispers. “I love you more than you can even comprehend.”

“And I love you.” I feel those words on a molecular level. They’re strung so deep that passion for him is coded in every fiber of my being.

Phoenix reaches his face up toward me, and when I lean down to kiss him passionately, it happens. The colliding of worlds in the most unanticipated—and painful—way possible.

“Ow! FUCK!”

I hear a crack when his forehead smashes my face, and all I see is stars. A raging headache consumes me.

“Oh my God, Ivy. Are you all right? Shit!” Phoenix’s hands instantly frame my face.

I nod as I laugh painfully at our collision. “Are you okay? I’m so sorry, Phoenix!”

If you can’t laugh a little during sex, you’re doing it wrong. Or at least doing it with the wrong person.

“Shh … I’m fine, baby. I’m fine. It’s you I’m worried about.”

He wraps his arms around me and pulls me down to his chest before kissing me just above my eye. Slowly we begin our rhythm again. Beads of sweat build between us, but our eyes remain locked together. Moments later, the searing pain dissipates when he reaches down and strokes me without restraint. It’s almost too much to handle.

His actions send me over the edge again, and I unravel above him until my skin is flush and my body is weak and I’m practically crying in pleasure. Coming down from the high, I mutter a few obscenities, and he grips my hips once more. Through my lightheadedness, I continue to ride him until he shudders below me, finding his release.

Phoenix pulls me tightly down over his chest, his body still inside mine.

“Yours,” he whispers. “I am forever and always yours. And there’s not a damn thing you can do about it.”

I am his.

We’ve created this perfect love together.

This is definitely the best birthday in the history of birthdays.