Phoenix Burning (17 page)

“Anywhere but here. In the bar, cars, homes, a few hotels, a couple of rather public places I shouldn’t have—you name it and I’ve probably had sex in or around it.” His wry tone told her more than he probably realized.

She could have been mad about such a blunt disclosure. She didn’t like the thought of him spending endless nights bringing pleasure to a whole string of nameless, faceless women, but she’d known it was the truth. She’d known before she opened herself to him. Before she’d fallen so hard for this ultimate player. “Why now?”

He pushed away from the wall and took a slow turn about the living room. “You’re different, Emory. I knew it from the beginning. What I couldn’t anticipate was how much you’d change me.”

Pain lanced through her middle. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to complicate your life. I just thought—you’ve done so much for me.”

“I’ve done so much?” He whipped around and pegged her with a long look that made her feel as if he’d ripped every stitch of clothing off her body. “I couldn’t even manage to help you climax. Some master lover I turned out to be.”

“Didn’t you once tell me it isn’t about orgasms?” She scraped together every ounce of boldness she could muster and sauntered toward him as if she were sex on a stick. “Do I bring you pleasure?”

“Of course you do.”

She ran her fingernails lightly down the front of his T-shirt. When she reached his waistband, she paused. “You bring me more pleasure than I ever imagined possible.”

“Do I.”

Not a statement. Not a question. Yet his tone made everything below her belly clench hard with desire. She went from mildly aroused to desperate in one scorching moment.

Emory launched herself at Alex with a hunger she was tired of denying. He caught her, holding her against his chest as she kissed him with an open mouth and more daring than she’d ever thought possible.

Their teeth clicked as she drank him in. She wound her fingers into the hair at his nape. Her fear and inhibitions were forgotten. The darkness didn’t matter anymore. This man was all that mattered. She kissed him until her lungs burned for want of air. His taste permeated every cell until she was all but trying to crawl inside his skin.

His arms wound around her body and pulled her closer still. His chest was firm beneath her breasts. Her nipples grew hard with the contact. Heat licked its way along her nerve endings until her core was achy with need.

She made a sound of anguish when he broke their kiss. “I want you in my bed, Emory.”

“Anywhere you want, Alex. I need you inside me.”

He scooped her off the floor. She felt so safe in his arms, as if nothing could touch her. Tenderness filled her for this man who’d let her so far into his private world.

Alex set Emory in the middle of his bed. The king-sized mattress had been the only thing he’d changed after returning from overseas. The monstrosity dwarfed his tiny bedroom. There was no headboard or footboard, and still there was only a narrow space to walk on both sides and barely enough room for a dresser on the opposite wall.

She glanced around, her steady brown gaze taking in every detail. He wished he didn’t feel so self-conscious, but having someone inside his space was a new experience. He had no point of reference for it.

“Nobody could ever accuse you of being vain,” she quipped.

He hadn’t thought twice about removing his dresser mirror to hang a flat-screen television on the wall. “I might just have to put the mirror back up.”

Her brow furrowed. “Why?”

“It would be hot to watch myself make love to you.”

He could see her mulling the idea over in her head, but Alex didn’t wait for her answer. He was done waiting. He grabbed her foot and picked apart the laces of her combat boot. Pulling it off, he tossed it over his shoulder. He had the second one off before the first one hit the floor.

Gripping the delicate arches of her feet in his hands, he pressed a kiss to her right ankle. “Are you ticklish?”

“Maybe a little.”

He tugged her closer, until she was resting on her elbows with her legs stretched out against his torso. He slid one hand down the curve of her calf. His fingers brushed the sensitive skin behind her knee, and she squirmed against his hold. “That felt like more than a little.” He went farther, the wide leg of her cargos allowing him easy access to her thighs and beyond.

Tucking both her heels into the curve of his neck, he let his other hand slide up her leg until he had a hold of both her thighs. Her gaze was locked on his face, her breasts bobbing up and down with each labored breath as she fought to control her reactions.

Her skin was petal soft. He kneaded the resilient muscles of her inner thighs, feeling her body give, knowing he was creating motion at the apex that would translate to her pussy.

She made a tiny noise of approval, and he skated higher, until his fingers brushed the elastic band of her panties. “Underwear? Why would you wear something useless like that?”

“I’m rethinking that decision at the moment.” The tip of her tongue fluttered over her lips, and he became suddenly, painfully aware of the erection pushing against the fly of his jeans.

He cupped her ass where it joined the apex of her thighs. Pushing beneath her panties, he was rewarded with her soft sigh of anticipation. He kept his touch light, dancing over her flesh until he was mad with the need to sink his fingers into her slit.

“Alex, please. You’re teasing me.”

Her words were sweet to his ears. Hooking a thumb in her panties, he pulled them aside. Her breath hitched. She was so wet her slick juices coated the delicate skin next to her pussy. He watched her face as he slid two fingers into her slit. Eyes closed and lips parted, her blissful expression sent a shot of longing through his blood.

He traced the sleek contours of her swollen folds until he could feel her opening flex with the need for penetration. Shifting her panties farther out of the way, he stroked her lightly. Cream spilled from her body, and his fingers began to make wet noises as he made longer, firmer strokes.

Deliberately avoiding her clit, he focused on her tight entrance. He rubbed the tender opening, gently dipping inside and then retreating until her body was rigid with sexual tension.

“What do you want, Emory?” He let one fingertip nudge her clit, feeling her shudder in response.

“I want you inside me. Please. I can feel it coming apart.”

Her garbled words struck a chord of understanding inside him. She’d told him before that she’d been able to see it. He was beginning to think she was poised on the edge of orgasm and unable to step over the edge where control melted into submission and allowed the sweet release of climax.

“Hush, love,” he murmured. “Let yourself enjoy.”

Using two fingers, he pushed inside her body. She was tight and tense. Her channel clamped down and resisted his gentle thrusting motion. Gradually he felt her begin to relax. Focusing on the sensitive pad of muscle just inside her opening, Alex continued his steady pace.

“Unbutton your pants for me, Emory.” Alex watched her fumble with the fastenings before the garment came loose.

She cried out when he slid his fingers out of her warm sheath. Snagging her cargos, he pulled them off with one insistent tug. With his beautiful lover naked from the waist down, Alex knew what he wanted next.

He picked her up until her knees hung over his shoulders and her feet dangled near his spine. Sliding his arms beneath her softly rounded ass, he spread her wide and buried his face in her pussy.

The scent of her was sweet and erotic. He nuzzled her short pubic hair and delved into her slit to find her center. Using the tip of his tongue, he spread the hood and drew the delicate nub between his lips.

“Alex, I don’t—don’t stop, please, God.” His name became a soft mantra on her lips.

Every instinct he possessed told him she was close. Tension knotted her muscles. Her pussy quivered beneath his mouth. With the flat of his tongue he lapped her tightly clenched entrance in a steady rhythm. She began to undulate beneath his touch. The feeling sent a shot of adrenaline down his spine. She grew softer, her body beginning to melt around him.

Elation left him light-headed. After everything, Emory was going to let go. He could feel it coming on.

Emory’s heart thundered in her chest until she thought she might explode with the effort of trying to breathe. Her body felt oddly liquid. Something hot and exquisite lanced through her belly and lodged in her womb. It was a giddy sensation, gooey and melted as if she would puddle right there in Alex’s bed.

She waited a moment longer. Alex’s clever tongue probed her intimately. Panic began to creep across the edges of her consciousness. What if she couldn’t do it?

Desperation seized her with iron fingers. “Fuck me, Alex. Don’t wait. I need your cock to push me over.”

He lowered her back to the bed. His belt jingled once and then the smooth head of his erection pushed into her slick opening. She gasped at the beautiful sensation of being penetrated in one long thrust. Joining with Alex was nothing less than perfection.

“Harder,” she begged. “Fuck me harder.”

He backed out and slammed home again. She moaned as the brutal sensation traveled through her nerves. Her insides clenched around him until she felt as if her entire existence hung in the balance.

He was pounding her, fucking her with such force that his balls slapped her ass with each stroke. She felt him hit the sweet spot deep inside. Stars burst behind her closed eyelids and her body grew rigid.

“You’re clenching your teeth, love.” His fingers brushed her jaw, and she realized he’d stopped moving inside her.

“Don’t stop.” She refused to meet his gaze, convinced she was almost there.

He withdrew, making her gasp. “I’m not stopping. I’m taking a break.” She opened her eyes when he climbed onto the bed beside her. His shoes thumped to the floor and he squirmed out of his jeans. “That’s better.”

“I’m closer and closer every time.”

Alex yawned and pulled her into the curve of his body. “Then it’s going to happen.”

Relief leeched the tension from her body. “This is okay with you?” She craned her neck back to look into his face.

“I told you. I’m here for as long as you want me.” His blue gaze made her feel warm and cherished. “And at this point I’m hoping that’s a long, long time.”

“The foreseeable future,” she whispered.

He pulled a sheet over their sweat-slicked, half-naked bodies. “Then I have time to nap here in my bed with you.”

Alex groped for his phone in the jeans he’d tossed aside hours before. Fortunately they’d landed partially on the edge of the huge bed. Given a choice between answering Connor’s text and waking Emory, he’d have ignored Connor every time.

He blinked at the time in surprise. It was after midnight. Connor wanted to know if he was fine and if Emory was with him. Apparently her brother had been texting her and getting no response. Probably because she was dead to the world in Alex’s bed.

Emory shifted and sighed in her sleep. She’d curled up as close as she could get without climbing on top of him. Alex loved it. He’d happily spend every night of the rest of his life with her hogging the bed.

He gently threaded his fingers through her wild ponytail. Had he known subconsciously that first night that she would change his whole world? Was that why he’d been so eager to send her packing “for her own good”?

Weighing good and bad potential wasn’t something he excelled at. He’d spent his life living in the moment. The only thing Alex knew for certain was that Emory fit. She made him want things he’d never thought he would. He wanted to make love to the same woman over and over again. He wanted to help her keep the demons of her past at bay. He wanted to work through her darkness. He wanted forever. He wanted to be involved.

None of that had ever mattered before. He’d been about the quick and the easy. Now he was racking his brain, trying to think of how he could help her experience the one thing she’d been denied for so long.

Connor’s words from days before drifted into Alex’s mind.
“This is the place to teach someone to let loose.”
Connor was right. There were no rules inside Phoenix Rising, but watching a thousand couples screw in every position possible wasn’t going to teach Emory how to—how had Connor put it?—
free-fall into orgasm
.

The idea snapped into place as if it had been hovering at the back of his mind for days. He fought the urge to sit straight up in bed and curse out loud. Scaring the shit out of Emory wasn’t going to make her receptive to Alex’s hunch, which required her to step so far outside her comfort zone she’d leave it behind altogether.

He keyed in a text to Connor that read,
I know I’m not allowed to join in when you and Jessa have sex, but I think you might make an exception just this once.

Chapter Sixteen

Emory followed Alex through the bar’s back door while juggling two hanging baskets overflowing with purple bellflowers and white verbena. She felt oddly out of sorts, cranky even. It took several minutes of serious contemplation for her to realize that she was experiencing sexual frustration. The thought actually put a little bounce in her step.

She had always assumed that people got sexually frustrated because they craved orgasms. She’d never been close enough to having one to get it before. Simply surviving the darkness had been exhilarating back then. Now she wanted nothing more than to feel the sensation of release she knew she could experience with Alex. If only she could figure out how to get there.

“What’s with the grin?” Alex touched the corner of her mouth.

There was no way she could tell him what was on her mind without dying of embarrassment. She settled for mysterious instead. “A girl has to keep a few secrets.”

“Don’t I know it?” He gestured to a countertop near the rear door. “You can set them there.”

“It seems a little weird to deliver flowers after midnight.”