Phoenix Burning (19 page)

Alex couldn’t help but think that his plan to involve Connor and Jessa in finding Emory’s missing climax could have gone horribly wrong. It hadn’t, but it could have. The more he considered that possibility, the more relieved he was that his plan had not only worked, but that it was over.

“What are you thinking?” She poked him in the chest.

He gazed up at her, sitting astride his body with her calves tucked alongside his hips. They’d only just finished making love for the third time that night, and dawn was nipping at the horizon. “That death by sex wouldn’t be such a bad way to go.”

“Are you hinting that you can’t keep up with me?”

Warmth filled him for this beautiful woman who was never afraid to jump into life, feetfirst. “I was actually thinking that I’m glad you didn’t turn around and deck me for putting you in that situation.”

She threw her leg over his hips and lay down to snuggle against him. He wrapped his arm around her and pressed a kiss to her forehead. He didn’t know how to explain what he was feeling. Before, he hadn’t cared whether or not his lovers were okay with something or not. They either were, in which case he happily participated, or they weren’t, and he found someone else who was.

“I didn’t mind, Alex.”

Her words stunned him.

“I was nervous, but it was hot.” She nudged his side. “And you were there. I’m safe with you.”

Her absolute faith made his heart swell. “I love you, Emory. And I’m going to keep saying it over and over again because I’m never going to get tired of telling you.”

“I love you too.” She yawned.

“We should get some sleep.”

“I’d rather make love to you again.”

His dick should have been dead to the world, but hearing her words lit him on fire again. Alex rolled Emory onto her back and settled between her legs. She squirmed against him, and his quickly swelling erection nudged her wet slit.

“Now, please, Alex. Take me now.”

Her words made him shudder with bone-deep need. Pushing forward, his shaft slipped into her slick channel, and they both groaned.

She was so tight and hot. He wanted to savor it, but she arched her back and let him know exactly what she wanted. Bracing his hands on either side of her, he began to thrust slowly in and out of her pussy.

He watched her face as they fucked. Emotion chased across every feature of her pixie countenance. Her brow furrowed as the heat built. Her breasts rose and fell more quickly. Nipples peaked and pouted, flushed with heat. He kept watch, pushing her with each stroke. Flame licked its way down his spine, pooling in his haunches until he thought he might burst.

With any other woman, more sex equaled more control. Not with Emory. She shredded his composure. Her body demanded his response. She forced him past every barrier until he was throbbing with the need to mark her with his essence.

Her channel bore down on his shaft. The crown of his cock bumped the place deep inside that made her quiver with ecstasy, and he felt her perched on the edge. He could see it now, that moment where she teetered on the edge of bliss. He did what he couldn’t have before that night. He thrust hard and shattered the moment, pushing her into release and soaking up her climax as he pulsated a stream of hot semen into her welcoming body.

“Alex!”

“Come with me, love.”

He murmured it over and over again as they came together.

* * *

Emory didn’t know how long she’d been sleeping when her phone buzzed. She’d have ignored it, but the damn thing wouldn’t stop.

Rolling away from Alex’s warm body, she grabbed it and squinted at the display before answering. “What do you want, Chris?”

“I’m downstairs, Em. Get dressed. Fox and I are coming up.”

Her brain stalled. What could possibly make her brother come charging into her shop without letting her get a word in? Her heart hammered, wondering if Chris had suddenly decided he didn’t like Alex.

The steps creaked as Chris and Fox stomped upstairs. She and Alex were both naked. In a desperate bid for modesty, Emory made a grab for the sheet and yanked it over their bodies just as her twin stepped into the room.

Chris threw his hand over his eyes. “Shit, Em! I told you to get some clothes on!”

“And here I was going to ask if she could pull the sheet just a little farther off Alex.” Fox didn’t even pretend he wasn’t enjoying the sight.

Truthfully, Emory was enjoying the sight too. Alex’s tanned skin stretched taut across his belly. Muscle rippled, tempting her to slide her fingers over his sleek body and find the treasure waiting just below the path of gold hair arrowing down from his navel.

Alex stirred, stretching like a cat. He blinked a few times, focusing on their visitors. “Why do I get the feeling I’m being ogled?”

“Because you are.” Chris elbowed his partner. “Get control of yourself, would you?”

Something in Chris’s tone made Fox sober up. “Baby, you know I don’t want anyone else but you. Not even him.”

Alex snorted. “That’s good, because I’m officially off the menu.”

His words made her heart soar, until she locked eyes with her brother. She knew with a twin’s uncanny instinct that something terribly bad had happened. “What is it?”

Chris pursed his lips. “I got a call an hour ago. Mama passed away last night.”

“How?” Something cold and clammy leached the warmth from Emory’s body.

“A nurse from St. Christopher’s said Mama gave them my name, asked them to let me know if she didn’t make it.” The tight lines bracketing his mouth said more than his words.

“She was sick?”

Chris nodded.

“How long?”

“Some kind of cancer. The nurse didn’t know much. He wouldn’t let her get treatment.”

The horror sank in slowly, that their father would deny their mother medical treatment, most likely based on his twisted religious principles. God never would have been so cruel. Her father was a completely different sort.

For seven long years, you shall hear a bell

All alone and lone

And at the end of seven years, you shall land in hell

All down by th greenwood side

She was frozen. Locked in an ugly place and uncertain how to crawl out. The last verse of her mother’s song ran on an infinite loop through her mind. Had her mother heard the bell? Had she known it was coming? Was it freedom? Or would her mama go to hell as Emory suspected the poor woman feared she would?

Her mother was dead. It had been years since she had let herself dwell on the tiny mouse of a woman who had tried in vain to protect the twins from their domineering father. Emory shared their mother’s slight build and dark complexion. Within memory, Emory had never seen her mother’s dark hair in anything but a severe bun or braided into one long plait for the night. What had Liza been like as a young girl? Had she ever dreamed of a different life?

There weren’t any tears. There should have been tears, but Emory felt barren inside. She’d hated every second of her upbringing. When she’d been young, she’d blamed her mother for allowing their father to torment them so. Now her recollections were tempered by an adult’s retrospection and intellect.

She thought of the quiet moments spent with her mother doing household chores or sewing. The hundreds of times that her mother had sent her and Chris on lengthy errands that inevitably allowed them to return home well after their father was busy writing sermons or conferencing with other church members.

Liza had protected her babies the best way she knew how. It was something Emory and Chris would never be able to thank her for. With that one thought, she unlocked the sorrow.

Alex didn’t like the look of Emory’s ashen complexion. She sat, still as a stone, one arm holding the sheet anchored over her breasts, and her eyes staring into space. Moving to a sitting position beside her, he began rubbing her bare arms. She was icy cold.

“You can go.” Chris told him. “We’ll take it from here.”

There was no censure in her brother’s gaze, but Alex didn’t like what the words implied. That not only was Alex not needed, but that nobody would have expected him to stick around through the bad times anyway. The implication was clear. Alex was just the guy Emory was fucking.

Like hell.

“I’m not going anywhere.” Alex didn’t look away from Emory. He wrapped her stiff body in his embrace and began to rock her gently back and forth.

“This is a family matter.” Chris tried again.

“She’s my family.”

The other man was obviously taken aback by Alex’s declaration. “Look, I’m grateful for whatever you’ve done to help my sister…work through…her past. You’ve got a reputation for being that kind of guy.”

Alex’s anger began to boil. “
That
kind of guy. Meaning I’m good for a fuck and nothing else.”

“I’m not trying to be insulting.” Chris’s helpless expression kept Alex from fully erupting. “This is going to be hell on earth. Going home. Seeing…I just don’t want her hurt any more right now. You can’t possibly understand.”

“I understand perfectly.” Alex glanced at Chris, willing the other man to see. “Which is why there’s no way in hell she’s going back there without me.”

“You understand? Did she tell you about our father?”

Alex nodded, pressing his lips to Emory’s hair. Her floral scent was layered with the smell of sex. He liked that. It made every animalistic instinct inside him howl with glee to have marked her as his own. She was his. There was nothing he’d let her face on her own. Certainly not something like this.

Chris would have argued, but Fox laid his hand on his lover’s arm and spoke his mind. “Alex loves her, Christopher. He has a right to come with us.”

Alex opened his mouth to respond, but the sensation of tears on his bare arm forced him to focus wholly on Emory. He leaned down to see her face and realized that she’d squeezed her eyes shut. Fat tears dripped down her cheeks.

“Emory, love. Come back to me.” Alex wiped away a tear with his thumb.

She didn’t speak, but she clutched his arms and burrowed into him. It was a start.

“When are you planning to leave?” Alex directed the question to both men.

Chris looked at Fox and shrugged. “A few hours? The burial ceremony is tomorrow first thing. We figured to go down and spend the night with my aunt. She lives about an hour away.”

Fox seemed to guess the direction of Alex’s thoughts. “The aunt is a friendly. She’s been their father’s nemesis for years.”

“We’ll be ready.” Alex hoped they could take the hint without him having to argue.

“Then we’ll leave you two.” Fox grabbed Chris and half dragged him toward the door.

“I’m not leaving my sister alone.”

Alex met the other man’s pale blue gaze. “She’s not alone. I promise.”

There was a struggle going on behind Chris’s controlled expression. The bond between brother and sister had been strong because they were twins. It was stronger still after years of shared abuse. Alex vowed silently not to do anything to damage it.

It was Alex who brought her back from the cold place. Nestled in his embrace, his warmth burning like a brand against her naked skin, her awareness grew. They were lying in her bed. His body was wrapped around hers like a shield.

“You’re still here.” Her throat hurt, raw with the screams she’d bottled inside.

His arms tightened, and he pressed a kiss to her neck. “Of course I’m still here. I’m not going anywhere. I love you. And you’re all I’ve got.”

The reality of what she was going to have to do hit hard. “Where’s Chris?”

“He and Fox will be back in an hour or so. We’re all driving down together.”

She’d never experienced that degree of relief about anything. “You’re going with us?”

“Nothing could keep me from it.”

Love for this free-spirited man who had so willingly championed her personal problems made Emory weak with exhilaration. “I don’t deserve you.”

“I’m not even going to waste breath arguing about that.”

He nudged her onto her back and began kissing his way down her body. The barely leashed desire simmering between them flared to life. Her skin tingled beneath his lips as he brushed the hollow of her throat. He used his tongue to trace her collarbone, and her pussy clenched in anticipation.

“I’m going to show you exactly why we’re meant to be together,” he said.

He captured one erect nipple between his teeth. She gasped and arched her back, demanding more. When he licked a circular pattern around her areola, she thought she might die of anticipation. No longer shy about her wants, she pushed her breast into the contact.

Alex’s chuckle made her shiver. Then he sucked low and hard, and she forgot everything else. Each tug at her sensitive nipple created an answering jolt between her legs. Damp heat curled through her pussy. The blood rushing through her veins made her sex hot and swollen.

He moved to her other breast and repeated the torment. Every lick and suck made her more desperate for the satisfaction Alex could provide her body. Her clit burned with every touch. She moved restlessly, trying to ease the ache between her legs.

“I’m going to taste you, Emory.” He forged a path down her belly, nipping the sensitive skin above her mound.

He gently pushed her legs apart. She squeezed her eyes closed, the expectation making her light-headed. Smoothing his palms over the insides of her thighs, Alex used his fingers to hold her pussy wide open. Cool air teased her hypersensitive flesh. She squirmed and waited, dying for the first touch of his tongue to her cunt.

The first long, slow lick from anus to clit made her moan with ecstasy. He lapped her entrance and the tickling sensation compounded when he used the tip of his tongue to push inside her. She tangled her fingers in the sheets. Pleasure thrummed in her spine, and she felt her body begin to coil tightly together.

He tugged her clit with his teeth. Pulling the tiny nub into his mouth, he sucked until she could feel her heart beat inside the bundle of nerves. Pressure built inside her. A heavy feeling settled in her legs. She curled her toes and let it climb higher. She was through fighting the sensations. Jessa had taught her the secret of letting them fly.