Phoenix Burning (6 page)

Chris sighed. “So no more trips to Phoenix Rising for you?”

“I don’t know.” She thought of Alex, his brilliant blue eyes and magnificent body, of his hand wrapped around his cock and the pure arousal he’d inspired in her. “I met someone who was different.”

He rolled to his side, propping his head on his elbow. “How so?”

“Watching him made me burn. And while I was burning, there was nothing else. No past, and no future, just that one moment when I was on fire. I think if I could just capture that feeling, the past would turn to ashes.”

“So you’re going back?”

She thought about the confident blonde who’d acted as if Emory was nothing. The sexy seductress hadn’t even minded that Alex was putting on a show for someone else. She was that confident in her relationship. What would that feel like? To be so sure of yourself that another woman posed no threat at all? Or did the blonde really not care? Was that what no strings attached looked like in the real world?

Had their positions been reversed, Emory would’ve been scalping the blonde bimbo as she dragged her across the room to toss her back out where she’d come from. A guy like Alex wasn’t replaceable. He wasn’t a nameless, faceless piece of male machismo like Donovan MacIntyre. There was something about Alex that pulled Emory past the barriers in her mind and made her wonder what forever could feel like.

“You’re awfully quiet, Emmy Lou.”

She gazed at her twin in the dim room, trying to see his expression. “How did you know Fox was special?”

“He told me.” Chris reached over and tweaked her nose. “But I knew before that. He was everything I’m not. Everything I was afraid to be.”

“How so?”

“He’s flamboyant and bold. He doesn’t hold back, and he doesn’t let me hide from what I really want. Life is all about balance. I keep him grounded, and he pulls me out of my shell.” She moved closer to her brother, snuggling against his chest. Chris wrapped his arms around her and laid his head against her hair. “Fox is the one who finally made me realize that it’s okay to be the way I am.”

“Because you’re gay?”

“Not just that.” He paused and she could feel his breath hitch inside his chest. “Dad spent so much time listing my failings as a man. I liked to read instead of watch sports. I’d rather play chess than football, and I got into college on an academic scholarship, not an athletic one. Gay and proud is fine, but I’m more than just my sexual orientation. Fox is the one who made me realize that.”

She squeezed her eyes tightly closed, remembering the afternoons she had spent cross-stitching bible verses on tea towels while her father shouted his way through a game of football on the front lawn. The entire church youth group would be there, the girls with their needlepoint and the boys with a ball. Dad never missed an opportunity to belittle Chris in front of witnesses, most of the insults following her brother to school the following week.

Chris seemed to read her mind. “They’d have left you alone if you hadn’t kept stepping in.”

“You’re my brother.” Her voice was whisper soft against the memories of a thousand fistfights, a good number of which she’d won because she fought dirty.

His arms tightened around her. “We’re going to get through this, Emmy Lou.”

“Maybe someday.”

Chapter Five

Alex rolled away from the sunlight streaming through the blinds. His dick throbbed uncomfortably as it was squashed between his body and the mattress. He shifted again, rubbing his eyes to clear away the visions of a dark-haired pixie with laughing brown eyes.

He wanted her. It was that simple. And yet it wasn’t simple at all. She wasn’t anything like the women he usually took to his bed. She was short, almost boyish in appearance. Her baggy clothes hid whatever curves she might have, and there was nothing seductive about her manner.

It was her personality that drew him, bold and timid at the same time. Something told him she was struggling to break free. When she’d watched him stroke himself, her eyes had been almost desperate with hunger. He’d never had anyone stare at him like that before, as if there was no one else they wanted to be with. It had shaken him on the inside, this foreign feeling of protectiveness, of possessiveness.

Reaching down, he palmed the length of his cock beneath the sheet. A tremor shook his body. He focused on the memory of her face, her hungry expression, as he stroked his shaft. He made long languid thrusts against his palm, precum wetting the head and making his fingers slide against his skin.

His breath came in ragged gusts as he continued his slow assault. He wanted her to watch, to see the damp head of his penis disappearing into his hand. More than that, he wanted her to come closer, reach out, and touch him. Join her fingers with his and stroke the flaming heat of his skin. Her hand in concert with his, each stroke agony as they grew quicker, harried as tension drew his balls close to his body. He needed her hand to sink lower, cup his sac, and put pressure on the sensitive flesh underneath. Then he wanted her to gaze up into his face while she savored his release.

Climax caught Alex by surprise. The long vein in his shaft pulsed as a stream of hot semen splashed onto his belly. He pumped again, feeling the relief, but not an end to his desire. Only one thing would put the fire to rest. He wanted to stare straight into her eyes and penetrate her sweet pussy until they were both too sated to move.

* * *

Emory unlocked her shop and flipped the sign to open. Fox would be there in ten minutes to load the wedding flowers into his SUV. She yawned and picked up the mug of coffee she’d left on the counter. Her headache wasn’t quite as bad as she’d expected after her alcohol binge the night before, but sleep had been elusive.

The front bell dinged and she cringed at the unexpected sound.

“Baby, you look like you’ve been rode hard and put away wet.” Fox’s soft Midwestern drawl was tinged with laughter.

“Yep, I look like the morning after, and you’re the one who probably got laid.” It was a poor attempt at humor.

“Not me. Chris spent half the night with you. He was really worried.” Fox pushed his sunglasses up into his curly dark hair, revealing his worried green gaze. An exercise aficionado, Fox’s athletic shorts and tank top suggested he’d been up long enough to go for a run and have a protein shake.

“Is he all right?” She hated to think that her personal problems were keeping her brother up at night. She’d caused him enough trouble over the years.

“He’s fine.” Fox reached out and tugged her in for a warm hug. “You’re the one who needs some sugar.”

Normally she’d have rolled her eyes and laughed him off, but it felt good to snuggle against the man she’d long ago started calling her brother’s “wife.” It was an ironic nickname since Fox was a head taller and more muscular than her slender brother. However, personality wise, Fox had huge doses of something people usually called feminine intuition.

“So tell me about this guy you met last night.” Fox dropped a kiss on top of her head.

She pulled away, feeling both embarrassed and relieved that Chris had told Fox about her strange new infatuation. “His name is Alex.” She picked up her mug and took a sip, perching on the bar stool behind her counter.

“Alex. Bartender Alex?” Fox settled himself against a prep table, folding his arms and settling into a thoughtful stance. “I know exactly who you’re talking about. He’s definitely a hottie.”

“Since when do you and my brother hang out there?” She was starting to feel as if she’d been purposely excluded on these trips to the Phoenix
.

“Chris and I have been everywhere. We stop there for a drink when it’s too late to go anywhere else. It doesn’t look like much, but the atmosphere is amazing, and the regulars are less judgmental than some of the people we meet in gay bars.”

“So, you know Alex?” She wondered how much Fox could tell her. As a writer, he was so detail oriented he might be able to tell her if the guy went commando all the time, or if he sometimes indulged in a pair of silk boxers.

Fox took off his sunglasses and set them on the table before running his fingers through his shoulder length hair. “He’s a bartender. They’re fairly friendly by nature.”

“Have you ever seen him with anyone?”

“If you’ve spent any time at all inside that bar, you know anything goes. I think it’s fair to say I’ve seen him with a lot of anyones.”

She slumped against the counter, pressing her cheek to the wood. “Terrific. So even if I got him to acknowledge I’m alive, I’ll only be able to hold his attention until the next piece of ass walks through the door.”

“Oh. My. God. You sound like a high schooler!” He lounged back onto his elbows. “If you get him to notice you? Of course he noticed you. You’re hard to forget.”

“What?”

“You and Chris both are. The two of you have something special. It lights up your eyes when you smile and makes people take a second look whether they want to or not. You’re genuine, something new and fresh, probably something he’s never seen before.”

It was a beautiful speech, but it didn’t tell her how to proceed. “So?”

“Sweetie, if you want him, you have to go in there and let him know. He’s a man. You’ve got to spell it out for him.”

Emory thought about the blonde who’d strutted in, kneeled down, and took Alex’s erection into her mouth. How was Emory ever supposed to compete with that kind of sexy, no-holds-barred approach? And once she had his attention, what was she supposed to do with it? What if she was wrong? What if the blackness reared up and swallowed her whole, leaving nothing but a quivering, wobbly mass of gooey Emory who could barely stammer her own name?

“You’ve got nothing to lose, Emory.” Fox’s soft words drew her back to the moment.

“My self-respect?”

“No, baby, that’s what you’re trying to get back.”

It was too much for now. She needed to think about it, decide a course of action, and maybe bury herself in paperwork for a few hours to avoid the necessity of making a decision. “How about we get the flowers loaded so the wedding planner doesn’t put out a contract on my life.”

“Those wedding planners are overly dramatic.” Fox put his glasses back on his head and headed for the walk-in cooler. “I’m telling you, drama is so overrated.”

“You would know.”

They bantered back and forth as they loaded vases, wreathes, and bouquets into the back of his SUV. He might be a drama queen on occasion, but there was no doubt in her mind that Fox was an important part of hers and Chris’s life. She was reminded of what her brother had said about his partner the night before. Would Emory ever find someone to balance out her life?

Focus on one thing at a time. Find a way to put the past in the past and move forward before you start thinking about more.

They’d just closed the back window of Fox’s SUV when Donovan MacIntyre’s sports car purred its way into a spot right in front of her shop. Fox twirled his keys in his hand, the expression on his face letting her know without question what he thought of their early-morning visitor.

“Emory! Good morning, honey. Looks like you’re already busy!” MacIntyre strode around the hood of his car, swiping invisible lint from his standard issue polo and khakis. Either he’d just gotten out of the shower or he’d gone a little overboard with the gel, because his dark hair looked like an oil slick. She wondered if he gelled his beard into place too.

“Just finishing up with flowers for a wedding.” She kept her tone brisk, hoping he’d realize she was too busy for idle chitchat.

“Fantastic. I was hoping you’d have time for a little break and we could grab some breakfast.”

Fox crossed his arms, his friendly features looking downright hostile. “Em, Chris was planning on stopping by in just a few minutes.”

“Oh, that’s right. Thanks, Foxy.” She gave MacIntyre her best apologetic smile. “My brother’s coming to chat, and I’m all by myself today, so my breaks will have to be here at the store.”

MacIntyre didn’t miss a beat. “Then how about I bring you lunch?”

“Oh, that’s not necessary. I’m sure you’re busy today.”

“No, I insist!” MacIntyre headed back to his car. “I’ll see you around noon.”

She watched the pushy bastard drive around the block before addressing Foxy’s little fib. “Chris doesn’t have time to swing by here later this morning. You and my brother are driving up the river to that bed and breakfast for the rest of the weekend.”

“I’m not going on a romantic mini-vaca and leaving you here to have lunch with that asshole.” Fox sounded insulted.

“Yes, you are. My brother spent weeks planning this two-night getaway. I’ll be fine.”

“If he tries anything. You know what to do.”

She stood on tiptoe and kissed Fox’s cheek. “They’ll have to pry his family jewels out with a wrench.”

“That’s my girl.” Fox wrapped her in another warm hug before driving off to deliver the wedding flowers.

Emory headed back into her shop, hoping she wouldn’t have to put that plan into action. Defying Captain Downtown would come with a cost.

Chapter Six

Alex moved another case of liquor onto the stack in the storeroom. He felt like he’d been at it for hours, though it’d been only twenty minutes. The day was just dragging ass.

Like me.

He’d stayed in bed until the last possible moment, the remnants of his morning orgasm remaining on his stomach until he’d forced himself from the bed and into the shower. But washing it away wasn’t enough. He couldn’t scour away the memory of her eyes or her tinkling laughter.

“Are you still back here?” Jessa leaned around the corner. “The supplier is on the line wanting to know how much Connor is ordering.”

“Shit.” Alex did a quick tally in his head and jotted down a few numbers. He handed her the clipboard. “Here. This should do it.”

“Her name is Emory Banks, you know.”

Jessa’s words took several seconds to sink in. “What?”

“It took me a minute yesterday to place her because she’s never come in here.”