Chapter 35 Braedyn #2
Dex lowered me to the couch—the same one he’d slept on the night before. As he straightened, his gaze zeroed in on my rib cage—the tattoo there. The phoenix. Delicate yet infinitely powerful.
There were no ashes in my tattoo, simply a creature taking flight after crossing through from the other side. Dex’s throat worked as he swallowed and then traced the outline with featherlight fingertips. “It’s like you understood me before we even met.”
Fear tried to take root, but I shoved it down, pushed it out. I reached up, grabbing for Dex. I needed to let it out…into him. The desperate edge was back, the need to lose myself and everything that held me down.
Dex broke away for a moment, tugging his tee over his head and tossing it to the floor. His phoenix stared back at me—the one that could hold me captive. The one that taunted me with a bond both Dex and I were terrified of but couldn’t ignore.
It was too tempting not to touch. My fingers ran over his chest, through the dusting of hair that only made the tattoo feel more real. As if the creature could take flight and swallow me whole.
But I wanted it to. I wanted to lose myself in all that was Dex.
His fingers found the button of my jeans, and I felt the first hesitation, the slight panic bleeding through the haze of need. It was as if Dex read it before I did.
“Stop?” he asked. There was no annoyance or anger. So unlike Vincent, who didn’t care what I wanted. He’d thought he had rights to me anytime he wanted.
“I haven’t…not since Owen was born. And my body…it’s…” I didn’t know how to put words to the fears and insecurities.
Dex’s face softened as his fingers deftly unbuttoned my jeans. They were the kind that came up to my belly button. The kind that hid the marks and scars.
Dex’s fingers skimmed just under the waistband. Back and forth. Featherlight. “You’re changed because you brought life into the world. Can’t think of anything more beautiful than that.”
My mouth went dry as I struggled to swallow. “Dex.”
He peeled down one side of my jeans, revealing the streaks along my belly and hip. They’d turned from deep red to the palest white over the years. But against my golden skin, they stood out clear as day.
“Phoenix wings,” Dex whispered as he dropped to his knees. His lips hovered over the changed flesh, and then he skimmed across the marks as he spoke. “Carried you through battle and the aftermath. Carried your boy and carried you. Most beautiful sight of all.”
Everything burned. Like I was turning into the very creature Dex spoke of.
My fingers clutched at his shoulders. Broad. Strong. And adorned with the wings he described on me.
“Tell me you want this. Tell me you need it, consequences be damned.”
My breaths came quicker now. Fast, sharp pants as black dots danced in front of my vision.
“I want everything,” I rasped. Because I was greedy when it came to Dex Archer.
I didn’t want just his fingers or his mouth.
I needed to know how it felt to have him moving inside me, stretching me, taking everything he had to give.
“Never heard anything sweeter,” Dex growled. “And I’m going to give it to you. I want to hear those throaty, little moans as you shatter. I want to feel them.”
My thighs clenched on instinct as more wetness gathered. More heat. More need.
“Not yet, baby.” Dex ran his knuckles along the seam of my jeans. I nearly came apart right there. Sparks danced through me as the black spots intensified. He made the move again. “Soon.”
And then, Dex’s fingers were in the band of my jeans and boy shorts. He yanked them down in a move so smooth I would’ve thought it impossible. He lifted one leg out and then the other.
“So damn beautiful, spread out for me.” Dex adjusted his glasses, and I moved to try to close my legs, but Dex was in the way. His gaze snapped to my face. “Don’t steal this from me. This work of art. Perfect pussy and phoenix wings.”
My breaths tripped and tangled, but I didn’t try to close my legs again.
Dex grinned. “That’s my girl. Giving me all I want. Giving you all you need.”
A single finger slid through my wet heat, and my hips arched up to meet him as my jaw opened in a silent plea.
Dex’s fingers swiped over me again, two this time, as his other hand trailed up between my breasts to collar my throat. But it didn’t stay there. It slid to the side, to my pulse point.
Those two fingers slowly thrust inside me, and I couldn’t hold back my moan.
“Don’t come.” The words were an order and a plea. “The first time you come, I’m gonna feel you flutter on my cock, wanna feel every ounce of fire. We’re gonna fly together.”
My inner walls clamped down on Dex’s fingers as they swirled inside me.
I shuddered as he stretched me. “I can’t—I—”
“You can,” Dex ordered. “I can feel you here.” His fingers swirled again. “And I can feel you here.” His hand pressed to the side of my throat. “We’re going to walk right up to that breaking point. We’re gonna feel it all.”
I clamped down on those fingers inside me, my whole body shuddering this time.
“You’re close. Almost ready for me.”
My hips lifted, rising to meet Dex’s fingers. They felt so damn good but were so far from what I wanted. I let out a sound of frustration.
“In a hurry, Hellion?”
I fought the urge to bare my teeth at him. “Yes.”
A low, throaty chuckle left Dex and skated over my skin. “Not quite yet.” His fingers thrust deeper this time, rotating and curling, pressing on a spot that had light flickering over my vision.
“Now, you’re there,” Dex growled, his hand clamping over my throat. I could feel my pulse hammering against the pressure of his palm.
And then it was all gone. The grip of him at my throat. Those beautiful fingers moving inside me.
I let out a sound of protest that had Dex chuckling again. Then he made a tsking sound. “Patience.”
This time, I growled at him, but the sound halted in my throat as Dex’s fingers went to the button of his jeans. He kicked off one boot and then the other as he deftly unbuttoned his pants.
He searched for something. His wallet, I realized. A small foil packet.
My throat went dry, and my eyes burned as they zeroed in on the packet.
“Always gonna make sure you’re safe,” Dex rasped as he shucked his pants.
He didn’t know what that meant to me. With my one and only partner being someone who never thought about my safety and well-being, this meant everything.
Dex rolled the condom onto his thick length, and my mouth went dry for a different reason, my thighs pressing together. It was nearly more than I could take.
And then he was back, that big body covering mine, my legs hooking around him. Dex searched my eyes. “Yes?”
“Yes,” I breathed.
He didn’t wait. He slid inside me on one long glide, hissing as his hazel eyes flashed. My head tipped back against the couch, my body arching, meeting him there.
It was almost more than I could take. Pressure. Heat. That stretch.
Dex’s body quivered. With restraint, I realized. Holding himself back. Another gift. Suffering to give me time to adjust, to ease into him.
The sting melted to only heat as Dex’s hand slid over my throat, finding that pulse point again. Staying there. He read the beat of my body and didn’t move until he felt some change.
As every ounce of discomfort left me and just as desperation edged in, Dex began to move. He kicked off the rhythm, the dance, but I found him there. My body met his, letting his thrusts deepen, claiming all of me.
Dex let out a low moan as he sank into me. “Everything I could’ve dreamed of.”
My fingers tightened on his shoulders, digging in as he picked up the pace. “More.”
Those dark eyes flashed. “Told you I’d give you whatever you needed.”
Dex thrust into me with more power this time, a strength that was almost otherworldly. One hand braced above my head, the other on my throat. “Show me how you fly. Let me feel you.”
Everything went hazy as my entire body vibrated. Power and heat. Pressure and that final spark.
“Fingers on your clit,” Dex barked. “Now.”
I didn’t think. I listened. A single circle around that bundle of nerves, and I was lost. Splintering in a way that was beautiful and painful all at once as Dex arched into me again, releasing. And I felt it all. I came apart with a force I’d never known. One I knew would change everything.