23. Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Three
Emma
T he warmth of his lips is a searing heat against the cool ocean spray that coats our skin.
His mouth is soft, a gentle brush of lips over mine.
It's not a demanding kiss, but one that asks for permission, that seeks consent.
A question whispered against my mouth, and I answer with a soft sigh, my lips parting for him in answer.
His tongue dips in, a tentative exploration. It's a dance, a slow, sensual waltz of tongues and lips. He tastes like the sea, salty and invigorating, yet there's a sweetness to him too, a hint of coffee and honeyed-amber.
My hands, clutching at his shoulders, slide up to his neck, my fingers tangling in the wet strands of his hair.
I feel the strength in his neck, the corded muscles that flex beneath my touch.
His arms tighten, pulling me closer. He’s all heat and hardness and the desire unfurling inside me blossoms.
A wave crashes against us, the force of it making me stumble. Phoenix lifts me against him. My feet leave the sandy bottom, my body pressed against his chest, our lips still locked. The kiss deepens, becomes more urgent, more desperate. His tongue sweeps into my mouth, exploring, tasting, claiming.
His hands roam over my body, one sliding up my back to tangle in my wet hair, the other splayed across my lower back, supporting my weight. I arch into him, my body seeking more of his touch, more of his heat. His heart pounds against my chest, a steady rhythm that matches the beat of my own.
His mouth leaves mine, trailing kisses down my jaw, my neck, my collarbone. Each touch is a brand, a mark of possession that sends a thrill of pleasure through me. He nips my neck, a gentle tease that sends goosebumps skating over my skin. His tongue follows, licking, tasting, exploring.
The waves crash around our thighs, but I barely notice. All I can focus on is the heat of his mouth, the strength of his arms, the way he makes me feel simultaneously safe and wild. Free and anchored. Claimed and choosing. I don't want to stop. I want to stay here, in this moment, with him.
His long fingers mold to my nape while the other slides down my back, cups my ass and pulls me closer. His hardness throbs against my stomach, evidence of his desire.
I moan into his mouth, a sound of pure pleasure swallowed by his kiss. He responds with a soft growl, a sound of raw need that sends another wave of heat through me.
This…this is what I always imagined kissing would be like.
I wrap my legs around his hips, my body seeking more of his touch, more of his heat. I respond to his touch, my core clenching with a need I can't ignore. Wetness, hot and thick and nothing like the water coating us, gathers between my thighs.
I need more. More than his hands and his mouth. My abdomen clenches with an ache that throbs in time with my heartbeat. I need more… Need …
Phoenix's hands grip my hips, his fingers digging into my flesh as he pulls my hips against his.
Yes…this…
I grind my core against his erection, a soft moan escaping my lips as the sensation sends a wave of pleasure through me. His hardness fills the emptiness between my thighs and it drives me wild.
His mouth rips away from mine, but not far. Just enough to speak, though our lips stay touching. “Take anything you need from me. Take all of me, if you want.”
A delicious thrill races through me alongside burning arousal. My head is clear. What I feel is all want and need and desire. Not the heat haze that normally drives me to do these things. The clarity allows me not to hate myself as much, but here, now with Phoenix, there’s no guilt.
No self-hatred.
Just absolute need to take what he so willingly offers.
I grind harder, my hips moving in a desperate rhythm. Slick gathers in my cleft and soaks his pants. I’m glad they’re already wet because I’d no doubt be leaving a stain on the front.
Pleasure builds. There's no pain, no force, no desperate biology driving me. Just pure sensation that grows with each searing touch.
He nips my lips with his teeth. My abdomen tightens as a thrilling sensation radiates from my core. My skin draws as tight as my chest and I cling to him, my muscles locking against him.
I can’t let go.
I don’t want to.
I want to taste and lick and grind.
His dark coffee coats my tongue. His skin is hot. He grips my thighs, tilts his hips and grinds against me and, oh gods…oh gods, a whole-body throb rolls through me, starting with my pussy and flowing to my extremities .
Every muscle tightens. Golden light washes through me as my head falls back and pure, unadulterated lightness rocks through me. My body arches, trembles, falls apart.
Phoenix holds me steady, his arms solid bars while my limbs are weak. All I can do is collapse against him, boneless and floating. His heart beats beneath my ear as waves lap at my calves. His hands stroke my back in soothing patterns, grounding me as I drift in sensation I never knew existed.
“I didn't know it could feel like this.” My lips are clumsy as I try and chase my scattered thoughts.
He pulls back, confusion creasing his brow. “Like what, Tough Girl?”
“Like this floaty feeling,” I say.
His grin goes all the way to his eyes and makes them sparkle. “Just wait until I give you multiple orgasms, Tough Girl. You’ll float all the way up into the sky.”
I gape up at him. “It can happen more than once?”
His brows flick up. “Let me be clear—I plan to make you come more than once, in more than one way, any time you decide you want to kiss me. Or more.”
The promise in his voice, the intensity of his gaze, leaves me speechless.
Multiple times ?
I’m hung up on that thought as he moves through the waves toward shore, still carrying me. Water streams off us, but I barely notice. I'm too caught up in the implications of his words, in the possibilities I never knew existed.
Soren waits at the water's edge, a large beach towel ready in his hands.
His expression is soft as he wraps it around me.
The material is warm from sitting in the sun, and he takes extra care to tuck it securely around my shoulders.
His touch is as careful as Phoenix's. A smile pulls at his full lips.
“You looked like you enjoyed your swim, butterfly.”
Heat flies over my cheeks when I realize he would have seen everything I did with Phoenix.
“Don’t embarrass her, asshole,” Phoenix says but I’m not embarrassed. Quite the opposite .
Memory flashes through my mind of both Soren and Phoenix’s mouths and hands on me in the shower. When all three of them held me and pleasured me, and…they gave me an orgasm that time as well, and I…I don’t want that to be a once-off. I want what Phoenix said could be done.
Soren immediately looks contrite. His serious hazel eyes settle on me as he rubs the back of his neck with a huge palm.
“I didn’t mean to…that’s not what I… I apologize, Emma.
You looked like you were having fun splashing Phoenix and it’s time someone got one up on him.
He wins far too many games in this pack as it stands. ”
Soren looks so much like a kicked puppy that a huffed laugh unexpectedly escapes me, surprising both Soren and Phoenix. I'm not ready to confront my feelings about wanting all three of them, so I focus on something else he said. “Butterfly?”
A spark ignites in the depths of Soren’s eyes.
He drops his hand to his side, yet energy thrums through him, holding me suspended under the intensity of his gaze.
“That’s you—a butterfly spreading its wings.
Showing your beauty for all to see, and I'm here to tell you that your colors are breathtaking, Emma. Everything about you is absolutely stunning.”
The wind buffers us, mixing pure notes of warm sandalwood with brine. Crisp. Clear. Truthful.
He means what he says.
My world tilts on its axis. Everything I thought I knew shifts into new configurations and I don’t know what to do with any of it. I’ve been locked away for so long, I don’t know how to be myself and suddenly the path to knowing what I want, to choose, is too much. I don’t know where to begin.
“Look who finally made it with food,” Phoenix says, taking my hand and gently squeezing, as though he knows I’m bordering on another meltdown. “I don’t know about you, but I'm starving.”
He takes my hand as we walk up the beach to where Asher stands on the end of the pathway through the dunes.
The sight of him laden with a large basket, towels, and a picnic blanket strikes me as surreal.
This powerful alpha doing something so domestic, so normal.
His dark hair ruffles in the breeze, his Henley still clinging to broad shoulders.
Asher sets everything down and flips open the wicker basket, pulling out a wide-brimmed sunhat. He steps closer to me and places it on my head, his fingers gentle as he adjusts the brim. “You'll burn otherwise,” he says softly, adjusting the strap under my chin so the wind won't steal it.
“I’ve brought everything we’ll need for breakfast, but your clothes are wet. Would you be more comfortable eating inside? We can always come back out,” Asher asks.
I weigh the options in my mind. My clothes are plastered to me, but the thought of going back inside doesn’t appeal. Not when I have sky and sun, sand and water to revel in. “I want to stay here forever. Live outside for the rest of my days if that's possible.”
Asher's chuckle is warm. “It's a perfect day for breakfast on the beach,” he says, though it's well into the afternoon thanks to the events of last night. “Even if we're a few meals behind schedule.”