Chapter 13 – Phoenix #2
“I’ll grab you a bottle.” My eyes shift to the blonde seated in the salon chair, and my voice noticeably softens. “Jordie, do you like perfume?”
A small smile crests her lips. “I do, but I’ve never tried any of Hale’s scents.”
“I’ll get you one too. You ladies are working so hard, I think you deserve a treat.” At over two hundred dollars an ounce, Hale’s signature perfumes are quite a treat indeed.
Jordie laughs. “I’m not doing anything besides sitting in this chair. Bristol is the one doing all the work.”
Bristol pats her arm. “Don’t worry, honey, you’ll earn it in a little bit once you get started on the photo shoot.
Those lights are brutal.” Then she strides over to one of the cabinets and opens it.
The shelves are filled with every cosmetic product Hale makes, and she plucks three tiny sample bottles and brings them back to her station.
“Let’s do a smell test. Hold out your wrists. ”
Jordie does as she asks, and Bristol spritzes Violet Haze on one arm, Blue Haze on the other, and Red Haze on the right side of Jordie’s neck. The women take turns sniffing Jordie’s wrists, and then Bris leans forward and takes a whiff of her neck.
“Hmm, I don’t think the blue one is for you. I’d say the violet or red, but I think we need a man’s perspective.” Bristol waves me over. “Help us out, Phoenix. Smell Jordie and tell us what you think.”
Smell. Jordie.
Yeah, I’d like to smell Jordie while I pin her long, muscular legs to my bed and bury my face in her pussy. Then I could have her scent in my scruff for the rest of the day.
Saint Mary on a scooter. This is the opposite of getting out of here and straightening out my head. But I have no excuse not to loan them my very discerning nose.
“Okay,” I say as nonchalantly as I can muster. I take Jordie’s right arm and lift it to my nose, shaking my head instantly. “You’re right. The blue one is too powdery for you.”
“Try the violet,” Bristol suggests.
Jordie’s eyes lock on mine as I hold her other arm in my hands and lower my head. Our gazes hold as I inhale. It’s nice. Feminine. A little spicy.
“This one’s good,” croak out, feeling goosebumps rise on Jordie’s tanned arm at my attention. “I think you should go with Violet Haze.”
“You didn’t even smell the red one,” Bris complains, and I suppress a groan. She’s asking me to literally stick my face in this woman’s neck.
“Right. Red Haze,” I reply evenly, though even is the last thing I feel. I’m off-kilter, and I have no idea why. Resting my hands on the rounded arms of the salon chair, I lean in and brush my nose against Jordie’s flesh. Her intake of breath is about halfway to a gasp.
But I pay that no mind. I’m lost now with the warm pulse of her blood beneath the surface of her soft skin. I can feel that pulse as if it’s my own, the beat syncing with mine.
Slowly, I drag my nose up the side of Jordie’s neck and then back down to her shoulder. Up, down, inhale, exhale. I repeat the cycle, taking in the sweetness of the perfume blending flawlessly with that crisp apple scent I haven’t been able to forget.
A rumble vibrates my chest as I hum, drawing a shiver from Jordie’s body. My lips ache to kiss that pulse point. My tongue throbs with the need to dart out and take the smallest taste. And it’s not the only thing throbbing.
“Well,” comes Bristol’s dry, amused drawl, “I think that settles it.” And just like that, the spell is broken and I reform myself back into an adult and not a goddamn horny teenager.
Straightening, I suddenly realize not all parts of my anatomy got the memo.
Especially when Jordie’s wide aqua gaze darts down to the obvious bulge in the front of my pants.
When her eyes flash back up to mine, a million questions in their depths, I put on my best Phoenix attitude.
Cheeky. Unaffected. Perhaps a bit flirty.
“Winner, winner, chicken dinner,” I say airily, shocked that my mouth actually works since all the blood in my body has migrated just south of my belt. “One bottle of Violet Haze and one bottle of Red Haze coming up. Can I get you ladies a coffee while I’m gone?”
“Ooh, I want that white chocolate mocha one,” Bristol says from behind me.
I nod, purposely not turning around so she doesn’t see the evidence in my pants. “Jordie?”
“I, um, I want the…” She wets her lips with the tip of her tongue, seemingly flustered.
Yeah, join the club, baby doll.
“Hazelnut pistachio iced mocha?” I offer, remembering Charlotte mentioned Jordie liked that drink last time.
Her brows pop up in apparent surprise.
“Yes please,” she manages, a flush flooding her cheeks with the most beautiful peachy pink.
Keeping my body angled so Bristol doesn’t see the very erect state of my penis, I head to the door. “Be right back, ladies.”
As soon as I’m in the main hallway, I round the corner and reach down to adjust myself in my pants.
“Dude!”
I yelp, my heart racing until I realize it’s Helix. “Oh. Hey. I was just…”
My twin glances down and snorts out a laugh. “Duuuude,” he draws out when he realizes my pants are way too tight in the front.
“Stop looking at my dick,” I complain.
“Trust me. I’m not trying to, but that thing came around the corner a good three seconds before the rest of you. Then you started playing with it.”
“I wasn’t playing with it,” I protest. “I was—” I stop talking when the elevator in front of us opens and Helix’s new lab manager steps out.
“Hi, Dr. Bell,” my twin says, sounding extra breathy. I fight a smile.
“Hey, Dr. Hale. What’s up, Phoenix?”
“Not much. Just going to get Bristol and Jordie a coffee.”
She smiles, her green eyes shining from behind her glasses as she holds up her own cup. “That’s where I was. We need a barista over in the lab building. The coffee over there sucks.”
“I’ll work on that this week,” Helix says eagerly, and Nicolette’s lips curve upward as her eyes sweep down my brother’s tall frame, stalling for a second on his ever-present suspenders. Seriously, these two nerds are so hot for each other.
“That would be amazing. I guess I’ll see you guys in the studio.” With a little wave, she’s off, and Helix cranes his neck around to watch her go.
Before I can comment, my phone sounds with Remington’s ringtone. Pulling it from my pocket, I see he’s trying to FaceTime me. “It’s Remi.”
Helix and I step into an unused office and close the door before I answer the call with both of us on screen.
“Shit, there’s two of you,” our oldest brother says with a grin.
“There have been two of us since, you know… birth?” Helix retorts.
“How’s London?” I ask.
“Busy,” Remi sighs. “I’m just checking to see how the McNamara shoot is going.”
“She’s still in hair and makeup with Bristol,” I explain.
Helix elbows me and blurts, “Phoenix popped a boner for Bristol Hanford.”
Remington howls out a laugh. “Goddamn, man. Tank is going to take your head off. She is hot though.”
“That boner wasn’t for Bristol!” I splutter in explanation before clamping my big mouth shut.
“Ohh, you’ve got the hots for the football player,” Remi teases, and I huff out my frustration. Because he nailed it.
“Well, Helix was checking out his lab manager’s ass in the hallway just now.” There. If he can tattle, so can I.
“Can we change the subject?” my twin gripes.
I roll my eyes toward him. “You brought up my boner.”
“You were messing with your cock in the middle of the corridor. I thought you had crabs or something.”
Trying to get off this subject before they question me further, I ask, “Did you hear about the guy who was with a prostitute, and then a couple days later, he realizes she gave him crabs?”
“No, but I’m sure you’re going to tell us,” Remi says, leaning back in his big leather chair in his London office.
“He went back to the prostitute to complain, and she said, ‘For twenty bucks, what did you expect? Lobsters?’”
My brothers howl with laughter, and we joke around for a few more minutes before disconnecting the call. When I try to exit the office, my twin leans his broad shoulders against the door and levels me with his steady blue gaze.
“How old is Jordie?”
“Twenty-three,” I say on an exhale.
Helix nods, and I can see his mind turning over the information. “It’s definitely an age gap, but it’s not that bad.”
I run my hand down my face and shake my head. “It’s not that good either.”