Chapter 14 #2
“No, not at all,” I reply, trying to force some kind of professionalism into my voice even though my brain has officially left the chat. “I understand you have people to keep happy, and we can definitely work to get it right.”
Phoenix’s head tilts slowly to the side, and I can feel how much he doesn’t love that answer, but for once, I’m not even trying to provoke him. This is just business.
Except the look on his face says it’s not just fucking business.
“Are you in the city soon?” I ask.
“I can be later this week, but I don’t want to make this a whole thing. I’d rather keep it casual. Something… more relaxed and intimate.”
Phoenix’s head tips back, his jaw going so tight I can see the muscle jump.
Suddenly, he’s moving.
He’s off the chair and sinking to his knees in front of me with zero warning.
“Phoenix—” I hiss under my breath, but he’s already dropped under the desk, shoving my skirt up, his hands rough and possessive as they grip my thighs. He hauls me to the edge of the chair, spreading my legs wide, and I have to grab the armrests to keep from sliding off completely.
I’m blinking hard at the screen because James is still talking.
Still. Fucking. Talking.
Meanwhile, there’s a kneeling god between my legs.
“You don’t do relaxed and intimate with anyone but me, but go ahead, baby. Keep lying to him while I make you come on my tongue,” he whispers, kissing a path up my thigh. “Now be a good girl and smile for the camera while I show you what intimacy actually feels like.”
“I use the penthouse at Lawson’s sometimes,” James says casually through the speakers. “The one in the city. I have an office space too, if you wanted to come to me—”
Phoenix slips my underwear to the side and thrusts his tongue inside me, and the way my breath catches isn’t even something I can play off.
“—or not?”
“No. It’s—”
What is it?
I don’t even know what I’m trying to say anymore. Words dissolve on my tongue while Phoenix’s flutters against my clit, circling, sucking, and destroying every coherent thought I have.
“I have everything I need here…”
Thrust.
Lick.
Suck.
Repeat.
And I’m about to lose my fucking mind.
“…at the office,” I manage to choke out.
I try to clamp my thighs together, but Phoenix is stronger, forcing them wider and pinning me open.
“Hang up,” he growls.
“James, I’m really sorry, but I think…” My eyes squeeze shut as I press my fingers to my forehead, trying to sound sane while being eaten alive. “I’ve got a migraine coming on. Let me shoot you an email tomorrow, and we’ll arrange a date—”
Phoenix’s teeth sink into the inside of my thigh at the word “date,” and I barely swallow down the squeal that threatens to rip out of me.
“Hang. The fuck. Up, Shannen,” he hisses.
I know that voice now. It’s ownership, and he’s way too possessive to let anyone else see me come.
“Perfect. I look forward to it,” James says, still smiling.
I give him the world’s most awkward wave before killing the call.
The second it ends, I throw my head back, gasping, and shove both hands into Phoenix’s dark hair, dragging him closer against me.
“If you stop, I swear I’ll fucking suffocate you between my thighs.” I pant, feeling him chuckle darkly as he slides a finger inside me, curling it so perfectly my vision whites out for a second. “Jesus, you really are crazy.”
“Just taking what’s mine while some cockmaggot jerks off, wishing it was his.
” He lifts his head slightly, lips soaked with me, his eyes un-fucking-hinged.
“And baby? You threatening to choke me with this cunt isn’t a threat.
It’s my fucking wet dream, and I’ll happily die right here. Just promise you’ll make it messy.”
His fingers start moving again, along with his tongue, and that feeling, that impossible build I’ve only felt once before, last night in this very office, starts rising fast.
“You’re making me feel so good… You’re—fuck—you’re fucking me so good.” My fingers tighten in his hair as my back starts to arch. I slam a hand over my mouth as my orgasm crashes through me, and I feel myself flood his mouth.
“Fuck, baby—yes.” He groans, dragging his soaked fingers out of me just to wrap his mouth around my pussy completely.
The aftershocks hit me hard, and when my body finally starts to relax, his tongue slows, smoothing over me like he has all the time in the world. He only pulls back when I shift in the chair, my legs trembling from the overstimulation.
When I finally look down, he’s already watching me, and I can read everything he’s feeling in that look.
Mine.
Still mine.
Always fucking mine.
And underneath all that possessive heat, there’s something more there that makes my chest tight.
I love you.
I’ve always loved you.
I’ll never stop loving you.
I cradle his jaw in my palm and force his face up to meet mine.
I move in close enough to run my tongue along his lower lip, licking away every trace of myself from his mouth.
His eyes darken to molten silver as I take my time, unhurried, and let him feel every inch of space disappear between us before I part his lips with my tongue.
I need to know if that kiss in the elevator last night hit that hard because our connection is as real now as it’s ever been, or if it’s just the echo of what we once were.
And the second he starts kissing me back, as soon as his hands grip my hair and his mouth turns more demanding and urgent, I have my answer.
With him, it’s always fireworks.
Always too much and never enough.
I break the kiss just to breathe, just for a second, and he keeps his eyes closed like he’s still living in it.
“You kissed me,” he whispers.
I try to play it cool, even though my pulse is hammering in my throat. “It was a thank-you for making my morning a little better, though now I’m probably going to have to walk around without underwear for the rest of the day.”
“Liar, you kissed me because you felt it. Same as I did. The second our mouths touched again, you remembered.” He looks down between my legs, then gently covers me back up, smoothing my skirt down. “I did try to keep your panties dry, but clearly that’s impossible when it comes to us.”
He reaches behind him, pulls something from his back pocket, and presses it into my palm.
“You’re shitting me.”
Black lace.
My black lace.
“You stole these?”
“Borrowed,” he corrects, completely unapologetic. “Figured I should be prepared, so now you don’t have to walk around the office with anyone being able to smell how delicious your pussy is.”
He leans in, pressing a slow kiss to the inside of my knee. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m a little possessive.”
“You? Possessive?” I tilt my head in faux shock. “Wow. Hadn’t noticed.”
“Funny girl,” he mutters as he stands, all six-foot-whatever of him towering over me. “Put them on.”
I rise from the chair slowly, my thighs still slick as I wriggle out of the ruined pair that hit the floor, and I don’t miss the way his eyes track them.
The lace he gave me is warm from being in his pocket, and when I slide it up my thighs and smooth down my skirt, I try to gather what’s left of my composure.
Professional.
Put together.
Not freshly finger-fucked during a work call.
But I barely catch my breath before he’s behind me.
Phoenix presses in, his chest flush against my back, his body heat wrapping around me like a cage.
I don’t tense. I probably should, but I don’t.
My body already knows him—his touch, his scent, the way everything in me softens when he’s near, as if I’m finally where I’m supposed to be.
His hands settle on my waist, his mouth finds the curve of my shoulder, and I swear I feel the kiss all the way down my spine.
“I hated leaving you last night.”
“Thank you for giving me time… Last night was a lot.”
“I know.” His lips ghost over my skin. “You must’ve been exhausted. You slept so beautifully.”
I guess I’m just ignoring the fact that he was either in my apartment or watching me through those cameras like it’s normal, and this is just what we do now.
“You can’t go to James’s.”
I don’t like how he says it or the way it digs into the part of me that still wants to believe I have control over my own life, and he knows it.
“Don’t,” he warns, as if he can feel my thoughts start to shift. “Don’t pull away—not even in your head. You know what I told you. And you know there’s something off about it, or you wouldn’t be standing here letting me hold you. You’d be telling me to go fuck myself.”
“It’s just business, Phoenix.”
“It’s not for him.” His mouth is at my ear now. “Do you really think James Lawson answers to anyone?”
Okay… so he may have a point.
“His intentions for you go way beyond that brilliant brain of yours, and you know it.”
“I would never…”
“He would, and I’ve already been warned I can’t lay a hand on his pretty-boy head unless I feel like getting thrown in jail.”
“Warned by who?”
“Lucien.”
“I have no idea who that is.”
“He’s a friend. Well, he’s more like a brother. He does what I do, but he deals with people even I won’t touch.”
“I didn’t realize you had friends.”
“He and his brother, Cain… They know everything about me. No one knows me the way you do, but I’ve let them get close.”
“Do they know about me?”
“Baby, they’ve been watching over you since the day I realized I couldn’t be everywhere at once.” His arms tighten around me. “Like when I had to go see my mom. You think I’d leave you completely alone?”
I spin in his arms and glare up at him because he must’ve lost his damn mind.
“Okay. It’s one thing to know you stalk me—fine, whatever, we’re already in that mess—but it’s a whole other level of screwed up to bring in people I don’t know to watch me.”
“It’s not like that.” His jaw ticks, but there’s no apology in his eyes. “I’d never give them access to your life, not really. They just keep watch and make sure no one gets too close when I can’t be there.”
“You can’t just—”
“I can, and I will again if it gives me peace of mind.” He leans down, his eyes boring into mine. “You wanna be pissed? Fine. Be pissed. But don’t expect me to feel bad about it because honestly, I’d chip your tooth and hide a fucking tracker in it if you let me.”
“The way I would kick your ass if you ever—”
“Like I said, you’d have one if you let me, but I don’t think you’re quite there yet.”
What.
The actual.
Fuck?
I need to remember that this is just who Phoenix is.
This is the full package.
Possessive, deranged, and morally questionable on a good day, yet somehow, I can’t imagine a life without him.
“Anyway,” he murmurs, leaning down to press a kiss to my forehead, “I’ll pick you up from here later.”
“I have a car.”
“We’re not going in your car.”
“Okay…”
“Just trust me.” His eyes hold mine, silver burning into gold. “You’re going to love it. I promise.”
Hours later, after most of the office has emptied and I’ve been staring blankly at my screen for way too long, my phone vibrates on the desk.
PHOENIX: I’m outside, pretty girl.
I’m expecting… I don’t know, a rideshare. Maybe he’s got some obnoxious sports car waiting outside.
What I’m not expecting is him straddling a motorcycle like he stepped out of every biker fantasy I’ve ever had—helmet on, thighs spread around polished black metal, dangling a second helmet from his fingers, which is obviously meant for me.
I swear, I almost come right there on the pavement. Just a spontaneous orgasm by real-life thirst trap.
“You ready, baby?”
“No… I mean, yeah. Holy shit. If you’d shown up like this earlier, I probably would’ve given in a hell of a lot faster.”
He laughs and swings off the bike, stepping into my space in a way that makes my stomach flip. He takes the helmet and slides it over my head, his fingers careful as he fastens the strap beneath my chin.
“Now, unless I missed something,” he murmurs, his eyes holding mine through the visor, “I don’t think you’ve ever ridden as some douchebag’s backpack before.”
“I haven’t.”
“Good… another first I get to give you.”
Phoenix swings back onto the bike, then holds a hand out to me over his shoulder. I take it, and he pulls me forward, helping me climb on behind him. The second I’m settled, his hand drops down to rest on my thigh while the other grips the handlebar.
“Get those arms around me, baby, and don’t let go.”
I wrap my arms around his waist, pressing my chest against his back, and I feel him exhale.
It’s the closeness.
He craves it.
“Tighter,” he commands, and I lock my hands together over his abs, my fingers fisting the soft fabric of his hoodie.
His hand covers mine briefly, just long enough to squeeze. A silent thank-you, or maybe a warning to prepare me for what’s coming.
“Please don’t kill us,” I mutter.
“Before I know how it feels to fuck someone? You crazy?”
I slap the side of his helmet, hard enough to jolt him and make his laugh rumble through both of us. I feel it everywhere, especially where my body’s pressed flush against his. My thighs tighten automatically, and my grip on his hoodie tightens as jealousy flares hot inside me.
“You mean how it feels to fuck me.”
He goes still for a heartbeat, and a low, throaty groan escapes him—one that has no business being that hot.
“You have no idea how hard it gets me knowing you’re jealous.” I can practically hear the smug satisfaction in his voice. “I knew it was in there, my beautiful, possessive girl.”
Before I can get a word out, the engine roars louder, and then we’re flying. The city blurs around us as Phoenix weaves through traffic like he owns the street, and death couldn’t touch him if it tried.
The speed, the danger, the way I can feel every shift of his muscles as he controls the bike like it’s an extension of himself.
It’s intoxicating. The cold winter wind lashes at my skin, but I’ve never felt more alive than I do right now with my arms around him, and God help me, I don’t ever want to let go.