Chapter 15 Beanbag Bangin’
BEANBAG BANGIN’
Addie
Addie wasn’t a pacer, but she’d also never been this conflicted over a guy, equal parts thankful and pissed that she and Phoenix had been interrupted by their friends’ phone calls a few hours ago.
Would she have really stripped down and allowed Phoenix to have his way with her against a damn tree? Even when fully clothed and wearing multiple layers, mosquitoes still managed to suck the blood from her body, but if she’d been completely naked?
An all-you-can-eat Addie buffet.
Talk about communing with nature—not to mention the potential breach in their napkin contract.
But Holy Hellscape, the man’s kiss left her weak-kneed and horny as hell.
Still. Hours after they got back to the main house and ate an unhealthy amount of enchiladas and guac.
To say it had been an awkward ride back to the city—with both Bailey and Maxi watching her every move—was a big understatement.
But now Addie stood in her apartment—alone and all too aware—that Phoenix Cross was right on the other side of the wall.
“I can’t believe I’m debating this.” Addie threw a questioning glance at Do-Re-Mi, who warily watched her pace from the safety of their corner bed. “Getting physical would be a monumentally bad idea. Right?”
Do and Re cocked their heads as if contemplating, while Mi chuffed and lay his head down like he didn’t care in the least.
“It’s a horrible idea. Atrocious. Whatever momentary pleasure happened would evaporate the second it was over, and then there’d be nothing but a brewing shitstorm of complications.
” Addie ignored the uncertainty in her words—and tone—as she flopped onto her couch.
“I just need something to distract me. There’s got to be some kind of documentary on or something. ”
She flipped through all the streaming services and finding nothing she hadn’t already watched, turned off the TV to scroll the HEF social media account. She quickly regretted that and tossed her phone onto the coffee table with an annoyed huff.
Staring at the ceiling and contemplating a bubble bath, Addie startled at an abrupt pulse of music. Heavy bass reverberated under her feet, moving upward, the words only slightly muffled as the culprit turned up the volume just as the singer belted out something about sleepless nights.
Phoenix.
A minute later, the song shifted to another. This one—if she remembered correctly—boasted about horny thoughts and some kind of sex drought. It played through the refrain before transitioning to a smooth, velvety voice expressively describing his inability to get someone off his mind.
Addie chuckled, her cheeks aching a bit from her grin.
No way he didn’t play those songs on purpose, and her suspicion was confirmed another minute later when the slow ballad went silent and an upbeat chorus detailing the intricacies of a midnight booty call took its place.
For thirty minutes, songs bounced back and forth from naked-themed lyrics to tales of love and sonnets. At thirty-one minutes, Addie resigned herself to her fate—and her persistent next-door neighbor.
When executing a bad idea, do it with a bang.
Literally.
She didn’t bother changing out of her flannels. She marched to Phoenix’s door and, unlike the first hallway encounter, knocked once before the damn thing flew open and the man himself stood in front of her in all his shirtless glory.
Addie’s brain froze, but her eyes freely roamed over his tattooed chest and eight-pack abs. Abs she wanted to lick.
And touch.
And maybe try to bounce a quarter off of later if he was game.
Her tongue, dry and sticking to the roof of her mouth, failed to cooperate with the rampant thoughts running through her head.
“Hello there, neighbor.” Phoenix leaned casually against the frame of his door, much like the first time she’d stalked over to his place. “Did you finally come over to borrow that cup of sugar? I actually bought some to make sure I had it on hand—just for you.”
Addie’s nerves slowly melted away and she bit her bottom lip to keep from laughing at his attempt to replay their first encounter.
“Actually, I’m here to complain about the music. Again. You do realize that there are people trying to sleep in this building, right?”
“Sleep is highly overrated.” Hazel eyes twinkling, Phoenix crossed his arms over his chest, forearm porn in full effect as his muscles rippled. “And evidently impossible when you’ve been mentally replaying a run-in with a really fucking sexy redhead.”
“A run-in, huh?”
“More like my biggest dream come to life. Or it would’ve been if we hadn’t been interrupted by my asshole friends.” Phoenix amped up the sad, wistful look on his face. “Now the only thing I can do to prevent my imagination from wandering is distract myself with loud, obnoxious music.”
His heated, lust-filled gaze glided down Addie’s body, and instead of annoyance or irritation—her typical go-to emotions when dealing with corny one-liners and verbal games—had goose bumps erupting all over her skin.
Phoenix’s gaze alone was like an intimate touch and it lit something inside her she couldn’t remember feeling before.
“Is the distraction working?” Addie teased.
“Not in the fucking least.”
Addie fought—and failed—to keep her voice even as she continued the game a bit longer. “It’s odd. I also can’t get someone out of my head. And I really, really should for a whole laundry list of reasons.”
“Yeah? And what’s on that list?”
She ticked them off on her fingers. “To name just a few? We are absolutely nothing alike, and I do mean nothing.”
He shrugged. “Opposites have been known to attract since the dawn of time.”
Another tick … “My focus needs to be on saving my business, not naked fun times with a sexy musician.”
“All work and no naked fun times aren’t really conducive to a good work-life balance. Burnout is a real thing. And combating it with a musician? Not trying to sway you either way, but I hear they’re good with both their mouths and their hands.”
Addie barely swallowed an amused chuckle and counted another tick …
“Physical intimacy always leads to complications and the potential for—”
“Feelings?” Phoenix’s weighted gaze held Addie’s next breath hostage. “Catching feelings doesn’t seem like something the Anti-Aphrodite would be too concerned about.”
Bracing her hands on her hips, she struggled to bring some reality to the forefront. “It’s not me I’m concerned about, Phoenix.”
Liar, liar, panties on fire …
Something—a lot of somethings—all pointed to one thing.
Of all the people on this planet, the man standing in front of her with a determined glint in his gorgeous eye was the one with whom she should be most concerned about catching feelings.
Phoenix pushed off from the door and inched forward, a predator keeping his prey in sight—and that prey was her.
Not in a creepy way, or one found only on Animal Planet.
In a sexy Phoenix way.
Addie’s heart thumped wildly as she countered his movements.
In two steps, her back was pressed against the wall, and Phoenix’s body hovered less than an inch away.
He slowly tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and gave her all the time in the world to turn away before bracing his hand on the wall inches shy of her head … and leaning in.
Fuck. The sexy wall-lean. Her body all but spontaneously combusted right on the spot. Hell, she still might if he stayed in that position much longer.
“Are you really worried about me catching feelings, love?” Phoenix’s mouth—a breath away from touching her skin—hovered just over the sensitive spot below her ear. “Or are you actually worried that it might be you?”
A denial rested on the tip of her tongue, but she couldn’t say it aloud. Releasing a shaky breath, she struggled between what her head demanded she do and what her body craved.
And damn it. Addie didn’t like anyone bossing her around—not even herself.
“This is a really bad idea, Phoenix,” Addie whispered, her voice scratchy.
“On average, I’m a big fan of them. They usually lead to the most fun.
” The colors in his hazel eyes warred for dominance, but it was desire that won out, overtaking them all as his heated gaze melted into hers.
“Tell me you’re not the least bit curious what it would be like between us and I’ll back off right now.
But if you can’t stop thinking about it, and want it more than you want your next breath—just like me …
then say so. And then the next music genre that will be spilling from my apartment will be your pleasure-filled moans. ”
Addie’s knees would’ve disappeared if she hadn’t been leaning against the wall for support. “I don’t think I’ve listened to that genre in … ever.”
Phoenix commanded her attention with the softest chin tilt. “What will it be, Addie? Want to experience some bad ideas with me?”
Neither scuba gear nor a life preserver could have prevented her from drowning in desire. And instead of a frigid wave of dread that normally came with this level of intimacy, a warm, tingling blanket of excitement settled over not just her body, but her mind and all her chronic doubts.
“They do say bad ideas are best executed while naked,” Addie heard her breathless voice counter. “And no regrets, right? No strings. No expectations. No—”
“No worries.” Phoenix’s thumb brushed against her lower lip. “Just you and me, and quite possibly every surface of my apartment.”
Her lips twitched, and before she could talk herself out of it, she nodded. “Lead the way, rock star.”
Phoenix’s gaze dropped to her mouth a split second before he released a low growl. “I can do better than that.”
His mouth claimed hers in a searing kiss, one hand delving into her hair to hold her close while the other slid up her thigh and toward her ass, giving it a firm squeeze. “Up.”
“But I—”
He released her mouth with a small groan. “Get your gorgeous legs around my waist right the fuck now, Addie.”