by Emma Nichole
“You know how most girls want the hero? The man who will always swoop in and go save the day? Well, that scares the shit out of me.” I slide my toes in the sand.
“Why?”
“Because heroes don’t always have a happy ending. I’ve mourned a hero once; two of them, actually. I can’t do it again. I won’t.”
“I don’t understand it, but at the same time, I do. I’ll always support you and any choice you make. Always remember that.”
“I want to help him, Amelia. I care about him. I want to show him he will be okay—like my brother did for me when I was a kid.”
“Then do that for him. Even if you can’t be with him the way he wants, show him you still care and you want him to be unafraid.”
Case scares me. Caring for him scares me. Seeing my own fears in his eyes scares me even more.
I need to help him.
He, more than anyone, deserves it.
“I love you.” I wipe tears from my eyes.
“I love you too.”
Chapter 22
Case
“Tell her to release, man! She’s killing me!” Some fucking asshole cries from the ground as Arya sinks her teeth into his arm, keeping him put.
“That’s what you get when you fucking run. All you had to do was stay the fuck put while I searched your car. You ran. When you run, it’s my partner’s turn to take you down.”
I kneel down on his left side and secure his left arm behind his back, then command Arya to release his right.
“Arya, loose. Sit.” She obliges immediately, releasing his arm and coming around to sit beside me.
I pull his arm right arm around and slap cuffs on him just as the backup I’ve called for arrives.
When he’s securely in the back of the other cruiser, and I’m able to run his name in the system, I see he’s got an outstanding warrant out of Atlanta for a phone book of charges I’d love to break his fucking face for.
This is why I do my job. To take scumbags like him off the streets.
I am nearly ready to signal to the cruiser behind me that I’m about to roll back to the station to book that asshole in, but Arya nudges me with her nose from the back seat.
“Impatient thing. I know, I know. You did a good job.”
She gives me a bark and another nudge and I know immediately what she wants.
“All right, All right. Hold your horses.” I pop open my glove compartment and pull out a bag of the treats I reserve for good days on the job.
I pull one out and toss it back to her.
“Spoiled, spoiled, spoiled,” I say, before I pull onto the road and head back to the station.
When I pull into my driveway six hours later, there’s a familiar blonde beauty sitting on my front steps, holding a fallen flower bud in her hand.
She stands when my headlights illuminate her. She is dressed in a simple, blue sundress and flip-flops. Her hair is piled in a messy bun on top of her head, and from here, I can see there isn’t a stitch of makeup on her face.
She’s the most beautiful I’ve ever seen her.
I climb from the car and open the back passenger door to let out Arya, and she jumps down, bolting straight for Nora on the stairs.
“Hi, beautiful girl!” Nora bends down to her level and scratches and rubs her with both hands on her head. “Did you have a good shift? Were you safe? Did you keep your partner safe? I hope so.” She bends over and kisses the top of her head then resumes her place on the second stair.
I approach them, still on the ground with Nora a few steps up, so we are eye level.
“You look good in that uniform,” she says.
“I know.” I smile wide when she rolls her eyes. “Are you all right? I wasn’t expecting you here.”
“I try not to make stopping by unannounced a habit, but after this morning, I just wanted to come make sure we are okay,” she says, as her eyes dance between the two of mine.
“Come inside. I want to get this belt off.” I take her hand. “Arya, inside.”
She listens immediately, going straight through the door when I unlock it.
“Was it hard to train her?” Nora asks when we step inside.
“There were hard days and easy days. Overall, it was pretty seamless.” I turn toward her. “I’m going to go change and get my gun put away. Make yourself at home.” I lean in and kiss her cheek before disappearing down to my bedroom.
When I come back a few minutes later, now dressed in jeans and a plain back T-shirt, she’s curled on the sofa snuggled up with Arya.
“I think you’re just using me for my dog.”
“She is pretty amazing. She may have you beat.”
Arya seems to know we are talking about her and she barks happily.
“Yeah, yeah, you little ham.” I rub her head then sit on the other side of the room in the large chair.
“I like being here,” she says. “I’m comfortable. It feels right.”
“I like you being here too.”
“But I’m scared of it. I’m scared of things being too easy, Case. Easy means something can and will come along to fuck it all up.”
“Have you always been this pessimistic?” I lean forward with my elbows on my knees. “Easy doesn’t mean temporary, Phoenix.”
“I like when you call me that.”
“That’s what you are. A phoenix: a stunning creature who came up from literal ashes and turned into an incredible woman,” I say, meaning every word.
“You’re the same, you know,” she says. “You had something horrible happen to you, and now you protect people and save lives every day. That’s an incredible thing.”
I shake my head. “I hide from my demons. I haven’t conquered them.”
She pushes to sit up then walks over to sit with me, across my lap. “Do you trust me, Case?”
I don’t even have to think before I answer. “With my life.”
“Then I want you to meet me at the pool at Savannah Heights. Tomorrow night at ten.” She cups my face so she can judge my reaction.
“Why?” A cold sweat breaks out over me at the thought.
“When I was little, I was terrified of fire after what happened to my parents. I couldn’t even be near a lighter. But then one day, Marco, my brother,” she clarifies, “told me I would never be able to escape what happened that day if I kept running. He made a bonfire for me on the beach, gave me sparklers to play with, we made smores. It seems silly, Case, but that night really made a difference. He showed me there was nothing to be so scared of.”
I slide my hand up to cup the side of her face. “You want to help me?”
“You deserve to have peace, Case. If anyone does, it’s you.”
“Careful, you’re starting to sound like you may like me a little.” I grin.
“Or a lot,” she says, as she closes the gap between us and kisses me.
Nora
We kissed on that chair for hours. It never built into something sexual. It never became more than just a kiss.
Even though, deep inside, I wanted him so badly—craved him so badly—and judging by what I felt underneath my ass, he wanted me too; it just never went further than the kiss.
That was fine by me. It was perfect.
I didn’t spend the night because I promised Cadence and Amelia I’d be at their house for movie night, so he walked me to the Uber, kissed me goodbye, and I left after hearing him promise he’d be at the pool.
So here I sit, after sweet-talking the country club owner into letting us be here alone, on the edge of the pool with my feet in, waiting for Case.
I gently kick my legs back and forth, watching the way the water moves and ripples back and forth. The fluid motion is calming. It helps temper my nerves just a bit.
I’m nervous I’m pushing him too far and he’s humoring me by coming.
I’m scared I’m going to take him further than he’s willing to go and he’ll explode again.
I’m worried I won’t be able to help h
im.
When I check the time on the clock hanging above the door, I’m terrified he won’t show up.
Then the door opens and in he walks.
I pull my feet from the water and stand, making my way over to him. “You came.”
“Of course I did.” He pulls me into him for a kiss and I can feel him shaking.
“Breathe for me. I promise, it’s going to be okay.” I cup his face in both hands. “I promise.”
I watch him physically inhale, then exhale slowly.
“Tell me what to do,” he says.
“We’ll take this slow. As slow as you need, and we’ll stop if you think you can’t do it, okay?” I say.
“Okay.”
I step back to shimmy out of my denim shorts and pull my tank top off to reveal a brand-new, orange bikini, which I selected just for him.
It’s a simple strapless top and a bottom with ties on either side.
“Encouragement?” he says, swallowing so hard I can see his Adam’s apple bob.
“Exactly right.”
“You look fucking hot.” He steps closer to touch me but I step back.
“No touching yet. Only my hands.” I reach out and take one of his, pulling him a bit closer. “Shirt off,” I say, and he complies, pulling it off and tossing it away, leaving him only in black swim trunks. “One thing before we go any further.”
“I’m listening.”
I place my hands on his chest and press up on my tiptoes to kiss his lips chastely. “Thank you for trusting me.”
“I wouldn’t trust anyone else. Not for this.”
I kiss him once more then step back one pace, but keeping my hands in his. “All right. Let’s do this.”
Chapter 23
Case
I’m not sure how I let her convince me of this, but the more I think about it, the more I realize I’d let her do just about anything to me.
I’d do anything for her.
She wants to help me. She truly cares, and I do trust her—so here I am—about to step into a pool for the first time in twenty-four years. All because this blonde-headed goddess is admitting she cares for me in at least come capacity.
“We’ll just take one step in, okay? Just to the first stair.” She turns to walk in backward so I can see her face the whole time.
“Careful. I don’t want you to fall.” I tighten my grip on her hand.
“You’re facing your fear head-on and you’re worried about me?” she asks, with a cock of her brow.
“Well, yes, I am. It’s who I am.”
She walks in to the first step and then the second, the water’s surface is at her thighs.
I stand on the edge of the pool and look down.
The first step is just a few inches down, but it may as well be a mile. A cold chill spreads over my skin and I start to step back.
“I’m here. You’re okay.”
Her voice is like a beacon. A warm blanket that wraps around me, and I know I’m going to be okay.
I take that first step, one foot following the other, and then I pause before taking this newfound strength and stepping to the next stair so the water is at my knees.
“You don’t have to rush this,” she says, stepping down off the next step so the water is just under her breasts.
“You’re with me. I feel like I can do anything right now.”
Having Nora here right now, as I finally do something I should have done years ago, is making the fear nearly disappear, but I’m only knee-deep.
The truest test will come when my feet are no longer touching the bottom.
“You have that much faith in me?”
“Baby, you’re the only thing I have faith in.” I bring her hand to my lips and kiss her fingertips one by one, and as I do, I take the next step down into the water so the surface is level with my waist.
“Is that the key? Distracting yourself with me?” Her voice is breathy, sexy.
“It seems to be working.” The anxiety is there, I can feel it in my chest, but it’s mixed with the arousing excitement of being with her here.
“Then don’t stop.” She takes another step back, sending herself a bit deeper into the water.
I slide my lips to her palm and follow suit, taking two steps farther into the pool. I can feel the cool caress lapping against my abdomen now, and instead of sending me running in fear, I want to dive in deeper if it means I can get closer to her.
With each step farther into the water, my lips come farther up her arm.
One step.
Her wrist.
Another step.
Her forearm.
Another step.
The end of her arm.
That’s when I notice the water is up to my chest, and she is neck-deep right in front of me.
“Fuck. Fuck,” I say, the prickly stabs of panic begin to form in my chest. My legs get heavier and weaker.
“It’s okay. I’m right here. Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth.” She comes closer to me and places my hands on her chest so I can feel it rising and falling. “Breathe with me.”
She gently places her hands on my shoulders and we breathe together, matching rhythms until we almost become one person.
“Are you all right?” she asks, and I slide my hands from her chest, around to her back and down to her ass, pulling her up against me, chest to chest.
“I’m perfect.”
She wraps her legs and arms around me, clinging to me. “Keep going then.”
I take another step, and another; the water is at my neck now, and my lips are dancing over her pulse. She drops her head back and releases a long sigh of pleasure and rocks her lower half in response. The position of her body on mine allows her to grind perfectly against my cock.
“Fuck, Nora,” I hiss, biting down on the skin of her neck.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to, but what you were doing felt so good.” She looks at me with a hand to my cheek. “That’s not what this is about and I’m sorry.”
“You’re apologizing for grinding yourself against me because I turned you on?”
“Well... yes,” she says, with a giggle.
Without thinking, I take another step forward and the pool bottom disappears.
“Whoa. Shit. Shit.” I begin to panic, kicking my feet and clutching onto her for dear life when her voice cuts through my fear.
“Case, look at me.” She removes her legs from around my waist and begins to kick them slowly back and forth.
I take a breath and meet her gaze, as my hands instinctually leave her body and my arms spread out, helping us tread water.
I’m doing it.
I’m swimming again.
I took the first step to beating this—to overcoming.
I will win.
Nora
The pride I feel is indescribable.
The look on his face is exactly what I was wanting to come from this.
“Thank you, Phoenix. I can’t even begin...thank you.”
We’ve kept moving slowly backward the entire time we’ve been in the pool, and now I feel the cool, hard concrete of the pool side at my back.
“Don’t thank me,” I say, sliding my arms around his neck. “Just kiss me.”
And he does. He kisses me with an intensity I’ve not felt from him. A fire I want to throw myself into until I’m nothing but ash, only so I can be reborn for him as the Phoenix he so lovingly calls me. And I would—for him.
He grips the ledge on the left side of my head and with his right hand, he grips the hair at the nape of my neck, tugging back to tip my face up to him for a better angle.
He pulls back a little and glides his tongue along mine as he does, then he sucks my bottom lip between his.
I try not to moan, but it leaves me involuntarily, and my pussy clenches to the point of pain.
“Do you want me to fuck you here, Phoenix?” he growls into my ear before nibbling on the lobe with his teeth.
“Yes. Please,�
�� I breathe out.
I grip his waist under the water then move one hand to cup his dick through his swimming trunks. I squeeze and that seems to release the beast hiding inside of him.
“My trunks. Push them down,” he commands.
And I do.
I curl my fingers into the waistband and push them down until they rest just under his ass. I feel his cock bob free and press against my thighs. I glide my hand through the water to wrap my fingers around it, and I feel him pulse beneath my touch.
He groans and tugs the strings on either side of my bikini bottoms and gives the fabric a pull until it floats away from my body, leaving me bare and very eager.
I feel so weightless in the water when I wrap my legs around his waist. It makes me feel like it’s just him and me in this world. There’s no one around but us, and the water is our shelter, our freedom.
He keeps himself anchored to the ledge with one hand while the other sinks under the surface. I feel his strong fingers grip my hip and squeeze.
“Put me in.” His voice is raspy and it sends a zip of electricity straight to my clit.
“Kiss me while I do,” I demand.
Our lips touch as I place him against my pussy, letting the wide head spread me open. When he’s placed perfectly, I cradle the back of his neck and drag my nails over his skin when he pushes inside of me bare—without anything separating us—for the very first time.
“Christ, Nora, you’re so soft...wet...” He grunts against my mouth as he moves, pumping into me with a slow, delicious intensity.
My back scrapes up and down the side of the pool, but I welcome the pain. I breathe it into me and relish in every sensation of this moment.
Of his cock filling me to the point of pain. Of his lips bruising mine. Of his tongue. Of his hands, his body, his voice, his being.
His love.
Love.
That’s what this is. That’s what I feel.
He moves his mouth from my lips and lays kisses across my chin and jaw, finally finding a home on my collarbone. I weave my hand into the hair at the top of his head as a tear slips from my eye and rolls down my cheek.