Phoenix Flying

by Kaitlin Maitland

  “My ex would tell you that I have an uncanny knack for screwing up other people’s plans.” She chuckled bitterly, eyes glued to the concrete in front of her.

  Gabriel took her elbow to help her step off the curb and onto another stretch of uneven cobbled street as they crossed. The reminder that she’d obviously married some plonker the first time around rubbed him the wrong way. “You’re divorced right? That’s the end of having any plans together, innit?”

  He grimaced at the thick layer of Britain coating his words. Too much more of this and he was liable to go off on a rant and demand the tosser’s phone number or something equally dodgy.

  She didn’t seem to notice though. Her shoulders slumped as she gave a deep sigh. “Divorce isn’t a reset button, and Paul never wanted to get divorced anyway. I screwed up his plans because I refused to look the other way while he…”

  Her confession engrossed him enough that he didn’t catch the telltale movement in the shadows until three men stepped out of the mouth of an alley. They were younger, perhaps early twenties, dressed in dark clothes. They had cruel expressions and an air of desperation about them. Addicts, if past experience was anything to go by.

  Gabriel flung out his arm and stopped Anne. She made a noise of protest, but he ignored it in favor of pushing her behind his body.

  “Nice night for a walk, huh?” The tallest thug offered a chilling grin. “Since you two are strolling around out here like you got no problems, how about you give us a donation?”

  “Donation?” Anne sounded baffled. Could she really be that naive?

  A second man moved in on Gabriel’s left. “Yeah. You can start with that purse. Then your boyfriend can give us his wallet.”

  The third guy eyed Anne with an expression that suggested slightly psychotic and totally depraved. “Then I think you can donate some pussy to our cause too.”

  Her whole body tensed against his arm, and Gabriel knew she was now fully aware of their danger. He could take the louts in a fistfight, but it would help to know if they possessed the means to gut him or not.

  “What if we decide we don’t like your charity enough to pitch in?” Gabriel asked, keeping his tone mild.

  The leader reached into his jacket and pulled out a knife. The familiar snap of a switchblade was actually a welcome relief. Had they been able to pull a gun, chances were they’d have already done it. A knife Gabriel could handle. Guns required a more cautious approach.

  Gabriel crowded Anne, keeping his hands loose at his sides and using his body to back her toward the wall. “I’m going to give the three of you one last chance to walk away.”

  “Please!” the second guy scoffed. “There’s three of us and one of you.”

  The pervert reached for Anne, and Gabriel gave up trying to take the high road. He snatched the bugger’s hand and twisted his arm until he heard the joints pop. The little devil screamed like a girl, but Gabriel held on and brought the bastard’s arm up at an awkward angle that ripped his shoulder right out of its socket.

  “Fuck! Fuck! The jackass broke my arm!” The pervert squealed in pain and rage, holding the offended appendage cradled against his chest.

  Knife guy gripped his weapon tightly and moved in. He made a few good slashes, forcing Gabriel to sidestep out of the way. The thug’s movements became frenzied as he failed to make contact with his target. Then he lunged at Gabriel’s midsection and overbalanced. Gabriel struck fast, wrapping his hand around the man’s wrist and wrenching the knife from his hand.

  The thug scooted back toward his remaining compatriot, who looked as if he were less than thrilled at the idea of joining his buddies.

  “The ER’s that way.” Not even winded, Gabriel pointed the knife in the direction of the nearest hospital. “You can tell them that Gabriel Hawkins sent you.”

  In the pale yellow glow of the streetlights, Gabriel saw the blood drain from the leader’s face. “You’re not…do you work at the Phoenix?”

  Gabriel gave the little shit a cold smile. “That’s right.”

  “Oh shit, fuck, uh…tell Mr. Archuleta…that is, we’ll just go.” The guy grabbed his buddies and stumbled back into the alleyway.

  He waited until he could no longer hear their footsteps before tending to Anne. Her breathing was raspy, quick pants that told him she was on the verge of going into shock.

  “Are you all right?” He kept his voice low as he reached out and drew her close to his body. He tried not to focus on how full and curvy she felt, but it was difficult with the post-fight adrenaline coursing through his veins.

  She was trembling, barely able to navigate in her heels. He tucked her beneath his arm and held her close. Breathing deeply, he soaked up her scent. There was a hint of sex beneath the sweet femininity, and the primal male in his soul howled in satisfaction.

  “Where’s your building, love?” he murmured.

  He felt her inhale a ragged breath. “Another block down, to the left of that big courtyard on the riverwalk.”

  “It’s not far then.” Gabriel began walking, supporting her weight against his body and wishing it didn’t feel so right to have her there.

  * * *

  Anne knew enough to realize that she was experiencing mild shock. Every little noise made her jump. It took her two tries to key in the code to open the side entrance of her building. Gabriel held it open for her as though he was completely unbothered by fighting off a knife-wielding hooligan. How was he so unaffected?

  He looked around, spotted the elevator, and headed in that direction. “Nice place. Bet the rent is ridiculous though.”

  “Not when you own the building.” She managed to walk a few steps on her own and push the elevator call button.

  There was a ding and the doors opened. Anne forced herself to march inside before gripping a side rail and bracing herself against the wall of the tiny space. Gabriel followed, his expression one of mingled surprise and suspicion.

  “What floor?” he asked.

  “All the way up.”

  He jabbed the button for twelve and then settled down with his back to the opposite side. “So you own this place? That bloke you’re dating must be a right toff.”

  She laughed. She couldn’t help it. She was so wrung out after everything that had happened, and she had no earthly idea what Gabriel had just said. She felt as if she were losing her mind. She leaned down and unfastened her shoes. It felt so good to take them off.

  Glancing into the mirrored back wall of the tiny space, she gasped in horror at her reflection. “Oh my God! I look like hell.” She tried to shove her unruly brown curls behind her ears.

  “You look like a woman who just left her lover’s bed,” Gabriel said. Their gazes met in the mirror.

  The elevator stopped, and the doors opened onto the white marble floor of the foyer separating the two units occupying the top floor. Anne got out, shivering as the cold seeped into her bare feet. She started to walk toward her apartment but turned at the last minute to face the opposite door as if she were staring down an opponent.

  “I won the building in my divorce settlement.” She gazed up at him, wanting him to understand and yet not knowing why. “I didn’t know we owned it.”

  He cleared his throat. “Before, you were saying something about your ex. You said you refused to look the other way while he…?”

  Anne swallowed the lump in her throat. After the crazy day she’d had, did it really matter if Gabriel knew everything? They might be miles apart on the natural selection scale, but he’d stuck by her far longer than anyone else in her life ever had.

  She gestured at the door marked 12B. “That was the apartment where my ex kept his mistresses. As long as the women kept him interested, they got to live here rent-free. They also got a credit card and an allowance.”

  Anne took a peek at Gabriel’s face. One look and she hoped to God she was never on the wrong end of his anger. His expression could have melted stone.

  “Really, he didn’t keep them much d
ifferently than he did me,” Anne mused. “Except I had a car.”

  “Anne…”

  But the floodgates were open, and she couldn’t stop the words tumbling out. “Toward the end he didn’t even bother with the apartment. He would bring them to our home. They were so beautiful—with big firm breasts and tiny waists.” She wrapped her arms around her midsection and squeezed, as if she could hold herself together. Two years! Two years and she was still this sniveling creature with no pride. “I couldn’t leave the house because his lawyer would’ve used it against me. So I could hear them, night after night, fucking like bunnies. All the moaning and screaming and the bed squeaking…and then Paul strutting into my room after, with his robe half undone just to tell me how he’d really ‘given it to her’ with his great big prick.” She choked on a strangled sob that escaped to echo around the foyer.

  Suddenly Gabriel was there, wrapping his muscular arms around her and guiding her toward her own door. She managed to find her keys in her purse, but her fingers were too boneless to make sense of them.

  “Here, love, let me.” Gabriel gently drew them out of her hand.

  She started to tell him it was the yellow one with the pink-and-blue flowers stamped on it, but he seemed to know already. He deftly inserted the key and let them into her apartment.

  She wondered what he might think of her place. She almost always met her dates down in the lobby, so he was the first man to set foot inside her home since she’d moved in. The door closed with a snick, and he laid her keys on the antique table in the entryway.

  A wave of awkwardness washed Anne with insecurity. “Can I get you a drink or anything? I mean…it’s the least I can do.”

  He paced slowly around her living room, his cobalt gaze soaking in every nuance of her decor, her art, the comfortable shabby-chic furniture, and even the magazines on her end table. When he pivoted, she noticed a horizontal slash in his black T-shirt.

  “Oh my God! He cut you!” She hurried toward Gabriel, all unease forgotten.

  Completely nonplussed, he poked at the three-inch slit across his chest. “Barely any blood. Nothing that needs stitches.”

  She grabbed the bottom of his shirt and tugged it out of his pants, baring his chest. He sucked in a deep breath and caught her hands. Her eyes were suddenly riveted to the expanse of washboard abdominal muscles on his belly.

  “Oh my…wow.” She managed to rip her eyes away from his stunning abs to peek at his face.

  His sardonic expression made her stomach flip-flop. “We were starkers in my bed less than an hour ago. I hardly think I look much different since then.”

  “I suppose you’re right.” She blushed again, wishing she didn’t seem to be perpetually doing that when he was around. “It’s just that I didn’t pay enough attention to…that is to say I was distracted by other…oh you know what I mean!”

  Very slowly, he drew the T-shirt over his head and flung it aside. “You mean to say that you were distracted by my mouth on your pussy. Is that right?”

  Now that he mentioned it, she had been and still was. Everything south of her navel had just melted into a creamy puddle of arousal. She let her fingers brush across the threadlike red line scoring his right pectoral. He hissed and she snatched her fingers away.

  “No. Don’t stop.” He tugged her hand back to his chest. “It feels good when you touch me.”

  Her libido roared to life, clawing at her like a beast in a cage. This gorgeous man wanted her to touch him? She made a strangled noise as she let her other hand join the first.

  She drew tiny circles around his nipples, fascinated at the subtle hardening of the tiny buds. They were taut and firm beneath her fingertips. She plucked each one the way he had hers and was rewarded by his low growl.

  “Use your mouth, love.”

  His request was intriguing, and she leaned forward to comply. Flicking each one with the tip of her tongue gave way to using her teeth, which then made her want to lick each taut nipple.

  She let her hands slide lower while her mouth was occupied. She followed the rippling contours of his stomach until she discovered the twin grooves that disappeared beneath his waistband. She stroked them, letting her fingers tease the silky flesh around the trail of dark hair leading down his belly.

  Remembering how it felt to have his mouth on her sex, Anne kissed her way down his stomach. Gabriel gently stroked her head, letting his fingers sift through her loose hair. She unfastened his pants, encountering the crisp hair in his groin and smelling the familiar musk.

  “Anne?”

  She knelt and gazed up at him. “I’m not very good at this, Gabriel. But I’d like to try.”

  She’d never known it was possible to feel cherished in an expression, but Gabriel managed it. He cupped her face and let his thumb skate across her lower lip. “I’m so hot for you, I don’t know how long I’ll last.”

  His words made her feel wanton and sexy, like a goddess on the prowl instead of a spineless, inexperienced wallflower. She reached into his fly and pulled his dick out into her hands.

  Getting a closer look at his equipment was an education all on its own. She enjoyed learning the texture of the satin-soft skin and feeling the iron-hard blood vessels beneath it. She brushed the puckered piece of skin just behind the crown of his cock with one finger and was stunned to feel him shudder.

  “Does that hurt?” she asked.

  “Bloody hell, no!”

  She did it again and then tried it with her tongue. He cursed and reached out to brace his hand on the wall. Emboldened by his reaction, Anne took him in her mouth. He tasted spicy and male, like an exotic treat she had waited eons to try. It was nothing like any blowjob experience she’d ever had. He didn’t hold her still and try to fuck her face. Instead, he remained frozen while she nipped, sucked, and licked his penis.

  Feeling brave, she swallowed as much as she could. He moaned and she was encouraged to take even more. Her eyes watered and she backed off, letting her lips glide back down his shaft as she retreated.

  “Enough, or I’ll spill my load in your mouth.” He grabbed hold of her shoulders and dragged her to her feet. “I need you, Anne. I want to be inside you again.”

  “The bedroom is there.” She pointed to a set of double doors that led to her master suite.

  She’d started to walk in that direction when Gabriel swept her off her feet and cradled her against his chest. Shock rendered her mute. She had never harbored any delusions that a man would be able to carry her, yet this one was.

  He strode toward her bedroom as if she weighed no more than some waif-thin model. The doors swung open with a nudge of his boot, and he gazed around.

  “It’s nice, but I’m about to mess up that bed,” he warned.

  A girlish giggle escaped Anne when he used one hand to yank her duvet out of the way before setting her down in the middle of the bed. The coffered ceiling had recessed lighting built into the lip of the drywall. It cast the room in an almost romantic glow. Of course, had Anne known she’d be bringing a man home; she might have picked up the clothes she’d left piled on the floor earlier that evening.

  Gabriel’s blue gaze raked her with blatant hunger. “Get rid of that dress before I tear it off.”

  Her insides clenched when he declared his intent. She didn’t have to be told twice. Twisting and tugging, she managed to get the dress off and squirm out of her panties. She squelched the urge to pull up the covers and hide her body. She could do this. If only because she was so desperate for him.

  Her pussy was aching, swollen, and wet with her juices. She scooted to the middle of her mattress and watched Gabriel strip out of his pants. His erection bounced against his belly as though it were reaching for her as he climbed onto the bed.

  “I need you, Anne.” His voice was hoarse. “I’m going to take you right now. No foreplay.”

  He nudged his way between her knees and spread her slit with one hand. Never did his eyes leave off gazing into her face. She was utterly aw
are of his regard as the blunt tip of his cock pushed into her slick hole.

  He made a noise, part groan, part growl, as he thrust deep into her body. She shuddered around him, and her inner muscles clamped down. Being full of him was heaven. Then he pulled out just a little and slammed back in. The movement sent her to the brink.

  The sound of flesh slapping together filled the room. The air smelled of sex. She lost all sense of self, becoming more, discovering her essence in the moments when the tip of his cock brushed her G-spot and sent her to the stars.

  “I can’t hold on.” He looked tortured, rearing back on his knees and delving between her legs to find her swollen clit.

  She gasped when he stroked it. The tiny nub flared with electricity as he worked it until she was writhing beneath him. His fingers bit into the thick flesh of her thigh, and she reveled in his possessive hold. She wanted this. To be fucked, marked, and pleasured by this incredible man.

  “Gabriel!” She shouted when she came, helpless to stave off the undulating waves of climax.

  His hoarse cry joined hers, and he strained against her cleft. The heat of his seed spurting deep inside her body roused her from her euphoria. Anne wondered in the still-functioning portion of her brain why a man like Gabriel seemed so interested in a woman like her.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  “Are you sure it doesn’t hurt?” Anne’s fingers lightly traced the shallow line on his chest.

  Gabriel threaded her fingers with his and brought her hand to his lips. “The tip barely grazed me. I didn’t even notice until you mentioned it.”

  Outside the French doors that led to her balcony, Gabriel could see the sky just beginning to pale from midnight purple to sunrise indigo. He wished it were possible to stop time. It felt so good, so right, to lie in bed with Anne’s voluptuous body curled up beside him.

  “You weren’t even scared of those men, were you?” she asked quietly.