Phoenix (Flames & Ashes Book 1)

by Carolyn Anthony

  A part of me just wanted to get the sex out of the way. I wasn’t an idiot. We may have said no guarantees of a future, that we were just spending time with each other, but the chemistry between us intensified every time we locked eyes, every time we touched. The energy, the desire on both sides, ignited like fuel on a fire, pulsing between us.

  But with him coming in and out of my home every night, me sneaking glances at him in the gym all sweaty, muscles pumped from a solid lift, I just fucking wanted him. I wanted his hands on me. I wanted to kiss him until neither of us could stand it anymore. I wanted—

  “You ready?”

  The question jerked me right out of my naughty musings and I jumped, losing my balance on the chair, and headed for a collision course with my floor.

  Jaxx caught the chair before I hit the ground and raised an eyebrow as he set me upright. He exploded with laughter. “Your face right now . . . What exactly was going through your pretty head.” He turned the chair so I faced him and put both hands on the arms of the chair.

  He leaned over as if to kiss me, but stopped just before our lips met. “No, sweetness. I won’t have sex with you right now. Jesus, woman. Patience.” He winked.

  I squeezed my eyelids shut for a second.

  He stretched a hand out to me while I died a little inside.

  “Minx.” Pulling me up, he led me out of the room. “Close your eyes.” He glanced down at me. “I’m serious.”

  Just a look from him liquefied my insides. I raised both hands over my eyes, not just because he’d asked me not to look, but also to cover my embarrassment. He ushered me down the hallway with a hand on the small of my back and grabbed my hips to stop me.

  “Key.” He pried a hand away from my face to drop the key in my palm.

  I fitted the key into the slot, turned.

  “Open the door, close your eyes, and take five steps inside. Don’t look, Valentina, or I swear I’ll throw you over my knee and spank your ass until it’s redder than your face.”

  My hand trembled as I opened the door. I’d like to say it was nerves, but the spanking comment lit me up like Christmas lights down a darkened street, which was so beyond wrong.

  “Okay, baby. Take a look. What you decide from here will dictate what I do next.”

  When I opened my eyes, the air lodged somewhere in my lungs, not allowing me to breathe. The three sides of my office that faced the ocean looked nothing like it did a week ago. Box-like shelves above the window in three rows ran from frame to frame along the eastern wall. The desk lay just beneath the windowsill as it always had, but the stylized wood base gave it a more balanced appearance, making the space appear larger, cleaner.

  The main part of the desk now had drawers of various sizes under the desktop on both sides. The view of the ocean on that particular wall was the clearest from any point in the house. The L-shaped desk on both walls was long, with more than enough workspace and would allow me to move back and forth between the two areas.

  The best part—a solid wood foundation sat under what was originally the third side of the desk. He’d built a large wooden insert that ran end to end, right under the windowsill, creating what now looked like a rounded window lounge.

  He’d transformed my office into a sanctuary. The open windows allowed an unobstructed breeze to flow through the room, scented by the gardenias growing under the windows. Uncluttered, warm, and free. It was exactly what I’d wanted and couldn’t see.

  I spun around and jumped into his unsuspecting arms.

  He caught me just before I slid down his body and hit the floor, yanking me up to his chest. “Baby, warn me first.” He laughed. “You almost ate shit. So, what’s the call?”

  All I could do was stare at him for several moments. “I . . . How—how did you know?”

  Holding me under my ass with one hand, he reached up and swiped a stray hair out of my eyes. “From the way the house is laid out, you like open and unobstructed. You told me you picked this house because of the view, so it wasn’t too difficult. I figured the L-shaped desk on two sides was a large enough workspace, so I built up a base and turned the western side of the desk into a window box. Get some cushions on that thing and you’ll have somewhere to kick back. The sun sets to the west, so I figured that’d be the best spot.”

  I grabbed his face and pulled him to me, caressing my lips over his as he squeezed me tighter and ran his tongue across the seam of my mouth. I opened for him, locking my arms around his shoulders. He licked inside my mouth and stroked his tongue against mine.

  Leaning back just enough so we were centimeters apart, I ran a finger over his wet lips. “How do you see me so well? You barely know me.”

  He kissed my nose and set me down. “I know enough.”

  I looked the office over once more. That he cared enough to do this for me made my chest tighten. “It’s perfect.” I swung my head back to him. “How do I even repay you for this?”

  “Feed me and we’re square.”

  “Anything. Name it.”

  His fingers under my chin forced my head up. When his eyes sparkled green through a brilliant amber background, they reminded me of tiger’s eye stones. “What’s on the menu?”

  The drop of his voice set my blood scorching through my body, and that warm place between my legs began to throb to the point of discomfort.

  He smirked as if knowing the effect he had on me. “Hold that thought. Let me run home and shower. I’ll be back in an hour and we’ll discuss . . . dinner options.” With a soft kiss, he grabbed his bag from the floor and held out a hand, intending for me to walk him to the door.

  As soon as I placed my hand in his, he yanked me to him and wrapped his free arm around my waist. He took my mouth so fast and hard that I clung to him to stay balanced. The thrust of his tongue between my lips was a welcome penetration. I opened to him, savoring the flavor of him before breaking contact.

  “You . . . you can take a shower here, if you want,” I mumbled against his lips.

  His eyes locked onto mine. “You sure?”

  I nodded, unable to speak through the raging inferno he’d set off inside me.

  “I’ll use the guest bathroom. I won’t be long.” He kissed my forehead and pulled away.

  I felt the loss of his body heat and the safety of his arms in my very core. “Use the master. It’s a lot bigger. Take as long as you’d like. I’ll start dinner,” I said, walking around him.

  His hand on my wrist stopped me. “You strike me as someone who doesn’t like people in your space. I can use the guest bathroom. It’s a shower, baby. I’m good.”

  I met his hot gaze. “You’re not just ‘people’ to me. You’re much more, and besides, I don’t think you’ll fit in the guest bathroom’s shower. Use my bathroom, and I apologize up front for all the girly soaps and shower gels. I don’t have anything . . . manly in there.”

  He chuckled and pulled me close again. “While I’d rather smell like you because you’ve been rubbing all over me, I’ll settle for your soap. I can deal with smelling like a sugar cookie or fruit for a night; I’m secure enough in my masculinity.”

  “As you should be.” I stood on my tip toes and he leaned down so I could give him a quick kiss. “Off with you. I’m going to play Emeril.”

  Halfway down my hallway, he called to me, “I thought you didn’t cook?”

  “I said I don’t cook, not that I couldn’t cook. I’m making an exception for you.”

  Seeing him standing there in my hallway, taking up most of the space, bag over his shoulder, red shorts slung low and his hat backwards, I had an uncontrollable urge to see what he looked like soaking wet. I got an image of him all soapy and my hands all over him, running the length of, from what I’d felt so far, was a very impressive cock.

  The laughter echoing down the hallway ripped me out of my shower porn fantasy.

  “Sugar, never play poker. Either get in kitchen or I’m dragging you in here with me. Fully clothed.”

  “O
n it.” I spun around and jogged into the kitchen. I’d never taken a shower with Rick before, so the fact that I even entertained that thought of showering, which necessitated being naked, with Jaxx was a little disturbing. Especially since the extent of our intimacy ended with a heavy make-out session on my couch, for which I still owed him, in my opinion. I’d cook my ass off, make some kind of awesome dessert, and hope he didn’t fall asleep.

  25

  Jaxxon

  My stomach stretched to the point of discomfort. Goddamn, could Valentina cook. She might not have liked to, but like everything else the woman did, she carried it out to perfection. Roasted chicken, vegetables, and a Cajun seasoned quinoa, fucking perfect. I preferred healthy and filling, so she pretty much cooked her way into my heart with that meal. I was dead tired, but fought to keep my eyes open through the movie on that bitchin’ big screen TV over her fireplace.

  Her tight little ass pressed up against my semi-hard cock, and I’d been that way since I’d gotten out of her shower. I may have been tired, but the thought of being inside her was like a caffeine jolt.

  She lay in front of me, head resting on my bicep, fingers linked through mine, while my other arm rested over her chest on the couch in front of her. The warmth comin’ off her skin and the fruity pineapple soap shit she used made it hard to concentrate on the flick.

  The credits finally rolled and I stretched, bringing my hand back down just under her breast. I put my lips to her ear and inhaled the tropical hints of her shampoo. “John Wick . . . I didn’t know you’re a closet action movie junkie.”

  She giggled, the bottom swell of her breast teasing my fingers. “I own it. I love that Keanu goes to war because of his dog.”

  “That is fucking fantastic,” I agreed, moving my fingers up a little to caress just underneath her breasts. The little hitch in her breathing was the best sound I’d heard all day. “The boys always lay here like this with you?”

  She flipped around in my arms so we were face to face.

  Couldn’t have planned that better. I lifted her leg over mine and fit her closer to me.

  “When it’s just me, but they like you.”

  “Grew up surrounded by a shit-ton of them, thanks to my uncle.” I moved a hair stuck to her soft cheek. “All dogs like me.”

  She flushed at the contact, because there was no way she missed the steel post of a cock right up against her. “Yeah, but my dogs really do like you, which is rare. Kyle is always somewhere close to me, but Chris would never lay under us, where he couldn’t see you. When anyone else is here, Kyle’s somewhere by me, but Chris is there.”

  She leaned back and pointed over her head to Chris’s large doggie bed across the room, giving me an excellent view of the top of her dress stretched tight across her breasts.

  I rubbed out the little crease in her forehead when she turned back to me.

  “Before I got married, we always had dogs.”

  When she smiled, I touched a finger to her kissable lips.

  “My dog is actually Jessa’s dog, but he stays with me. His name’s Ari—er, Ariel.”

  A small grin pushed at her plush mouth. “He has two names?”

  I pulled my hairband out. Fucker had my head throbbing. Or maybe it was having her on top of me and not being able to be balls deep inside her that had both heads throbbing. “Yeah,” I ground out. “He has a name and a nickname. I got him for Jess’s sixth birthday. She named him Ariel—The Little Mermaid. She refused to acknowledge that he wasn’t a she, so I went with it. Couldn’t say no to her, so I call him by his dude name when she’s not with me. Poor guy. He’s got a chick name.”

  Valentina’s grin grew into full-on smile and she kissed my neck before kissing me hard on the mouth. Right when I went to deepen the kiss, she pulled back. “Ugh. You just got more phenomenal. That’s something my dad would have done.”

  “What was I gonna say, no? Dick move. She’s my baby. So me and Ari have an understanding.” I ran a finger down her nose and over her top lip.

  “You’re an awesome dad.” She kissed my finger.

  “Alright, enough mushy shit. So, no chick flicks for you. Straight action junkie.” I kissed her nose before she slid down my body and cuddled under my chin.

  I got the impression something about my size intimidated her at times, and yet she’d somehow wiggle her way into a bear hug, or pull my arms around her, whenever we got close. While I could do that all day long, I wanted more. Needed more from her. Not in an ‘I have to get laid’ kinda way—which, okay, yeah, there was that—but in an unexpected possessive ‘I need to see this woman come apart beneath me’ way.

  “I love horror movies too, and every so often, I crave a good chick flick,” she muttered. “Everything has a time and place.”

  “Is that right?” I asked, taking her earlobe between my lips. I trailed my hand down her arm and brushed my fingers over the swell of her breast. When she arched into my touch, I took that as a green light. Gripping the top of her little tube top dress, I yanked it down just below her breasts. No bra. My girl liked comfort, and right about now, I was all about the fuckin’ comfort with her perfect tits pressed against my chest.

  A soft, quick breath tickled across the skin on my throat and I raised her up so we were face to face. I teased and nipped at her lips, until she rolled her hips and fisted her hands through my hair. Velvet soft lips stroked and played at mine as she cupped my cheek. She was a face-holder when she kissed—nothing better or more . . . loving.

  I ran my tongue between her lips, leading her into a deeper kiss, because I needed some fucking part of me inside her. Catching her head between my hands, I placed one thumb alongside our mouths. “Open, baby,” I said. “Open for me.”

  She turned her head, softly sucking my thumb into the warm cavern of her mouth, and fuck me what I wouldn’t have given for that hot mouth to be wrapped around my cock.

  I drew my thumb out and brought it down over her puckered little nipple. The ridged edges and constricted skin grew tighter with every wet circle. The more pronounced and sensitive the skin got, the harder I got.

  Yeah, no. Playtime was over. I jerked her up higher, covering the tempting pink bud with my mouth, and teased around her nipple until she moaned my name. Only then did I suck the sweet bud between my lips.

  “Jaxxon—”

  “Yeah, sugar?” When she didn’t answer, I ran my teeth over it to the tip, flicking until she moaned. She tightened her grip in my hair to pull me back. Jesus, this woman was going to fucking undo me. “Talk.”

  Her eyelids were half-closed and her pupils were blown. She drove her hands through my hair, both of us breathing harder and harder. “I—”

  “Don’t think about it.”

  “I’ve never wanted anyone the way I want you,” she moaned, her eyes searching my face as if the words said aloud shocked her.

  Well, then . . .

  I maneuvered under her until I was lying on my back, dragging her on top of me. “Then I’m all yours, baby.” Strong thighs straddled my hips and her swollen lips fell open. I pushed my hand through her hair and brought her down on top of me, taking her mouth once again.

  Her fucking mouth. I was obsessed with it. Her lips, like a plump little fruits, so sweet under mine—I ravished her mouth, demanding she let me in. The warm silkiness of her tongue against mine sent a jolt of heat straight to my dick and I thrust up, rubbing against her pussy.

  The sound of our wet lips meeting and breaking apart fed the hunger between us until we were both tugging at each other’s clothes.

  Valentina ran her hands under my shirt and broke the kiss to lay her head over my heart, her ragged breath a discordant note against the steady breeze flowing in from the open window. “You’re so warm,” she mumbled and rubbed her head on my chest. Sensual, she was so fucking sensual. When turned on, her natural movements were laced with a tentative, yet instinctual sexuality.

  I hadn’t even been inside her—fuck, I hadn’t gone down on her
yet—and I could already feel the energy humming through every one of her quivering muscles touching mine. I wanted her to come wrapped around my cock. I needed to feel her warm heat choking me with my name on her lips.

  Setting her chin on my chest, she regarded me with glazed, sex-filled eyes.

  “I love that,” I groaned, running a finger under her eyes. “Your eyes turn a lighter shade of green when you’re turned on.” Her entire face lit up and she pressed her forehead against my chest. I gently lifted her head. “How far are we taking this, sugar?”

  Something went vacant. She shifted her gaze just to the side of my face—switched right the fuck off.

  “Valentina.” Her name seemed to break whatever place she’d gotten caught up in. “What are you afraid of, baby?”

  She crawled up my body, but I kept the grip in her hair, needing her close to me. She brushed her hand over my cheek. “Jaxxon.”

  My name came out a soft plea, with a tinge of regret. For what, I wasn’t sure.

  Her eyes shot back and forth between mine before she took a deep breath. “Your one non-negotiable is lying. Mine is being entirely without clothes.”

  The last part was so soft, I had to strain to hear it.

  How was that even fucking possible? “Yeah, I remember, but babe, you were married. You mean to tell me he never saw you naked?”

  A hint of frown touched her lips as she began to pull away. “I know it sounds insane, since we were married for so long, but not really. Only once. He walked in on me in the shower.”

  I sat up and brought her with me so she straddled me. Now was not the time to talk history, but she was shutting down and I needed to figure out why. “And?”

  She rested her hands on my shoulders. “And . . . we’d never had sex with the lights on. It wasn’t an issue for him. He knew about the scars before anything physical happened between us, of course, and never turned on lights. When he walked in on me that day, what little sex we did have became even more scarce. What he saw disgusted him. And he wasn’t wrong to feel that way.” Her voice trailed off at the end, twisting my insides.