Phoenix Rising

by Kaitlin Maitland

  His uncanny gaze ripped right through her defenses and left Jessa utterly exposed. The air between them snapped with electricity. But just when things began to descend into that place just beyond her comfort level, Alex fidgeted.

  “Well,” Alex leapt to his feet. “Since we’re all here with nothing better to do…”

  He let the sentence hang, but Connor rolled his eyes and chuckled. “What’s it going to be this time?”

  “There are breasts in the room, Connor. What do you think I want to do?”

  “Better ask her first.”

  “Would the two of you stop talking about me as if my breasts didn’t come with a brain?”

  Both Connor and Alex smiled and laughed. But it wasn’t the sound of Alex’s laughter that made butterflies explode in Jessa’s stomach. Feeling slightly drunk and more than a little reckless, Jessa reached out a hand to Connor.

  His long fingers laced smoothly with hers. Jessa tugged him toward her seat on the table.

  “What?” he asked, warm black eyes gazing into her face.

  “Tell me what he’s doing.”

  Connor turned to look at the bar. Alex was already rummaging around for clean shot glasses, his favorite top-shelf liqueur, and a bottle of Tequila.

  “Give it a minute and he’ll tell you.”

  “What on earth does it have to do with my breasts, Connor?”

  Connor chuckled, low and deep, the sound drawing forth a shiver of sensation from deep inside Jessa’s body. How had he managed to take over her senses so fully in so short a time? They’d only had to fuck once, and she was so gone, Jessa wasn’t sure she’d ever recover.

  “Trust me when I swear I would never let any harm come to your breasts,” Connor murmured.

  As if to reinforce his point, he slid his cool hands beneath her shirt and cupped the body parts under discussion. Jessa closed her eyes and let the sensations wash over her like warm rain.

  Alex cleared his throat. “I’m not interrupting anything am I? Do you guys need another private meeting in the office?”

  “No.” Connor grinned wickedly. “Anything we need to do can be accomplished right here.”

  “Okay, I’ll just ignore that since I don’t think it included me.” Alex pouted. “Can we get on with the shots?”

  “What shots?” Jessa still didn’t understand why they needed breasts for their little game.

  If Jessa had been a little more sober, she might have protested in earnest when Connor drew her top over her head and tossed it aside. As it was, the shock of cool air against her bare skin was distracting enough.

  “What in the world are you doing, Connor? Give me that back!”

  “That’s the game, Jessa,” Alex explained. “We compete to see how many shots we can drink from between your breasts without spilling.”

  “And if you spill it?”

  His grin was pure orneriness. “We lick it up.”

  Jessa slanted Connor a curious look to see what he thought of this idea. But his face was calm. “What about me? Neither of you have breasts. I think it’d be kind of hard to try and grab a shot glass out of your crotch with my mouth.”

  “Oh, but the joy of watching you try,” Alex quipped. “You don’t have to participate in this contest. It’s just for me and Connor.”

  “That’s not fair.”

  “Love, with Connor’s tolerance for hard liquor you’d be too passed out for us to finish our little contest.”

  “I don’t think I want to be sober for this anyway,” Jessa mused. “It sounds embarrassing.”

  “Never that,” Connor rumbled.

  It was heady and arousing and dirty and raw and she should’ve been dying of embarrassment. But Jessa couldn’t bring herself to tell them no or stop. She wanted this. It was a feeling of feminine power she’d never experienced before.

  Connor and Alex were ridiculous. They threw their efforts into the contest with the eagerness of men with little boy egos. Even as they both took turns bending over her half-naked body at absurd angles to put shot glass after shot glass into their mouths. Jessa couldn’t help but laugh. But when one of them spilled and the liquid would stream over her skin only to be lapped up by a male tongue, Connor was the only one who truly affected her.

  Jessa could’ve sworn he was losing on purpose. And every time his tequila dribbled down her chest, he would tilt her over his arm and lovingly lave the cleft between her breasts. Without fail her heart would pound, her palms would sweat and her pussy would clench with desire. She wanted more than his tongue between her breasts. She wanted his cock between her legs.

  By three a.m., Alex was three sheets to the wind and Jessa was right there with him having consumed more than her share of Alex’s sweet orange liqueur. Connor alone was still coherent, though he’d downed almost a fifth of tequila.

  “You know Jessa,” Alex mused from his resting spot across three bar tables they’d shoved together. “It’s really not fair that Connor’s the only one who gets to see how sweet you really are.”

  “Wow Alex, was that a pickup line you just tried on me?” Jessa said through a fit of giggles.

  Connor lifted his head. “No, I think he was just whining. He’s always been good at that.”

  “Oh look, Jessa.” Alex rolled toward her. “You’ve got some liqueur on your bra. Let me help you take it off.”

  Jessa didn’t expect him to reach over and unclasp the thing. But he did. It fell open, spilling her breasts into the open. Jessa blinked stupidly in surprise as Alex dropped his half-empty bottle of liqueur to the floor, palmed her breast, and popped her nipple into his mouth.

  Time froze briefly as Jessa watched, fascinated, while Alex hungrily devoured first one flushed areola and then the other. Still dazed, she turned her head to search for Connor.

  He was stretched out along her other side. His black eyes sought hers and held. It was odd, but Jessa sensed he was letting her decide. That this was her choice and he would let it go until she decided it was enough. But there was something else in that gaze as well. An unknown stirring that told Jessa in no uncertain terms that there would be a point where Alex might cross the line and Connor would vehemently voice his objections.

  “So fucking sweet, Jessa,” Alex murmured against her belly as he followed the trail of alcoholic residue.

  Connor stirred at Jessa’s side. He slowly reached out to unfasten the button and zipper on her slacks. His eyes never broke contact with hers. One large hand slid maddeningly beneath the waistband and rested on her mons.

  Jessa had the odd sensation that Connor was subtly defining boundaries. Because while Alex ran his hands and tongue all over her breasts, belly and neck, he never once ventured lower.

  “Get a move on, Connor,” Alex murmured hoarsely, her nipple still clenched between his white teeth. “I want to see the whole package.”

  Connor lifted her hips and slid her slacks and panties further down her legs. Aching for his touch, Jessa’s legs fell open immediately. Her eyes sought his again, pleading for him to satisfy her one more time.

  She would always need one more time with Connor.

  “She’s begging for it, Connor.” Alex groaned. “Touch her.”

  Connor’s long fingers slid between her labia and dipped deep inside her creamy center. Jessa arched back, thrusting her nipple further into Alex’s mouth as Connor finger fucked her sopping wet pussy.

  She’d never been so turned on. Connor’s clever fingers drew magic circles around her clitoris and Alex’s mouth tormented her taut nipples. It was a short trip to her first rocking orgasm.

  “C’mon, I want to smell her. Let me taste her just once, Connor.”

  “No.” His answer reverberated around the bar and reached through Jessa’s pleasurable haze.

  The intense satisfaction Jessa received from Connor’s possessive nature tossed her instantly into another orgasm. She writhed on the tabletop and began convulsing around Connor’s hand while whimpering and pushing her heavy breasts into Alex
’s face.

  “Then fuck her, Connor,” Alex demanded in a strained voice. “I want to see her cum again.”

  Connor stood up and pulled Jessa roughly away from Alex to the edge of the table. He tugged her into a sitting position before her panties and slacks slid to the floor in a little pile over her discarded shoes. He hastily pulled his cock from his trousers and without further preamble, Connor buried himself to the hilt in Jessa’s hot slit.

  Jessa was on fire. Connor’s thick, fully engorged cock stretched her pussy beyond limits. Every inch of her vagina was screaming from the sudden invasion. He had always begun with his fingers to make her ready for his huge shaft. Jessa sensed on some level that Connor was making a bold statement with his abrupt claiming. But she was too swept up in the passion to make sense of his reasons.

  Alex crouched behind Jessa. He used his hands to knead her swollen breasts before sliding them lower to grasp her hips. Rocking with the pace set by Connor’s cock inside Jessa’s pussy, Alex dry humped the cleft of her ass. Murmuring erotic nonsense into Jessa’s ear, his desperate cries thrust Jessa into another climax.

  A primal hum from deep inside Connor rattled Jessa’s bones. Hands clutching his biceps, she felt his muscles bunch before he lifted her off the table and away from Alex.

  “Finish on your own,” Connor ordered in a low growl.

  Jessa didn’t have time to linger on Alex’s dazed expression before her back was slammed against the wall. She automatically wrapped her long legs around Connor’s waist as he braced himself and began to fuck her in earnest.

  “Look at me, Jessa.”

  She tried desperately to focus on his face.

  “Who’s fucking you?”

  “You are.”

  “Say it!” he roared.

  “Connor! You’re fucking me, Connor. OhmiGod, please don’t stop!” she wailed.

  Heat flooded her sex and the muscles of her vagina clenched tightly around the throbbing hardness of Connor’s cock. Jessa’s breath caught in her throat and stars burst behind her eyelids.

  Finally, with one forceful thrust Connor ended it. Jessa could’ve sworn she felt his cum spraying the inside of her vagina. The sensation snapped her into another climax, and both she and Connor rode the undulating waves of her pussy as the frenzied feeling began to subside.

  Connor pressed his forehead to hers. “Look at me, Jessa.”

  She couldn’t have looked away if she wanted to.

  “Some other man might touch you. He might even bring you pleasure.” Connor’s voice was almost an animalistic growl. “But he will never fuck your pussy. No one but me ever will again. Understand?”

  Jessa nodded. But confusion swamped her insides. If Connor and Alex didn’t do commitment, why was he so possessive?

  Chapter Twelve

  Connor awoke with Jessa’s sweet naked ass pressed up against his groin. His head pounded a furious staccato beat and the light seeping through his blinds seemed like a nuclear explosion.

  He only vaguely remembered carrying Jessa up the stairs to the bedroom. Though Connor couldn’t recall what time it had been, he could remember Alex crashing on the living room couch afterward. Connor didn’t know how Alex had siphoned off his sexual frustration. He didn’t care, either.

  Alex should’ve never opened that can of worms. He’d known how Connor felt about sharing Jessa, knew how he’d react. Why would he push the issue?

  Jessa stirred beside him. A pang of tenderness hit him hard as Connor watched her hazel eyes blink experimentally before sliding shut again. A smile lifted the corners of her perfect mouth. Unable to resist, Connor brushed his fingers softly over her cheek.

  Connor eased Jessa carefully away from his body and settled her on the mattress. Jessa gave a little sigh and snuggled closer to his body even as Connor slid out of bed. He didn’t want to leave her, not then, not ever. But there was something he had to do.

  Alex was sprawled on the sofa with his mouth hanging open. A grin tugged unbidden at Connor’s mouth. He’d lost track of how many times Alex had spent the night on the couch after one drink too many. If the apartment had been just a little larger Connor would’ve suggested Alex move in. They’d always been more brothers than friends.

  But now there was Jessa. And Connor was faced with a reality he could no longer ignore. Something about Jessa Kincaid completed Connor in a way he’d never known was possible. And not even the threat to his friendship with Alex could deter him from pursuing this newfound wonder.

  Connor nudged Alex with his foot. “Hey.”

  One blue eye opened and focused blearily on Connor’s face. “Fuck you.”

  “C’mon. Just give me a minute to explain.”

  Alex sucked in a ragged breath. “There’s really not much to explain, Connor. I get it.”

  “Then I’m glad one of us does,” Connor grumbled as he sank to the floor.

  “She’s good for you, Connor.”

  “That’s debatable.”

  “No, she is,” Alex persisted. “I’ve seen you smile more in the last week than you have in the last six years.”

  “I barely know her, Alex. How can I be so…”

  “Attached?”

  “Affected.”

  Alex considered his words carefully before speaking. “Emotion isn’t predictable. And you can never guess how you’ll react when you meet someone.”

  “But that’s now. What about later?”

  “Sometimes you have to take a chance that there will be a later.”

  Connor rubbed a hand down his face. “Why am I taking relationship advice from a guy who hasn’t had anything but a series of one night stands since high school?”

  “You aren’t like me, Connor.”

  “Thank God for small favors.”

  Alex gave him a cheeky grin. “You’re absolutely right. The world is too small for more than one of me.”

  “I’m sorry about last night. I never should have let things get so out of hand.”

  “No, I’m the one who’s sorry, Connor.” Alex’s expression sobered. “I think I was trying to push you into reacting. But I was a little too drunk to do it nicely.”

  They were silent for several minutes.

  “How much of that do you think Jessa will remember?” Alex wanted to know.

  “Enough to be angry at us?”

  “I dunno. She seemed to like it pretty well.”

  Connor made a noncommittal noise in the back of his throat.

  “You’ve got to talk to her, Connor. She needs to know the truth.”

  “Truth is never pretty.”

  “I think you might be surprised. I think Jessa Kincaid has some truths up her sleeve, too.”

  “You know I hate conversation.”

  “You don’t hate conversing with Jessa.”

  Connor had opened his mouth to argue when he realized Alex was right. He’d spoken more full sentences to Jessa in the short time he’d known her than he’d spoken to anybody but Alex in the last year.

  “Go on, you big idiot. Go back to bed so I can get a little more sleep.”

  Connor grunted and hefted himself up off the floor.

  “And keep the noise down. Some of us need our beauty rest.”

  * * *

  A pair of warm hands caressing her naked curves pulled Jessa from her warm cocoon of sleep. Blinking in the bright light, she managed to focus on the familiar features of Connor’s lazy smile as he looked down at her.

  “Where are we?”

  Connor chuckled. “My bedroom.”

  “Do I even want to know what happened last night?”

  “You, Alex, and I had a good time.”

  She put a hand over her eyes and gave a half-hearted laugh. “I think I’m starting to remember.”

  “Don’t tell me you regret it.”

  She seemed to consider this. “Not all of it.”

  “You’d best not regret the parts with me in them.”

  “Never.”

  Connor ran hi
s hand down her arm and grasped her hand in his. Lifting it toward the light, he fingered the pale circle where her wedding ring had once been. Jessa pulled away when she realized what he was staring at.

  “Tell me what happened, Jessa.”

  “Why, does it matter?”

  “No. But I want to know why you’re the way you are. And I suspect he has a lot to do with it.”

  “What does that mean? The way I am? How am I?”

  Connor ran one hand down the curve of her body until it rested lightly on her bare hip. “You keep a tight leash on your desires, Jessa. I want to know why.”

  “Tight leash? You call last night a tight leash?”

  Connor chuckled. “I’d say the liquor had something to do with last night.”

  Jessa let the silence stretch long between them. She was curled into the curve of Connor’s big body. His heat both soothed and agitated her. How was it possible to feel this comfortable with a man she barely knew?

  It hit her hard and fast. Connor wasn’t really a stranger.

  He wasn’t. Connor was a kindred soul. He was a man who suffered from the same crippling emotional disassociation Jessa did. She wasn’t certain how she knew that, but the patterns of his behavior weren’t all that unlike hers. She’d stayed in a loveless marriage for nineteen years because it was a damn sight easier than setting out on her own.

  Connor never spent more than half a dozen nights with a woman. He never let them see who he was. He didn’t let down his guard or confide anything. It was only logical to assume that at some point he’d decided, just as Jessa had, that it was much easier to turn inward than to reach outward.

  Jessa finally took a quavering breath and answered him. “He ditched me for another woman. In fact, he’s living with her right now. She’s got kids already and she’s a helluva lot more good looking than I am.”

  “Bullshit.”

  She smiled and caressed the side of his face with her palm. The rough stubble was scratchy against her skin, but Jessa liked the contact anyway. “I hate to break it to you, big guy, but you’re the only one I’ve ever met who seems to prefer me to those waif-thin girls with no ass and fake tits.”