Phoenixburn: A Reverse Harem Romance (The Rogue Witch Book 3)

by KT Strange

  "Looks like it hurt." She sighed and shifted. "I'm tired of being mad at you all the time."

  She pushed off the wall before I could stop her, and her body, naked, wet and still a bit chilly, was in my arms. I had to hold her, or she'd fall. At least that was the lie I told myself when I curled my arms around hers. A low heat, nothing to do with the warm water beating down on us, rose in my belly. She sighed and nuzzled under my chin. I shuddered and brought my hand up to wrap around her shoulder.

  "You can't do that," I said, but my words were hollow. I did want her to do that. I wanted her to do whatever she wanted to me. I'd happily lay back and let our sweet little Darcy explore every inch of me if that was what she wanted.

  Darcy squinted up at me, and I wondered if she thought the look was sexy (it was more cute and water-logged but I wasn't gonna tell her that), because she licked her lower lip. A daring expression crossed her face.

  "Stop me," she dared and her fingers glanced down my chest. I groaned and looked to the ceiling.

  "You nearly drowned."

  "Nah," she disagreed. "M'fine. Cold. Cold and I think there's some twigs in my hair, but I'm fine." Her hand found the sensitive spot on my ribs, right at the edge of where I'd been marked by the fire, and I hissed out a breath. My cock was throbbing, at half-mast already, and I was going to be in a rude state of full arousal if she didn't quit it.

  "Darcy—"

  "Would you stop fighting this? I swear," her voice was less shaky, her chattering having stopped, "I swear we keep knocking our heads together because you're afraid. You say the dumbest things, like 'oh it's a mistake, Darcy.' Ugh, you're a jerk but I want you. It's so unfair." She rested her head on my shoulder and I had to bite back a moan when her hand slid down to my hip, her fingers walking across my iliac crest.

  "I didn't say it like that," but my memory was foggy. I had said something, but it'd come out wrong.

  "Was it really a mistake, kissing me?" she asked, her voice small and broken down. I swallowed and reached to brush my thumb under her chin. I tilted her head up, shifting to protect her face from the spray of water.

  "God no, sweetheart, no." I sighed. "I meant. . . what I meant was, and was too kiss-stupid to say it right, was that it was a mistake to start something with you that I didn't have time right then to finish."

  Pink flooded across her cheeks.

  "Oh."

  "Yeah."

  "Oh, I'm dumb. I thought—" She pressed her lips together.

  "You're not dumb, I'm just a big idiot," I said, "but I'm a big idiot who's gotta kiss you, sweetheart. I'm sorry, I can't hold it back any longer. You mind?"

  She wrinkled her nose at me then leaned up, standing on her toes.

  "Had to fall in a river to catch you, Cash," she said. I smirked and raised an eyebrow.

  "You did not take a midnight swim just to get me into bed."

  "No, but it sounds good, doesn't it? Or desperate. Ugh, it sounds desperate—"

  I cut her off, kissing her hard. Her fingers dug into my scar and I growled at the spear of heat that followed.

  "Don't think you can shut me up with a kiss." She gasped for breath when I let her go. I needed her so badly, the press of her soft skin and curves against me driving me half out of my mind. If I hadn't already been gone for this girl, this sweet, smart, powerful woman curled against me, I would have lost it right then.

  "You talk all you want then, sweetheart," I said, easing myself down in the small space, getting down on one knee, then the other. She eyed me suspiciously.

  "What're you—Cash!" Her hands slapped against the shower wall as my fingers wrapped around her hips.

  "Gonna kiss you better, Darce, every inch of you," I said, and leaned in to flick my tongue over the curve of her belly.

  Eighteen

  Darcy

  It was hard to keep it together when Cash looked like he knew exactly what was up with going down. He crowded me, his broad shoulders spread out as the perfect place for me to rest my hands on. The water had slicked back his hair, making it stick to the curve of his ears and flick out just below his jaw. I wanted to run my nails through those thick, dark brown locks of his.

  He had the most wicked, evil smile on his face, like he knew exactly what he was doing to me. Being mad at him wasn’t an option though, not when his hands traced along the outside of my thighs.

  I wanted to hold my breath, to keep the moment in my memory forever because we’d been working toward this for what seemed like a year. Had it really been just a few weeks since this man, since the pack, had crawled into my heart, cracking my feelings open wide?

  My finger ran over the line of his jaw, my nail scraped along his stubble and he sighed, his blue eyes sliding shut. He leaned into my hand, a low moan escaping his mouth.

  A smile sprang up on my lips.

  “You like that, puppy?” I teased. His eyes popped open and I inhaled. The blue had gone from a soft, mellow color to a darker, deeper one. His eyelashes were a thick, black smudge and he glowered at me from under them.

  “Oh, you think that’s funny? Calling me a dog, now?”

  “Pretty much.” So what if I was playing with fire? He’d been winding me up, riling me up, for weeks.

  His tongue, deep red, swiped out over his lips and he leaned in close. His breath puffed against my skin, hot even under the spray of shower water.

  “I’ll show you just what kind of animal I am,” he promised darkly, and everything inside of me clenched down hard. Heat spiraled in my belly as he pressed me up against the shower wall, his open, parted lips dragging along the curve of my belly. I reached for the grab bar, clinging to it for safety or sanity, something between the two, as his mouth set off a line of hot sparks on my skin.

  He was watching me too, the entire time, straining to keep his eyes locked on mine. He knew exactly how he was making me feel, judging by the way the corners of his lips turned up. His fingers dug into the flesh of my thighs and the pressure made me groan.

  “You’re going to make noise for me, and the other guys are gonna know exactly how good you feel.” He rubbed one rough cheek against the rounded curve of my hip, his eyes fluttering shut as he sighed. “You smell amazing. Like storm-clouds, lightning, like woman, like mine.” He breathed the last word reverently. My heart squeezed painfully, perfectly. He was so beautiful in his own rough way. My stomach was filled with butterflies; his fingers keeping me steady. It was a good thing too, because it felt like my knees would give in at any moment.

  Cash's touch was hot, the water running over my skin equally so, and I had to look away when he smirked up at me again, a thick strand of brown hair across one of his eyes.

  "Don't," I protested when his tongue flicked over my hip bone, the scrape of his stubble following it. It was a soft and burning sensation, setting my nerves on edge and flooding my whole body with an anxious tension that refused to break.

  "You don't like that, doll?"

  I shuddered at the old-time endearment, probably better suited to a time where guys like him snuck into old movie theaters and tried to get their hands up the tight sweaters of their perfumed, perfectly coiffed female companions.

  "Of course I like it, that's why I want you to stop. It’s almost too good."

  "You got an awful lot of air to be talking so much." His mouth left a line of hot, wet kisses, moving closer and closer to the soft rise of my pussy. I tried not to squirm. It felt like a game, to see how much I could resist him, and not let him know how bad I wanted it.

  "So? So what? Maybe I'm chatty—"

  "Sweet, pretty thing, you think I haven't heard you with Ace? With Finn? I know that when you're in the thick of it, you go nice and quiet. So I'm thinking that I'm not trying hard enough." Cash's hand splayed on my belly, and he pressed me hard against the wall. I glanced down at him and inhaled sharply. Water clung to his lashes, dripping down his sharp cheekbones, his blue eyes ice-bright. This was a man that had saved me. This was a man that had infuriated me. A
nd when he smirked at me, like he knew exactly what was going to get me off?

  I moaned and looked away.

  "Eyes on me, doll." His command was breathy, low. A whine broke from the back of my mouth and I squirmed, then gazed down at him. His thumbs tucked under the inside of my thighs, and twisted out. My legs parted, my mouth following as his tongue descended on the wet folds of my pussy.

  A low groan rumbled up through his mouth into my body. My hands found his shoulders, fingers skittering over his wet skin, and I tried to hang on.

  Cash gave me another long, slow lick, lingering at the top of my slit until I whimpered.

  "Please—"

  "Begging already, that's a record." He sounded pleased with himself. I smacked his shoulder, my face hot from arousal and the shower.

  "Hardly, I'm sure I've—Cash!!"

  He moved between my thighs, lifting one of my legs up over his shoulder. I swayed, and he pushed harder against me to keep me solid and upright.

  "I got you, Darce," he promised, nuzzling my thigh. "You just let me take care of you."

  "Take care of me?"

  "Mmhmm," he moaned as he kissed me again, the angle of my leg exposing me almost fully to him. "Take care of all of you. Make you scream my name so the other boys want to come pounding down the door to see how beautiful you are when I drive you wild."

  His words were enough to ramp up the shivering need inside of me. His fingers teased and played along the inside of my thighs as he pressed kiss after kiss against my skin until my toes curls and my heel thudded into his back.

  Cash chuckled low, a noise that made me roll my hips for more of his mouth, more sensation, just, more. . .

  "Greedy girl, askin' for everything but not using your words," he teased, his thumbs sliding up the inside of my thighs to tease over my folds before one trailed up and dragged over my clit. I hissed out a breath and kicked him again with my foot, harder, digging my heel in.

  "By now, Finn would've had me half-way to orgasm two at least," I said, lying through my teeth, but sometimes a girl's needs superseded her desire to tell the truth.

  "Oh you fuckin' think so?" Cash growled and pulled away, his arm tucking around my waist, his other going behind my knees. I yelped when he pulled me down, to the floor. The hot water beat over my skin and he slid me onto my back, his hand moving up to cradle my head. I half-closed my eyes against the water. He moved over me, his hands everywhere, running along my breasts, his thumbs giving my nipples a slow, lingering brush before he kissed me. I felt his cock touch my belly and I sucked in a breath.

  How was it possible to want more than one guy, and not feel like it was cheating? He sheltered me from the pelting water, the kiss turning deep and almost feral. I moaned and arched up to him when his palm rubbed over my wet folds.

  "If you weren't already wet. . ." He nipped at my jaw and then down to my neck. I cried out, flinging one arm around around his shoulders when he hit the sensitive spot on the one side of my neck, already marked twice over by his pack-mates, my mates. He mouthed there, lips dragging over the skin until my nails bit into the skin over his spine.

  "Cash, don't, please, don't tease me like that, please." The words spilled out from my lips and he took pity on me, his fingers curving further down to stroke over my entrance.

  "You just gotta ask, doll, I'll give it to you," he whispered, his gaze reverent as he watched me. My body had no choice but to answer the demands of his hands, thighs falling apart as he slid two fingers inside of me. The stretch was sweet and so good. I bit my lip, trying to stay grounded as he rocked his hand slowly, fingers slipping in and out of me. Cash made it hard, especially when he moved to kiss my neck again.

  "Gonna make you mine when I take you," he promised, a sweet threat that had me right on the edge. I cried out, clinging to him, the water swirling around me, my senses overwhelmed.

  "What. . ." Words slipped away from me when his fingers pulled out, a wicked smirk on his face. A whine escaped from my lungs at the loss, my muscles tense and shivering, my whole body denied what it really wanted. "Jerk," I whispered, half-meaning it. He chuckled and kissed me, licking into my mouth. His hips settled between my legs. It was happening. His weight over me, perfect, all of it, everything. His fingers slid between us, and I felt him line his cock up, the throbbing heat of the head pressing into me.

  "I want you," I said in a rush, and his eyes closed for a breath.

  "Well, that's a relief, was worried there for a sec," he muttered, and thrust into me before I could laugh at the low sarcasm in his voice. Sex was not a time for laughter, at least not right then, not when he hadn't let me come and I wanted it so bad. Instead, I arched my hips up, trying to take every inch of him, my body demanding it, and begging for more. Cash tilted his head up, neck stretched out, the long strands of his hair clinging to his jaw, and he let out a snarl.

  "Fuck me," he hissed.

  "I tried but you took so fucking long," I shot back, even as I tried to get purchase, my feet pressing up against the end of the shower. A ridiculous thought floated across my mind, that someone, somewhere, in some office, had designed a tour bus with a shower big enough to have sex in.

  The thought made my cheeks light up hot and red.

  "You're damn mouthy," Cash whispered, "Maybe I should change that."

  His teeth dragged down the side of my neck and white exploded behind my eyes as they slammed shut when he bit me. I felt it, the jarring, world-tilting sensation of him bonding me. Now that I knew what it was, now that it had happened three times, I felt the deep, bone-thrumming of us becoming one, of him claiming me, marking me. My nails scraped down his back and he growled, mouth holding fast on my neck as his hips began to churn. The deep thrusts of his cock inside me had me arching up to meet him every time, and I moaned with the pleasure of it. Everything inside me lit up, the feel of him perfect.

  Finally, finally, he let go of my neck, lifting himself up on his elbows. His eyes glittered, lips swollen.

  "Mine." His throaty words were guttural and raw. I reached for him, pulling him to kiss me. He bent, his hand wrapping around my breast, then slid down to my thigh. With a grunt, he hitched my leg over his hip and something inside me clenched down. He let out a shuddery, shaky breath and growled. "You do that. . . and this is gonna be over way, way faster than you want.”

  The tension inside me, the pleasure coiling down and building out at the same time that had been going since he'd had his fingers inside of me? It demanded to be satisfied now.

  "Who says—I need it—to last." My eyes slammed shut when he rolled his hips, catching me at just the right place inside to draw a shattered moan from me.

  "That's how it is, huh?" He didn't sound nearly breathless enough. Stupid werewolves and their stupid sex stamina. I reached down with one hand, and slipped my fingers around him as he pulled out of me. The cocky expression on his face turned into one of shock.

  "Stop talking and fuck me," I demanded, then swatted him on the ass with my other open hand. His eyes widened and his brow furrowed. He growled and kissed me, quieting any further orders I might have given him. His next move wiped out any desire to boss him around anyway. He shifted, pulling up on his knees, his hands lifting my hips to meet him.

  I cried out, squirming, as the pressure inside me, that intense pleasure that ached and never seemed to find its way to the finish, intensified. My legs arched down, feet flat on the floor, skidding over the surface as he fucked into me hard. Determination on his face, his arms flexing with each rough thrust. His one arm worked under my ass, holding me still so he could keep me right where he wanted me.

  His other hand slid over where where we were joined. I held my breath and two of his fingers slipped onto either side of my clit. The soft touch, light, set me off, and I fell into the headwinds. Every strand of control I'd had, whatever had been holding me back, dissolved and pleasure exploded outward from where his cock spread me open, right through my body.

  "S'good." My voice sounded
broken in my own ears and he touched me again, fingers squeezing lightly around the sensitive furl of my clit. A shriek ripped from my lungs and my back jerked. I closed my eyes tight, sparks racing across my vision. I needed him to stop. I needed it to keep going. I needed it to—

  A sharp jerk of his hips had every muscle in my body clenching down hard, and I broke, a rush of static rolling through my skin as I was lost to my own pleasure.

  Distant, echoing in my ears, Cash snarled, and his mouth was on my neck, biting down hard, a growl in his chest. He pressed me down, the pleasure still shuddering through me, flecks of red and white at the corners of my vision, bright sparks that wouldn't die.

  Then we plunged into darkness, the light above us going out, as I felt him empty inside of me, his stomach tensing against mine.

  My breath was caught in my throat, the water still pouring down onto us, pitch-blackness around us. I tensed. He was inside me, and it felt sore and good all at once.

  "Oh god," I whispered. "What?"

  He groaned into my neck and then half-lifted off of me. I whined as he pulled his cock from my body, my thighs pressing together tight to stop the weird, tingling after-party of sensations that left me caught between 'again' and 'fuck no, that ride was crazy'.

  The floor under us shifted as he got to his feet and I heard him hit the switch for the lights. Nothing happened.

  Laughter drifted to us, and pounding feet made me sit up, my back against the shower wall. Crossing my arms over my body and tucking my legs up into my chest, adrenaline still pounded through my veins. I was soaking wet, muscles trembling, and I felt like I needed to hide.

  "You guys blew the battery out." Finn's voice was muffled through the door, but I could hear the amusement in it.

  "Oh fuck," I whispered and put my hand over my eyes. "Oh my god."