For this to work, we can’t be on opposite sides of the fence.
As she pours a generous amount into the pan and turns on the stove, leaning on the counter, I ask her, “It’s the nightmares, isn’t it?”
She tenses, flipping her dark hair back, and only then it fucking dawns on me she is wearing the black nightgown that sticks to her like a second skin, trailing to her feet and emphasizing every curve of her body.
Based on her previous photos, she has lost some weight, but still, it doesn’t diminish her beauty or the richness of her dark locks that cascade down her spine in silky waves.
The scent of shampoo mixed with lavender floats in the air, pulling me toward her, but I keep my distance, not wanting to crowd her.
My body might want Phoenix, with a lust so strong nothing but madness can explain it. Only God knows why—there is never a shortage of willing women.
Or maybe that’s the whole lust at first sight that everyone talks about? I’ve never experienced that in my life, so I have nothing to compare it to.
Even with my Angelica, desire came gradually as I got to know her, because she was nothing like the women I usually went for.
One way or the other, Phoenix will be mine and grace my bed.
Patience is not one of my virtues, but I can execute it for her sake.
“You know what? I don’t think I want milk anymore,” she announces, spinning around, ready to dart to the door, but I stop her, blocking her exit and trapping her between my chest and the kitchen counter.
Plastering both my hands behind her, I lean closer as our breaths mingle. She gasps, pushing at me. “Get off me, Zach.” I stay unmovable, noticing how her pulse beats in her neck and wanting to bite on it and taste her skin on my tongue. “Get away from me.”
“Why is it so hard to stay in my company?” I ask instead, and she blinks in surprise before shaking her head in disbelief.
“You have the nerve to ask me that? After everything you put me through? I hate you, Zach,” she repeats with heat coating her voice, yet I don’t miss how sweat breaks on her skin, a little drop sliding from her neck to her collarbone, disappearing under the nightgown.
“That you do. Why else?”
“There is no other reason.” She pushes harsher, hitting me in my six-pack, but once again, I don’t even budge. “Get off me, Zach, or I swear I’m going to scream.”
“No one will hear you. The staff has a separate house, and my daughter sleeps with the nanny upstairs. Why can’t you stand being in my company, Phoenix?”
“Because!” she screams and pushes at me again, and this time I step back as she breathes heavily, her chest rising and falling while she gazes at me furiously, magnificent in her beauty. “Because should be enough for you to back off.”
I pull her into me, our chests pressing against each other, but before she can dart away from me, I thread my fingers in her hair and arch her head back then whisper against her mouth, “Because of this, right?” And with that, I slam my mouth on hers, connecting us in a kiss.
One single kiss.
Yet it forever shifts the balance in our relationship and opens up possibilities I thought I’d never want again.
Phoenix
The minute his mouth touches mine, I still, too stunned from the electricity zapping through me and sending prickles down my spine, causing a gasp to slip past my lips.
His masculine scent envelops me, blurring everything around me as he presses us closer together. He angles my head, licking over my mouth before pushing his tongue between my lips, and that’s when I snap out of the momentary shock and haze he has imprisoned me in.
I push him off me, hard. Since he doesn’t expect it, he steps back and I slap him on the cheek, the sound reverberating around the room. My palm bounces back, leaving an angry red imprint on his skin, drawing attention to the various scratch marks I left there earlier.
My chest rises and falls, our heavy breathing filling the space as we both stare at one another. His eyes are unreadable while mortification travels all over me, but that’s not what scares me.
No, what scares me is the fact that my body buzzes with anticipation, his touch reminding it how it missed this primary, basic need and how it apparently doesn’t care who this man is to me.
I want to run away from the lust forming in the pit of my stomach and burning everything in its wake, demanding I succumb to its need, not caring about Zachary or his deeds.
Only about the fact that my body wants him. The weird, indescribable pull I feel toward him tugs me in his direction, whispering promises of oblivion and pleasure it has been deprived of for so long.
Oh my God. You have lost your mind. How can you react to this man or even think about it?
All the self-loathing in my mind can’t stop me though, when he steps toward me. In a second, I’m in his arms, his hands gripping my hips painfully as he raises me up and places me on the cold kitchen counter before stepping between my legs, mashing our mouths together again, and a sigh of relief escapes me.
There is no going back now, and for a moment in time, I can only focus on the sensations awakening every cell in my body, instead of the grief and internal battle screaming at me about my past.
I hate Zachary King with all my being and will never stop, but if he can give me reprieve from the agony eating at me every single second of my life, I will welcome it and won’t judge myself too harshly.
At least in this moment.
I just want to forget about everything and experience something besides the pain slashing my body in two—to feel the touch of a strong man’s hands on me, reminding me that I might have been frozen in time for four years… but I’m not dead.
Is it such a sin to just once do something bad in this life if it has the power to soothe the internal wounds, however brief this medicine might be?
No one ever thinks they will be weak against the force of nature; people have the tendency to believe they would be stronger in certain circumstances, and I know for a fact it’s bullshit.
We know nothing about ourselves until we end up in the situation we try to judge.
So instead of pushing him away, I open my mouth for him, deciding to silence all the voices in my head screaming at me to stop this madness that might or most probably will consume me in the future and give Zachary an ace he could use against me.
In this moment, nothing exists but this man’s body and what it can do to me; he has no name or face that rings a bell in my mind, begging me to listen to his pleas.
The minute our tongues brush against each other, we moan and goose bumps break on my skin. He deepens the kiss, tilting me back until I’m angling my head to meet every glide of his tongue, the hot, passionate kiss vanishing all traces of guilt away and replacing them with a need so strong I can’t stop tightening my thighs around him. My nails scratch the back of his head as I open my lips wider to deepen the kiss even more… if it’s possible.
His palms slide up and down my hips, gripping me harshly beneath the silk, and I gasp into his mouth as his hands move lower to hike the hem of my nightgown up, up, up. When I feel the cold counter under the bare skin of my thighs, I snatch my mouth away, gulping for air.
Our gazes clash, a raspy breath of protest slipping past my lips when he steps back and tugs at the back of his T-shirt, dropping it on the floor. He comes back, the heat of his body spreading fire inside me, and my eyes roam over his perfectly carved six-pack and smooth skin. I lean closer, tracing my tongue on his collarbone, biting the flesh and enjoying the musky taste of him enhanced by his masculine scent, which is like an aphrodisiac with such male beauty in close proximity to me.