Phoenix Burning(15)

“So you’re going back?”

She thought about the confident blonde who’d acted as if Emory was nothing. The sexy seductress hadn’t even minded that Alex was putting on a show for someone else. She was that confident in her relationship. What would that feel like? To be so sure of yourself that another woman posed no threat at all? Or did the blonde really not care? Was that what no strings attached looked like in the real world?

Had their positions been reversed, Emory would’ve been scalping the blonde bimbo as she dragged her across the room to toss her back out where she’d come from. A guy like Alex wasn’t replaceable. He wasn’t a nameless, faceless piece of male machismo like Donovan MacIntyre. There was something about Alex that pulled Emory past the barriers in her mind and made her wonder what forever could feel like.

“You’re awfully quiet, Emmy Lou.”

She gazed at her twin in the dim room, trying to see his expression. “How did you know Fox was special?”

“He told me.” Chris reached over and tweaked her nose. “But I knew before that. He was everything I’m not. Everything I was afraid to be.”

“How so?”

“He’s flamboyant and bold. He doesn’t hold back, and he doesn’t let me hide from what I really want. Life is all about balance. I keep him grounded, and he pulls me out of my shell.” She moved closer to her brother, snuggling against his chest. Chris wrapped his arms around her and laid his head against her hair. “Fox is the one who finally made me realize that it’s okay to be the way I am.”

“Because you’re gay?”

“Not just that.” He paused and she could feel his breath hitch inside his chest. “Dad spent so much time listing my failings as a man. I liked to read instead of watch sports. I’d rather play chess than football, and I got into college on an academic scholarship, not an athletic one. Gay and proud is fine, but I’m more than just my sexual orientation. Fox is the one who made me realize that.”

She squeezed her eyes tightly closed, remembering the afternoons she had spent cross-stitching bible verses on tea towels while her father shouted his way through a game of football on the front lawn. The entire church youth group would be there, the girls with their needlepoint and the boys with a ball. Dad never missed an opportunity to belittle Chris in front of witnesses, most of the insults following her brother to school the following week.

Chris seemed to read her mind. “They’d have left you alone if you hadn’t kept stepping in.”

“You’re my brother.” Her voice was whisper soft against the memories of a thousand fistfights, a good number of which she’d won because she fought dirty.

His arms tightened around her. “We’re going to get through this, Emmy Lou.”

“Maybe someday.”





Chapter Five





Alex rolled away from the sunlight streaming through the blinds. His dick throbbed uncomfortably as it was squashed between his body and the mattress. He shifted again, rubbing his eyes to clear away the visions of a dark-haired pixie with laughing brown eyes.

He wanted her. It was that simple. And yet it wasn’t simple at all. She wasn’t anything like the women he usually took to his bed. She was short, almost boyish in appearance. Her baggy clothes hid whatever curves she might have, and there was nothing seductive about her manner.

It was her personality that drew him, bold and timid at the same time. Something told him she was struggling to break free. When she’d watched him stroke himself, her eyes had been almost desperate with hunger. He’d never had anyone stare at him like that before, as if there was no one else they wanted to be with. It had shaken him on the inside, this foreign feeling of protectiveness, of possessiveness.

Reaching down, he palmed the length of his cock beneath the sheet. A tremor shook his body. He focused on the memory of her face, her hungry expression, as he stroked his shaft. He made long languid thrusts against his palm, precum wetting the head and making his fingers slide against his skin.

His breath came in ragged gusts as he continued his slow assault. He wanted her to watch, to see the damp head of his penis disappearing into his hand. More than that, he wanted her to come closer, reach out, and touch him. Join her fingers with his and stroke the flaming heat of his skin. Her hand in concert with his, each stroke agony as they grew quicker, harried as tension drew his balls close to his body. He needed her hand to sink lower, cup his sac, and put pressure on the sensitive flesh underneath. Then he wanted her to gaze up into his face while she savored his release.

Climax caught Alex by surprise. The long vein in his shaft pulsed as a stream of hot semen splashed onto his belly. He pumped again, feeling the relief, but not an end to his desire. Only one thing would put the fire to rest. He wanted to stare straight into her eyes and penetrate her sweet pussy until they were both too sated to move.