Phoenix Burning(51)
None of that had ever mattered before. He’d been about the quick and the easy. Now he was racking his brain, trying to think of how he could help her experience the one thing she’d been denied for so long.
Connor’s words from days before drifted into Alex’s mind. “This is the place to teach someone to let loose.” Connor was right. There were no rules inside Phoenix Rising, but watching a thousand couples screw in every position possible wasn’t going to teach Emory how to—how had Connor put it?—free-fall into orgasm.
The idea snapped into place as if it had been hovering at the back of his mind for days. He fought the urge to sit straight up in bed and curse out loud. Scaring the shit out of Emory wasn’t going to make her receptive to Alex’s hunch, which required her to step so far outside her comfort zone she’d leave it behind altogether.
He keyed in a text to Connor that read, I know I’m not allowed to join in when you and Jessa have sex, but I think you might make an exception just this once.
Chapter Sixteen
Emory followed Alex through the bar’s back door while juggling two hanging baskets overflowing with purple bellflowers and white verbena. She felt oddly out of sorts, cranky even. It took several minutes of serious contemplation for her to realize that she was experiencing sexual frustration. The thought actually put a little bounce in her step.
She had always assumed that people got sexually frustrated because they craved orgasms. She’d never been close enough to having one to get it before. Simply surviving the darkness had been exhilarating back then. Now she wanted nothing more than to feel the sensation of release she knew she could experience with Alex. If only she could figure out how to get there.
“What’s with the grin?” Alex touched the corner of her mouth.
There was no way she could tell him what was on her mind without dying of embarrassment. She settled for mysterious instead. “A girl has to keep a few secrets.”
“Don’t I know it?” He gestured to a countertop near the rear door. “You can set them there.”
“It seems a little weird to deliver flowers after midnight.”
“Yeah. Thanks for helping me with that. Jessa asked me to pick up these hanging baskets for her that first day I came to your shop. I forgot.”
That first day, the day she’d thrown herself into his arms and kissed him. Who would have ever thought things would snowball the way they had?
A sound coming from the bar caught her attention. “I thought you said this place was closed.”
“No. I said it should be almost deserted. Everybody but the die-hard regulars go home by now unless it’s a weekend.” He took her hand and tugged her forward. “Let’s go see what’s going on.”
“You’re cheating!” The accusation was loud enough to be clearly heard.
“You can’t cheat at this game. You’re just a sore loser.”
Emory let Alex drag her past the bar and deep into the main room. Jessa, Connor, and Gabriel all sat around a table. There was no one else inside the bar. Judging by the liquor and shot glasses ranged before them, they were playing some sort of drinking game.
“Thank God Alex is here.” Jessa’s voice was highly melodramatic.
Alex snagged a chair and flipped it around, sitting backward and resting his elbows on top of the ladder-back. “Is Connor cheating again?”
Gabriel snorted. “If by cheating you mean he has a much higher tolerance level than she does, then yes.”
“No one asked you.” Jessa huffed. “You’re just as bad as he is.”
“Yeah? But I’m going upstairs to bed, love. I’d rather not hang around and watch the lot of you think you’re the bee’s knees cause you can hold your liquor.”
The Brit stood and stretched, passing Emory and Alex a brief smile. “Enjoy your evening.”
There seemed to be more than just a greeting passing between the two men. Emory knew that Alex and Gabriel had known each other for a long time, but it was the first time she’d ever felt purposely left out of a private exchange between them.
“Come and sit, Emory,” Jessa coaxed. “Maybe if there’s an even gender split the boys will quit cheating.”
Emory shrugged and settled herself in Gabriel’s vacated chair. “Doesn’t seem likely.”
“What are we playing?” Alex asked.
“The alphabet game.” Jessa poured three shots of orange-scented liquor and passed them around to everyone but Connor.
Emory was about to ask why he got a pass on the shot when he poured himself two shots of Tequila. She frowned. “Why two?”