PhoenixKiss (4 page)

“Turn around.”

When she did, he moved her so her back was flat against the
wall. He continued to wash her slowly, almost reverently. At one point, the
tips of his fingers grazed over her mound. She guessed he was admiring the
intricate V-shaped haircut she’d given herself a few nights ago.

“Do you like it?” she asked.

“Oh yes,” he murmured as he flicked out with his tongue and
licked her, causing her head to fall back against the glass with a soft thud.
“Exactly like wild cherries.”

She didn’t think he meant the haircut. The pleasure of his
tongue against her clit surged over her and she ached to be filled with so much
more.

After a few more swipes, he stopped, which caused her to
groan for an entirely different reason. “Don’t stop.”

He chuckled against her. “First things first.” He rubbed
over her clit again with his finger. “Let’s get you all cleaned up.” Jordan
stood and looked at her. “After that, you’ll be begging me to quit.”

Not likely
, she thought.

Layla looked down at herself as he used the sponge to spread
soap over her neck, up, under and over her arms, down to her wrists. He cleaned
her achingly swollen breasts and her stomach.

He stood back and let the water run the soap off her skin
before he repeated the entire process all over again, which almost made her
scream.

Well, at least she knew the man was a clean freak but boy
was she ready for him to be inside her. The mini-torture of this bath was
becoming an experience in teasing and pleasure. And she knew from the evidence
of his arousal that Jordan was as ready for her as she was for him. But for
some reason, he was prolonging their mutual satisfaction.

As she came to the decision to snatch the sponge away from
him and jump his bones, he took her hands, raised them above her head and
captured her bottom lip between his teeth.

God it was delicious, intoxicating. It was a long, lingering
lick that robbed her of breath. While he made sweeping, swirling motions all
around her lips, he cupped one breast and slid a thumb over her nipple until it
was a turgid bud.

He bit lightly at her bottom rim, licked it then slid down
to the hollow of her neck. “I can feel how much you want me, right here.”

All Layla could do was open to him helplessly as his lips
and tongue gave her an unadulterated lesson in lovemaking. She heard a keening
noise and realized dimly that it was coming from her own throat. Her body shook
and she clenched Jordan’s arms.

He touched the pulse in her throat. “Every thought, every
shudder, all I have to do is touch you right here and I’ll know.”

Dizziness swarmed inside her head before Layla took control
of the explicit exploration and pushed him lower. She may have been partially
blackmailed into this little sex game with Jordan Gaines but she was determined
to give as good as she got.

He was used to controlling everything and everyone around
him but Layla wouldn’t allow him to totally dominate what was happening between
them tonight. Even if she never saw him again and only got to admire him from
the floor-to-ceiling windows in her office for the rest of her life, she would
make sure he remembered her.

Layla shoved her arms between them and eased her palms
around his penis, sliding her fingers around his thick hardness. Water
continued to beat at them, warm and wet, making her handle on him slightly
slippery. But she didn’t let it hinder her from the lustful passion she was
almost ashamed to admit she felt for him even under these circumstances. Her
body hummed with sensation as his lips, so absorbed in tantalizing her breasts,
drove her insane. He pulled his mouth from her and she cried out.

Against her throat he whispered, “Don’t worry. I’m not done
yet.”

He took her thighs and lifted her up as if she weighed
nothing, twisted around and carried her to the seat situated against the
opposite wall and set her down. After lowering himself to the shower floor, he
pulled her to him until she hovered over the edge, legs spread.

Her breath caught at the sight of him kneeling before her.
He lifted his head and she shivered at the heat in his eyes. Arousal had turned
his chiseled features even harder—no, majestic like the regal phoenix he
shifted into.

He gently stroked her clit, his thumb moving in slow
circles. With a glint in his eye, he took one foot and applied light, delicate
kisses from her ankle up to her knees before repeating the act with the other
side.

Layla slid her fingers through his wet hair and pulled.
“Now.”

He obliged her by leaning into the V of her legs and before
she could smile, she felt the strong sweep of his tongue against her folds and
gasped as he tugged the bud between his teeth.

Jordan cupped her legs and suckled strongly on the slick,
wet heat of her, and the sensation was so intense it was like a white-hot
streak of lightning.

Layla looked down and found herself even more aroused by the
contrast of his white skin between her dark legs. Her head fell back as he
moved over her, tugging and pulling and licking, causing delicious heat to
begin a slow burn inside her. She heard the soft pounding of water against the
beautiful bronze tile, her soft pants and the erotic slurping of his mouth.

Then she felt a large, blunt finger circling inside her
flesh, stroking the folds. She heard satisfaction in his harsh groan when it
entered her and her hips arched to take more of him. She’d never been touched
this way before, her body had never felt such intense longing.

“That’s it. Open for me. Bloom for me,” his deep voice
crooned before continuing his delicious torture.

Between his tongue and his finger, she was on fire. He moved
it deeper and deeper still while his tongue circled her clitoris. He slowly
withdrew the digit and slipped a second one in beside it.

She cried out as she pointed her toes and her thighs
trembled. It was almost too much. Each swipe of his tongue and flip of his
finger made her moan even deeper with desire. Every nerve in her body began to
flicker. It didn’t take long for Layla to see that what Jordan did to her could
be dangerous to her soul.

“God, you taste so sweet, so hot. Cherries,” he murmured and
thrust his fingers hard, and she writhed with the need to release, her entire
body trembling. “Come. Now,” he ordered.

Jordan circled her clit again, hard with his tongue, and
probed deeply with his fingers, and she did. A turbulent sensation washed over
her, shredding her body in a million pieces, allowing her to feel each sliver
cut straight to her core.

She clenched her thighs helplessly around his head as his
mouth ground against her. Her fingers found the top of his head again and
gripped hard as he continued stroking, harder and harder as she climaxed. He’d
known how to touch her, how hard and how soft to keep her on the edge, in
helpless spasms of pleasure so blinding, so erotic it had been almost painful.

Layla never lost control this way, hadn’t known it was
possible. It was exhilarating and frightening all at the same time. Her body
shook with the intensity of her release. Eyes closed, she rested her head on
the shower wall, still feeling the aftershocks of her orgasm in her lower body.

Jordan moved away from her to turn off the jets and within
mere seconds lifted her up, covered her in a plush towel and carried her out of
the stall, placing her on the light-mocha granite counter.

“I’m not done yet, love,” he whispered against her throat.

Her eyes flew open as he plunged inside her, this time with
the hard pulse of his arousal. He embedded himself deeply, over and over,
entering her with one driving thrust after the next. Layla had known he would
fill her completely.

She arched to meet each powerful thrust and brought her
knees up to his hips, gripping him. Their bodies bucked and collided in perfect
unison. She clenched and shuddered as he delved deep. He stretched her and she
could feel the tip of him pressing against her womb.

The sensation was beyond description, unbelievably
passionate. When she looked up, she spied a reflection of them in a
floor-to-ceiling mirror across the room and almost didn’t recognize herself,
lips puffy with arousal, eyes lost in rapture. He’d already taken her to the
edges of ecstasy and she couldn’t believe she was reaching that peak again as
he drove faster and faster and continued a pounding, driving rhythm beyond
anything she’d experienced before.

His fingers moved sharply over her clit and Layla cried out.
She’d never felt this. Ever. How could he, a stranger, bring her to this state
of responsiveness when no one ever had? Desire thrummed through her, sent
shivers up her spine and sank into the deepest crevices of her sensitized
flesh. Her body fragmented into a torrent of heat and rapture.

The orgasm was so piercingly strong she thought she would
pass out. She clenched her legs around him as he kept thundering inside her
throughout the uncontrollable, shuddering contractions, harder and harder until
he too stiffened and yelled out, pouring himself into her.

Their labored breathing was loud inside the small, silent
room. Jordan slowly straightened, eyes meeting hers, and pulled out of her
little by little.

What in the heck happened? Her muscles felt like water. Her
legs were quivering and her heart beat like a drum.

She had to get away from him for a few minutes. “Um…can I
shower again? If you don’t mind.”

One side of his mouth quirked up and he walked to the shower
stall, opened the door and turned the water back on. She watched as the steam
from the hot water billowed back up. Next to the toilet, he threw away the
condom she hadn’t even realized he’d put on.

When she stepped into the shower, she didn’t know if she
could take another round so soon but instead of entering with her, thank
goodness, he allowed the door to close behind her.

She felt as if her heart and soul had left her body and then
come back, transformed. She was dumbfounded by her reaction to him, her
body’s
reaction to him. It had never happened before. Never in her sexual history had
a man consumed her, brought her to such mind-numbing pleasure.

What did that mean?

After she stepped out again and toweled dry, she reentered
the bedroom to find one lamp turned on and Jordan, dressed in the pajama
bottoms he’d grabbed earlier, sitting quietly on the bed with his back against
the headboard, his legs crossed at the ankles. His thick auburn hair was still
wet from their bath, his blue eyes half shuttered in sleep.

But somehow she knew he wasn’t, that he was very aware of
her and every move she made. He’d turned on the television set deeply inside a
wall she hadn’t even noticed but the volume was down really low.

She took in the room more clearly this time, with its large
dimensions and open space, telling herself it wasn’t so she could get to know
the man but so she would have more filler for the story she would eventually write
when she left here.

The room was painted a rich, burnt orange and she knew even
if she searched a hundred stores she wouldn’t be able to find the beautiful
mahogany furniture anywhere. It was large and unique. She walked to the tall
six-drawer dresser and traced the tips of her fingers over the intricately
carved pattern duplicated on the face of each drawer.

“It’s a phoenix,” she said and smiled, looking over her
shoulder at Jordan.

The expression on his face was unreadable. “Yes. My
guardian’s father made it all for me, years ago.”

Her mouth fell open. “Your grandfather made all these
pieces?” she asked, astonished at the amount of craftsmanship and expertise it
must have taken.

Layla explored the room as he watched her, trailing her
fingers over different pieces. Beside each nightstand were tall bookshelves
that almost reached the ceiling. Each was filled with books she’d also read
herself, which made her smile. There was a carved phoenix that looked like it
was in the middle of flight sitting on a pedestal in the corner by the door.

She could imagine Jordan sitting in the brown leather chair
every morning, reading the financial section of the newspaper with a cup of
coffee on the small, round table beside the balcony doors he’d left open.

She ran her fingers over the silky burnt-orange, brown and
cream duvet, knowing it was a thread count so high it probably felt like water
when you were underneath it. She was tempted to snuggle into the plump pillows
clustered against the headboard and fall asleep. Underneath her bare feet, she
felt the plushness of the cocoa-colored carpet. Damn, she could get used to
this.

She honestly couldn’t keep still. She was in new territory
here. What the heck were they supposed to do now? Have sex again?

“Well,” she said and smiled hesitantly. “Do you um…have
something I could put on?”

He looked at her quizzically before running his gaze over
her from head to toe. He stood and grunted. “Sure.”

When he came forward, her smile faltered. He held her gaze,
before his eyes dropped to her mouth, then to her cleavage exposed above the
towel she had wrapped around herself. She felt her nipples peak, her breasts
warm as heat coiled low in her abdomen. How could she possibly want him again
after what just happened between them?

“I need to get to the drawer behind you.”

“Oh. Sorry,” she said and stepped to the side. His nearness
alone triggered intimate thoughts, visions of hot sex. A mental picture of
Jordan, naked and aroused, grew in her mind. Had he turned her into a sex
freak?

“Here you go.”

He gave her a black cotton T-shirt almost identical to the
one she’d had on earlier, only larger. After she turned her back to him, she
let the towel drop to the floor and slipped the shirt over her head. It fell to
the middle of her thighs and the cool air of the room reminded her she didn’t
have underwear to slip on too.