I squinted as that intense glow covered our bodies. When I saw him in the light, he didn’t look as angry as his tone suggested. Phoenix’s poker face was always tough to read. Put it this way: if he hadn’t rasped her name out loud, I would have thought he was lying with hisI thought you were someone elseexcuse. Courtney and I werenothingalike, physically,andmentally.
“Maybe you should check before you force yourself on someone next time.” The fact that Phoenix looked uber hot in faded jeans and a gray wife-beater wasn’t helping my recovery. At my reproach, his usual mask slipped into place, covering his earlier expression. Those mouthwatering tattoo-covered biceps rippled moodily as heglaredback at me.
“Why the fuck didn’t you stop me then?” he rasped, cracking his knuckles and then rubbing the back of his neck.
Don’t let him see how upset you are. Fight back, attack, attack!
“Wild horses couldn’t have stopped you,” I hissed, genuinely pissed off that I was getting the blame for his loss of control; men and their unreasonable, dumbass logic.
“You still should have said something?” Phoenix grunted, dragging a hand over his face. He was now blatantly agitated.
“Pretty difficult with my mouth full of your tongue,” I pointed out, punching him on the arm.
“Easy Thumper,” he grumbled, rubbing where my silly girly blow had struck. I hated that he used his old nickname for me under such circumstances. “And don’t pretend you didn’t enjoy it,” he added before getting in my face. “You were with me all the way, baby girl.”
I drew back, feeling threatened, not physically but emotionally. He had hurt meagain. Phoenix had been known to reduce me to tears on several occasions. And he fed on that shit like the sadist he was.
No matter how I fought it, he still had the power to destroy me.
“What can I say? You’re experienced and clearly know your way around a woman’s mouth.”
“What?” he choked out, as surprised as I was by my words.
“Maybe I thoughtyouwere someone else,” I batted back spitefully. Yeah, right? Like anyone could mistake Phoenix for another man.
Still, the big guy didn’t like that. “Bullshit,” he growled, rolling his massive shoulders aggressively.
I tipped my chin up. “Look, you took me by surprise, that's all.” I knew I needed to calm him down. An angry Phoenix wasn’t a good Phoenix.
“I took you by surprise? You were climbing me like a tree, Harper. It’s a good job that I pulled away when I did. What’s the matter, run out of batteries?”
That comment yanked the tail of my tiger.
“You’re a pig,” I volleyed back, as understanding of his meaning hit me. I didn’t even own a vibrator, so he was way off.
“A pig that gets you off, clearly,” he smirked. Phoenix had one of those smug types of smiles that made you want to slap his face and jump his bones at the same time.
Not denying it, I smoothed back my hair with my fingers and cut him a look. “I didn’t meanduringthe kiss. That was fine. I’m talking about your behavior after it.” I was attempting to be the adult I wasn’t.
He made a rumbling noise in the back of his throat before grabbing my bony bicep and dragging me into him. “The kiss was fine? What thefuckdoes that mean? Are you saying you’re happy I kissed you?”
The confusion on his face seemed genuine, which was a good sign. I needed to be careful not to reveal my secret.
And what was that?
My secret was that no matter how bad the prick treated me, I still couldn’t get enough of him.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. My head jerked back as Phoenix dropped my arm like a hot rock.
“Phoenix?” came the shrill voice.
Are youkiddingme? A pulse of something sharp and territorial thrummed through me before I masked it and glared up at the big, clueless lug in front of me. I didn’t miss what appeared to be a flash of disappointment and wondered if that was because we’d been interrupted. I didn’t take it personally. Phoenix got off on fighting, both physically and verbally.
“It sounds like yourmeal’sarrived,” I snarked in a hushed voice. It was probably for the best before I gave myself away. I’d be six feet under before I’d let him know how I really felt. Phoenix already had too many girls blowing smoke up his ass, the conceited ape. Irefusedto be one of them.
“Ready or not, here Icome.” The way Courtney said the word ‘come’ was pure, unadulterated smut. God, I hated her now. That came about after I’d heard Hudson telling Micah and Reed that she’d sucked Phoenix off in the girls’ restrooms only hours after her boyfriend, Maxwell, dumped her last year. And now he intended tofuck her raw. Going bareback with any of the cheerleaders was dick suicide, surely?
The realisation that Phoenix was only minutes away from getting laid in my house made me want to hurl.
