"You got on a plane to meet a stranger. You're braver than you think."
The air between us is electric. My back is against the cold glass, the ocean dark and endless behind me. The infinity pool glows blue in my peripheral vision. And Phoenix is close enough that I can feel every breath he takes.
"This is a bad idea," I whisper.
"Probably."
"My mother will never forgive me."
"Do you need her permission to live your life?"
The question hits harder than it should. Because no, I don't need her permission. But I've spent twenty-five years living by her rules, accepting her fears as my own.
I grab his shirt and pull him to me.
The kiss is different this time. Not gentle or tentative. Claiming, demanding, desperate. I pour everything into it—every frustration, every want, every moment of the past three days where I've been fighting this exact thing.
Phoenix makes a sound low in his throat and presses me harder against the window. The glass is freezing against my back. His body is burning hot against my front.
His hands slide under my tank top, palms rough against my skin. I gasp into his mouth and he swallows the sound.
"Tell me to stop and I will," he says against my lips.
"Don't stop."
He pulls my tank top over my head in one smooth motion. It lands somewhere near his desk. I'm in my bra and pajama shorts, pressed against floor-to-ceiling glass overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
"Anyone could see—" I start.
"Let them." His mouth finds my neck, my collarbone, the curve of my shoulder.
My hands go to his shirt. The buttons won't cooperate and I make a frustrated sound that makes him smile against my skin.
He pulls back just enough to unbutton it himself, watching my face the whole time. When he shrugs it off, I forget how to breathe.
I've seen him shirtless before by the pool. But not like this. Not up close where I can touch. Broad shoulders, defined chest, abs that look carved from marble. I run my hands over his skin and feel him shudder.
His hands move to my shorts, unbuttoning and unzipping with practiced ease.
"Phoenix—"
"Tell me to stop."
I don't.
He slides them down and I step out, kicking them aside. Now I'm in just my underwear, against the glass, completely exposed.
Behind me, the infinity pool glows blue. The ocean stretches black and endless.
In front of me is Phoenix, his eyes dark and consuming.
"You're beautiful," he says, and I've never felt more vulnerable or more alive.
He reaches behind me and unhooks my bra with one hand. It falls. I'm bare from the waist up, pressed against glass that overlooks his entire world.
"Someone could see?—"
"There's no one for miles." His fingers hook into the waistband of my underwear. "But if there was, they'd see you're mine."
