“I have certainly had more practice than you at keeping my heart rate slow and my brain functioning in an emergency. But I’ll tell you a secret, sweetheart, I’m pretty much at the end of my rope tonight. I’ve either got to go run or fly, or we have to go at it like bunnies. What’s it going to be?”
“That’s some romantic offer, D’Angelo.”
“Nothing to say an Air Force officer can’t be romantic.” He put his arms around her stiff shoulders and appeared to discover her nightgown for the first time. “Flannel? In July?” He sounded amused again.
“I was cold.”
“Of course you were.” His lips were against her temple and then they were enveloping her earlobe with hot, urgent suckling. One big hand was looking for the hem of her nightgown. When he found it, he shaped the flesh of her thighs.
He squeezed the outside and then the inside, making approving noises as he did so. Sparks lingered wherever he touched. The back of his hand brushed between her legs ruffling the feathery hair there. She clamped her legs tightly around his hand but he still managed to pull it away and tap dance up to her hips.
He got a good grip on the hem of the flannel nightgown and tugged it over her head. And then she was as naked as he was.
“Don’t worry,” he said, “I’ll keep you warm.”
Suddenly she was beyond thinking or being angry. She was as busy exploring his hard angles and tracing the ridged muscles of his belly as he was fondling her. He was pretty much hairless except for a narrow line that ran from between his rippling six-pack to his triangle. She stopped her exploration where his pubic hair began and just teased the very edge of the curls. Somehow her fingers kept bumping into his cock. He was already oozing semen.
“You might want to put something on this,” she said. “Seeing as you don’t want any more babies.”
“Not a problem. Shifters don’t get STDs.” He kissed her ear again and the curve of her jaw. “Did you know that? Not that it would matter, I haven’t been with anyone but Steph since I got married. I’m clean. And as for babies, I had a vasectomy.” He guided her hands to two small scars.
She cupped his balls. The sacks were heavy and hairy. Those scars stood out. That was something else to fight about. But she had lost her urge to bicker. His big, slightly calloused fingers were exploring her shoulders and arms and tracing circles of delight around her breasts. She made a husky moan and squirmed closer, urging him to touch her prickling nipples.
He laughed against the side of her breast. “You’re in too much of a rush, little bit. Let me take my time with you.”
And then she was beyond speech or arguing or conversation. His hands were big enough to hold both of her pendulous breasts. Her girls were all right during the day when she had them on lock and load, but the moment she took her bra off they exploded into soft, fleshy globes as unlike the firm, tight apples of centerfolds as it was possible for a pair to be.
But Harrison buried his face between them and he made more appreciative noises as he used them to massage his freshly shaven face. There was no beard left to irritate the delicate skin that was so prone to bruising. Just enough texture to drive her crazy. She arched her back and begged silently for his tongue.
The muscles of his back were granite hard – just like the ones on his abdomen that he was resting against her soft belly. He swiveled his hips and let his damp cock rub against her mound. At the same moment he took one nipple into his mouth and laved it with his tongue. She shrieked as sensation shot from her breasts to her quaking pussy. She was on the brink. The brink of something intense. He hadn’t even touched her there. He left her breasts and placed his mouth over hers.
“Hush. You’ll wake the folks,” he warned. And then his tongue was in her mouth exploring every nook and cranny as slowly as if she was not hovering on the edge of a precipice.
No matter how hard she tried to press herself against his cock, he held her in place gently but firmly even as he ratcheted up the tension in her body. She grabbed his buttocks. More granite. It was hard to get a grip on their tightness. She hauled his hips as close to hers as she could. He came up on his knees and left her mouth to trail kisses over her breasts. He flicked his tongue over the nipple he had already loved. And then he was taking the other one into his mouth. It was stiff with longing. And just as sensitized as the other one.
Two fingers circled the outside of her entrance and played with the hair he found there. She didn’t know how wet she was until he slipped his forefinger inside and circled the sensitive inch inside the opening. His fingers slipped around in her pussy juice. And he pulled them out again and dabbled her own juices all over her lower lips, tracing the very edges until her whole pussy was just one throbbing ache. He pushed two fingers inside and made a come-hither gesture on the roof of her vagina.
“Hurry,” she begged. Her hips had a life of their own and her passage was convulsing around his fingers. Even now he didn’t rush. He tapped his thumb on her clit and pressed upward on the spongy patch just inside her passage. She splintered into a million fragments and came back to herself lying in his arms.
“Now?” he asked.
She was too shattered to answer. He chuckled again. The husky sound reverberated against her neck and down that sensitive tendon right to her nipples again. He pressed his thumb against her clit a second time. Her aftershocks got stronger. He slipped inside her as if his cock was coming home. The scent and sound of his thrusting wrapped her in sensation.
“Put your legs around my waist,” he instructed.
Her thighs were trembling but not from exhaustion. She grabbed his waist with her thighs and dug her heels into the little dents at the top of his butt. They rocked together – every movement making her clit quiver as the friction aroused her all over again. His back slicked with sweat. She was damp everywhere she was touching him. His cock pistoned in and out of her pussy.
And then he was flooding her core and she was exploding into an orgasm even more shattering and intense than the ones before. Pleasure splintered her. He gathered her even closer and she felt the rhythm of his heart vibrating through her body until it was as if their hearts beat as one. If this wasn’t love, it was damn close.
* * *
Harrison woke. Without looking at a clock, he knew it was 0400 hours. He had told himself to sleep for three hours, and he had. Now it was time for him to get up and relieve Grant. His arms were full of soft and fragrant woman. The bedroom smelled of their love play. Had to be one of the best smells in the world.
He had a pretty good idea of what would happen if he roused Tasha now. Now that she was over – he hoped – her adrenaline rush and her nerves had settled down, they could make love slowly and sweetly. But duty called.
He’d had his fun, and now it was time to take phoenix and guard his mate. He had claimed Tasha tonight whether she knew it or not. She was his now. He had been willing to protect her and Becky before, of course he had. It was what he did. But now it was more than just his duty. It was his right.
Grant was waiting where he had expected him to be. His little brother was perched in greater phoenix atop the water tower. To most humans he would’ve been invisible. But to another phoenix his radiant rainbow-colored paranormal plumage stood out like neon lights in the Vegas desert.
He was humming softly to himself. A murmurous tune designed both to lull the inhabitants of the house into dreamless sleep and to make intruders careless. But by his calm, upright posture, Harrison deduced it had been a boring watch. Good. It was always better when sentry duty was dull.
Grant flew down from his perch and resumed his human form in front of Harrison. “Nothing and nobody. I’ve been doing the perimeter every half hour.” He stretched his arms above his head and yawned.
“She’s mine.” Harrison put just enough authority in his voice to make knees knock.
Grant pounded Harrison’s naked shoulder with a fist nearly as large as his own. “I never thought otherwise, brother. And I’m happy for
you.” He yawned. “Bedtime for me.”
He disappeared into the house as Harrison completed his change into phoenix. The moon was sinking. There were no clouds to conceal it. To his phoenix vision the entire property was lit up like a movie set. He thrust upward into the air and spread his wings. There was just enough breeze to help him gain altitude.
He had lost the urgency that had plagued him right after the explosion and fire. He had spoken nothing but the truth when he had told Tasha they could fight or fuck. Ugly perhaps. But the bio cocktail that near death unleashed in human beings was ugly. Ugly and necessary. Only not romantic.
He had saved Tasha’s condo from going up in flames and taking the rest of the building and her ignorant neighbors out as well. One of the most terrifying aspects of the whole incident was the desultory way in which people had evacuated a building where fire alarms were ringing loudly. They were sure it was just another false alarm and were not going to move until someone pounded on their doors. Despite the risk of exposure as a shifter, putting out the fire had been necessary.
But it remained to be discovered who had prepared that trap for Rebecca. What sort of asswipe planned to get rich by killing his own child? Maybe the problem was that Sutcliffe thought Becky wasn’t his. A man stupid enough to let Tasha go – to cheat on Tasha – was dumb enough to think she might cheat on him. Either way he was incomprehensible. Because only a psychopath would set out to murder people for money.
The property was quiet. The three horses pastured in the stable paddock didn’t even raise their heads as he flew overhead. If there had been anyone or anything unusual around they would have woken up and made a fuss. He circled and returned to the water tower. Lesser phoenix would have permitted him to spy more easily, but this was D’Angelo land, he didn’t need to spy. He just needed to patrol and to be a size that would permit him to defend his mate.
He had failed Stephanie. He had failed their boys. But he was not going to fail Tasha and Becky. He was not going to fail Quincy. This time he was going to be prepared. This time he was going to be around when danger came.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Someone was singing most beautiful song in the world. It both made her heart ache and lifted her spirits. Tasha strained toward the sound but it grew fainter and fainter. She woke. She was alone in her bed. Harrison was gone and the house was silent except for the hum of the air-conditioning. Two little faces watched her from the edge of the bed.
“We didn’t wake you up, Mamma T,” Quincy assured her.
“Meemaw Angel said not to wake you,” Becky concurred.
Tasha opened her arms and the pajama-clad girls climbed up onto the bed and snuggled. She drew comfort from their sturdy, wiggly bodies. “Good morning. Did you sleep well?” She had fully expected Becky to have one of her nightmares.
“I slept and slept,” Becky said. “And Daddy Danger said we could watch television as long as we didn’t wake anybody up.”
Tasha deduced the girls had risen earlier than usual. Perhaps that was why Harrison had abandoned her in the night. “Is that why you are still in your pajamas?”
“Meemaw said we were going shopping for flower girl dresses after we put our clothes on and have breakfast.” Quincy bounced up and down on the mattress. “And Uncle Cam said he would come to talk to you after he has his coffee.”
“After we make our beds.” Becky began to bounce too.
Cam probably was mad at being the last to learn she was getting married. In all of last night’s chaos, she had not even thought to call him. He was supposed to be returning to base today. Presumably Harrison would clear that up.
Caroline looked around the edge of the door. “I thought I told you girls not to wake your mom?”
“We didn’t,” they protested in unison. “We only checked to see if her eyes were open.”
“With your fingers?”
The girls looked guilty. “Maybe.”
Tasha grinned at Caroline. The girls had bounced back quickly.
“You run along and get dressed. I put your breakfast on the table. We’re going to spend the day shopping, and you’re going to need all your energy.” Caroline closed the door behind the two departing children. She sat down on Tasha’s bed. “I have a list of places where we can probably get you a dress and have it altered quickly.”
“This is all happening so fast,” objected Tasha. “Too fast.”
Caroline’s face fell. “You’re having second thoughts? Aren’t you?”
“It’s a big decision. And I feel as though I’m making it without thinking it through. You know what they say, marry in haste, repent at leisure.”
“Don’t do that to Harrison, please. You’ll break his heart.”
“I have it on the best of authority that he is not in love with me,” Tasha returned dryly.
Caroline gasped. “He did not say that. Please tell me he did not say that.”
Tasha nodded. “He told me he would look after me and Becky and keep us safe, but that he doesn’t have any love left in him to give.”
“I hope you didn’t believe him. Because it’s nonsense. Since he met you, it’s like I have my son back. It’s been very hard for him to cope with the fact that he let his fated mate die. But you have brought the old Harry back.”
It was Tasha’s turn to gasp. “What did he have to do with it? I thought you said Stephanie and the boys were in a car accident while he was deployed.”
“I did tell you that. Because that’s what happened. But Harrison still feels he should have somehow averted Stephanie’s death. That somehow he should have prevented his sons from drowning. I don’t know how he thinks he could have achieved that.” Caroline looked at her hands and shook her head as if she had puzzled over just that a million times. “He feels less of a man. Less of a phoenix. Because he didn’t do what no one could have done.”
“And how does that add up to him loving me?”
“He’s lying to himself,” Caroline explained. “It’s almost as if he thinks he doesn’t deserve to be happy again. But he’s a man who’s good at being married. He’s good at being a father. He wants to be a better father to Quincy. And he adores Becky. He’s ready to be a husband and a father again. And when you have children of your own, he’ll adore them too. Marry him and let him be happy again. He’ll make you happy too.”
“Are you saying I should forget about sweet words and moonlight? Settle for practicality and protection?”
Caroline patted her shoulder. “Harrison’s pretty good at the little things that add up to romance in the long run. How did romantic work out for you last time?” Her voice was dry.
“I got snookered. That’s how it worked out for me.” Blaine had been everything a foolish, romantic, young girl had ever dreamed of. Handsome, smooth-tongued and superficially attentive. But in the long haul he had been mean-spirited and deceitful. And Heaven knew he was not the father she would’ve chosen for her child.
She didn’t think it was up to her to explain to Caroline that her son had taken steps to ensure that he would never have more children. She tossed her covers back and swung her legs out of bed. When had she put her nightgown back on?
* * *
Cam was itching to be out of doors looking for villains. Only two things kept him from taking bear. Common sense and a direct order from Col. D’Angelo. If the alarms went off, there would be plenty of time for him to spring into action. In the meantime, prancing around Grape Creek in bear was asking to be picked off by some overexcited Texan with an itchy trigger finger.
He put on the coffee and looked in the fridge. The knock at the door had him pulling up his shorts. Whoever it was rapped louder. He shrugged. “Come in.”
It was the lovely Frankie D’Angelo. Somehow she didn’t look pleased to see him in his skivvies. “Hey.” He held up the box of eggs. “Want some breakfast.”
“No,” she snapped. Her eyes fluttered around the kitchen.
Cameron took a deep breath and let her have the full
force of his bare chest. Too late he remembered that his waistband was loose. She got more of an eyeful than he had intended. Her gasp was music to his ears. He set the carton of eggs gently on the counter.
“Let me put on some clothes. Help yourself to coffee.”
When he returned, she was cracking eggs into a bowl. Her coffee was half gone. “I found something,” she said.
“What do you mean?” He filled his own mug again and waved the pot at her.
“No, thanks.” She tipped the eggs into the pan and stirred them into the sizzling butter. “I want a better nose than mine on what I found before I start screaming for Harry and Dad. The last thing anyone needs is a false alarm.”
Cam got down a couple of plates and waited for the toast to pop up. “What did you find?”
“Spoor I don’t recognize. Some cross between skunk and dead meat. Gross. But several days old. Maybe nothing. Probably nothing.” She dished up the eggs on the plate.
Cam added the toast and they sat down companionably. “I’ll be glad to give it my best.” He chewed and swallowed. “You want me in bear?”
Her face flamed. A patriotic look with her white shirt and blue jeans. But he didn’t say so.
“Not necessary. The scent is coming from the ditch by the road. We can take my bike.”
“You seem agitated.”
“It was that kind of smell. Like something I should know and fear.” She wiped her mouth. “Shall we go?”
“Let’s stick the dishes in the sink. Pretend we were brought up right.”
Two minutes later he was climbing onto the back of her motorcycle. She handed him a battered helmet and put on her own. She held the Harley to a crawl as they meandered through the compound to the main drive. Cam laid his hands lightly on Frankie’s waist. Even though her leather jacket, he could feel her stiffening. His nose was so full of her female scent he wondered if he would be able to pick up any other smell no matter how ripe.
Phoenix Aflame (Alpha Phoenix Book 2) Page 15
