Phoenix Flying

by Kaitlin Maitland

  CHAPTER SIX

  Gabriel was going to die of acute sexual frustration. At least that’s what his cock kept telling him over and over again as it bounced angrily against his belly. He switched the water to cold, knowing it wouldn’t do anything but piss him off.

  Water sluiced down his shoulders and back before pooling on the shower floor and disappearing down the drain. He wished it were possible to wash away all his worries as easily. Hell, if that were possible he might be able to scrub off the past as well.

  He shut the water off and viciously shook his head. Water droplets sprayed the glass door and bounced off.

  The past. He didn’t want to think about the past, but he didn’t want to forget the lessons learned either. He’d left Staffordshire behind, intending to leave Franny there too. Her and every other rubbish memory she’d left him with.

  Grabbing a towel, he vigorously dried his skin and stepped out of the shower onto the bath mat. He was careful not to put his wet feet on the tile. The bathroom was so tiny he’d be likely to slip, fall, and knock his head on the sink.

  He didn’t mind the size of the bathroom or even the miniscule size of the apartment. Connor had once lived here, the location above the bar perfect for a single guy who didn’t need much in the way of space or creature comforts. Plus, it was cheap. As long as Gabriel took care of the cleaning, Connor didn’t charge him rent.

  The 750-square-foot apartment was a far cry from the sprawling manor house he’d left behind in England. On the other hand, the apartment wasn’t crumbling around his ears, impossible to heat in winter, or filled with the memory of a woman who had promised Gabriel she would wait only to fall in love with the first guy she met once he’d shipped out.

  He tried to imagine Franny living in the tiny space and could not. He half suspected she’d been more infatuated with his country manor than him. The moment she’d set foot inside the ancient structure she’d fallen irrevocably in love. Which had made it twice as satisfying to watch her move out. It might have been petty revenge, but he was only human after all. At least he’d taken Franny’s lessons to heart. Women wanted the material trappings he could provide and nothing more.

  What about Anne?

  Gabriel rummaged in his drawers for a clean set of clothes and tried not to think about her. Clothing choice really wasn’t an issue since he essentially wore the same thing every day. He’d spent almost fifteen years in the royal marines wearing a uniform. Since getting out he hadn’t had the desire to alter his habits much. Although, the T-shirt and cargos were far more comfortable than the starched items he’d worn in the service.

  He made the short trek from bedroom to his kitchen/living room and poured himself a cup of coffee. Taking a sip of the scalding hot liquid, he leaned back against the counter and contemplated this sudden infatuation with a woman he barely knew.

  The unreasonable interest might have been because she was the first woman he’d met since coming to the States that he found truly attractive. Yes. He adored large women. He loved them big and buxom, thick in the hips, with an ass he could never find the end of.

  However, he’d discovered over the years that it was difficult to find a woman who truly possessed the right build to make it all come together. He was a big man. He liked a woman with a large frame, built broad and full without losing that sense of femininity. He didn’t like a fragile little bird carrying a few extra pounds. He wanted a woman built the old-fashioned way. Which left him mourning the fact that they really didn’t make them like they used to. Especially in America.

  As far as Gabriel was concerned, America was the land of failed diet plans. Women spent all their time trying to lose weight and the rest of it going to doctors who promised to vacuum it out. If they were big and beautiful, they wound up in a state of depression and self-loathing that put them in an evil cycle of punitive eating and non-activity that sent them over the edge of unhealthy.

  From what he could tell, Anne was on the verge of sliding down that slippery slope. A pity since she possessed not only the goddess figure he adored but also a quick wit and a good mind. What that woman could do with a little confidence! She’d be a force to be reckoned with.

  His cock began to swell again. Gabriel had to fight back the urge to masturbate right there in the kitchen. He had let Franny lead him around by the dick. Determined never to make the same mistake again, he had started keeping himself tightly leashed at all times. Sex was off-limits. Watching was the only release he allowed himself. It took the edge off his hunger. Later he’d discovered that he could maintain an even tighter control if he masturbated while watching Alex and Emory fuck. Like a diet of bread and water while watching someone else eat steak.

  But the bread and water was a lot better than starving to death. Which was what he’d been doing before. Practicing fidelity to Franny while he was deployed and they were apart. Only to discover she hadn’t bothered to afford him the same courtesy.

  Anger coursed through his veins. He pushed off the counter and set the coffee mug aside with unnecessary force. It was time to get to work. Connor and Jessa would arrive in an hour, Alex an hour or so after that. Then the place would open, and Gabriel could sink back into the familiar routine that kept him sane. Until Anne walked in and it started all over again.

  He let his door slam shut and clomped down the stairs. It would be childish to sit in a corner, stick his fingers in his ears, rock back and forth, and chant “la, la, la, la.” And it wouldn’t matter anyway.

  She was imprinted in his memory. Her scent, her taste… He groaned as he pulled out the broom and began pushing it around the room. Her taste! Not just her mouth but also her pussy. The taste of her core, the one that made him want to kiss his way down her belly and spread her thighs wide so he could lick the source of that sweet salt.

  In his frustration he gave the broom a hard shove. It slammed into the base of a table, knocking two chairs to the floor. Gabriel stared up at the smoke-stained ceiling as if the answers had been scrawled into the ancient wood.

  “You okay?”

  The voice gave Gabriel a jolt. He swung around, body on full alert. He had truly hit rock bottom if Alex could sneak up on him like that.

  Alex leaped up onto the bar, settling himself on the scarred mahogany surface. “That’s a first.”

  “Long night,” Gabriel grunted.

  “Do you remember when you gave me this ring?”

  Gabriel didn’t have to look to know what ring Alex was referring to. The black carbide ring on the middle finger of Alex’s left hand had an intricate Celtic design etched in silver. “I always thought it was ironic you gave the matching one to Emory as a wedding ring.”

  “You gave them to me as a symbol of our no-strings-attached outlook on life. I gave it to her because I found the one thing that defied my concept of what being tied down meant.”

  Gabriel didn’t need the history lesson. He well remembered buying the matched set. He had two more of them in a box upstairs that were sized to fit his middle fingers. He’d found them in the jewelry store where he’d eventually discovered Franny’s engagement ring. He’d removed his the moment he’d decided to propose marriage. At the time he’d been all happy anticipation. He’d intended to marry the woman of his dreams. A woman he’d known even then would be marrying him for all the wrong reasons.

  “We wore those rings for two years, but you respected my desire to stay single even when you decided to settle down and get married. Why?” Alex asked.

  That wasn’t quite how it had been, but the real motives were difficult to explain. Even though he’d been happy with Franny, he’d felt a modicum of envy for the life that Alex would continue to lead. Then afterward, Gabriel spent months watching his mate chat up the eligible women in bars only to choose one, have a fling, and walk away without looking back. All that time Gabriel had been loyal to Franny because that’s what a man did when he had a woman back home. But he’d also been just a little jealous. Not because Alex could have anyone, but b
ecause his heart never seemed to get entangled. The superficial didn’t bother him, but it did Gabriel. Because he’d known all along what Franny was doing. He’d known and couldn’t stop it. He hadn’t been enough for the woman he wanted.

  “Gabriel?”

  “Our situations have now reversed. Can’t we leave it at that?”

  “That’s rubbish. If it were true you would be wearing a pair of matching rings on your middle fingers.”

  Alex’s flat tone was too much. Gabriel felt his temper flare red-hot. “Piss off! It’s not my fault if you don’t like my answer.”

  “We’re nothing alike, mate. Me?” Alex opened his arms wide and flashed Gabriel a smile that still made the women flock to his side. “I fucked everything that stood still long enough. You?” Alex dropped his hands to his sides. “You haven’t shagged a bloody thing since you got here. Worse, I suspect you haven’t been with anyone since Franny the Fanny.”

  Irrational anger seared Gabriel like a hot knife. Even years later he didn’t like hearing the nickname Alex had given her the day the two of them had met. In the British vernacular, fanny typically referred to female genitalia. A dose of Alex’s sarcasm made it less than complimentary.

  “She was, you know.” Alex apparently wasn’t done.

  “What?”

  “Nothing but a fanny.”

  “Sod off, Alex. I’ve had enough for one day.”

  Alex swung off the bar. “Not until you acknowledge the truth.”

  “What truth? The real one? Or your version?”

  “You were gutted when Franny chose someone else. I get that.” Alex stalked closer, his blue eyes hard as ice chips. “But we both know you’ve gotten over her.”

  Gabriel inhaled deeply, searching for a thread of the self-control that usually came so easily to him. “That right?”

  “Yeah. The time for that kind of loyalty has passed. There’s no reason you can’t find someone else.”

  “Six months and you’re the relationship expert?”

  Alex’s expression grew soft. “Not an expert. Just a man who now knows firsthand what it means to say that there is no one else I want to be with.”

  “That’s bloody well good for you then, mate. Glad we’ve got that sorted.” Gabriel turned his back and went to put the broom away.

  “She betrayed you, Gabriel, but you can’t spend the rest of your life dwelling on it.”

  “Brilliant deduction.” Gabriel yelled over his shoulder as he ducked back into the storeroom to get the mop bucket. “How about you shut your gob and start your prep work?”

  Alex said something else, but Gabriel didn’t hear it. He was too busy trying to fill the bucket in the oversize sink, a task made more difficult by his shaking hands. He hated that Alex had dissected what had happened so long ago. Gabriel had wanted to leave it behind. Forget it. What man wouldn’t want to forget the moment he realized he just wasn’t enough to keep a woman?

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Anne shifted in her seat and fidgeted with the hem of her blouse. The black-and-white-striped fabric was supposed to be slimming. Unfortunately, the draped style made her feel more like an oversize zebra than a sexy woman.

  The café was a short walk from her apartment, so she’d arrived a little early. She’d requested one of the tables on the outdoor terrace to take advantage of the beautiful fall weather. The trees and bushes were painted brilliant shades of red and gold that set off the azure sky.

  At any other moment she would have been savoring the idea of having a lunch appointment with a friend and a date for the evening. It smacked of the real social life she’d been dreaming of since puberty. She had just never expected her social life to include wild romps in a public park while engaging in totally inappropriate and slutty behavior with a near stranger.

  “I’m so glad you came!” Jessa stooped to give Anne a quick hug before taking the seat opposite.

  Anne tried not to choke at her friend’s choice of words. Yes, yes, Anne had most definitely come. In fact she’d been treated to the most amazing climax of her entire life while standing, and fully clothed, no less. She couldn’t get her mind off the experience.

  Jessa sat her keys and sunglasses on the table. “It was so good to see you last night. I know I’ve been busy, but I should have called you ages ago.”

  A waiter approached, saving Anne from having to come up with a response. “What can I get for you ladies?”

  The college-aged waiter’s eyes lingered over the generous amount of cleavage exposed by Jessa’s V-neck top. The snug garment was tasteful and flattering. It had been a long time since Anne had seen Jessa away from the Phoenix. If the teal top and her denim capris were anything to go by, she dressed down when she wasn’t working in the bar.

  “Bring me an iced tea and a burger with everything,” Jessa said.

  Anne salivated at the thought of a real hamburger. “I’ll take the side salad with fat-free Italian dressing. And water with lemon is fine.”

  “So.” Jessa waited until the waiter had stepped away to speak. “The last I spoke with you, Terry had gotten your ex to sign the divorce papers and you were moving into the loft down here.”

  Anne didn’t really want to talk about her divorce from Jason Paul. “Are you really oblivious to the fact that the hot waiter was checking you out, or do you just not care?”

  “Men stare at boobs, Anne. It’s hardly noteworthy. If it means anything, he spent thirty seconds or more staring at yours too.”

  “Fat chance.” She gave a self-deprecating chuckle when she realized the irony of her words. “Literally in this case.”

  “Would you stop running yourself down?” Jessa reached across the table and touched her arm. “I was hoping that would stop when you didn’t have to hear your asshole ex saying stuff like that.”

  “He remarried,” Anne blurted suddenly.

  “To who?”

  “Rochelle.”

  “That skank?” Jessa flung herself back into her seat. “You know, Will was really bad. But Jason takes the cake. Tell me you don’t have any contact with him anymore.”

  Anne thought about the upcoming retirement party for her father at the country club where she and Jessa had first met what seemed like a million years ago. “Actually, I’m going to see him this Friday night. He and Rochelle planned a surprise retirement party for my father at the club.”

  “I’d completely forgotten that he and your father work together.”

  “That’s all right.” Anne tried to seem nonchalant. “I have my rebellious moments.”

  “How so?”

  “I refuse to use his first name. I call him Paul. It’s been a pet peeve of his since he washed out of ROTC in college.”

  Jessa laughed. “Way to bring up the petty stuff.”

  The waiter came back with their drinks. Anne watched him closely, but he never seemed to peek at her cleavage. He was too busy staring at Jessa.

  Jessa watched him walk away. “Snagging his attention isn’t really that much of a compliment you know.”

  Anne took in the waiter’s lean frame, tousled blond hair, and smooth face. After Gabriel’s brutal masculinity, the waiter did strike her as just a little…

  “Boyish,” Jessa supplied.

  “Still, it’s flattering when they ogle. And you look amazing.”

  “Have you started dating again?” Jessa asked.

  The question seemed rather random, but Anne would’ve been lying if she said she wasn’t pleased with the answer she could provide. “Actually, yes.”

  “Are you seeing anyone?”

  She thought of Gabriel. Of his incredible kisses and the way he made her body shiver with desire. “I have another first date tonight. I’m hoping it goes well.”

  Jessa’s brown gaze narrowed. “Do you have a date for the retirement party?”

  “Uh, no. That’s kind of why I hope this date goes well.” Damn. Anne had forgotten Jessa had an uncanny knack for driving straight to the point.

  “
You should ask Gabriel to go with you.”

  Anne felt her mouth pop open in shock.

  Jessa warmed to her topic. “Really. He’s extremely well-mannered, and he’s got that killer accent that makes him sound posh no matter what the topic is. Plus, his size will intimidate the shit out of Jason and anyone else who tries to fuck with you.”

  “I couldn’t do that. I don’t even know him!”

  “So what.” Jessa took a long swig of her tea. “I’ve gone to dozens of charity events since Will and I divorced, and I always take Connor with me. He bitches and moans and calls them bullshit events, but he goes because he knows that nobody will mess with me when he’s around. He doesn’t even have to speak.”

  Anne had no doubt that was true. Jessa’s husband was one scary man. She’d instantly seen the sex appeal the first time Jessa had introduced him, but Anne would have never been able to be at ease around someone who radiated the kind of menace Connor did.

  “He’s not scary when we’re alone, you know.” Jessa seemed to guess the direction of her thoughts.

  The strangest question popped into Anne’s head. “Do other women hit on him?”

  “All the time. Why?”

  “How can you stand that?” Anne thought of the gorgeous redhead kissing Gabriel in front of the bar last night. How did Jessa take the chance of that happening to a man she called her own?

  Jessa seemed to mull it over before choosing her words. “He’s mine. I know it. He knows it. Men make passes at me too. I just shrug them off. If they get too frisky, one of the guys handles it. I have to say though, I’m glad when its either Alex or Gabriel. Connor has been known to leave a mark when he warns someone off.”

  So Jessa could deal with it because she knew other men found her attractive too. “Status quo,” Anne mused.

  “Meaning what?”

  Anne struggled for a way to explain the attractiveness quotient to someone like Jessa. “I just mean that you’re both attractive people.”