by KD Jones
Phoenix quickly landed multiple punches, setting the Arterian off balance as he ambled to his feet. He needed to take advantage and end this quickly before the Arterian got his energy back. He leaped up and came down hard on the man’s back with his knee. When the male turned around onto his back Phoenix punched him—right…left…right. He grabbed him by the shirt, pulling his body slightly up off the ground, then swung once more and knocked the male unconscious.
He stood up, winded, with blood dripping down his body and his heart racing. Glancing over, he nodded at Zen who had also put the Voltan down for the count.
The announcers called out their names as the winners of the match. He looked around the large arena, trying to see if Olivia came. He winced from the bright lights.
“I can’t see a thing.” He also couldn’t hear much over the roar of the crowd.
Zen came up and patted him on the back and waved to the crowd. Many females were yelling out.
“I love you, Zen!”
“Zen the Sin!”
“Phoenix, woohoo!”
Zen had special contact lenses in his eyes that protected him from the bright lights. “Smile and wave to the fans, Phoenix, and stop worrying. Your female is here. I saw her earlier with her sister.”
He felt relief. If she came to the fight, there was every possibility that she would be at the after-party.
“Come on, my man. Let’s go to see the healers then get cleaned up. My mate is ready to get out of the suite. She’s been writing a book and hasn’t left the suite in three days.”
“I don’t really need a healer,” Phoenix griped.
“Don’t argue. It’s the GCFA policy and you know it. Forty-five minutes, then you’ll be all hers.”
They walked out of the arena down the back corridor restricted to GCFA staff and fighters. Staffers passed them and patted them on the back, telling them “good fight.” Phoenix nodded but didn’t say anything. His mind was preoccupied with thoughts of Olivia. He couldn’t wait to see her again. He hadn’t felt this excited about a female in a really long time.
*****
GCFA banquet room
Olivia stood next to the table with the punch, watching the crowd stuffed inside the banquet room. Women in skimpy skintight clothes outnumbered the men. Every time a male fighter entered the room, a gaggle of women surrounded him. The idea of these women attaching themselves to Phoenix had her feeling very possessive—something she had never felt before.
After the fight she and Lydia had gone up to Lydia’s suite to quickly change out of their jeans and T-shirts. Olivia was now wearing another outfit that Lydia had picked, a red halter dress with black heels. Lydia gave her an upsweep hairstyle that left her neck bare, and helped her apply makeup. Catching a glimpse of herself in one of the mirrors on the wall, she couldn’t believe this was her. Gone was her usual reserved look, and instead she looked like a sexy vixen. She wasn’t sure she liked the change but she secretly hoped Phoenix would.
She grabbed a glass of punch and took a sip. Her sister had no sooner entered the banquet room before some male came to ask her to dance. Venetians drew people to them. It was not just their exotic looks but a sort of natural pheromone that acted as a magnet others found appealing. Ever the social butterfly, Lydia thrived among those dancing. She wanted Olivia to dance, too, and sent one of her partners over to ask, but it felt awkward dancing with a stranger. It was different with Phoenix last night. They’d had time together at the restaurant so that when he had pulled her into his arms on the dance floor, she felt comfortable with him.
Glancing back over at the entrance to the banquet room, she caught sight of him. She felt her heart stop then suddenly speed up superfast. She raised her hand to her heart as if she needed to hold it inside her chest. He scanned the room and when he spotted her, they locked eyes and she literally couldn’t breathe.
It felt like she was on a Ferris wheel that had stopped at the top, and she was sitting there, scared, staring down at the ground below. Then the Ferris wheel moved forward and she was falling, falling, as she began to take a step toward him. She didn’t stop until they were mere inches from each other. He smiled at her and air rushed back into her lungs.
“Hello, Olivia. I’m glad you decided to come.”
“Phoenix.” Olivia couldn’t help but stare. He was wearing a form-fitting stretch dark blue dress shirt that had the buttons going up diagonally, and dark black jeans. She remembered how the lights gleamed against his skin in the arena and she wished to rip his shirt off so she could rub her hands all over him. He appeared hairless but she had been a little bit away watching the fight and the lights were kind of harsh.
“Olivia? Are you feeling well?”
Oh God, she had been standing there staring at him like an idiot. She licked her lips and smiled. “I’m fine.” Was that her voice that was all whispery?
“Are you hungry? Thirsty?” He motioned down at her half-empty cup of punch.
“I’m fine.”
“Would you like to dance?”
“Yes.”
He gently took the cup from her and placed it on the nearest table. Then he reached for her hand and led her past the giggling females trying to grab his attention. She couldn’t help but look smugly at the women they passed. She saw her sister coming off the dance floor and Lydia winked at her.
Phoenix turned toward her and pulled her into his arms. She couldn’t help but sigh with contentment. It felt right having his arms around her. She could imagine how good it would feel if they were alone and naked in each other’s arms.
He kept hold of one of her hands while placing his other hand on her lower back. She rested her free hand and arm over his shoulder though he was a good bit taller than her. She was at just the right height to lay her face against his chest. A slow song was playing and they swayed together, wrapped up in their own little world. He leaned forward close to her ear so that she would hear him. She was once again stunned at how good a dancer he was.
“Did you enjoy the fight?”
She pulled back to look up into his face. It wasn’t a typically beautiful face but he had a strong jawline and those dark eyes of his pierced her right to her soul. All in all he was a very handsome man. She worked to focus on answering his question.
“I enjoyed watching you.” That much was true. She had never been into athletics or sports, especially ones that were rough or almost violent. She did like watching Phoenix exerting his muscles and she could appreciate how good a fighter he was.
“What did you like the most?”
“You not wearing your shirt.” Oh God! Did she say that out loud?
He chuckled. “I could give you another more private show. Teach you a few moves. Just you, me, and no shirts for either of us. We could leave right now.”
She giggled. How did he always make her feel at ease while exciting her at the same time? “We can’t leave right away. You just got here.”
“My only obligation was to show up to the after-party for an appearance. I have done that. There’s nothing keeping us here.”
She bit her bottom lip. “I don’t know.”
“I only want to have some alone time with you. Come to my suite with me. I’ll order us food to be delivered and we can talk. I confess that I really enjoyed talking with you last night.”
Olivia smiled. “I did, too.”
Phoenix continued to dance with her and let her make up her own mind instead of pressuring her. She appreciated that more than anything. Truth was she really did want to be alone with him. It never occurred to her that she would be possessive and selfish but here she was, wanting his concentration purely on her.
“Okay.”
He didn’t question her to make sure, probably afraid she would change her mind. She did question whether being alone with him would be a mistake, but it was one she was willing to make. Keeping her hand in his, he walked them off the dance floor. She looked across the room and saw her sister giving her the thumbs-up. She
felt heat in her cheeks but straightened her shoulders. She was a grown woman and whatever happened or didn’t happen with Phoenix was their business. She felt very anxious but excited at the same time. Olivia couldn’t believe she was about to have Phoenix all to herself, in a suite close to a vacant bedroom. Oh boy.
Chapter 8
Phoenix’s heart was pounding like it wanted to escape his chest. He couldn’t believe that Olivia agreed to come back with him to his suite. She made him feel like a young male once more, being alone with a girl for the first time.
He held her hand as they walked to the elevator. After pushing the button, he looked down at her and saw her biting her bottom lip. After their date, he noticed she did that often when she was unsure of something. He lifted her hand and placed a kiss on her knuckles to reassure her.
“We’re just spending time alone. Nothing will happen that you don’t want to happen. You can leave at any time.”
She smiled up at him. “I know. I’m just anxious.”
Phoenix wanted to distract her from her nerves. “Did your sister ask you about last night?”
She nodded. “Yeah, she was grilling me big time. I didn’t tell her everything.”
The ride up to his floor was quick but not as quick as he would have liked. Plus, the elevator kept stopping to let people on and off so it made it hard for them to talk about anything. Finally they reached his floor, which he used his personal access to get to.
“Why is it that on this floor the door only opens when you have a special access?” Olivia asked.
“Rachel and Trig added the additional security to the floors with the fighters, VIPs, and executives,” he told her as they walked down the corridor.
“Was there a reason for that?”
“Yes, there were a couple of security breaches that endangered staff. I can’t tell you any more than that. It’s something that the GCFA wants to keep under wraps.”
“Okay, but is my sister in any danger? Her suite isn’t on a secured floor.”
“The security for the whole ship has been improved since our breach.”
“Could she move to a secured floor if she asked to?”
“I don’t think so. She’s not technically a GCFA employee, more of a leasing consultant.” He opened the door to his suite using his thumbprint as the key. “The GCFA treats Lydia’s services as a perk for the VIPs and executives and staff so she gets a lot of leeway.”
Phoenix watched as she entered his suite and glanced around at his home. He was glad that he’d had someone come and clean that morning. She had a strange look on her face. “Is something wrong?”
She shook her head and moved a few feet away from him. He didn’t like the distance, physically or emotionally. Last night had been a revelation. It had been years since he had been able to talk so easily to a female. Now she seemed to be holding back on him. He took her arm and turned her to face him.
“Olivia, you can ask me anything.”
“I don’t have a right to ask but…have you used Lydia’s services before?”
He reached up and caressed her cheek, smiling. She was jealous. “No, I have not used Lydia’s services nor have I hired any of her staff.”
“Never?”
“Never.”
“Good, because that would have been awkward.”
“Come and sit down. Let me get us something to drink. Is wine okay?” Phoenix asked as he led her to the couch.
“Yes, I could definitely use a glass of wine.”
“I’ll be right back. Make yourself at home.”
He quickly went to the kitchen and pulled two wineglasses down from the cabinet. He opened the refrigerator and frowned. Damn it, he didn’t have any wine.
“Is beer okay?” he called out.
“Yes, that’s fine!”
After grabbing the bottles, he reached for two tall glasses to pour the beer into. He opened the bottles and tilted each glass to the side to keep the foam from building up too much. Having filled the glasses, he carried them back into his living space. He stopped to watch her as she picked up a photo frame of him with his old Special Forces team in the military.
He couldn’t help but admire her profile. Her dark hair and glowing skin made her look like one of those paintings that he once saw in a museum. She picked up another frame and frowned. Moving forward, he peeked over her shoulder to see what she was looking at and felt a moment of discomfort.
“Is this…”
He handed her the glass of beer. “Yes, that’s my ex-fiancée.”
“She’s beautiful.”
“I used to think so. Looking back now, I can see that I was won over by her outward appearance. She was more into material things when we first met. We planned to marry and travel the world once my military tour was over. .”
“She didn’t wait too long before moving on.”
“My death shook her up and she realized that she wanted children, a real family, and that all the material stuff she had been consumed with didn’t mean as much to her.”
“You sound like you don’t blame her.”
Olivia turned to face him and he tried to hide his emotions from her. “I can’t blame her for moving on with her life when she thought I no longer existed. I wish her the best and I believe that we were never meant to remain together.”
“Still, it must have hurt to come back from hell to find the woman you loved married and pregnant.”
He did something he hadn’t ever done—he confided in another person. “Truthfully, I was devastated. Not long after that I tried to return to working missions for the military. I would take on as many dangerous missions that I could—the more dangerous the better. I didn’t care anymore. I wanted death, but even death was not my friend. Then my commander stepped in. He refused to send me on risky missions knowing that I wanted to die. He told me to either retire or he would retire me himself. If he did that his superiors would have given him a hard time and I couldn’t let my commander face that because of me. So I retired.”
“You said that even death was not your friend. What does that mean?”
He took a long sip of his beer. “Another side effect of my mysterious DNA is that my body regenerates—rapidly. I age like everyone else but I heal whether I’m shot, burned, stabbed, or blown up. Most halfsies and even other alien species can self-heal within days. I can heal smaller injuries within hours and mortal injuries within days.”
“Wow. Did the army know this?”
“My commander tried to keep my abilities top secret but some of his superiors found out. That’s why I knew that if my commander retired me he would have been in a lot of trouble. They weren’t happy when I retired but have been trying to get me to come back ever since I left.”
He sucked in a breath when she moved closer to him and reached up to caress his cheek. “That’s why all your bruises and cuts from the fight tonight were healed completely.”
“Yes. I don’t even really need to go see the healers but it’s a requirement by the GCFA. I tolerate it because, unlike the military healers, I know that they can’t disclose any of my medical records and they’re not using it against me or trying to duplicate my results on someone else.”
“You said you age normally. Do you think that you’ll eventually die?”
He shrugged. “It’s an unknown, but what I’ve learned so far is that as long as my heart still beats, I will probably heal. I’ve never purposely risked stopping my heart to test the theory, though.”
“Thank God for that.” Olivia placed her hand over his heart.
He could feel her touch even through his shirt. He took her hand in his and brought it up to his lips, placing a kiss in the center of her palm. Her arousing scent increased and made his own body respond with need. His cock was fully swollen inside his pants.
“Olivia, I want you to stay the night.”
She blushed and looked up into his eyes. Indecision was obvious on her face. “I don’t know what to do. I want to be with you, more t
han anything, but I’ve never done this before.”
Phoenix knew she was innocent. He normally preferred females who were uncomplicated and knew his no-attachment rules. Olivia wasn’t like any of the females he’d ever known before so the rules didn’t exactly fit her. Besides, his emotions were already involved. It was too late to go back now.
“Phoenix.”
“Yes?”
“Will you kiss me?”
“God, yes.” He wrapped one arm around her waist, pulling her against him while cupping the back of her head with his other hand and capturing her lips in a deep, passionate kiss. He groaned with desire when she opened to him, letting his tongue invade and conquer hers. Phoenix’s body was throbbing with need.
Quickly he moved his hands over her shoulders to take her dress off. She helped him by kicking off her high heels and lobbing them across the room. Olivia also tossed her handbag onto his couch. He didn’t care about any of that, because now she was naked except for her dark red panties. He stepped back to take in the view.
“My God, you’re beautiful.”
She blushed, which only enhanced her exotic looks. “Why am I the only one naked?”
“I can fix that.” He started to unbutton his shirt but she stopped him by putting her hands on his.
“Let me.” Her fingers shook nervously at first as she unbuttoned the shirt from the top to the bottom. Once his flesh was exposed, she ran her small hands over his chest and he fought the urge to grab her, throw her to the floor, and take her. She needed slow and steady, not hard and fast—not yet. He had more willpower and was determined to make this good for her.
Phoenix sucked in a breath when her fingers went to the waist of his pants, unbuttoning them and letting the zipper down. It wasn’t his first time but it was hers and Olivia was special to him, which made every touch, every caress matter even more. She had no idea what pleasure she gave him simply by touching him.
