His memory...
And that was the thought that jolted her, regardless of her sexual haze. And when Sawyer began to push down on her pants, that was all she needed to knock the sense back into her.
She let go of his erection, broke their kiss, and gently pushed him away.
“What’s wrong?” Sawyer asked her, the confusion clearly written all over his face.
“We can’t do this.”
“Why not? I don’t understand. You seemed pretty into it a couple of minutes ago.”
She closed her eyes with regret. “I know.” She opened them and looked up at him. “And I’m sorry.” And she really was.
She felt bad that he had gotten her off and that she was going to leave him hanging—or more like, not hanging. But the point was that she was going to leave him with what would probably be a serious case of blue balls. What added to the guilt was that if he hadn’t given her an orgasm, she probably wouldn’t have stopped him, but he had given her one, and because of that, she was able to say no.
“I just...I can’t do this.” She stepped around him and made a beeline for the stairs.
“Kenzie...”
“I’m sorry,” she said again, not looking back.
Sawyer watched Kenzie go, baffled and hard as a brick. If he didn’t relieve himself, he would probably be hurting later.
He didn’t understand what had happened. He knew that she had been into it. He knew that she’d wanted him. The scent of her arousal had filled the room, and when he’d touched her, she’d all but dripped into his hand because she was so ready for him. And when she had come...holy shit, there was no mistaking that. She hadn’t faked her orgasm. He had felt it as her pussy clamped down on his fingers like a vise.
He rubbed his hands over his head in frustration. He simply didn’t get it.
He dropped his arms as an alarming thought came over him. Maybe she hadn’t told him everything. Maybe he had done something to hurt her that she hadn’t told him about. He didn’t feel like he could have been that kind of man, but then again, what did he know about his former self? Only what Kenzie had told him.
He needed to find out if anything else had happened.
Determined to have a serious talk with his mate, Sawyer practically ran for the stairs, only to stop short when his still erect dick bounced against his stomach.
He looked down at his penis. “Perhaps you’re the one to blame for all this.”
Whoever’s fault it was, he certainly couldn’t go marching up to Kenzie, naked and at full mast. He needed to take care of his erection and find some clothes before he dared approach her. He supposed getting clean wouldn’t hurt either, and with that thought, he headed for the shower.
Chapter Nine
PHOENIX PACED THE room that she’d been given at the Guardians’ compound. It was the same room she had stayed in previously, but the familiarity with her surroundings didn’t help her discomfort or rage.
She should have never come here. She should have insisted that Dante take her home. She should be out there right now, helping everyone find Gerald. She deserved to be out there. It was her right to be the one to track down that asshole and cut his balls off. But that wasn’t going to happen if she was here.
Stupid moment of weakness.
When Dante had burst through the door of the motel room, not only had she seen the relief and anger on his face, she had also felt it. Knowing those emotions were for her...had done something to her. Then, when Dante had taken off after Gerald without any backup, she’d been scared for him. Finding out that Dante was safe and that there was no sniper had filled her with such relief. Those three things along with Gerald’s treatment of her were the reasons she had insisted on coming home with Dante.
Stupid, stupid feelings.
It wasn’t that she didn’t care about anyone, but Phoenix never let emotions interfere with the mission or her goals. Despite what had happened back at the motel, she should have sucked it up and gone back home. Now, she was stuck here. The vampires couldn’t go out in the daylight, and she wasn’t going to make one of her fellow sentinels stop their work to pick her up, especially when they were down two. Dante had told her that Saxon and Zane had been shot and were at the shifter infirmary.
There was a knock at the door, and Phoenix scrambled to find something to cover herself.
After they had arrived at the compound, Lexine had brought Phoenix some clothes to wear. Phoenix had quickly washed any trace of Gerald and the motel off of her, but after she had dried herself off, she’d discovered that there was no way she would be able to wear the bra Lexine had given her. The pressure on her sore nipples was too much.
So, Phoenix had decided to just put on the sweater she’d been given, sans bra, but it’d rub her breasts anytime she moved. She’d been topless ever since. There was no way she could or would answer the door that way.
Stupid fucking Gerald.
Even if she had gone back home, she’d have had to do some fancy first aid before she’d be able to put something against her chest.
“Phoenix, open up. It’s me,” Dante said through the wood.
With no other options, she grabbed the shirt she’d been kidnapped and rescued in. Because it had been cut down the middle, she could cover herself and hold it away from her body at the same time.
She slowly opened the door, just enough for her head to poke through. “Yes?”
“Are you going to come eat? Didn’t Lexine tell you that we have food?”
Eating sounded wonderful. Gerald had barely fed her anything the whole time they were in the motel. But there was no way she could go downstairs as she was. She hoped Dante hadn’t seen the hunger on her face.
She smiled poorly at Dante. “I’m not hungry. I think I’m going to go and take a nap.”
Dante looked her up and down, studying her. “You don’t look tired. You look pissed.”
“I’m pissed because you won’t let me sleep.”
He gave her a look that said, Really?
She sighed. “I’m fine. Really.”
“You sure you’re not hungry?”
“Yes,” she said at the same time her stupid stomach growled.
Dante straightened. “Phoenix, don’t lie to me.”
“Seriously, I’ll be fine.” She managed to almost sound convincing.
“Fucking hell, woman,” he said as he pushed her door open.
His movements left her no choice but to step back and let him in.
“Dante, I said, I’ll be fine.” This time, there was no almost. She definitely sounded like she meant it. Good.
Maybe he’d take the hint and leave her alone.
But Dante wasn’t listening to her. He was looking at the discarded bra and sweater she had left on the bed. “Why aren’t you wearing the clothes Lexine gave you?” he said as he turned to her.
“I am. I’m wearing the jeans.”
It was the truth, and hopefully, he would look down instead of up where her hands were clutching her ripped shirt.
It worked because Dante was staring at her legs.
She knew the jeans were tight on her, compared to her normal ones, but she didn’t think she looked that bad.
Dante’s gaze moved from her feet to her thighs and then up to her torso. “Why are you wearing your torn shirt?”
She fought to come up with a good reason as to why she was still wearing her top. “Uh...”
“And why are you holding it away from your body?”
Again, she didn’t have a good answer, but it seemed as if Dante wasn’t going to wait for an answer anyway.
He marched over to her and yanked her shirt out of her hands.
“No, wait,” she said.
But Dante didn’t listen.
He pulled her shirt apart and stared down at her chewed up areolas.
Phoenix’s first instinct was to cover herself. She was embarrassed, fearful, and nervous. Embarrassed because Gerald had gotten the best of her, fearful that Dante was
going to look at her large breasts and assume that she wanted to have sex like so many males before him even if that thought was irrational, and nervous because she cared about what Dante thought.
But when she saw his almost clinical assessment of her chest, most of her fear faded away.
Dante’s cinnamon smell deepened. “I’m going to fucking kill him.”
With that statement, most of her embarrassment was gone. He didn’t seem to think she was a fool for Gerald taking advantage of her.
She grabbed her shirt out of his hands, stepped away from him, and pulled it back around her body. “I appreciate that, but I would prefer that I get to be the one to fucking kill him.”
She was left with nervousness, and Dante staring down at her now covered upper body didn’t help. She didn’t care for the fact that Dante was concerned about Gerald hurting her. She opened her mouth to tell him to leave when she noticed that he was bleeding.
He was biting his bottom lip so hard that his fangs were buried in it.
“Dante?”
He didn’t seem to hear her.
She stepped forward and shook his arm. “Dante, you’re bleeding.”
“Huh?” He looked up at her, and his eyes focused on her face.
She pointed to his mouth. “Your lip. It’s bleeding.”
He reached up and touched the blood before looking at it. “Oh.” He licked the blood off his finger and then swiped his tongue over his bottom lip a few times.
There was no bleeding, and barely any marks were left from his fangs.
She stepped even closer. The only thing that she was feeling now was amazement as an outrageous idea formed. She couldn’t believe she was even thinking it. “I want you to heal me.”
“Excuse me?” Dante said.
“I know your saliva heals wounds. That’s how you seal the person’s puncture wounds when you’ve finished feeding from them. I want you to heal me.” She jerked her chin down toward her chest.
He looked down at her chest again, and this time, he was the one who took a step back. “That is not going to happen.”
“Why not? Dante, I can’t walk around here, topless, and it hurts to have anything touch me there. Plus, the sooner you heal me, the sooner I can get out there and hunt down that piece of shit.”
He ran his hand down his face and sighed. “Phoenix, I can’t do that to you. I can’t be another person who...” He trailed off.
“Who what?” she challenged.
Dante’s dark chocolate eyes met hers, but he didn’t continue.
“Please.” She stressed how much she wanted this.
“Okay. Fine. As long as you don’t tell anyone about this.”
She raised her brow. “Isn’t that my line?”
“Whatever. Let’s just do this.”
Phoenix slowly released one side of her shirt and let it fall to her side. She didn’t know whether to clench her eyes shut or keep them open and observe every move that Dante made.
He stepped forward as he licked his thumb and lightly swept it around her nipple.
She shivered.
He swallowed hard.
She let the other side of her shirt slide down, and Dante repeated the process.
She stared down at her breasts. They looked the same. “It’s not working.”
“Fuck,” Dante muttered.
“Why isn’t it working?”
Dante looked around. Then, he grabbed her hand and led her over to the bed. “It’s not working because I have to put my mouth directly on you. It works better when it comes straight from the source. Are you sure you still want this?”
“Yes,” she answered without any hesitation.
He pushed her down until she sat. Phoenix watched as Dante got down onto his knees and knelt before her. He moved her legs apart and scooted closer. He picked up her hand and slid it to the back of his head, through his deep brown locks. “I want you to keep your hand on my hair,” he said as he squeezed her fingers. “If you need me to stop, you pull on my hair, okay?”
“Okay.”
He looked down. “I can’t believe I’m doing this,” he said under his breath.
She wondered what he’d meant by that. She didn’t know what to think of Dante. He’d never hit on her or shown sexual interest, yet the time he’d fed from her, there was no mistaking the hard-on he had pressed up against her or the orgasm that had followed. And it was true that she had been avoiding Dante since then. She hadn’t really seen him until he’d rescued her, and so far, he’d been acting like the feeding never happened.
Since he was clearly speaking to himself, Phoenix didn’t bother answering. Instead, she looked down to where his gaze had landed. Her shirt was wide open. She was shocked that she hadn’t bothered to close it as he’d moved her to the bed, and she was even more shocked that she hadn’t noticed. And her nipples were hard bright red pebbles. She didn’t feel cold. In fact, she was hot and grateful she wasn’t wearing the thick sweater lying on the bed.
Her eyes followed Dante as he slowly lowered his mouth to one of her breasts. She cringed and forced herself not to pull back as she fought the images of other men putting their mouths on her private area.
She managed to stay still and breathed in the scent of Dante. He smelled almost like cinnamon, and it was such a comforting aroma. As she watched him and breathed in his spicy scent, making her brain recognize that this was him and no one else, she lost her anxiety and relaxed.
Dante gently licked his way around her areola. His tongue was warm and smooth, and the unexpected pleasure from this caused Phoenix to moan and curl her fingers in his hair.
Dante jerked back. “What? Are you okay?” he asked, clearly worried that he had done something wrong.
She hadn’t anticipated it feeling good. She just thought it might feel...not bad. This was a first for her. She had tried letting ex-boyfriends touch her breasts in the past, but she had never enjoyed it.
She cleared her throat. “No, I’m fine. Please keep going.”
He studied her for a second before he continued. He moved to her other breast and swirled his tongue around it. Then, he moved to the nipple he had started with and stroked his tongue over it a few more times. At one point, she assumed her nipple was probably almost healed, going by the tingling she felt there and the lack of soreness, but when Dante moved to pull back, she tightly clutched his hair, and he did the most startling thing.
He pulled her nipple into his mouth and sucked.
It was fucking heaven.
Phoenix was very good at guarding her emotions and feelings, even going so far as to train her body not to give off much scent, but when Dante did this, it was nearly impossible for her to hide her arousal. There was no way she fully succeeded at this feat because she felt the wetness between her legs. Thankfully, jeans were thick. If he kept this up, soon, she probably wouldn’t care.
Dante moved to her other breast and drew this one into his mouth as well.
Phoenix’s neck forgot to support her head for a moment. It felt so good. Then, she cursed herself and yanked her eyes back up. She wanted to see what Dante was doing to her. She wanted to memorize it.
Before she knew it, he abruptly stopped and shoved himself back. “There. You’re healed.” He stood up and nodded, unable to meet her eyes. “I’ll see you at the final dinner.” He spun around and sprinted out the door.
Phoenix didn’t stop him or go after him. There was no need. She had gotten what she had asked for. And a little bit more.
She looked down at herself and hesitantly touched her breasts. She was indeed mended.
Perhaps in more ways than one.
Dante ran away from the room as fast as he could.
When he’d approached Phoenix earlier, what had just happened between them was the furthest thing from what he had thought would happen.
Holy shit.
He stopped running and slowed down to walk the rest of the way to the dining room. He needed the time to compose himself.
<
br /> Sure, he had been and still was truly angry at the sight of Phoenix’s chewed up nipples, but the sight of her breasts had nearly brought him to his knees. The female had amazing tits. There was no other way to describe them. They were large and perfectly shaped, and as far as he was concerned, it was a sin to keep them hidden. He had the fucking hard-on from hell to attest to that.
Knowing a little of what Phoenix had experienced in her life, he understood that she didn’t want the attention, and that brought his rage back up to the surface again.
She didn’t deserve anything that had happened to her. She might not be his favorite person, but he knew that at least.
Pretty soon, he reached the dining room. Everyone looked up as he entered, and he knew right away that he couldn’t stay and make small talk. And he certainly couldn’t face Phoenix when she came in to eat.
He grabbed some food to go before heading for his office. “I have some work to do. I’ll see you all later.”
Thankfully, Dante would do this every once in a while, so no one suspected that he was ducking out for any other reason than the one he’d given them.
Once in his office, Dante practically threw the food on his desk. He slammed his body down in his chair and blew out the breath he’d been holding.
He needed to forget about Phoenix and her damn gorgeous tits. Just because she had let him heal her didn’t mean she would ever let him near them again. Besides, he didn’t need to go near them. Getting involved with that she-cat was a complication neither of them wanted or needed. He had a group of vampires to lead, and despite what had just happened in that bedroom, Phoenix was closed off and cold.
Yes, it would be better to just forget that had ever happened.
Now, he just had to convince his fucking dick.
Chapter Ten
KENZIE CLUTCHED THE pillow in her lap and contemplated her next step. The reality of the situation was that she would be stuck in this house with Sawyer for the next few days. Her brother’s trips never lasted for more than a week, and they were already starting on their third day there, so they had four more days at the most. She could do this. Four days wasn’t forever.
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