Love Abstract (The Art of Falling Book 2)

by B. L. Berry

  We are nothing but a blur of limbs, making out like horny teenagers trying not to get caught by our parents.

  Suddenly he stops and pulls back to look at me. And I mean really look at me. His breath quivers, and it’s clear he’s nervous. It feels like it’s the first time on so many levels.

  “Phoenix,” I pant. “The only thing I want right now … need right now, is your lips on my body.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” He relaxes his shoulders and gives me a wicked smile. “Now where were we?”

  “I believe we were right about here …” I turn off the overhead light in the bedroom and scoot back on the bed, the sculptured lines of his body glowing from the bedside lamp.

  I’m far too eager to play coy and seductive. I know what I want right now, and I’m going to get it.

  “Come here birthday girl …” Phoenix crawls onto the bed, desire coursing his veins and heat wild in his eyes. Whatever nerves he had moments ago have dissipated.

  He plants a delicate kiss upon my lips before his palms skim down my sides, and his fingers splay across my stomach underneath my camisole. My body clenches in anticipation.

  I lean up slightly, and he pulls the soft fabric over my head. His eyes flare at the sight of my naked chest underneath him. He hovers over me, taking his time, savoring my body, inch by inch with his tender lips. Kissing down my chest and stomach before sitting up on his knees.

  Phoenix hooks his fingers inside my boxer shorts and pulls them down painfully slowly. I watch his face light up when he realizes I’m not wearing anything underneath. My chest heaves in anticipation.

  “My god, you're so beautiful.” He looks at me with wonder in his eyes.

  This feeling. This feeling is unlike anything I've ever experienced.

  I've had my fair share of guys in the past, but none have come remotely close to this. Nerves wash through me like a live wire and I feel as anxious as I did the night I lost my virginity.

  He settles between my legs and delicately kisses his way up the inside of my thigh. His hot breath against my skin charges my body with anticipation. He is moving painfully slow. But when he finally reaches my core, I shamelessly buck my hips to meet his mouth, welcoming him to taste me. And the instant I feel his tongue enter the depths of my body, a savage moan escapes my mouth.

  We've fooled around before, but never in this capacity. Never this intimate. Never this determined.

  We both know tonight is different.

  This moment is different.

  And our relationship is on the brink of catapulting to a whole new level. There is no turning back.

  I’m ravenous for every last piece of him.

  “Phoenix,” I pant with frustrated delight as his tongue swirls over my opening. “I need you … now.”

  He pauses and looks over my naked body, catching my gaze.

  “Shh ...” he muses as he delicately glides his finger over my clit in tiny circles. My insides clench at his touch. “Right now you just want me. I’m about to show you what it’s like to truly need me.”

  I moan as Phoenix slowly presses his fingers inside me and leans back down to kiss the inside of my thighs. He traces his tongue back to my center, nipping my clit playfully with his teeth.

  Want? Need? The hell with it all! Whatever he is giving I am willingly taking.

  My body melts into the bed and I submit myself to his heated touch. Pumping his fingers in and out at a rising pace, I roll my head back on the pillow and try to control my breathing as my body absorbs his every move.

  “Phoenix ... I ...” Words fail me and I writhe as he brings me closer and closer to the brink.

  Oh. My. God. He feels even better than I imagined.

  I slowly rock my hips in time with his hands, meeting him thrust for thrust. Then in a moment of torture, he stills his hand and watches the rise and fall of my breasts as I pant uncontrollably.

  What the hell?

  I catch his gaze and he gives me a wicked smile.

  “You are so fucking beautiful, Ivy.”

  What? No!

  “What are you doing, Phoenix? Don’t stop. I want you so fucking badly right now.”

  “Right. You want me,” Phoenix says simply and licks his lips seductively. I sigh and grip the bedsheets in frustration.

  “Please!” I beg brazenly and try to wrap my legs around his body. With that, he buries his face between my thighs, his hot mouth returning to my core, and sets the fire within ablaze.

  Somehow his lips are both savage and tender, licking and sucking and kissing my insides. He takes his time and touches me with care. With insanity. With love.

  Phoenix continues to bring me to the edge and then back off, tormenting me in the best way possible. But when he curls his fingers up inside my body, hitting that elusive spot that drives me wild, he doesn’t relent. His tongue works skillfully in tandem with his hands, and all the muscles in my body start to tighten.

  My chest heaves, desperate for more air, desperate for more Phoenix, desperate for a release. I rock my hips to meet him and claw my fingers in his hair, finding every which way to bring him closer to me.

  “Phoenix ...”

  I breathe his name over and over as I climb closer toward euphoria. When the intensity of his touch is almost too much to bear, tingles roll through my body in waves and my muscles quake, erupting in pleasure. I can’t see straight, and I certainly can’t form a coherent thought.

  “Shit ...” I mutter breathlessly. My body quivers as he slows his tongue, placing soft kisses on my thighs. “That was beyond incredible. I needed that. I need you,” I whisper.

  Phoenix sighs contently and gives me a satisfied smile in agreement as I rake my hand through my hair trying to regain composure.

  “I’m serious, hon. I need you. Please ...” I look at him with such ferocity and intent.

  I know what I want.

  What I need.

  Him.

  Phoenix sits up and grasps my hand, stroking his thumb over my palm. The gesture drives me wild.

  “Are you sure you want to do this tonight?”

  I want to scream that I have never been more sure about anything in my life, but all that I can muster is “uh-huh.” I reach across the bed to turn off the bedside lamp.

  “No, don’t,” he commands gently. “I want you to leave it on. I want you to see me. I need you to look me in the eyes and know that it's just you and me. No one else.

  “You …”

  He kisses my lower stomach as he crawls up my body.

  “And …”

  He kisses my breasts.

  “Me …”

  He leans down and kisses me deeply, holding his weight up above my body. I feel his hardness through his boxer briefs and eagerly lift my hips to grind against him.

  “Here,” he whispers as he slides off of me and rolls onto his back. “I want you to be in control.”

  His comment steals my breath away. It isn’t a gesture of laziness. And it’s not him going all alpha on me, telling me what to do.

  It’s an act of love.

  Given all that has happened, he wants me to have the power over what happens to my body and when. He wants me to be in charge.

  This man. God, I fucking love this man.

  With my body still shaky and sensitive, I slowly climb over his body and grab a condom from my nightstand. I’ve secretly kept them on my side, knowing this day would eventually come. But I couldn’t have scripted a more perfect evening if I tried.

  I trace my fingers across his chiseled chest and playfully snap at the elastic on his boxer briefs before impatiently tearing them off his legs. Carefully, I open the foil and gently roll it down over his beautiful length. I hesitate a moment, taking everything in. We both know we are standing on the precipice of irreversible change. He smiles warmly, and there is no one else in the world other than the two of us.

  Carefully I ease myself onto him, and Phoenix gasps my name. His voice is like honey … slow and smooth and sweet. He f
eels phenomenal. Phoenix grabs my hips and stills my body, searching my eyes. The moan that passes my lips makes him smile, and I take a moment to allow my body to adjust to his length.

  I lean over and softly kiss his lips.

  “I love you, Ivy.”

  His love for me is like water. It fills me up and spills over. It can reach the darkest places that I don’t even know exist. It cleanses me from the inside out.

  “And I love you, Phoenix.” I pull his bottom lip between my teeth before starting to rock my hips back and forth. I feel each one of his fingertips pressing firmly into my skin, permanently searing my body with his touch.

  Aside from the soft creaking of the bed frame, the only other sound is our shared breath—subtle gasps, soft moans, hitched breathing.

  Phoenix interlocks his fingers with mine as our bodies piece together. His eyes pierce mine and never look away.

  “God, Ivy. You feel perfect.”

  He leans up and takes my breast in his mouth, grazing his teeth over my nipple. It makes my entire body clench with want.

  “Phoenix …” I close my eyes and tilt my head back. Drowning in a sea of emotional sensation, punctuated by physical perfection. Instinctively, I quicken my pace and tighten my grip on his hands.

  “Look at me,” he whispers. “I love you more than you can even comprehend.”

  “And I love you.” I feel those words on a molecular level. They’re strung so deep that passion for him is coded in every fiber of my being.

  Phoenix reaches his face up toward me, and when I lean down to kiss him passionately, it happens. The colliding of worlds in the most unanticipated—and painful—way possible.

  “Ow! FUCK!”

  I hear a crack when his forehead smashes my face, and all I see is stars. A raging headache consumes me.

  “Oh my God, Ivy. Are you all right? Shit!” Phoenix’s hands instantly frame my face.

  I nod as I laugh painfully at our collision. “Are you okay? I’m so sorry, Phoenix!”

  If you can’t laugh a little during sex, you’re doing it wrong. Or at least doing it with the wrong person.

  “Shh … I’m fine, baby. I’m fine. It’s you I’m worried about.”

  He wraps his arms around me and pulls me down to his chest before kissing me just above my eye. Slowly we begin our rhythm again. Beads of sweat build between us, but our eyes remain locked together. Moments later, the searing pain dissipates when he reaches down and strokes me without restraint. It’s almost too much to handle.

  His actions send me over the edge again, and I unravel above him until my skin is flush and my body is weak and I’m practically crying in pleasure. Coming down from the high, I mutter a few obscenities, and he grips my hips once more. Through my lightheadedness, I continue to ride him until he shudders below me, finding his release.

  Phoenix pulls me tightly down over his chest, his body still inside mine.

  “Yours,” he whispers. “I am forever and always yours. And there’s not a damn thing you can do about it.”

  I am his.

  We’ve created this perfect love together.

  This is definitely the best birthday in the history of birthdays.

  FLOATING. ALL DAY LONG I’VE been floating. I woke up and everything was in its right place. I went through the motions of the day in a delightful bliss. I can’t remember the last time I felt this happy. This complete. This … everything.

  I can still smell Phoenix on my skin, taste him on my lips and feel him deep inside the marrow of my bones. He has become a part of me in every sense of the word. We spent the night talking with kisses, delicate caresses, and toe-curling orgasms. I should be exhausted, but instead I am completely rejuvenated.

  Ivy: I’m still wearing the smile you gave me last night.

  Phoenix: Good. When I get home, you better still be wearing that. And ONLY that.

  I turn the corner and search for the keys in my purse, trying not to drop the groceries I picked up on my way home. I’m going to attempt to make a romantic dinner for the two of us. Attempt being the operative word. My last attempt ended in a burnt skillet and frozen waffles in the toaster.

  There’s a young woman sitting on the floor in front of our door. The way the sun shines through the window at the end of the hall gives her an ethereal glow. She fumbles with the luggage tag on the suitcase that sits next to her and I quickly realize there is nothing angelic about her.

  She looks familiar.

  A little too familiar, in fact.

  As I step closer, I know exactly who it is.

  Fuck.

  “Excuse me, it’s Hailey, right?”

  She looks at me and forces a stiff smile. My stomach curls in on itself.

  “Yeah. And you’re Genevieve’s sister,” she states wryly. “God … what’s your name?”

  I watch her feebly search the air for the answer. Being genuine is clearly not in her DNA.

  “It’s Ivy.” I reach out my hand but she just looks at it as she plays continues to fidget with the tag absentmindedly.

  “Ivy. That’s right.”

  Her eyes scan my body and it makes me feel naked. I don’t like being sized up. I’m not some threat. And as much as I think she’d like to be, she’s not a threat to me. There are no threats because there is no competition when it comes to Phoenix. I’m the only one for him, and I’m not about to let this black widow think she has some hold over either of us.

  “So what can I do for you?”

  “I came for Nix.” She offers up a forced smile as she pushes herself to her feet.

  Okay. No need to be flippant. And I know for a fact that Phoenix doesn’t want to see you.

  “Well, Phoenix isn’t home from work yet. Is there anything I can help you with?” I slide the key into the lock and turn the handle. I feel like I have no other choice but to invite her inside.

  Quietly, Hailey follows me in and sets the suitcase in front of the bookshelf. Her moves are slow and calculated. She soaks in her surroundings and I swear I see her face fall ever so slightly. Clearly something inside her is breaking. When she eyes a picture of Phoenix and me kissing on the Staten Island Ferry with the New York skyline in the background, she quickly snaps her head back to me. Hailey’s blonde hair flies in a choreographed routine of I’m better than you.

  “I just brought him a few things he left at our place. Mail. Some of his favorite shirts. You know, the basics.”

  Our place? What the shit? Did they live together? Surely, no. There’s no way they could have lived together. He would have told me … right?

  This definitely isn’t a friendly visit. I’m not an idiot. I know exactly what she’s doing. I used to play this exact same game. Hell, I invented this damn game. She’s not looking for Phoenix at all. Hailey came here for me. I just need to figure out what it is she wants me to know and then she’ll be on her merry way.

  I steel myself and act like her vitriolic comments roll right off my back. I can lick my wounds clean later.

  “Oh? That was awfully sweet of you, but it’s a little late to be showing up with the basics, don’t you think? You could have just forwarded his mail and sent up a box or two clothes.” I make my way into the kitchen, a Hailey-free zone, and catch my breath.

  “It was no big deal, really. I’m meeting some girlfriends up in the Hamptons. So this was right on the way.” She calls from the other room.

  Sure it was.

  “Well, I’m more than happy to relay the message to Phoenix. And I’ll make sure everything you brought gets to him.”

  Assuming I don’t burn it before he gets home. I find myself wanting to set fire to everything she touches.

  I put the groceries away, needing to focus on something other than the toxic energy Hailey emits. I’m not comfortable with her in our home, but I have absolutely no idea how to get her out of here without turning into a total bitch. This situation is bound to get uglier before it gets any better.

  “Oh, that’s okay,” she says wit
h a flip of her wrist, following me into the kitchen. “I’ll just wait for him. I haven’t chatted with him all week and I’d love to catch up before I’m stuck in the car for a few hours.”

  All week? So much for him not talking to her since he left with me in Chicago. What the fuck? Maybe he decided to take my advice and answer her call to find out what she wanted? I just wish he would have told me. Perhaps then I could have been better prepared for this moment.

  As I lean over to put the milk away, I shut my eyes tightly to stop the tears from flowing before I turn back around to face her. Either Phoenix has been lying to me or this chick is here for the sole reason of crawling under my skin. My mind is filled with a dozen questions. And I know she’ll be the one to answer them, since Phoenix clearly isn’t.

  “Do you mind if I use the bathroom to freshen up quickly? I’ve had quite the afternoon of traveling.”

  I ball my fists tightly behind my back and try to keep up with her fakeness. “Sure, it’s right over there.” I gesture to the door in the hallway.

  As soon as she disappears I take another deep breath and steady myself. I’m sure Phoenix has a perfectly good explanation for this. He’d better have a good explanation for this.

  Shit. What if he doesn’t have an explanation?

  I pull out my phone out from my pocket, determined to rectify the situation quickly.

  Ivy: We have company.

  Phoenix: ?

  Ivy: Hailey.

  Phoenix: wtf?

  Ivy: What do you want me to do?

  I watch my phone, willing it to light back up with what I should do. But his lack of response sends me into an emotional tailspin.

  A few minutes later, Hailey saunters into the kitchen and I mentally sharpen my talons. I don’t know what to say to her. So I do what any normal host would do.

  “Thirsty?”

  “Yes. Sparkling water, thank you.” Hailey disappears back into the living room and I pull out a glass from the cupboard and spit in the bottom before filling it up in the sink. If only I had rat poison. Damn.