A Phoenix Is Forever

by Ashlyn Chase

  “Yeah. I know how it works.” She brushed his hair away from his eyes and just stared into them for a moment.

  He felt like an idiot. Of course she knew how it worked. She was a smart woman, and that was basic high school biology stuff. About the only way he could think of to recover was to use his own knowledge of chemistry. Either way, she met his lips halfway, and they shared a deep, warm, comforting kiss.

  Her mouth opened, and he gained access to her tongue easily. They stood close, tasting and touching each other for several moments. At last, they broke the kiss and just hugged. He found himself wanting to comfort her, but how? She seemed so tough, it was unusual to see her so vulnerable.

  “Would you like anything to eat?” she asked.

  “Not unless you want something. I’m not really hungry for food.” He realized how that sounded as soon as it left his lips. But hey, when the truth comes out…

  She smiled shyly, then simply stepped away, took his hand, and led him upstairs. Her room was utilitarian. A full-size bed, handmade quilt, two pillows, a nightstand with a decorative lamp on top and books piled on the shelf beneath. There was a desk under the window, and that was about it. The only artwork on the walls was a couple of posters of the Arizona desert. At least, one of them said “Arizona,” as if it were a travel poster. The others were just desert landscapes.

  “Do you like the desert?”

  “I like warm weather.”

  “But Arizona gets hot. Like, a hundred and twenty degrees hot. Is that what you like?”

  She smiled. “Not really. I’m just not a fan of Boston winters. If I could spend summers here and winters in Arizona or New Mexico, I’d be a happy camper.” Then she laughed. “Camping is the only way I could afford to do it.”

  They stood beside the bed, and she began unbuttoning his shirt. He wasn’t quite sure what to do. Should he help? Should he start pulling layers off her?

  It didn’t much matter as it turned out. He undid his belt and let it drop to the floor, and as soon as he did, she pulled her own sweater over her head and dropped it behind her.

  She had a toned body, perfectly proportional and a little on the petite side. How she managed to eat so many calories and not show it was beyond him. Most of his female friends and family members were concerned about the calorie count of everything they put in their mouths. Apparently, Dawn didn’t need to worry. Her metabolism must just take care of it all.

  She slipped off her bra, and his breath caught. She was lovely. Her skin was a natural creamy tan. The freckles on her face didn’t extend to her chest, just her arms. Places the sun hit, so he’d guess she didn’t do a lot of nude sunbathing.

  As he peeled off his own pants and she her jeans, all their clothes turned into a messy pile on the floor. He stepped into her space and pulled her against him, letting his hands mold to her body over her buttocks and back up to her shoulders.

  Their mouths found each other automatically. He didn’t know how long they stood there kissing and fondling each other before she moved a couple of feet, leading him toward the bed. Eventually, she sat down on it and he followed her. Soon, he resumed kissing and nipping his way along her neck and shoulder.

  Dawn pulled back the covers, and they scooted underneath. He loved the feel of her. She was soft and satiny. His hands couldn’t stop traveling over her every curve, every dip. He wanted to memorize all of her, as if he were blind. They kissed and nipped and licked until he couldn’t wait any longer, and then he had to find her center and taste her there.

  Luca kissed his way down her torso and then pushed her legs apart, positioning himself between her knees, and when he licked her folds, she arched and gasped.

  “Are you okay with this?” he asked.

  “More than okay,” she said breathlessly.

  He parted her folds and laved the small bundle of nerves, which sent her arching and moaning in reaction.

  She was so responsive…so easy to make love to. She didn’t demand or try to call all the shots, as Lisa used to. In fact, no directions needed to be given at all. She writhed beneath him, occasionally gasping or cooing. It seemed as if he was doing just fine without any help.

  When he knew she was sensitive to the slightest touch, he concentrated on the center of her pleasure and flicked his tongue back and forth as fast as a hummingbird’s wings could go. In seconds, she came apart. She screamed and gurgled and screamed and gasped and screamed and writhed. Her head thrashed from side to side as she climaxed over and over. He was not sure if she would ever stop, until at last, she pushed on his forehead and gasped out, “Enough…enough!”

  Her chest was heaving with deep huffs and puffs. He wiped his mouth on the back of his forearm and scooted up beside her.

  She gazed into his eyes, looking awestruck. “That was amazing… I’ve never…like that…before.”

  “Stick with me, kid,” he said. “There’s lots more where that came from.”

  She grinned. “Lie back. It’s your turn now.”

  She scooted down until she was eye level with his sex and took his engorged cock in her hand. He almost jumped with his own sensitivity.

  She spent a few seconds admiring him before she took him into her mouth. The warmth and suction drove him crazy. He knew it wouldn’t take much, he was already so turned on.

  He let her torture him a little longer though. Knowing the kind of joy he got from watching her reaction, he wanted to let her have some of that enjoyment as well…to feel her feminine power.

  Letting out his own moans of pleasure and trying not to spill his seed prematurely was a bit of a balancing act. He wanted to come so badly, but he would give her every ounce of pleasure he could before taking his own.

  When at last he couldn’t take any more, he scooped under her arms, lifting her right off of him and yanking her up to his face, then he rolled her onto her back and stared into her bright-green eyes.

  Without having to say a word, she opened her legs for him. He positioned himself between her bent knees and entered her slowly, inch after luscious inch. Her warm, wet channel engulfed him completely. The glorious friction of withdrawing and plunging again and again was incredible. As if this ancient dance had been choreographed specifically for them, they followed each other’s lead, meeting each other thrust for thrust.

  The pressure built at the base of his spine like a hot ball of fire. He knew he wouldn’t last much longer. He hadn’t brought a condom to bed with him. They hadn’t had the talk. And it seemed like a terrible time to stop. Damn. But he had to.

  “I’m sorry. I forgot all about having a condom available. There’s one in my wallet in my pants pocket.”

  She nodded. “Sure, go get it. I’ll just wait right here,” she said with a smile.

  He chuckled but withdrew quickly and grabbed what he needed. When he returned to her, she parted her thighs and welcomed him back with her arms opened wide.

  “You know, maybe it’s a good thing we had to pause. I almost forgot something else,” he said.

  “What’s that?”

  He looked deeply into her eyes and, seeing no guile at all, decided to risk it. “I love you.”

  She smiled up at him. “I love you back.”

  He kissed her soundly, and without another word, he reentered her and resumed his rhythm. She picked right up where they’d left off. Their movements soon intensified, becoming harder and faster, more urgent and passionate.

  He kissed her ear, her cheek, whatever he could reach of her, as he thrust into her warm, willing center. The sensation grew so quickly and so desperately that he found himself pounding deep into her without even realizing it. However, she was not complaining.

  She appeared to be in the throes of her own passion. With eyes closed and unsteady breaths, she began to shiver. Her voice became a crescendo of moans, climaxing into a scream. Her sex clenched his as she orgasmed
around him.

  He couldn’t have held back any longer if he’d wanted to. But coming together seemed so perfect, he just let go and rode the wave of his own deeply satisfying climax. He let her milk every drop from him before he stilled and then continued with aftershocks from a few more surprise spasms.

  At last, he collapsed beside her and rolled to the side. They were both breathing heavily, staring into each other’s eyes, and grinning.

  “That was…” He had no words to describe the best orgasm of his life.

  “Yeah. It was.”

  She smiled, and he knew she understood. He tucked her head under his chin and held her close. This wonderful woman, someone he never would have seen himself with, was now someone he couldn’t see himself without.

  Chapter 13

  “I love you.”

  “I love you back.”

  Dawn had just shut down her computer at work and was on her way to the hospital to visit her grandmother when Luca called. She was practically walking on air as she made her way to the elevator.

  “I’ll meet you at your place, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  “Promise me you’ll go straight home after you visit your grandmother.”

  “I promise.” Luca’s concern over her made her feel loved and cared for. But it did take some getting used to.

  It had been exactly six days since they had first made love…and about ten hours since the last time. She’d lost count of how many times occurred between. Sometimes it was just once at night and once in the morning. Sometimes, well, more. A lot more.

  Annette had been recovering at Boston General all week, affording them the kind of privacy they usually didn’t have, considering their living situations. Although she missed Annette and worried about her day and night, Dawn had never slept better than she had wrapped in Luca’s arms after a hot night of sex with her stud.

  The only sadness between them was that Mandy was still missing. Luca had followed up with the detectives on the case. He gave them a bogus story about a tip he got from someone who wanted to stay anonymous. The supposed tipster said he’d heard from a gang member about a little girl hidden in the basement of Keene Street Convenience. The detectives brought along Luca, Officer Gulliver, and a few members of the gang squad to back them up when they went to investigate, but they came up empty-handed. If the girl had been there, she wasn’t any longer.

  When Luca told Dawn about it, she was spitting mad, knowing full well Carla and Ice had moved the girl. Dawn had held the unicorn several times after that, hoping for some kind of vision or flash of insight, but nothing had come to her.

  Frustrated, she wondered if her so-called gift was a curse at times. Or if it was only good for stupid shit like keeping tabs on the cops when she was hanging out with Ice. She told Luca as much, and he tried to reassure her.

  He said they were getting close, and the reason the gang had moved Mandy was because they were nervous. Luca also hoped they would not harm the little girl and were most likely keeping her hidden as they tried to decide what to do.

  He figured a ransom demand would be forthcoming, but why hadn’t they received one already? Dawn prayed she was okay. Otherwise, she would never forgive herself for not having the guts to rescue Mandy when she had the chance. Gun or no gun.

  Dawn had stopped off at Goddess Fashions and bought the walking cane to give to her grandmother when she visited her. Stepping off the elevator, Dawn made her way to Annette’s room and was shocked to discover another woman in her bed. Rushing to the nurse’s station, she frantically got the attention of the nurse on duty. “Where is my grandmother? Annette Forest?”

  “She was taken to the sixth floor, rehab. She’ll be staying there for the next week while we get her back on her feet. They’ll be teaching her some exercises she can do at home. You can go up there to see her. Check in at the nurse’s station first.”

  “Thank you!” Relieved, Dawn made her way up to the sixth floor. She found Annette sitting up in a chair, knitting. “Grandma, you gave me quite the scare. Why didn’t you text me that they moved you?”

  “Oh, sweetie, I’m sorry.” Annette laid her knitting aside on the small side table next to her. “Everything happened so fast. They came in this morning and told me it was time to get to work and then they wheeled me up here. They had me walk up and down the hallway and then they gave me a nice massage. I feel almost as good as new! Of course, the painkiller they gave me afterward didn’t hurt any.” She winked.

  Dawn laughed. “Grandma, that’s wonderful. Do you know how long you’ll be here?”

  “Well, at least a few more days. They’re going to be showing me some exercises I can do at home. Now tell me, how was your day?”

  Dawn filled Annette in on the usual mishaps at work with frantic students calling up and asking for help for their software woes. “Honestly, I think I could design a better system. I know all the glitches and how to fix them. But the engineers don’t want to even listen to my suggestions. They think just because I didn’t go to MIT that I have no business telling them how to do their job.”

  “Honey, it just goes to show you how smart and talented you are. In time, you can look for another job, one better suited to your abilities.”

  Dawn pondered that for a few moments. The pay was pretty good, but it was a starting salary, and given all the extra work her manager threw at her, she wished she were in a position to either ask for more money or start looking somewhere else. But she had only been there a couple of months.

  “I’ll think about it, Gran. Oh, by the way, I have something to give you.”

  “Oh, more gifts? I don’t have any more room,” Annette said with a chuckle. “The orderlies had to make two trips to get all the presents and flowers in my room and bring them here.”

  “Well, you’ll have to make room for one more.” Dawn reached under her jacket and pulled out the cane in three pieces. Fitting them together, she handed the practical work of art to her grandmother.

  “Oh my. Now if that isn’t a pretty cane, I don’t know what is.”

  “Do you like it?”

  “I love it. I’ll be able to scoot up and down the hallways in no time with this.” Annette waved the cane around like a wand. “And look at how beautifully it’s carved. All these birds. What craftsmanship. It looks like it cost a fortune.”

  “I got it with our lottery winnings.” Dawn grinned. “And I have a penny left over.”

  Annette’s eyes widened in delight. “Now, whoever said the women in our family were unlucky must have been mistaken.”

  Dawn stayed with Annette through dinner and helped her back into bed after a brief walk so she could get some rest. Annette used her new cane, greeting all the nurses and orderlies and showing off her gift, eliciting oohs and aahs from all of them.

  After giving her sleepy-eyed grandmother a kiss on the cheek, Dawn left, hopped on the subway, and made it home before Luca arrived.

  She had some time before she expected him, so she decided to try to channel Mandy once more. Sitting cross-legged on her bed, she held the unicorn and began to breathe deeply as Minerva had instructed her to do.

  Breathe in…

  Breathe out…

  Dawn found herself sitting in a cage. A large, sprawling cage. Looking around, she spotted a worn sign on the brown patchy grass just outside the cage. GREEN PARK ZOO. She kept breathing in and out, staying focused in the cage even though she felt scared and cold from being outside. She saw a blanket wrapped around her shoulders and heard a siren in the distance, and then Luca’s voice floated in the wind.

  “She’s in the lion’s cage.” She heard yelling, and then she saw Luca topple to the ground near the abandoned sign. Blood poured from his head. Fighting nausea and dizziness, Dawn kept breathing deeply in and out as she opened her eyes. “Oh my God.”

  * * *

  I can
’t wait to see her.

  Luca should have been listening to Mary Beth’s advice about dealing with sociopaths, but his mind kept wandering to Dawn. They’d had one amazing week of hot sex followed by nights of sated sleep, cuddled in each other’s arms. He had to get his own place and fast. Was it too soon to think of moving in together?

  What about Annette? He knew Dawn would refuse to leave her grandmother in such a bad neighborhood, and he agreed. An elderly woman living alone practically invited a home invasion. They’d have to find a place for her too, but could he afford that yet? He wanted to start looking around but was a little hesitant to bring it up with Dawn.

  “So you need to watch out for him, Luca. He can be vicious.” Mary Beth glanced at him, a frown on her face. “Did you hear what I just said?”

  “Uh, sorry. I’ve just got some stuff on my mind.”

  She smiled. “Uh-huh. I’ll bet it has to do with Dawn Forest.”

  Luca couldn’t help smiling at the mere sound of her name. “Yeah, it’s going really well. She’s terrific.” Her weird name. She could get rid of the teasing if she wanted to become Dawn Fierro. Whoa! Too soon.

  “I’m glad. But just stay aware of Butts, okay? He’s a real SOB, and he’s already written you up once. Don’t think he won’t do it again. He could get you suspended.”

  “Got it, thanks.” Luca glanced at his TO. “You said before that you had a few run-ins with him. Any you can share?”

  She blew out a breath. “Let’s just say he’s not exactly pro-woman. He was pissed when Wanda Moore got the captain’s job. He made it plain he thought she was given preferential treatment because she’s a woman. And he’s an asshole. A bully at best.”

  “No argument there.”

  “You may hear rumors among some of the female support staff and junior cops about him being handsy. Nothing has ever been reported though. If he tried anything with me, I’d break his arm.” Mary Beth glanced at Luca with a grin. “I think on some level he knows that. He’s been wary of me.”