Page 58 of Before You Fell

His hips fit mine as if the song had been written around us. One hand stays on my waist, the other slides over my stomach, not high enough to be public indecency, not low enough to give me any peace. His chest presses against my back as his breath hits my neck. His mouth brushes the skin below my ear and my entire body turns traitor in a hot, humiliating rush.

I turn my head slightly, not enough to look at him. “You chased them off.”

“They were in my way.”

His hand flattens against my stomach, holding me to him as the bass hits hard enough to shake the floor. My breath catches. His body is unforgiving behind mine, all heat and muscle and his hard cock pressed against my ass.

For years, I have watched Phoenix want women. I have watched him smile at them, touch them, ruin them with that lazy mouth and then walk away as if they were nothing.

He has never once aimed it at me. Not like this.

His mouth brushes my ear again and I register the curve of his smile against my skin. Arrogant. Filthy. Beautiful enough to be a public health concern.

“Do you know what you look like out here?” His fingers dip into my hip as he grinds behind me. “Do you know how fucking sexy you are when you let everyone else see you?” His mouth brushes my ear again. “I could finger fuck you right her in the middle of this dance floor. Everyone’s too drunk to notice. The music is so loud nobody would hear you fucking come.”

My pulse stumbles.

“Phoenix.”

“Is that supposed to stop me?” His laugh is low. “Because, sweetheart, it’s not doing a very good job.”

He gathers my hair in his hand. The simple intimacy of it almost fucks me up more than the words. Slowly, he lifts the strands of hair from my neck, exposing the skin beneath. The gesture feels absurdly possessive.

“Fuck, you have no idea what you’re doing, moving those hips, letting those assholes think they’ve got a chance.” His mouth brushes my ear again. “You get into my blood and send me fucking stupid, Wills.”

The words hit me harder than the music does.

“I’ve wanted you for so fucking long,” he whispers, his words rough with need. “You think this is new? Sweetheart, I’ve wanted to fuck you for years. I just kept finding easier ways to lie to myself.”

My breath catches.

He laughs softly against my neck. “You look shocked.” His mouth brushes my ear again. “What? You thought I was blind?”

“Phoenix.”

His hand glides over my waist, holding me tighter against him.

“Jesus Christ, Wills.” He brushes his lips along the line of my throat. “Tell me you haven’t imagined this?”

The bass pounds through the floor beneath us. Bodies move around us. Somehow, the whole club shrinks until there is only his mouth and the hard line of his body behind mine.

“You think this is because some asshole got too close to you tonight?” He plants a little open, wet kiss on the side of my neck and I almost moan. “Wills, I’ve been jealous since we were seventeen and too fucking stupid to tell you I wanted to fuck you then.”

His lips brush my neck. “Every asshole who ever looked at you pissed me off.” Another kiss beneath my ear. “Every fucking boyfriend.” His fingers tighten on my hip. “That asshole cockhead Memphis from the other night.” His breath fans across my skin. “Half the crowd here tonight.”

I close my eyes because this is Phoenix. The man who has broken my heart so many times it should have learnt self-defence by now. The asshole who usually hides behind smirks and groupies and women whose names disappear before morning.

But he is holding me like this and wanting me like this in the middle of a crowded nightclub with half the world watching.

His mouth grazes my ear again. “Do you know what really pisses me off?”

“What?” I ask.

“That I know exactly what those assholes were thinking when they looked at you, because I was thinking even worse.”

God, help me. After years of being the girl beside him, behind him, writing songs while other women got his attention, I let myself believe this means something.

I let myself believe that after all these years, Phoenix finally sees me.