Alice turns her gaze to me, and I let myself be captured by it. Her eyes are endless pools of wide, black pupil, and my body feels like it’s humming. I can have her now. There’s nothing separating us any longer.
She sucks in a breath as I inch closer, and when my lips are just a breath from hers, I feel Phoenix’s hand against the back of my head, urging me to close the distance. Something about that gesture does it for me. Like it’s cracking the last wall of ice I’ve surrounded myself with.
This isn’t a first kiss, but it damn well feels like it as her lips meet mine. Somehow, as my wife, she tastes differently. She’s warmer, more pliant, sweeter. Her lips part a little easier, and as I glide my hand up her thigh, she parts them like she wants me there and nowhere else.
My prosthetic feels clumsy as I try to situate myself between her legs, and I let out a soft growl as I do my best to get comfortable.
“I had a thought,” Phoenix says, his fingers still carding through my hair.
I look up at him over Alice’s shoulder. “Tell me.”
“The bed upstairs felt pretty large. I think maybe the two of you can go start getting it warmed up while I wait for the boys.”
Something in me twists—a little vicious and possessive because I want Alice to myself, but I also want them in that moment too. I study Phoenix’s face, the honesty resting in the corners of his mouth.
Reaching past Alice, I cup his cheek and draw him forward, and he kisses me long and thoroughly.
“Go,” he whispers when I break away.
Alice is hot between us, and I let her settle back and kiss Phoenix before pulling her to her feet. I feel slightly unsteady, but this has nothing to do with my leg and everything to do with what I know is coming next.
Her hand is trembling against mine as we ascend the stairs, and I all but pull her through the bedroom door. The moment it’s shut, I’m on her. I shove her against the cool wood, one hand pressed beside her head as I open her lips with my own. Her tongue meets mine, the soft dance of need as I bracket her body and kiss down her neck.
“Tell me you want this,” I beg.
She laughs, the sound slightly breathless as she arches into me. “I’ve wanted this for so long I feel insane.”
I don’t have the words to tell her how I feel, so instead, I kiss her again, running my hand down her body until I cup her pussy over her leggings. I can’t wait to strip her bare, but I find myself obsessed with taking a moment to enjoy her just like this: needy, desperate, a barrier between us.
“God,” she gasps, rocking against me.
It’s a damn near thing that I don’t just rip her clothes off right there and take her against the door—and hell, I think she might actually want that. But my little goddess deserves more. She deserves better. So I put my hands on her ass and lift her up in spite of the pain shooting through my knee and thigh.
“Kane,” she moans as I kiss her once more.
I drink in the softness of her groans like they’re giving me life, and I turn, stumbling my way to the bed. Somehow, I manage to make it a smooth transition, and I gently set her on top of the down comforter, which sinks an inch beneath her weight.
It’s white, and the contrast of her olive skin and dark hair is so fucking beautiful I can’t stop staring. She squirms a little like she’s self-conscious and uncomfortable, so I spread her legs and drag my hands up her thighs.
“Sweetness,” I murmur.
I see a ruddy flush decorating her cheeks, and I lean down, nosing along the fresh heat of her blushing skin before tasting her earlobe, and the side of her neck, and finally, her lips again. She huffs quietly, her fingers now tugging at my clothes, but I’m going to take my time.
I know the boys will give me this, so I pull back gently and take her wrists, pinning them to the bed on either side of her temples. “Patience,” I warn.
Her jaw tenses, and she looks like she wants to tell me to go fuck myself, but that’s clearly battling her will because she knows there will be a reward if she listens.
“Such a fucking good girl,” I murmur. I release one of her wrists, then the other when she doesn’t move, and my hand goes for her shirt. The most she does is lift her back so I can get it up over her head, and when her full breasts are exposed, I can’t help but put my mouth to them.
I cup one with a firm hand, using my teeth on the other. Her dusky brown nipples peak, and I run my tongue over one, then move to the other until her hips are moving. It doesn’t take me long to straddle her and pin her down with some of my weight, and she moans as I drag a hand down her exposed stomach, tracing the slight curve there, then dipping into the waistband of her leggings.
“Here, little goddess? You want me here?”
She takes a few calming breaths as I pull back and meet her gaze. “I need you to fuck me, Kane. Please.”
There’s something so raw and intense about the simplicity of her request. She’s not performing. She’s not begging. She’s stating a literal need, and I realize not a goddamn force in this universe could stop me. There’s time to draw it out later. The boys will be up, and they’ll play her body like an erotic symphony. But I’ve denied her and myself for too damn long.
It’s time to make amends.