his smile as he pulled her lobe through his teeth, lightly. “What happens then? Or are you still thinking about it?”
She stroked the back of his neck lightly and felt him shiver. How had she thought she could resist this? It had been hopeless from the start, and he’d known it. But she couldn’t regret waiting even the one day she’d managed to hold him at bay. His kisses, his touch had gentled, and he was taking care not to overwhelm her. Sofia could feel it in the way he held himself, had seen it in his sweet uncertainty. She knew he was holding back. The effort counted for a lot with her. He didn’t want to scare her. He just wanted her.
And she didn’t think she was going to be able to push him away this time.
“You told me to be sure the next time I touched you,” she breathed. “I kissed you. Draw your own conclusions.”
His chuckle was soft and full of the kind of promise that had goose bumps rising in pleasurable little prickles on her arms.
“I want to hear you say it.”
He shifted his grip on her ever so slightly, and that was when she felt those long, talented fingers begin to stroke her from underneath, sliding over the fabric of her jeans and creating delicious friction against her tight, swollen sex. Sofia pressed into him with a soft gasp, her eyes slipping shut. The sound echoed around her, a reminder that Phenex was ravishing her in a place where they could easily be walked in on. It was a small, quiet building…but it was also a Friday evening.
“I’ll tell you…upstairs.”
“No,” he said, intensifying the rhythm, pulling her even closer to the climax that shimmered just out of reach. Her muscles tightened, her breathing grew shallow.
“Look at me, Sofia. I want to see you. You’re so beautiful.”
The words were as unexpected as his restraint. Sofia did as he wanted, opening her eyes and seeing how his blazed an unearthly blue. He was the beautiful one, she thought. Luminous, not dark at all. His fingers pressed harder against her, and her head fell back as everything began to tighten deep within, a wave about to crest.
“Tell me.”
Sofia dug her nails into his shoulders. “I want you. On me. In me. Phenex…”
Then she came, her orgasm intensifying as it unfurled. Sofia surged forward, her legs squeezing Phenex tight as she gave a broken, strangled cry that was as close as she could come to being quiet. He watched her with something like awe, his own rough breathing keeping time with hers as she rode the wave he’d sent crashing through her.
When those waves subsided, she curled around him, feeling as though every bone had been removed from her body. Phenex said nothing for a long moment, simply holding her there with her head on his shoulder, her legs dangling. But she could feel his heart thundering in his chest, keeping time with hers. There was an intimacy about it that she hadn’t expected from him, along with that lingering sweetness he’d displayed.
She would have to be careful. So, so careful not to fall for him, Sofia thought, drifting in a fog that was all pleasure. Then he tucked his head into the crook of her neck and breathed deeply, drinking in her scent. Something deep inside began to ache, and she knew that it might already be too late to keep any kind of emotional distance.
She turned her head and pressed her cheek against his ear, hungry for the contact. Even as the last of her orgasm ebbed, she knew he would be able to stoke her need for him again in a heartbeat…and that he would in very short order.
The door opened below them, and Sofia found herself on her feet in an instant. Somehow, she managed not to topple over and land on the floor, though it was close. Phenex, on the other hand, looked as though he had it all together. Sofia felt a moment’s hurt watching him bend to pick up the dropped leftover bags, worried that he was just playing with her. But when he rose, she saw the way his eyes were still full of light, accompanied by two bright, flushed spots high on his cheeks.
The interloper, a tall, dark-haired woman who was some sort of computer programmer, if Sofia remembered right from the couple of times they’d run into each other, gave them a curious look as she walked by and