Page 24 of The Woman

Finally, her body tenses, and her eyes close, her chest heaving with short bursts of air.

“Phoenix,” she breathes out. Last night, the sound of my whispered name on her lips had me waking out of the moment, but this time, I’m dragged deeper under the spell and have to suppress a groan at the sound of it. I keep rubbing until she grabs hold of my forearm and whispers, “Stop. It’s too sensitive.”

She turns her face to look at me through hooded eyes, her breaths still coming out heavy between parted lips. I pull my hand out from beneath her dress while still holding her gaze and go to wipe it on a napkin from the table. But then I change my mind, instead bringing my fingers to my mouth for a taste.

Of all the parts of her I’ve tasted so far, this is the most intoxicating; my favorite. She watches my mouth as I suck on each finger. Not all of them got to feel her wetness, but the scent of her still clings to each one.

A throat clears from nearby, causing both of us to swing our attention to the side where we see my father standing. Avery shifts in my lap, but this time, I lift her to her feet instead of holding her still.

“Go to the women’s restroom and clean up.” I indicate the one close to our table and send her away before returning my attention to my father. I’m not sure how long he was standing there or what he might have seen.

“Father. I was looking for you earlier.” He pulls the chair out beside me and takes a seat, admiring the centerpiece before looking out into the crowd. “Did you hear from Ken?” I ask.

“I did. He should be emailing you next week and moving forward with the project. I told him to go through you from now on.”

I nod even though he’s not looking at me.

“You see the other men with their companions, son?”

I trail my eyes around the room, landing on various couples. One man opens his mouth as his woman places a small piece of cake into it.

Another has his woman in the area where you can sway and dance to the classical music being played. Her fingers are tangled in his hair, and he appears to be enjoying it.

A few tables away from us, a man sits with his eyes closed while the woman beside him appears to have her hand in his lap.

I don’t know what point he’s trying to make, so I remain silent and wait for him to continue.

“They are taking the pleasure, Phoenix, not giving it.“ Finally, he turns to me, that indecipherable look on his face that he wears so well. “What you just did. Don’t let it happen in public again.”

I look away from him, scanning over the people in front of us again. He’s right, of course. They are all on the receiving end of it, whereas my pleasure was derived from bringing Avery to orgasm. I didn’t realize it wasn’t right, though. I just went with what my body told me to do.

I tried to tell myself that it was for show, a way to appear like a man who just picked his woman and is having every fantasy fulfilled, but the truth is, the more other men try to touch her, the more I want to. There’s this pull there every time she looks at me. It aggravates me that I can’t seem to control my body and, what’s more, that I’m physically attracted to a woman with the intellect of a rock.

Avery returns, but this time, I let her take the seat on the other side of me.

My father leans forward to catch her attention. “What do you think of this place?” he asks her.

She looks between the two of us, seemingly not sure how to answer at first or possibly wondering why he’s addressing her. I don’t know why he would bother asking her, either. She’ll probably just smile and say it’s nice.

“There are a lot of people here,” she answers instead, to which my father raises a brow and slowly nods his head. “It’s really nice,” she then adds, with that smile I predicted.

“There are a lot of people,“ he repeats. Then, after pushing to his feet, he holds his hand out for her. “Come, let’s go dance to the music.”

I’d say she looks nervous if I didn’t know any better. I’m about to protest, not liking the idea of him taking her away from me when she lifts her hand and places it in his. I watch as he leads her into the crowd, and then they’re out of sight.

I shift in my seat, letting out a heavy exhale. It’s not like she’s going to tell him we haven’t had sex, so I don’t know what’s bothering me.

Spotting my grandfather with a group of men who I know are very important, I decide to go introduce myself now while I don’t have Avery with me.

One thing that has crossed my mind a time or two but never settled there until now is the fact that I have not seen my grandfather with his woman, ever, and I have not seen my father’s woman – my mother – in years. I find it curious that they should be so invested in mine when they themselves aren’t using theirs as any form of status.

Chapter 12

Hanging up the phone, I settle back into my chair, rubbing a hand over my face. I’m fucking exhausted, and it’s only lunchtime. The urge to be near Avery this week has been stronger than ever, so naturally, I’ve been doubling down on work and avoiding her as much as possible.

I had managed to score two new large jobs at the gala, so my grandfather was quite pleased and has been giving me space to work without questioning anything.

All week, I’ve tried to convince myself to stay late in the evenings, but somehow, I always ended up leaving at an earlier time. To make up for it, I’ve been forcing myself to hole up in my office as soon as I get home and then make sure she’s asleep before I leave the room.

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