Page 56 of Phoenix Falling
I braced myself, forced my eyes up to meet his. “Sun, I don’t really know you, and you don’t know me.”
He shrugged. “So get to know me.”
“I want to.” I really, really wanted to, badly. I could admit that much, at least. “I don’t know where this is going.”
Sun raised a red-gold brow. “You want to know where this is going? Want to know the real me?”
“Yes.”
He stood up, hauling me with him. “Fine. Let’s go.”
I should protest; I knew I should. But instead I let him pull me along as he crossed the dance floor, parting couples like Moses—only he didn’t need a raised staff; his glare did it for him—and made his way out the front door. On the broken sidewalk he took a right, and within minutes we’d arrived at a parking garage.
I hesitated.
“Come on.”
His voice was rough, and for a moment I bristled, that pre-Sun, no-one-tells-me-what-to-do Risk rising, but I tamped her down and followed him inside. Because I’d told him the truth—I wanted this, whether I could admit it aloud or not. I had no idea what he’d show me tonight, if anything, but I was willing to take a chance on whatever it was if it meant being with him for a little bit longer.
We took the elevator to the fourth floor, which was still packed at this time of night, this close to the downtown venues. Sun dragged me across the length of the garage to where a gleaming midnight-blue sports car waited in a dark corner, the surrounding spaces empty as if the beauty had a force field surrounding it, protecting it from harm. Sun dug into his fatigues pocket, withdrew a fob, and clicked to unlock the doors. On the passenger side, he pulled the handle up. “After you.”
His eyes flashed silver as they met mine. I choked on a gasp, fascinated and fearful of what I now knew was evidence of his other form. But when the door was fully open and Sun stood waiting, I slid onto the velvety leather seat and pulled my legs inside. It was Sun who tugged the seat belt across my body, clicked it firmly into place. Sun who closed the door behind me. He rounded the car while my heart began a heavy throb in my throat. When the driver’s side door opened, I jumped.
“I’m not going to hurt you, Rissa.” His voice was still that curious mix of anger and determination.
I shook my head. “A girl can’t be too careful.” Though it wasn’t fear that had my pulse throbbing in my throat. I’d figured that much out before my ass hit the seat.
It was excitement.
Sun stared at me a moment, not starting the car, before he called my bluff. “If you were still afraid, you never would have walked out of the bar with me.”
“No,” I admitted, “I wouldn’t have.”
“Then what?”
I let my eyes answer him.
The silver glow brightened. Sun growled deep in his chest, more vibration than sound. He started the car, and with one hand on the wheel and one laying claim to my nearest thigh, he backed from the space and sped toward the exit.
“Where are we going?” I finally thought to ask. The scrape of Sun’s fingers against my inner thigh was distracting—or at least that was my excuse.
“My place.”
That time my startling was genuine. “Your place?” What kind of place belonged to a shape-shifter?
I guessed I was going to find out.
“My place,” he grunted. His pinky stretched to trace the crease of my thigh.
I squirmed. “Sun—”
He threw a glare in my direction. I shut my mouth. Let him feel me up, whatever. I wasn’t risking another word. By the time we passed the outer loop and moved out of Nashville, his entire hand was cupping my center. If I’d wondered what Sun intended when we got tohis place,I got my answer about the time he started pressing the seam of my jeans against my clit. I tried hard to stay quiet, to not move, but the pressure was so exquisite… It had been so long since I’d gotten off. But did I really want it to be this way?
By the time we pulled into the driveway of a cabin in what felt like the middle of nowhere, I’d decided it didn’t really matter. I had no idea where we were; the past fifteen minutes had been focused on my crotch and Sun’s hand and desperately trying to breathe. The asshole had made sure, however, that I didn’t climax. If I had any doubts that he was still pissed about me avoiding him, they’d died the longer he edged me.
The car cut off, the headlights dying, and we sat in silence listening to the ticking of the hot engine. Sun’s hand had stopped moving.
I forced myself to sound like I wasn’t gasping for air. “This is a bad idea, Sun.”
