Page 45 of Victorious: Part 2
I lift my camera and capture the moment. Phoenix silhouetted against the golden sand, his head tilted up toward the sky, listening to the earth sing.
He snaps his head toward me, his brow furrowed. “Did you just take a picture of me?” he asks, noticing the camera.
“Maybe?”
“I don’t put my face in pictures, Clover.”
“You just did.” I smirk, showing him the image on my camera’s LCD screen. “Look at that. You look like you’re hearing magic for the first time.”
He studies the picture, his expression softens, and he lets out a soft huff. “I guess I am.”
Phoenix settles beside me on the sand, apparently decidinghe’s done being camera-shy. “Take a picture of both of us.”
“Really?” My eyes widen, while my heart gallops in excitement.
“All right, don’t go all fangirl on me, just take the photo before I change my damn mind.”
Holding in my laugh, I set the camera’s timer and position it to capture us against the sunset. We sit close together on the sand, Dracula somehow managing to wander up the dune to join us for the shot.
“This is probably going to be my favorite picture from the whole trip,” I say as the camera clicks.
“Even though we look like we’ve been through a sandstorm?” he groans.
“Especially because of that,” I reply, take the picture, then grab the camera, turn it, and show him.
Our first official picture together.
A warmth flows through my body as I watch him try to fight his smile, but he loses, his eyes finding mine. My pulse instantly begins to race as his hand slides up, his finger sliding a strand of hair behind my ear. Swallowing a lump down my throat, he exhales as he leans a little closer. “Fine… you can keep the picture. But only because you look so fucking sexy in it. Can you send it to my phone?”
Smirking, I raise my brow and lean a little closer, our lips almost touching. “Why? You wanna jerk off to it like a weirdo?”
A mischievous grin lights his face as his nose slides in, grazing mine. The energy between us is firing like the damn Fourth of July. “I hadn’t thought about that, but now it’s all I’m gonna be thinking about.”
Grinning, I bite my bottom lip, letting out a soft whimper, slowly pulling back from him, seeing his breathing increase as he watches me Bluetooth the picture straight to his cell.
His cell beeps, and he pulls it out of his pocket, sees theimage, then stares back at me, his eyes flaming with desire. The air between us suddenly feels charged, electric. All the careful boundaries we’ve been maintaining begin to feel fragile.
“Clover…”
“I know,” I whisper. “I know we can’t. Maverick would literally murder you.”
He growls, surging forward, his hand in my hair, gripping tight. “I don’t care about Maverick right now.”
The honesty in his voice makes my breath catch, my chest heaves. “Phoenix…”
He inches closer, close enough that the flecks of gold in his blue eyes look like they’re sparkling. “I keep trying to do the right thing here. Keep trying to just be your protector, your friend. But you’re too fucking tempting, especially when I am trying to fight how much I…” He doesn’t finish the sentence, but the words hang in the air between us anyway.
“How much you what?” I ask.
Chapter Ten
CLOVER
Instead of answering, his fingers clench my hair, the other on my waist, the desperation in his grip more than clear, like he can’t decide if he wants to pull me to him or push me away.
“This is a bad idea,” he murmurs.
“Terrible idea,” I agree.
