Phoenix Freed Read online

  “Can’t help it,” he said, squeezing again. “Plus, I know you were just checking mine out. Turn about is fair play and all that.”

  “A little further.” She stretched, just grazing the plastic of his phone’s case with her fingertips.

  “We always have our emergency back up.” Cody’s fingers traced a lazy pattern over her back pocket.

  “What are you talking about?” Daughtry asked. She straightened and glanced up at him, heart beginning to gallop. Because his expression was filled with an intensity that made her want to forget about the damn phone.

  To tear off her clothes and throw herself on the altar that was Cody.

  “We have another option besides my cell,” he said, his voice normal despite the scorching heat in his emerald eyes.

  She bit her lip, her thoughts suddenly veering in a direction that had absolutely nothing to do with a rescue party.

  “Dominic.”

  Huh?

  He answered the question that was no doubt written across her face, pinging around in her brain. “Dominic. We’ll contact him mentally if we can’t get out. I’m sure he’ll appreciate the chance to eavesdrop.” A pause. “Now back to those thoughts you were having . . .”

  She shook her head.

  “Shy, cowgirl? Since when?”

  Her cheeks heated as Cody sent her an image of her sprawled naked below him, his hands on her waist, her breasts. His hips moving up and down—

  “I–uh we should concentrate on getting out of here.” Her words were breathless because she didn’t give a damn about the freaking exit. She wanted Cody’s mouth against hers, his—

  He grabbed her hand, yanked her close, and kissed her.

  His mouth was firm, his tongue a hot brand that swept over hers.

  “Soft and sweet and so damned beautiful.” Cody’s words were fuel to the fire inside her.

  She practically crawled into his lap, spreading her legs, pressing her breasts against the hard expanse of his chest, wanting every bit of her body in contact with his. He broke away to press a line of kisses across her jaw, down her throat, to the V of her shirt. His breaths, his lips, his thoughts—the desire written across his mind, inundating the bond—were almost scorching.

  A lick to the spot just above her breast made her gasp. She arched back, her fingers weaving into his hair as she held him to her. Because while his mouth on hers was incredible, when it trailed across her body, tracing lines of heat, causing desire to pool between her thighs, it was even more intense.

  Dropping her hands from his shoulders and reaching down, she rubbed the hard length of him. They both moaned.

  Desperation was working its way through her. She didn’t care about the Orb or the phone, she just needed him inside of her. The button of his pants opened easily and she grasped the zipper, started to tug it down.

  “Wait.” It was a breathless protest from Cody. “Not here.”

  Her throat was hoarse, her body strung tight with arousal. “I know you’re a romantic,” she said. “I know you want it to be special, something that absolves you of what happened between us. But please, I need you.”

  Green eyes caught hers.

  Despite the need raging through him, the desire coursing through the bond from both ends, she sensed him picking through her thoughts. They certainly couldn’t have been coherent. The only things she could think were: in, harder, deeper, more.

  But whatever he saw in her subconscious must have been enough for him because after a few seconds he blinked and cupped her cheek. “You’re really okay, aren’t you?”

  Her heart gave a little tug. “I always am.”

  “Good.” "Because I really need to do this."

  His fingers grabbed the hem of her shirt and tugged it over her head. Her shoes and jeans followed suit. Clad in only panties and a bra, she scrambled to get him into the same state. Their hands tangled as she reached for his zipper.

  “Careful.” He brushed away her shaking hands and lowered the zipper himself. Then shrugged out of his T-shirt, pulled off his boots and stepped out of his jeans.

  She started to lay back. Cody stopped her.

  “Let me.” He sprawled onto his back and extended a hand.

  “Come have that ride, cowgirl.”

  Fifteen

  Her cheeks went red-hot and she hesitated.

  Cody’s head tilted. “What is it?” His abs jumped as he spoke, mouth-watering ridges that she wanted to trace with her tongue.

  His mind touched hers, searching.

  “Umm,” she said, trying to concentrate despite the six-foot muscled distraction spread out in front of her like a platter of chocolates. Her tongue darted out, moistening her lips, and the resultant heat in Cody’s gaze made the task even harder.

  “What?” he asked again, levering himself up onto his elbows and fixing her with a scorching stare.

  “I—uh—” How did she tell the man she’d been with dozens of times that she’d never been on top? It wasn’t like he’d stopped her. But things had usually escalated so quickly that they hadn’t made it that far.

  As she fumbled for words, his face softened and understanding dawned. A wicked smile curved his lips. “How about we play teacher-student? Need some riding lessons, cowgirl?”

  The request should have been cheesy but the way he looked at her as he said it—as if she were the only thing that mattered in his life, in the whole of the universe, that a freaking nuke could have taken out everything around them and he still wouldn’t give a damn—made her forget her nerves.

  Closing the distance, she knelt at his side. Hesitated again.

  Damn, she was terrible at this.

  Cody grabbed her hand and laced his fingers through it. Bringing it up to his mouth, he kissed the back of it. “Just do what feels right. I won’t break.”

  She nodded, emotion and desire clogging her throat, making it difficult to speak.

  The first thing she touched was his hair. It was soft enough to make her feel jealous, almost like silk. The blond locks curled slightly at the ends and she weaved her fingers in, dived into the inch or so of downy tresses.

  From there her hands descended to his nape, to the coiled muscles of his bare shoulders. She pressed a kiss to the scar on his neck, the line that ringed his throat almost ear-to-ear. Her soft kisses were apologies. An attempt at atonement for the pain his life experiences had caused him. She wished that life was that simple, that she could make everything better, every hurt disappear with a press of her mouth.

  Emotion swelled and it wasn’t entirely hers.

  “You’ve healed me,” Cody said. Simple words belied by the breadth of feeling pulsing along the bond.

  “Thank you,” she whispered.

  She continued her descent, brushing her lips over his pecs, nipping at his waist, licking at the slight indentation near both hips. Tenderness wasn’t in his eyes when she looked up again. Instead, the emerald depths had darkened, had filled with a fury of unleashed desire.

  The bond was strung taught, their mutual arousal forcing it into a push-pull of shared thoughts and emotions that did nothing to calm her and everything to make her even more turned on.

  Daughtry hadn’t wanted to hurry, but the expression in Cody’s eyes, his coiled passion that she could feel him struggling to rein in, destroyed her patience.

  A tug and his boxer briefs were gone. Her hand found him. He was hot and hard and—

  Reaching down, he peeled her fingers away. “Cowgirl,” he ground out. “Not this time.”

  She straddled him and it only took a shift of her hips to take him inside her.

  “God,” she moaned. “You feel so good.”

  “Ditto, cowgirl.” His voice was shards of broken glass. Sweat glistened across his skin, his fists opened and closed against her thighs. “But do you think you could move? You’re killing me.”

  “I thought you wanted me to be in charge.”

  He groaned again and this time it was in displeasure. “You w
ant to talk now? You have the reins, cowgirl. Use them.”

  Affection bubbled in her veins. The man was tough, a skilled warrior and holding on to his control by sheer dint just for her. Her heart swelled, and her blood felt as though it were champagne. “Maybe you could help me?”

  In an instant the passiveness was gone.

  His hands came up to her hips, lifting her, guiding her into a rhythm that had her seeing stars.

  She might be on top but he was very much the one in control.

  It was almost shocking how much that turned her on. For so long Daughtry’s life had been about keeping herself safe, about holding her powers under tight restraint. It was nice to be able to trust someone else for a change, to have faith in Cody’s ability to protect her.

  He tilted her hips, grinding that little bundle of nerves at the apex of her thighs against his pelvis. She moaned, loud and long and not giving a damn.

  That was her last thought as the pleasure inside her built and built. Her lips went numb, her head fuzzy. Then she exploded, heat filling her from head to toe. Cody guided her through her orgasm, the upward thrusts of his hips choppy as he neared his own release.

  “Cowgirl,” he groaned. A shudder racked his body as he pumped into her once, twice more then went still. When her arms felt as though they wouldn’t hold her, he pulled her down onto his chest. The sound of his pounding heartbeat against her ear matched her own.

  “Holy shit,” she murmured a second later. If anything, the sex between them had grown more intense, more instinctive.

  “Love,” he said, his voice a hoarse whisper. “Not sex, making love.”

  Yes. That was it exactly.

  He ran his hands through her hair, brushed the strands back off her forehead. The shrill ring of a cell phone made them both jump.

  Daughtry scrambled off him and bolted for the shelves under which the cell phone had slid. Bending, she stuck her hand below the bottom shelf. Damn. It was just out of reach. Sinking to all fours, she tried again—

  “Oh sweet Christ,” Cody said.

  Her head whipped around, and she took in the hot stare he was sending her naked body. That was when she remembered she was naked.

  Gasping and sitting up, she crossed her hands over her chest.

  “Don’t look.”

  “Hell no.” Cody tucked an elbow underneath him and propped himself up. “You’re so fucking hot.”

  If it were possible, her cheeks heated even further.

  The phone began to ring again.

  Leaving it for a moment, she crossed back to her clothes and began hurrying into them. The sound had reminded her that they were in a public place. That anyone could walk in on them. Though someone discovering them seemed unlikely, if it did happen, she wanted to be dressed.

  “Get your clothes on,” she said, shrugging into her bra then pulling her shirt over her head.

  Cody obliged, albeit slowly. Her eyes kept drifting to his partially covered body, the way the muscles of his arms, his back rippled as he dressed.

  “Stop looking at me like that,” he murmured.

  She bit her lip, enjoying the way his jeans cupped his butt.

  “Because if you don’t stop.” He stepped into his boots then closed the distance between them. “I’ll have you naked and propped on that shelf in two seconds flat.”

  A shiver skated down her spine and her gut clenched—in a good way, in the best way. “Oh.”

  She wanted that too—

  No. Wait. They couldn’t. Wait, they already had. But not again. Not right now.

  A gleam entered his eyes. She stepped back, pulled on her sneakers, and when she straightened, he was right there.

  “Cody—”

  “Shh.”

  He closed the last few inches between them.

  “I—uh—”

  He pressed his chest against hers, pushed her against a rack of shelves—

  Click.

  The floor opened up beneath them.

  They fell.

  Sixteen

  Cody moved like a cat, wrapping his arms around her and squeezing her against his chest. Emerald strands of magic shot from his palms, illuminating the space in front of them.

  “Cody,” she gasped.

  “I see it.”

  They were falling faster than she would have thought possible and below them, coming rapidly toward their faces, was a stone floor.

  His magic condensed, coalesced into thick ropes in front of them, and stacked together.

  Not soon enough, it seemed.

  She closed her eyes, bracing for the impact.

  It didn’t come.

  Or at least not as she’d expected. There was a slight oof, a small jar as they collided with something soft, almost air-like.

  Opening her eyes, she saw she was surrounded in strands of green. They covered her and Cody from hair to toes.

  Suspended them both a few inches off the floor.

  “What did you do?” she whispered.

  Cody’s teeth flashed, a short burst of white in the otherwise black and emerald space. “I pretended we were crates.”

  She blinked at him. “Did you hit your head?”

  One side of his mouth quirked up. “No.”

  “Then what are you talking about?”

  The threads of magic began pulling apart, disappearing off into space. Daughtry’s feet touched first, then her legs, her butt. When she was finally loose enough, she stood.

  “I used the same shield as the crates.”

  “Oh,” she said, her legs a little wobbly as she pushed to her feet. “Smart.”

  Cody shrugged. “I figured if it was good enough for a bunch of priceless artifacts then it should work for you.”

  “I’m going to take that comment in the spirit it was intended,” she told him, taking a cautious step forward in case the floor decided to open up beneath their feet again. It was so dark that the only things her eyes could discern were shadows and odd shapes.

  Confusion trickled across the bond. “What did I say?”

  “Nothing.” Another step, her hands outstretched to prevent her from running into anything. “Except you compared my life to a bunch of old junk.”

  “It’s not—” He stopped. “You know I didn’t mean it like that.”

  “Of course I do, Romeo.” A grin. “Hence the spirit-it-was-intended qualifier.”

  Cody grunted something that sounded suspiciously like, “Women,” but she ignored it.

  Had to give a guy a break once in a while.

  She glanced up again, saw the small square of light high above them. “Did we really fall through a trap door?”

  “Yup.” He stepped in front of her, reached back to pick up her hand, and tucked it in the waistband of his jeans. “Hang tight,” he said. “I’ll see if I can find a light switch.”

  Daughtry didn’t know if it was Cody’s military training that enabled him to see so much better than her or just natural ability. What she did know was that the confident way with which he moved, the complete lack of hesitation along the bond helped her not freak out.

  Because if Cody was there in the dark with her then nothing bad would happen.

  They walked around the perimeter of the room, pausing periodically as he searched then moving on.

  Eventually he reached up and pulled an object off the wall. It was long, skinny, almost like—

  “A torch?” she asked.

  “Seems we’re going old school.” A ball of emerald fire appeared in his hands and he directed it to the tinder sitting in the metal frame of the torch. It caught with a hiss, flames bursting forth to bathe the room in bright green light.

  He left her side for a few moments, green spheres of fire shooting around the room, searching then lighting the remaining torches one by one, until nearly every corner was illuminated.

  “What is this place?”

  The floor had the same type of stones as above, a mix of squares and rectangles, interlocking in a random pattern
. There were wooden shelves in this room as well, but these weren’t pristine and well kept. Instead, they were stained black with age and falling apart, bits and pieces of rotted debris dotting the floor. And there were no crates. Or none left in one piece, anyway. Those lay splintered, shattered all along the stones.

  Daughtry sighed, disappointed. A brief blip of hope for finding the Orb had flitted through her in the moments after she’d realized that they weren’t going to be squished into a pulp against the slate and wood shards.

  But that optimism had faded because there wasn’t a single object left on any of the shelves. What had happened here? The destruction was more than just slow decay, someone had systematically obliterated everything. There was nothing—

  Wait.

  She crossed the room, her gaze having caught on something. It almost looked like what she’d seen glimpses of when she’d first come to the Colony—a niggling in her mind that made her suspect something was there even though she couldn’t actually see it.

  She was right.

  Instead of her hands moving straight through the space her mind was telling her was empty, they collided with the hidden object.

  Blindly feeling for the item was harder than she would have expected, her brain having a heck of a time as she attempted to grasp an object she couldn’t see.

  But then she had it.

  It—whatever it was—was heavier than she would have expected, considering that it barely filled the palm of her hand.

  Turning and probably looking like an idiot holding up empty air, she brought it over to Cody, who’d been sifting through some of the broken crates.

  He frowned as he extended a palm. “I don’t see—” He broke off when his hand met resistance. “Jesus, there really is something there.”

  Chalk one up to the notion that she wasn’t crazy. “Yeah, but what?”

  “Let’s hope it’s the Orb,” he said.

  It seemed a stretch.

  He took in her expression and raised a brow.

  With a shrug she said, “It’s not like my luck has ever been that good. I couldn’t possibly stumble onto the Orb that easily.”