Phoenix’s Plight by Tiffany Casper
‘Who says beards aren’t hot?
They don’t like orgasms.’
- T-shirt
Chapter 3
June
Today hadn’t been her day. Not only had one customer called and cussed her out for something that she had absolutely no control over, but it wasn’t her fault that he fought with his soon-to-be ex-wife and she decided to pay him back by not providing her soon-to-be ex-husband with the five-digit passcode that to get into their account.
Sometimes, she absolutely loved working at a call center, but other times, like today, she was fed up with it.
Not to mention the customer wanted to have her fired. Then, when the call had escalated and her supervisor had got on the line, the customer wanted to have him fired too. When the customer had been rerouted back to June, she groaned.
Needless to say, his phone number was flagged and he was immediately directed to the department where he would never get through to a live person.
They didn’t send you to that department for just being disgruntled. No, they sent you to that department after you are asked no less than five times to keep the call professional. June couldn’t even begin to repeat the names that he had called her.
However, when he had said that her momma should have kept her legs closed, that really hurt. Seeing as her mother had defied the rules and had given birth to June after being raped, that really, truly hurt. Her momma had tried to keep her legs closed.
As soon as her manager had seen her face, he had jumped on the call and rewound the entire conversation.
June had told the man that he needed to remain professional. As soon as she had said that, the man started up yet again, it was at that moment that a message from her manager had come across her screen and told her to end the call but thank the customer for calling.
She hadn’t realized she had been crying on her way home from work until she felt the wetness on her cheeks.
Damn tears. She hated being emotional.
However, what she hated more was someone seeing her weakness.
And that someone was a six-foot-five, two-hundred-eighty-pound wall of muscle who was sitting on her front stoop. She didn’t need to see the face to know who that was. All she had to see were the hands. Those hands that had scorched a trail of fire all across her skin.
Heathen.
She hadn’t seen him in almost two months, which was more than the normal amount of time that he would disappear from her life and then he resurface.
Wiping away her tears, she put her car in park, grabbed her things, and then shut off the engine.
Releasing a breath, she opened her car door and stepped out with her lunch bag and her purse that resembled a book bag. The moment she looked up after closing her car door, Heathen was no longer sitting on the front stoop of her house. No, he was standing right in front of her, his eyes looking intently down at hers.
Only it was the color of them that had shocked her. Gone were his green eyes—now, they were almost as dark as the midnight sky.
“Who the fuck made you cry?” The fear that assaulted her instantly almost had her stepping away from him. Almost. She had been doing this dance with Heathen for the past two years, and if there was one thing that she knew about him, it was that he would never use his strength to harm her. Never.
But she had never heard that tone come from the big man. Neither had she ever seen his entire body tense like a cobra waiting to strike. Well, more like a giant fucking grizzly bear.
She had never seen his jaw ticking in that manner. Nor had she ever seen that vein in his neck, which she had licked and nipped at more times than she could count, throbbing.
He was straining to control his temper, and she could see that whenever he let that temper out, she never wanted to be on the receiving end.
“It’s okay,” she whispered out.
“Negative, babe. Who?” That strong voice was enough to make her wet.
She sighed, because she knew that he wouldn’t let this matter go.
“A customer at the call center,” she said numbly.
June saw him let out a breath when he realized he wouldn’t be able to do anything about it. Never would she relay a customer’s information. Not only was it against their policy, but it was also against the law.
“Come on. Let it go,” she said as she brought her hand up and rubbed at the ticking in his jaw.
She smiled when she saw it stop ticking.
“Okay.” And there went the hardness that she had seen like a flash of lightning, and now he had become soft again. Well, as soft as he could be.
“Let’s get inside the house,” she whispered up at him before she did what she really wanted to do.
And that was to faceplant into his chest and sniff his shirt. She was addicted to his cologne.
Walking to her front door, she unlocked it and pushed it open.
She knew his Harley was around the back so that no one would know he was here. She didn’t mind that she was his secret, just like he was hers. But she did feel a little like a whore, well, not really, because she had only been with one man, and that was Heathen.
She hated to admit it, but she would forever be okay if Heathen was her last. Even if it meant tonight was their last night together, she would never be able to find a man who could bring as much heat to her body as he did.
Looking over her shoulder, she asked, “Hungry?” Because her belly was grumbling, and she loved to cook. When she cooked, she made enough for two days and she knew that Heathen could put some food away.
“Yeah. Sounds great, babe.”
As she tossed her long mahogany hair up in a messy bun, she watched while Heathen grabbed a cold beer for himself and one for her from the fridge. He popped the top on one beer and sat it on the island right next to her with a kiss to her temple, then walked to the couch and turned on the television.
She still remembered the first time he had opened her fridge and seen a certain type of beer sitting on the shelf. The first time he had been to her house, she asked him what his favorite beer was and she had gotten it for him. She also made sure she kept it stocked for him.
The next night, when he had seen it on her shelf, they had broken in her island. She loved that island and the memory she had on it.
With a soft smile on her face, she pulled out what she needed for enchiladas and got to work.
“Need any help?” That had been something new that she’d been hearing from him.
“Do you really want to help me, or is this a manners thing?” she asked him.
“Manners thing. I’ll clean up after.” And he did. While she slept afterward, he always got up, cleaned up everything, and then he would leave.
“Okay.” She tossed him a wink over her shoulder and missed the look that he had given her. It was almost as if he were capturing their little moments and storing them to remember her by.
Just as the chicken and veggies had finished, she started on the wraps and browned them. A frown had marred her face when her doorbell rang. She hadn’t invited anyone over tonight.
June grabbed a rag and wiped her hands off as she made her way to the front door, all the while Heathen was standing up and watching with his arms crossed in front of his chest.
The moment she opened the door, she sighed. It was her freaking neighbor from across the road.
“Brad.” She nodded.
“Beautiful,” he said, then for some reason, he leaned in and tried to kiss her cheek.
With a jerk, she pulled her head back and stared at him.
“What are you doing here?” she asked him with a glare.
He sputtered, “Well, I was just walking over here to see if you wanted to have dinner with me tonight.”
Why did he insist on always asking her if she wanted to have dinner? In the six years she had been living here, not once had she ever said yes.
“I already have plans. I’m sorry,” she told him as she went to close the door in his face. At the last minute, he threw his tennis shoe foot in the little opening and stopped the door from closing.
Before she could say anything, Heathen had crossed the floor, placed his hand on her hip, pushed her aside, and flung the door back open.
“The woman closed the door. Meant she was done. Leave,” Heathen growled out at Brad.
Warmth filled her everywhere. No one had ever stood up for June. She had gotten so used to defending herself.
Brad had on a red polo shirt and black skin-tight pants. He had bright blonde hair and hazel eyes.
He had nothing on Heathen, in his navy fitted tee with a pair of worn, faded blue jeans that covered his black leather motorcycle boots. Where she had mahogany hair, he had dark hair in a mohawk. But it was his eyes that did her in—he had crystal green eyes that melted her insides.
“Who the hell are you?” Brad had tried to be strong, but he sounded weak.
He was a little taller than her own five-foot-four height. And he was a little more muscular than she was, but Heathen had him beat by a mile.
“I’m the man who is going to kill you if you don’t leave her alone.”
June would have run like the hounds of hell were after her. But Brad stood there wide-eyed, unmoving.
Heathen snarled out in disgust, then slammed the door in Brad’s face. They heard an “ouch” on the other side of the door.
She smiled as she watched Heathen move back to the couch as he grabbed his beer and sat back down while she finished making the enchiladas.
Once the meal was consumed, Heathen carried their plates to the kitchen, then grabbed her hand and pulled her to her bedroom, all the while holding two fresh, cold beers in his other mighty big fist.
Leaning her body against the door, she watched as he placed the beers down on the nightstand and then stripped off his shirt, followed by his jeans and then his boots and socks.
He stood there, in all of his naked glory, staring at her with want and need and his already raging hard-on. How in the world the man went without underwear was beyond her. At least he didn’t wear those hip-hugging jeans, which guessed was the reason he could do that.
He bent, pulled a condom from his jeans pocket, and rolled it onto his cock.
When he crooked his finger at her, she walked over to stand in front of him. Before he could do anything more, she placed her hands on his chest and pushed him backward. She knew she wasn’t big enough to make him move where she wanted him, but thankfully, he allowed her to direct him.
When the backs of his calves hit the bed, he sat down.
She smiled as she slowly undid the blue wrap dress from her body and then she turned, giving him her back as the material caressed down and across her body like silk.
When it had pooled at her heel-clad feet, she looked at him over her shoulder and then pulled her long hair from the messy bun it had been in, allowing it to cascade down her back. She unhooked her bra and it joined the dress on the floor.
Turning, she walked over to him and straddled his thighs. It was always like a workout with him. Since the size of one of his legs accounted for all four of her limbs, spreading for him had always felt like a damn yoga pose.
She kissed him full out and relished when those big arms came around her and hauled her up even closer to his body.
She was waiting for him to stand, toss her over onto the bed, and then go to town, but when he sat there and kissed her back, their tongues intertwining was something different and she loved it.
She was out of breath, so she moved her mouth along his jaw, feeling his beard as it tickled her skin. And then the moment she got to his ear, she nipped at his lobe and at the spot right behind his ear that made him moan.
As she worked her way down to the vein in his neck, she lightly caressed it with her lips, and then he was picking her up and wrapping her legs around his waist.
Only he didn’t put her on the bed. No, he crushed his mouth to hers as he stepped forward, continuing until her back hit the far wall and her ass felt the coolness of the wood through her blue silk panties.
He tore them from her body.
“That was one of my favorites,” she whined at him, but she secretly loved the strength that he possessed.
“I’ll buy you more,” he growled out between licks and nips all along her neck.
Then she felt him, his powerful member, that when she had first seen it, she asked aloud if it would even fit.
It was big just like the rest of him, and she licked her lips in anticipation.
“You want him that bad?” he groaned out as he started to tempt her with his cock.
“Yes. Hurry, Heathen. It’s been too long,” she moaned out.
But then he stilled.
“Why did you stop? Heathen, please,” she whined.
“What do you mean it’s been too long?” She stared into those green eyes that told her all about a strong but broken man.
“Well, you haven’t been back for almost two months, Heathen. That’s a long time to go without your cock.” Why was he asking her this?
“You telling me you ain’t been with no one else?” he asked her incredulously.
“Heathen, I don’t mind telling you, but can you please get your cock in me and fuck me already?” The moment she had that out, he thrusted all the way inside of her and she cried out at the invasion, but she freaking loved it. Thank god she was already wet from just his mouth on hers.
“Yes.” She was panting now.
“Keep your eyes locked with mine.” With a nod, she obeyed.
He began pounding into her. The movements caused her heels to fall from her feet and land on the floor in a clatter.
He brought his free hand that wasn’t wrapped around her ass to keep her in place and used his fingers to circle around her clit, bringing her closer and closer to ecstasy.
Then he stilled again, right as her climax was on top of her. “Heathen,” she cried out.
“How long?” he growled out at her.
It took her a minute to think. What had they been talking about again?
Oh . . . yeah.
“I’ve been with one person, Heathen, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. Now, please, make me come,” she told him as she kept eye contact with him.
She felt his breathing change. Gone were the erratic breaths. Now, it felt as though he were doing nothing more than breathing her in, filling every fiber of his being with her very essence.
Then he pounded into her and didn’t slow, even when a cell started to ring.
He didn’t slow until he felt the walls of her pussy squeeze him in ecstasy as she kept eye contact with him, and then, he came with her.
“Fuck,” she heard him say as the phone had stopped ringing and then started up again.
As he let her body slide down his front, she watched when he walked his glorious, muscled ass over to his jeans, knelt, and then answered whoever was calling.
“Yeah?” She watched him as he turned his head and looked at her still leaning against the wall for support.
Hell, he hadn’t even been breathing hard. She was panting.
“Fuck. Now?” She saw the growl reverberate through his chest.
Sighing, she knew what that meant. She padded in her bare feet to the bathroom and started a trickle of warm water on two wash clothes.
“Be there in thirty,” she heard, then he said, “Fucking hell.” Their time together was already over.
Heathen pulled the condom from his cock, tied the end off, and tossed it in the wastebasket in her bathroom. After she wiped herself off, she carried one of the warm washcloths to him and watched as he cleaned himself.
When he handed her the washcloth back, he wrapped his hand around her hip and stilled her movements.
“Leave the mess for me. I’ll clean it up when I get back,” he whispered.
“Heathen, it’s okay.” She knew he was a busy man. She didn’t know what he did in the MC, and she didn’t want to push him. Too many things had been ruined by pushing the limits. She was happy to just be living in the moments with him.
“It’s not,” he said as he pulled on his jeans, followed by his socks and then his boots.
She returned to the bathroom, did her business, and then pulled on a large, oversized t-shirt and some sleep shorts. She expected him to be gone already, which was his norm, so imagine her surprise when she exited the bathroom and saw him standing at the edge of her bed with his shirt and leather kutte already on.
“Come e’re,” he commanded softly.
She padded over to him and he did something uncharacteristic for him. He showed her a side that she’d never seen before.
When she made it to him, he wrapped his arms around her waist, pulled her close, and placed a kiss on her lips.
In a whisper so low, he said, “Since we started this, there’s been no one else either.” With that, he kissed her stunned face on her forehead and then she watched him walk out of the house.
She didn’t know how long she stood there until a giant grin spread across her face and she did a happy dance. She had briefly heard his Harley start up outside of her house.
Sighing, she figured he wouldn’t be back soon. So, she took care of the dishes as she had a glass of sweet white wine.
Once all the dishes were washed, dried, and put away, she decided to call it a night. It was only eight in the evening, but anytime she spent time with Heathen, she found that she slept like a baby.
What she didn’t know was that her statement to him had changed their routine drastically.
