PHOENIX FOLLOWED DANTE into the Guardians’ compound, feeling nervous. She’d felt relaxed and comfortable after paintball and dinner, but now, her concerns were back. What if this sex thing went horribly wrong? What if it was so bad that Dante changed his mind about getting her pregnant?
Of course, Dante never even said that was what they were going to do. It just seemed like they had led up to it, and tonight was the night. Especially with the date. Why else would Dante have done something special for her tonight?
As Dante led her upstairs, they passed Hunter, who barely noticed them. He seemed to be preoccupied with his own thing. Phoenix was grateful because, if she later ran out of the mansion from humiliation, she didn’t need anyone else to witness it.
When they reached Dante’s room, she shut the door behind them.
“Hey, should we turn on Game of Thrones?” he asked, walking toward his TV, oblivious to her turmoil.
“No.”
Dante turned around and frowned. “No?”
“No,” she whispered, not knowing what else to say.
His look turned to one of concern, and unexpectedly, she questioned everything.
What am I doing here?
He was beautiful, both inside and out, and she had no right to ask him to sacrifice his whole world for her. She was damaged goods. He should be with someone who could give him everything he deserved. She was wasting his time, and she suddenly realized how selfish she was for taking advantage of his good heart.
Phoenix took a step back. “I think I should go.”
“Did I do something?” Dante asked as he strode toward her until she put a hand out to stop him.
Of course he would blame himself.
“No!” she practically shouted. “You’re…fricking perfect. I’m the fucked up one.” She put her head in her hands, not wanting him to look at her. She should really turn around and flee like she had the first time she let him feed from her.
She didn’t hear Dante move closer and didn’t know he was right in front of her until he pulled on her hands. “Phoenix.”
She didn’t budge.
“Hey. Red. Look at me, please?”
It was the Red that did it. She dropped her arms and looked at him.
He cupped her face and ran his thumbs over her cheekbones. “We don’t have to do this, you know. I don’t want you to feel like you are being forced to do anything you don’t want to do.”
She shook her head. “You don’t understand.”
His brown eyes looked so lost, and she felt guilty for putting that look there.
“Can you explain it to me?”
“I want to have sex with you.”
Dante smiled, but his eyes still looked sad. “Okay, Red, you’re going to have to help me out here. I’m confused.”
She looked down—at least the best she could since he was still touching her face. “What if I mess it up? What if you don’t want to do it again?”
“Oh, Red, no matter what, that will never happen. Haven’t you ever heard the old saying that pizza is like sex?”
She met his eyes. Now, she was confused. “Huh?”
“Pizza’s like sex. Even when it’s bad, it’s still pretty good.”
She raised her brow.
Dante laughed. “At least for guys.”
Kenzie had told her that sex was different for men than women.
“My point is, no matter what, I’m going to like it because I’ll get to be inside you.”
A delicious shiver spread down her spine at his words.
“Plus, you’re not the only one who is feeling pressure. I think sleeping with you is more pressure than sleeping with a virgin. I want to make it enjoyable for you more than anything. I’m not trying to make you feel worse. I just want you to know that we’re in this together.”
She put her arms around his neck. What did he just say to me? “I’m going to like it because you’ll be inside me.”
“Fuck,” Dante said before he lowered his head and kissed her.
He worked her mouth until she was jelly in his arms, and then he stepped away, taking her hand and leading her to the bed.
“Undress me, Red.”
Phoenix slowly removed Dante’s clothes, like she had the first time she touched him. After she removed his shirt, she leaned into his chest and inhaled. He had sweat off all the sunscreen and smelled like Dante again. Cinnamon, musk, and male. She kissed his neck, nipping him there with her canines, and went to work on his pants.
Once his pants were removed, she wrapped her fingers around him, but unlike the last few nights, he put his hand over hers, stopping her.
“Not tonight.” He kissed her. “I’ll barely last as it is.”
She let go of him and touched him on his chest as he slowly removed her pants. He bent down and helped guide one pant leg over her heel and then the other. He pulled her close and inhaled between her legs, like she had done to his chest minutes ago.
He looked up at her. “Can I take your shirt off?”
She almost said no, but she and Dante had been through a lot. He’d already seen her breasts when he healed them, so she nodded. This was the first time he had asked if he could remove her top, sensing she had issues with her upper body.
Dante stood and carefully pulled her sweater over her head before letting it drop next to her.
“Damn, Red.”
Phoenix looked down at the bra and panty set that Kenzie had made her wear. It was red and lacy and barely covered anything. “I didn’t pick it out. It—”
He put his finger over her lips. “You look…stunning. I am the luckiest son of a bitch alive right now.”
She couldn’t have stopped the blush and grin that spread across her face if she tried.
Dante sat on the bed and pulled her between his legs. He ran his hands up her thighs to her hips and leaned forward to kiss her on her chest above her breasts. She held her breath as she waited to see what he would do. He moved up her neck and kissed there again before moving back down to her chest. But he never kissed her breasts, and he left her bra covering her. She didn’t know whether to be relieved or disappointed, but for now, she was going to go with relieved.
He slipped his fingers under the waistband of her underwear and pulled them down off her legs. She kicked them aside and looked down at Dante’s naked body.
They hadn’t been naked at the same time until now. Dante was always very aware of her being comfortable and not misleading her, so he made sure one of them was always wearing pants.
This was a turning point in their relationship. As if Dante was thinking the same thing, he looked at her until she nodded her okay.
Dante scooted further back on the bed and took Phoenix’s hand. He led her forward, so she was straddling him. “I want you to direct how this goes,” he said. “You get to control everything. No pressure.”
She moved up, so her opening was right over his penis. “Will you help me put you inside me?”
Dante took her hand in his, grabbed his dick, and then placed it at her entrance. She was starting to feel nervous again but for a different reason. He was so large, and she was afraid it would hurt. She knew that Dante had been preparing her the last few nights to help her get used to him, but they hadn’t been doing this very long. What if they needed more time?
“Relax, Red.”
“Easier said than done.”
Dante used his free hand to pull her down and kiss her. He always knew what to do to make her feel better. So what if it involved kissing a lot? She loved kissing him.
Before she knew it, she felt Dante rubbing his cock through her slickness. She felt like it was now or never, so she sat back up and slowly pushed down on him. She immediately felt him stretch her, but it didn’t hurt. She continued on and on and on until she was seated firmly on him.
She had never felt so full in her life.
Experimenting, she rotated her hips a little. Dante groaned. She squeezed down on him, and he cursed.
Hmm… She could get used to this.
Except she realized that, after he was inside her, she didn’t really know what to do. She’d never been the one in control.
Dante must have sensed her dilemma because he placed his hands on her hips. “Rock your hips. Move up and down. Do whatever you want, Phoenix. I promise, no matter what, it’ll feel good.”
She leaned over and took his mouth again, and she moved over him. At first, slowly and tentatively, but as the friction their bodies created started to feel good, she increased her pace. Soon, she had to break their kiss because she was finding it hard to breathe.
She had an arm outstretched on each side of his head as she rode him. “Does it…always…feel this…good?” she asked him.
He shook his head. “Good. But never…like this.” He dug his fingernails into her hips. “I don’t…know…how much…longer…I can…last. Fuck.”
The veins on his neck stood out, and it only turned her on more.
Dante moved one hand from her side and pushed it between them. His fingers aimed right for her clit, and Phoenix moaned. The feel of him touching her there with him inside her was like heaven.
He continued to touch her as she moved her pelvis on his over and over, unrelenting in her movements.
Oh God. Could she…would she actually be able to come like this?
Her body answered her by climaxing around Dante so hard that she was nothing but a worthless heap of shifter when she was done. Thankfully, she had felt Dante’s release right before she collapsed on him.
She was so content to lie there that she felt herself beginning to doze. She didn’t know if she’d ever felt so relaxed in her life. She gathered enough strength to lift her head and look at Dante. His eyes were closed.
“Dante?”
“Hmm?” he said as he began rubbing her back.
“Did I do okay?” The only reason she asked was because she already knew the answer, and she was feeling a little smug.
Dante looked at her, his eyes half-lidded and stress-free. “Red, you were fucking phenomenally well. But don’t move yet.”
Phoenix’s eyes widened as his semi-hard cock, still inside her, went full mast.
“I want to feel you come all over me again.”