Firebird (The Firebird Trilogy #1) by Jennifer Loring Page B

him.
    Stephanie wrung her hands.
    “You’re staring at me like I’m filet mignon.” He winked.
    She turned away and gave her mouth a surreptitious swipe to check for drool. “I’m sorry. I just…” Wanted him so badly. Every part of him, from his gorgeous black hair to the kinked toes broken from playing the game he loved. Her body throbbed in a way that ought to make her feel guilty, ashamed, for having cheated on Joe to this extent but instead demanded she take what Alex was offering.
    “You’re uncomfortable.” He smirked. “It’s funny, da? There was a time we couldn’t get our clothes off fast enough.”
    “But that was—ˮ
    “A long time ago.” The smile faded. He picked at something on the comforter. “It doesn’t have to keep being a long time ago.”
    She lay down, her back to him. He ran a hand over her arm.
    “Here you are, in my bed. And I’ve just gotten you off. Maybe now you’ll be honest with me about why you’re marrying this guy. We’ve already established he’s terrible in bed. Is he good to you in other ways?”
    “He…” But she couldn’t think of a single thing to redeem Joe, to convince her heart of his worth when her heart’s desire lay beside her.
    “You’re tense. Some things haven’t changed. You still think you don’t deserve to be happy.”
    “Stop doing that,” she whispered, and curled up. She sucked in a deep breath and kept blinking until the tears went away.
    “Doing what?”
    “Just…knowing what I…”
    “I know,” he whispered in her ear, “because you were my best friend. You were my everything.”
    “He’s not like you.” Alex’s mere presence augmented the miserable, inescapable truth of it, and she began to cry despite her best efforts.
    Until he smothered her mouth in a kiss that melted whatever remained of the icy wall she’d built around her heart. That water, warm now, rushed through her and into her limbs, her core. She fastened her arms around his shoulders and, pulling herself up a little, thrust her tongue between his lips. He forced her legs apart with his knee and lay between them, then moved his hands down her body, her skin tingling where he touched her. He settled them on her waist.
    “Do you want me?” he whispered.
    Her want was the entire crux of the problem. “Alex, I can’t…”
    “Why are you doing this to yourself?”
    She swallowed and stared up at him.
    “I’m not trying to upset you, Stephanie.”
    “I know.”
    “But you are upset.” Alex pressed his lips to hers in a poignant kiss. He rolled off her and curled up under the blankets, his arm around her. He rested his hand over her heart. She twined her fingers with his and, though she hadn’t expected to sleep at all, she did so with a child’s peace in the amnion of his love.
     
    ***
     
    She woke around six thirty. Disoriented for a moment, not recognizing the room. Her heart speeding up at the sight of Alex beside her, their legs tangled and their arms around each other. She grudgingly extricated herself from him. A sound sleeper, he didn’t stir except to roll onto his back as she sat up and picked the crust from her eyes. She dressed, then poked around the medicine cabinet in the bathroom across the hall for some ibuprofen.
    When she closed the mirrored door, he was standing behind her. He scratched his head and pushed his hair back as if posing for a designer underwear ad.
    “Leaving without saying good-bye?”
    “I thought you were still asleep.” She wedged her hands into her pockets so she wouldn’t touch him.
    He closed his fingers around a fistful of her hair and jammed his mouth to hers, an ardent kiss that buckled her knees.
    She grabbed the counter before she puddled onto the floor. “Alex, stop.” She pushed him away, though she had to pry her hands from that chest. “This shouldn’t have happened. I drank too much, and I let things go too far.”
    He furrowed his brow as if he didn’t understand her and opened his mouth to