PhoenixKiss by Lyric James Page B

she heard him
and that unnerved her.
    He slid his hand up her back and moved her hair again,
kissing the nape of her neck. “I left your stuff on the bed. Want to join me
for a dip in the pool?”
    “The pool? It’s after midnight.”
    “And?”
    “Why would you want to go swimming at this time of night?”
    “For the same reason I can cook in the middle of the night.
It’s my house. It’s my pool. I can do what I want.”
    She laughed. “Fine. Let me check my messages first.”
    When she did, she saw she had three voice mail messages from
her editor, one from her mother and a text from her best friend. Why was her
editor calling her again?
    Probably to check up on her because he knew what she was
trying to do tonight. No, he didn’t know the extremes she’d planned to take,
like breaking into Jordan’s home, but he knew she was going for the story.
    Jordan smiled and started to tug the shirt over her head
again but she playfully squirmed away from him.
    “Can the messages wait?” he asked.
    “My editor’s called me three times. I need to call him
back.”
    Somehow he managed to get the shirt off and when she was
once again naked, which seemed to be happening an awful lot around him, he
began to draw lazy circles across her back.
    “You’re not being fair.”
    He bit her shoulder. “What are you talking about?”
    “You haven’t answered one of my questions.”
    “Well, it’s hard to answer a question when you haven’t
really asked me one.”
    She ducked away from his sensuous touch and moved around the
bed. “That’s because you keep distracting me with sex and food. Stop it.”
    He shook his head. “Oh no. Sex is so much more fun than
talking.”
    “Yes, true. But you promised. You get sex. I get a story.”
    He tackled her and they fell back on the bed laughing. “But
isn’t this much more enjoyable than work? That other stuff can wait until the
morning.”
    Jordan was on top of her now. When she reared up to try to
kiss him, he avoided it and began nibbling on her neck. Why did he keep doing
that? Who did he think he was? The male Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman ?
    Did he think not kissing her kept him detached? From feeling
anything for her? Falling in love with her? Ridiculous. Besides, she didn’t
want him to fall in love with her. Did she?
    “You are not being fair,” she moaned like a petulant child
as his tongue snaked over the lobe of her ear.
    “I think you said that already.”
    He kept nibbling and found his way back to her breasts. When
her phone chirped again, he stopped. “Come on. Let’s go swimming.” He dipped
his head to her neck. “I still taste icing on your skin.”
    As he began to pull her up, her phone continued to ring.
When she reached for it, he stopped her.
    “It may be my editor again. Go on, I’ll be down in a
second.”
    He acquiesced and headed toward the door. He removed his
pants on the way and she watched his firm, naked butt walk away. Mercy .
    She slid her finger across the screen to answer. “Hello.”
    “I’ve called you three times already, Martin.”
    “I was busy. I was just about to call you back.”
    “I hope you’re busy getting an interview with Jordan Gaines,
because the word came down from corporate late this evening.”
    Her pulse began to race. She knew what was coming. Rumors were
circulating all over the newspaper. Jobs were probably going to be cut. People
were going to be laid off. She may be a star reporter but that didn’t mean her
job couldn’t be eliminated.
    “They’re cutting positions across the board. It’s between
you and Emilia since you were the last two hired. So get me that story, Martin,
or I’m going to have to let you go. You and the story need to be in my
office at ten o’clock.”
    “I hear you.”
    She clicked off and slumped in the chair beside the balcony.

Chapter Six
     
    As Layla walked to the pool, Jordan admired how the black
T-shirt he’d given her molded to her breasts and legs. Unaware of