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Devon had shown up to see NOLA’s Junk, too. After the first song, he’d materialized from out of nowhere, and he’d taken the spot on the crate behind Alys. His turquoise eyes were alight with joy and gratitude when he looked at me.

NOLA’s Junk went on for two and a half hours for their hometown and ended on a high that left everyone buzzing. Da looked close to tears, bursting with pride over his son, as he watched the five young men wrap their arms around each other and bow. He’d never truly believed that Connor would do anything more than teach kids the bluidy recorder.

The next venue would be in Houston, Texas, a five-hour drive at most, and we all decided to head out in the morning.

Midnight found us back at the Plantation House, and without a word to anyone, Phil hauled me over to our half and marched me upstairs. A thrill tingled its way through me as I heard the door click softly shut behind me.

“I’m fuckin’ filthy, Baby Girl. Will you help me wash?”

Too fuckin’ right, I will.

Laughing, Phil chased me out of the bathroom and into the bedroom. I catapulted myself onto the bed in an effort to bounce off and escape on the other side, but he was a fast motherfucker and pounced, pinning me facedown on the mattress.

“You didn’t dry off my dick well enough, woman! I could get mushrooms or some such shit!” Wiggling his cock on top of my ass crack, he gave a happy grunt. “There. That should do it. You’ve got a very absorbent bottom.”

“What the hell does that even mean?” I chortled.

“I’m not sure. It just sounded sensible in my head, so I went with it.” He laughed back.

Rolling off me, he sat cross-legged on the bed and pulled me onto his lap so that we were face-to-face. The humor melted from his features to reveal that burning sexy look that never failed to turn me into warm goo.

“Put your legs around me,” he commanded, his voice soft and way too deep for my crotch’s own good. Lifting me up by my rear with his forearm, he used his free hand to position the head of himself at my entrance. “Keep your eyes open.”

As he lowered me inch by lovely inch down the mighty length of him, we kept our eyes locked on each other. When fully seated within me, he let out a sigh that spoke volumes of contentment.

“Let’s not do that again.” His voice was hushed, intimate.

“It was awful,” I admitted. “I didn’t really think that one through.”

His grin was infectious. “Yeah, well, we all have our moments, I guess.”

Lifting up, I slid back down, making both our breaths catch.

Sublime.

Phil always felt so right, moving inside me, creating me whole. Surrendering to him was as natural as breathing. He filled me in so many ways with this one simple act.

“It wasn’t all awful though,” he stated, his eyes glowing with warmth and affection. “These last few days have been awesome.”

“Yeah,” I breathed, slowly lifting and descending, a gentle wave lazily building toward a shore far on the horizon.

“Some parts were even better than havin’ sex,” he murmured, his hands cupping my bottom, helping to lift and lower me over him.

“Macaroni and cheese can sometimes have that effect.” I smiled. This felt far too good.

“Mmhmm. I don’t know what it is about your food, woman, but damn.”

“It’s called love,” I joked.

His face grew serious. “It is. I fell in love with you so hard, all over again,” he confessed. “Just bein’ in your company…”

The tingles within me intensified, pulsing with a deep rhythm. His mouth found and fused with mine. Our tempo increased, urging us to bring each other higher.

“I could see you in a whole new light…” he whispered against my lips, his fingertips stroking over my cheek and jaw.

Strong and beautiful, a mountain of a man surging into me, he tried to weld us together with the heat of our mutual passion. Shifting us, Phil stretched us out on the bed, tucking me beneath him, pushing in deeper, touching divinely into his spot.

“I wish it didn’t have to end,” I told him, wonderfully crushed by his weight, his heat encasing me, penetrating to my soul.

With each stroke he delivered, I met him with a thrust of my own.

“Me neither,” he whispered. “I love this. I love what we have. It’s just so…there are no words.”

Arching into him, I weaved my fingers through his hair. The pressure within me was building, lifting me up. My eyes rolled into the back of my head.

“Oohhhh,” I groaned. “Oh God, Phil! You take me—” My breath caught as my thoughts grew bright, and the words were snatched from my mouth by the glittering sparks shooting off inside me.

“I take you where?” he asked, his voice vibrating its way down from my ears to our joined bodies.

A pulsar formed behind my eyes, twinkling with joy, merriment, and every wondrous sort of sensation imaginable.

“Tell me,” he urged, rocking in and out with the rhythm of a mellow tide.

“Beyond heaven!” I gasped, my pelvis thrusting into his. “Phil, please!”

“Beyond heaven…” he breathed. “Fuck yeah, Baby Girl. It’s just like that.”

“Harder,” I whimpered.

His strokes increased, the head of him pressing into that glorious point that screamed for him and him alone. He felt it pound in response to him, and he groaned low and deep in his chest.

“Take me with you, Kenna…beyond heaven. I can’t go there without you. I need you by my side…”

The universe condensed into one intense vibrating wet throb. It pushed down on us from every angle, squeezing us into a single entity for one infinite moment.

“Ohhh!” I cried, feeling all of Phil infuse all of me.

He cried out, too, but it was lost in the vacuum of that space beyond heaven, joining with the pulsar in my mind’s eye.

Then, the orgasm hit, a massive wave of incredible warmth drowning us both. His mouth slammed onto mine, and the roar that passed from him into me shook me to the very core of my existence. My own scream pushed back into him.

Long after, our sweat dried and bodies cooled down, our breaths were deep and relaxed. Phil’s hand smoothed its way down my back. As we were lying on our sides, he was still inside me, my thigh hiked up around his hip. My face rested beneath his, buried in his neck and shoulder.

“What the fuck was that?” he whispered.

“I don’t know.”

His chest began to shake with suppressed laughter. I poked his flat belly, and his laughter erupted.

“I thought I was makin’ love to you, but seriously…I think we just fucked our brains out.”

“I don’t see why we can’t have it both ways.”

“Obviously, we can.” He snorted and gently eased out of me. Rolling onto his back, he gave me an odd look that sent a shiver down my spine.

“What?” I asked.

“I need a beatin’. You up for that?”

I grinned. “Hell yeah. You totally earned one.”

“Too fuckin’ right I did,” he said, giving me a huge dimpled smile. “Use my belt. I wanna be raw as fuck tomorrow.”

Getting up, I retrieved his wide leather belt from his Dickies. “I think I want you standing,” I told him. “Holding on to the footboard.”

Surprise danced over his features. “Huh. Yeah, all right.” Taking his position at the foot of the bed, he wrapped his hands around the wrought iron.

“I want to see how fast you get hard from a beating,” I said, watching the blush creep into his high cheekbones. “Why do you think pain turns you on?”

He tucked his hair behind his ears and shrugged before grabbing on to the footboard once more. “I don’t know. It’s not all types of pain. Just the things you do to me.”

“You don’t know that. Should I have another woman come in and spank you?”

Glaring at me, he snapped, “No.”

Leather cracked over his ass, and he sucked in a sharp breath. Peeking around him, I looked at his cock, seeing it bob slightly as the blood started to surge. He glared again, and I smirked.