Phoenix

P hoenix finished wiping down the bar top and tossed her cloth into the dirty rags that Savage took home to wash. She could feel Riggs’ eyes following her every move, and she had to admit, she kind of liked it. She had never had a guy pay her that much attention. Then again, she didn’t have very much experience with men, so she really wouldn’t know how much attention a man should pay to a woman.

“I’m ready,” she squeaked. grabbed her purse and waited for Riggs at the back door. He yelled back to Savage, who was in his office, that they were heading out and would lock up. Savage had already given her a key to the bar and filled her in on how to clean up for the night and lock up the bar. All in all, she really liked her job. It allowed her to hang out with people that she liked, and that was a bonus for her.

Riggs reappeared down the narrow hallway and reached for her hand. “He said that he’ll see you tomorrow, same time as tonight.” had agreed to work as many shifts as possible without abusing Aggie’s offer to sit with Lydia or burn herself out. She was going to have to learn how to live on less sleep but that worked for her. When Lydia was a newborn, she had up every two hours for the first six months. Every time she complained to the doctor about it, he’d tell her that most babies were sleeping most of the way through the night by that age. That made her feel like a total failure, but there was nothing she could do about it. Her doctor was down at the clinic in town, and since she didn’t have health insurance, she had no other choice but to see him.

Riggs stepped in front of her, “Hey, where did you just go?” he asked.

“I’m still here, just thinking about when Lydia was a baby,” she admitted. “She was up almost every two hours. I’m going to have to get used to less sleep now that I’m working nights and getting up with her in the morning, but at least she’s trained me for it. I just don’t want to burden Aggie any more than I already am. I’m just worried about leaving Lydia with Aggie all night again.”

“If you’ve changed your mind, I won’t be mad, honey,” he said. “I know that your daughter comes first, and if you want to be with her, I won’t stand in your way,” Riggs insisted.

“You really are the sweetest man,” she said, rubbing her hand down his cheek.

“Don’t say that too loudly, honey. I have a reputation to uphold,” he said. She giggled and wrapped her arms around his waist.

“I haven’t changed my mind,” she insisted. “But I would like to go home in the morning to relieve Aggie.”

“If you want, you can bring her over to my house and get some extra shuteye. Since it’s Sunday, I’ll be on call, but probably won’t have to go in,” he said, “and I don’t mind watching Lydia. We get along great.”

“I noticed that tonight. She’s really taken to you, Riggs,” she agreed.

He wrapped his arms around her and snuggled into his body. “I’m just wondering if her mama has taken to me too,” he admitted.

“I have,” she whispered. Riggs turned her back against the wall and crushed her lips with his own. He wasn’t going to be gentle with her and she liked that about him. Her only experience was with a man she practically despised. The only reason she was sleeping on his sofa was because she had nowhere else to go. She used him, the same way that he eventually used her, but at least she got paid for it. Plus, she got Lydia, but she didn’t know that the night he used her body. If she had, she might have felt less shame and guilt over what had happened, but having Lydia now, she didn’t feel those things. Honestly, she didn’t feel anything for her daughter’s biological father or what he took from because he gave her so much more. He gave her hope because that was all she saw when she looked at her little girl.

Riggs ran his big hands down her body, cupping her breasts through her shirt. couldn’t help but hiss out her breath. It felt so good to be touched like that by him. She had spent so much time watching him from her window, and now she was finally getting everything that she wanted from him.

He kissed his way down her neck, and she knew that she had to come clean about watching him. “Um, I have something to tell you,” she whispered. He stilled halfway down her neck and took a step back from her.

“Now?” he asked.

“Yes, well, I think that you might want to know this before we go any further,” she whispered.

“Okay, shoot,” he said.

“Um, you know how our bedrooms are across from each other?”

He shrugged, “Yeah.”

“Well, you don’t close your blinds,” she said, as though that would explain everything.

“So, is the light from my bedroom bothering you or something?” he asked.

“No, but sometimes, well, a lot of times, I sit and watch you in the dark, so you can’t see me.” There, the truth was out there and if he chose to walk away from her now, that would be his decision. “I’m a Peeping Tom,” she whispered.

He burst out laughing and she looked at him as though he had lost his mind. “Honey,” he breathed. That was all he seemed capable of getting out because he was laughing at her so hard.

“What’s so funny?” she asked.

“I knew that you were watching me. Why do you think I left my light on?” he asked. “A few nights, I thought about getting completely naked, but I worried that Aggie might also be able to see into my window, so I thought better of it.”

“Oh,” she breathed, thinking about him getting naked for her turned her inside out with need. She was already wet and achy for him, but hearing that just ramped up her girl parts—in a good way.

He leaned in to kiss her again, and wrapped her arms around his shoulders as she moaned into his mouth. “I like it when you watch me, honey,” he whispered against his lips. Hearing him say that to her ignited a fire deep inside of her and all she could think about was him making her his, as soon as possible.

“I need you, Riggs,” she whimpered, “now.” He didn’t seem to need to be told twice. Riggs worked her t-shirt up her body and over her head.

“No bra?” he asked.

“I get more tips that way,” she shyly told him.

“From now on, you wear a bra when you come here. Around my place, you don’t—got it?” he asked. She wasn’t sure why she liked him bossing her around, but she did.

“Got it,” she whispered. He kissed his way down to her breasts, sucking and biting his way over to the next.

“I need to fuck you, baby,” he growled against her skin.

“Yes,” she hissed out, “I need that too.”

Riggs pulled his own shirt up over his body and her hands were everywhere. And when he pulled down his jeans, letting his cock spring free, she couldn’t help but run her hands over his shaft. “I’ve never touched a man this way before,” she admitted. “Am I doing it right?”

“You’re doing it more than right, baby, but if I let you keep doing it, this will be over before we get started. Are you on the pill?” he asked.

“Yes,” she whispered.

“Good.” He unbuttoned her jeans and slid them down her legs, helping her to step free from them. “Keep on the boots,” he ordered. “I want to fuck you in them.” She had worn her high-heeled boots to work and God, they were killing her feet, but she had done it for the tips. Hearing him tell her to keep them on while he was going to fuck her in them had her rethinking about wearing them to work anymore. They would be something that she’d wear just for him.

He slid her body up the wall, and she straddled his cock, inviting him to give her what she had been begging for. Riggs slid into her pussy, causing her to cry out. “Fuck, you’re tight,” he said.

She felt as though she was holding onto him for dear life as he stilled inside her body. “I told you that I’ve only done this once, Riggs. I’m afraid that I’m not very experienced.”

“I like that you don’t have a lot of experience. I don’t care about any other man you’ve been with in the past, , you’re mine now.” It was the words that he had given to her every night in her dreams. She wanted to be his, and now she was.

“Yes,” she breathed.

“Say that you’re mine, honey,” he ordered.

“I’m yours,” she whimpered, “please, Riggs.” He pulled out of her body and pumped back in. She moaned and he seemed to take that as a good sign because he picked up pace, and within minutes, she was crying out his name. Riggs pumped into her body a few more times and when he came inside of her, he whispered her name against her skin as he kissed her.

“God, you’re perfect,” he breathed.

She snuggled into his body as Savage’s office door opened. Shit—she had forgotten that they were not alone. “You guys about finished out there?” he asked. “I hate to break things up, but I need to get home to Dallas and Bowie.”

“Shit,” Riggs growled. “I’m sorry, honey. I just got carried away.”

“Me too,” she whispered.

“Give us a few minutes to get dressed, man, and then, we’ll be out of here,” Riggs said to Savage.

“I’m so sorry,” called.

Savage’s chuckle echoed down the dark, narrow hallway. “Don’t be,” he said. “It’s about time that you two stop circling each other. Next time, maybe pick a more private spot.”

“Will do,” Riggs said.

“We are not having sex at my place of work again, Riggs,” she whispered.

“Well, now you’ve gone and given me a challenge,” he teased. “And I never back down from one of those.”

“Shit,” Savage grumbled, shutting his office door. Riggs laughed, but ’s embarrassment won out over her sense of humor.

Rigg’s helped her with her jeans and T-shirt, and she was sure that it was the sweetest thing ever. He finished getting dressed and grabbed her hand. “Let’s get you back to my place,” he insisted. “I’m not done with you yet.”

“You’re not?” she choked.

“Not by a long shot,” he said. wasn’t sure if she should be excited or terrified, but she knew one thing for certain, Riggs lived up to everything he was in her dreams and was so much more.