Firebird (The Firebird Trilogy #1) by Jennifer Loring Read Free Book Online

caught her again and pulled her close. How foolish to think time alone could have extinguished what had been her responsibility to snuff out. Embers that, left to smolder as they had, could set the whole forest aflame.
    “Do not,” she ordered.
    He wouldn’t listen, of course. His youthful insouciance was part of his allure, and she loathed herself for falling for the bad-boy act. The version of him she’d loved had been sweet, kind, the boy she’d envisioned marrying someday.
    Aleksandr, one hand still touching her face, lowered his head. “Or what?” He brushed his lips over hers, the kiss flirting between them with each breath, each heartbeat. His lips commanded hers to open, and she invited in his tongue. Her arms too disobeyed her, and she cradled his head as he slipped his arms around her waist, coiling her fingers in his hair. So many years had passed and yet their two broken halves, the edges still sharp, fused in an instant. She had stitched herself back together after they’d said good-bye; she had functioned as a living thing ever since, if only externally, but still she grieved.
    And now, the spark of life.
    “Get off me,” she said without conviction.
    He backed her into the corner and shielded her with his body. Devoured her again. She wilted, succumbing as he surged over her, through her, like a great, dark river. He paused for a startled breath before sealing their mouths together again.
    She pulled back. “I said—”
    “Shh.” His tongue once again found no opposition. He cupped her face as if she were porcelain, yet each kiss was cracking her veneer. He had been the center of her universe once, and she the catalyst of their decay.
    Stephanie dropped her hands, traitorous appendages that they were, to her sides and shoved him away. Tears stung her eyes but not from guilt. “I have to go.”
    “Stephanie—”
    “This did not happen. Do you understand me? It never happened.”
    “I’m not the one with a fiancé.”
    She flipped him the finger, then stormed out of the bar. How dare he throw that in her face? She wasn’t the one who had instigated the…
    Thinking the word made her complicit. And she couldn’t tell Joe. It would eat away at her, but she deserved the punishment. For lying all these years.
    Puck bunny.
     
    ***
     
    Aleksandr
     
    Sasha gazed with disdain at the vodka in his glass. He didn’t want to wash away the taste of her.
    “Hey, man, you okay?” Jacob sidled up to him, dark beer sloshing over the pint glass and onto his hand. He sucked it off. Jacob White, second-line center. Should have been a career AHL-er, now one of the many unworthy beneficiaries of expansion.
    “Yeah. I’m fine.”
    “Who was the girl?”
    “Someone I used to know.” Sasha stared straight ahead, into the main bar. Wanting to go wherever she was.
    “Don’t blame you for not talking about it. The media is all over your ass.” Jacob gave a sympathetic chuckle. “I wouldn’t want to be you right now.”
    Even I don’t want to be me right now. “I need a fucking cigarette.” Sasha set his glass on someone else’s table and elbowed through the crowd to the front entrance.
    No sign of Stephanie, who had dissolved into the drizzle like a phantom. He started to pull his phone from his pocket but let go, lit a cigarette, and walked home.
     
    ***
     
    Stephanie
     
    Joe was at the kitchen table, tapping away on his MacBook. Stephanie craved nothing more than to slink past him and crawl into bed, but there was no way to avoid at least a cursory conversation. She tugged off her shoes and dropped her bag onto the counter. She hoped he was too busy to do more than acknowledge her.
    “How was happy hour?”
    “Fine.”
    Joe frowned but kept typing. “You look a little rough. Everything okay?”
    “Yes. I’m just tired. And I drank too much.”
    “Don’t stress over that guy. Even if you get fired, it’s not the end of the world.”
    Goose pimples pebbled her arms. They could work through