I grinned huge. “I didn't want to get ahead of myself,” I admitted.
“I'm forty-two years old, and I lost my virginity when I was seventeen. In those twenty-five years, I've never once gone without a condom, no matter what. If I was ready to fuck and one wasn't around, I stopped. I spent last night rooted inside you, condom free. There was plenty of opportunity to go to a drugstore today to pick up protection, but I didn’t, and unless you want me to, I don't intend to, either. What we are is real.”
“I know that,” I said softly.
“Good, because people in committed relationships do what they have to do to make time together. And just so we're clear, you're going to be getting a fuckload of offers now, so it'll be up to me to work around your schedule as much as possible. Don't ever turn anything you want down because of me. We'll figure it out, no matter what.”
He said so many sweet things to me, but that right there was one of the very best. I'd found that men had issues with the fact that I could be gone for months at a time on location. It wasn't enjoyable being berated and railed at about something I'd worked hard for. I realized my choice was to clip my own wings and ignore my dreams in favor of having a relationship. That had been an easy decision. I'd stopped dating.
"Okay," I answered, smiling.
"Good," he said, hugging me gently.
I loved how with Gage, things just kept getting better.I stood in the center of the bathroom, my toes curling into the plush khaki-colored area rug beneath me as Gage dried me off with a fluffy white towel, working his way from my ankles on up. There was reverence in both his expression and the way he touched me, and I was determined to commit every second of it to memory.
“Lift your arms,” he commanded, his voice gravelly.
I licked my lips as I nodded and did just that, holding my position as he dried my sides and beneath my arms. When he finished with that, he tapped at my shoulders so I’d put them back down before he moved his attention to my breasts. My already stiff nipples throbbed as he ran the towel over them. I made a moue of complaint when he moved up to my neck and finished drying me off.
Since I’d washed and dried my hair earlier in the day, I’d piled it on top of my head and secured it with a clip before we’d gotten into the tub. Tossing the towel to the side, Gage reached behind my head and undid the clip, letting my hair hang free. Threading his fingers through my hair, he smiled down at me before he abruptly lifted me in his arms and headed for the bedroom.
When we got there, he set me down in the center of the bed before he got onto the mattress and covered my body with his. Then he waited for me to spread my legs before he settled between my thighs. Our eyes connected as he ever so slowly leaned in for a kiss. Only when our lips touched did I close my eyes.
He kissed me gently but deeply, the soft, silken slide of his tongue against mine both a sensual caress and a promise of things to come. For countless minutes, it was just that, the two of us kissing as if time didn’t exist, and we’d never find ourselves separated for even a moment. As much as I wished that were the reality, right then it wasn’t.
I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and gripped his waist with my thighs while he kissed me breathless. When he lifted his head, I raised mine to follow in an attempt to get him back. His eyes flashed as he shook his head. “Let me kiss something else first,” he rasped.
My clit throbbed with desire as I nodded. “Okay.”
“Lie back and enjoy,” he instructed.
I loved the way he watched me as I let go of his shoulders and laid back, his gaze dropping to my breasts. Bending his head, he licked my left nipple and then my right, repeating the back and forth movement several times before he started working his way down with a trail of hot, wet kisses. His shoulders held my legs open when he reached his destination; the warmth of his breath fluttering over my sex made me whimper.
When his tongue touched me, I gasped. He made a growling sound as he licked me from the bottom of my pussy to the top. I rocked my hips as he tongued me—a wiggle here, a long, slow lick there. Then he dipped his tongue inside and worked it in and out of my opening a dozen times in quick succession. My hands threaded into his hair, holding on as he went back to my clit and worked me faster.