“I should be playing hard to get, I know, but I want you, Gage.”
“I want you too.”
She eyed his crotch and smiled. “I sort of gathered.”
He stroked her hair, enjoying the soft strands beneath his fingers. “You go to a man’s head, sweetheart.”
“I’m glad.”
He cupped her cheek and murmured, “You’re sure?”
“Very.”
Hell, yeah.
Chapter Four
Gage leaned toward her, and Summer’s heart sped up. When his lips were mere inches from hers, he murmured, “I want you. I’ve been telling myself all evening to give you a sweet kiss at your door, to leave you alone. All I can think about right now is getting inside you.”
It was now or never, Summer decided. “Kiss me, Gage, then we’ll see what happens.”
“Mmm, your wish is my command.” His lips covered hers, and Summer melted.
He was so tender and warm as he coasted his tongue over her lips. She sighed and parted for him. Taking his time, Gage slipped inside and tasted her as if he had forever. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him in deeper, suddenly edgy for everything. A groan rumbled from deep inside his chest. She became aware of his warm palm against her bare flesh beneath her tank, inching upward until the caress of his thumb over her silk-covered breast had her body vibrating with need. Summer whimpered, and Gage lifted his head, his gaze zeroing in on the center console.
As they both caught their breath, Gage recovered first. “I think we’ve gone as far as we can in this car.”
Embarrassed over her hedonistic reaction to a simple kiss, Summer straightened away and smoothed down her tank with shaky fingers. “I think you’re right.”
His strong hand cupped her chin and coaxed her gaze back to his. “Second thoughts?”
Summer wanted to feel alive, to feel like a woman again. Experiencing something besides fear over her future and sadness over lost dreams wasn’t something she would pass up. “No second thoughts.”
Gage leaned over and branded her lips with his possessive heat. Just as quickly, he was out of the car and coming around to her side. Summer’s nerves vibrated. Energy pulsed through her veins. Within minutes, they were cocooned in the privacy of his suite. Her anxiety over not having had sex for the past two years welled up and threatened to consume her.
But Gage had no reservations, not if the need in his eyes and the upward tilt of his lips were any indication. He locked the door and moved toward her. As he came to stand only inches away, he murmured, “Don’t be afraid, baby.”
Hearing his deep, masculine voice, so calm and relaxed, caused her own daring confidence to surface. “I’m not afraid. Well, maybe I’m a little afraid,” Summer confirmed as she stared up at him.
He closed the space between them and took her into the warm, solid comfort of his arms. “I thought as much, but you don’t have to be. Not with me. I’m going to make you feel so damn hot.” He brushed his lips over the top of her head. The gentleness of his bare touch stirred her clear to her toes.
Summer pushed out of his arms, gripped the hem of her tank and yanked it over her head. She dropped it to the floor. Her bra went next. She left her shorts on and stood perfectly still, resisting the urge to cringe and cover herself while his dark gaze roamed greedily over her torso.
“Damn.” Gage couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe. She was perfect. She was his dream woman and then some. Her breasts were large, firm, round pillows of creamy flesh. Christ Almighty, he could get lost for a decade playing with Summer’s bountiful swells. He ached to taste her rosy-tipped nipples. Lick and bite and suck until his heart’s content.
His hand reached out of its own volition and stroked over one turgid peak. She shivered, and he was lost. He stepped forward and wrapped an arm around her lower back and drew her up against his chest, pressing and flattening her pretty tits against his T-shirt, driving himself crazy with the feel of her. As he took possession of her mouth, Gage lost all sense of calm at the sweet flavor of her lips.
He drank in her moan of excitement and licked at her full lower lip. He’d thought about tasting her everywhere. Imagined it from the moment he’d laid eyes on the tempting beauty. Now she was here, in his arms, clutching at him with eager abandonment.
Slow the fuck down. She was trusting him with something special. Something she hadn’t given another man in two long years. The thought gave him a possessive kind of pleasure. He wouldn’t disappoint her. He would stroke and play, satisfy her every which way he could think to satisfy a woman. Knowing just how snug she’d be when he entered her the first time made his cock swell painfully.
“Open for me, baby,” Gage groaned against her mouth. She did as he commanded. He took advantage, slipping into the wet warmth, tasting and swirling his tongue over and around hers, sipping at her with a kind of crazy fever that went beyond anything he’d ever felt. When she whimpered and drew her arms around his neck Gage felt the last thread on his control snap.
Keeping his lips firmly against hers, Gage bent and hooked his arm behind her knees. Lifting her into his arms, he cradled her nude upper body close. He wanted her completely bare. He wanted to see all of her, from head to toe, so he could work his tongue over her, inch by slow delectable inch.
As Gage laid h
er out on the quilt and broke the kiss, he snagged her gaze. The warm whiskey shade had changed once again. Now they were dark, almost the shade of milk chocolate, and he could easily drown in their unruly depths. His jaw locked against the need to rip her shorts and panties down her legs and take her. Hard. Fast. To hell with being gentle.