Facing Jason, I said calmly, “I met him after you. I was grateful to find there were still men in this world who knew how to treat a woman properly. A man who knows how to make a woman feel like a treasured prize as opposed to an object.”
Jason narrowed his eyes and started to take a step toward me.
I held my hand out, palm up, telling him to stop. I finally felt powerful enough to take control of my life.
“Even now, it isn’t me you want. It isn’t me you care about. To you, I am nothing more than a possession, and your pride is hurt that one of your possessions should leave you,” I paused for a moment and took a breath. Jason growled deep in his throat. “I don’t belong to you, and it’s time you understood that. I’m not going anywhere with you.”
Jason’s body postured as though he were going to lunge for me.
“Please. Just leave,” I said quietly. I never once raised my voice. I felt calm and safe as I faced this miserable, sorry excuse for a man who stood before me.
Jason curled his lip and looked first at the man next to me and then back to me. After staring for a few seconds, he snarled, “This isn’t over,” then turned and left.
I was sure it wasn’t over, but I didn’t want to think about that right now. I watched to make sure Jason walked away. He had parked his car further down the lane. I heard the car start and then heard him peel off down the road.
I turned to face the man next to me. I opened my mouth to thank him. However, he bent down and captured my mouth with his. Our lips met in a rapture of heat.
He wrapped my long blond hair in the fingers of one hand. His other snaked around my back and pulled me tight against him. Instinctively, I wrapped my arms around him. My fingers kneaded the taut muscles of his back. His muscular body was so big that I could not completely wrap my arms around him.
His kiss was hot and demanding, although I had yet to understand what he was wordlessly asking of me. I had never experienced a kiss like this.
He smelled of the pine trees that surrounded our small piece of heaven, and I breathed him in as he plunged his tongue into my mouth, exploring and tasting.
I felt his heart beating against my chest as he lit fires inside of my body I never knew existed. My knees buckled a bit, and I wasn’t sure that they were going to hold me upright. Every thought, every feeling, disappeared into the flames as I savored the feel of his lips on mine and our bodies pressed together.
He traced my tongue and then sucked on it. I was lost in the inferno that devoured me and melted us together until we became one.
With a small moan, he licked my bottom lip and nibbled on it. Then, he turned his attention to my top lip. He traced it and gently bit it. He moved his hands and put them on my face. His thumbs traced my cheekbones. He slowly took his lips from mine and smiled down at me.
Reality came back and slapped me in the face. A cold wind blew around us, whipping his thick dark hair around his face. His brown eyes that seemed to be a window into the universe peered into mine as though he were searching for something.
This man was a stranger, yet he wasn’t. His kiss, unlike any kiss I had ever experienced before, created feelings that were foreign to me. I shivered as the cold air cut through me.
“I’m Luka.” I felt a little stupid for holding out my hand as I introduced myself, considering that he had just kissed me, shaking me to my very soul.
He took my hand and kissed it. “I’m Gage.” His smile was magical.
“I feel like I have known you forever,” I said. Instantly, I could feel the color rise into my cheeks, feeling foolish at having blurted out my thoughts. I waited for his laughter, for his derision.
“Perhaps you have,” he answered with a deep voice. His smile was so tender that my heart melted all over again.
The wind rose, and I felt a cold hand reach through my clothes, cut into my skin, and wrap itself around my bones. I shivered uncontrollably.
“Let’s go inside before you shake all of your bones loose,” he said. He grabbed my hand and pulled me inside.
I did not resist or pull away. I felt completely safe with him, this man who had kissed me with such intensity that I wasn’t sure my world would ever be the same.
The heater was blasting hot air through the cabin, but Gage stepped back out for an armload of wood. Pulling a colorful crocheted blanket around me, I watched as he carefully arranged the kindling and started the fire. Once the kindling had ignited, he put a log on to burn.
“That should heat up the house nicely,” he said, smiling at me.
“Thank you,” I said simply. I still felt bemused, as though I were outside of my body, watching the scene unfolding in front of me.
His smile grew wider, and he gently stroked my hair for a brief second. I swear the sun came out, and the entire room lit up. He had started another fire. This one was in my heart.
We sat in silence for a few minutes while my body tried to warm up, and my mind tried to wrap itself around the events of the last half hour. I openly stared at Gage. He was huge—bigger than any man I had ever seen at six and a half feet tall. His muscular body was evident through his shirt. His liquid brown eyes looked like true windows to his warm soul. His thick, shoulder-length, dark brown hair looked so luxurious that my fingers ached to bury themselves in his mane.
The events that had just taken place seemed unreal to me. They were a scene out of a movie I had merely watched. The villain had come to harass the heroine, and the hero had appeared out of nowhere to protect her. I chuckled inwardly. It was surreal, unreal.