A severely pained look covered his expression. “Yeah, so am I. After I found out, I went through a period where I didn’t want to have contact with another woman. I wanted to find Lindsey and make her tell me why she’d done it. I wanted her to explain how she could destroy another life, a life that was partly mine, just because her boyfriend didn’t want a reminder of what we’d shared. I hated myself for being so blinded by love that I couldn’t see that she never really loved me but was still carrying a torch for him.”
He looked back at the blaze again. “And I made a vow that I would never, ever get involved with a woman on the rebound, a woman with emotional baggage, a woman who couldn’t let go of her past and move on with her life. I had done so before, and what it cost me was something I could never recover.”
Sage’s heart reached out to Gabe, his pain and to what he’d lost. Some men would not have cared that their ex-girlfriend had aborted their baby. Some would have even offered it as a suggestion when discovering their girlfriend was pregnant. But not Gabe. He was an honorable man who did honorable things, and he believed in doing what was right. He was a man any woman would want to love and to trust.
For a long moment, she stared at him as an indescribable ache settled in her heart. His gaze was still focused on the blazing fire, but her gaze was focused on him.
“If I were to get pregnant from you, I would never get rid of your baby, Gabe,” she whispered softly, knowing she meant every single word.
He turned and looked at her, saw the mistiness in her eyes that she couldn’t hide even if she’d wanted to. He stared at her as if weighing in his mind what she’d said. “You wouldn’t?” he asked quietly, reaching out and tucking a wisp of hair behind her ear.
“No, I wouldn’t.”
Silence fell around them, and for the longest moment, neither said anything. Finally, Gabe broke the silence. “Thank you.”
Then, automatically, without even thinking twice about it, Sage went into his arms, and he held her. He held her tight for the longest time, and she wondered if he was finally letting go. She wondered if he was now realizing that he had been no different from the women he had vowed not to date. He had not let go of the past and moved on. He’d been a man on the rebound, a man with excess baggage, a man who also needed to learn how to trust again.
She suddenly realized just how similar she and Gabe were, and just how much they needed each other.
And just how much she wanted him.
He pulled back just long enough to rest his forehead against hers and said, “So am I, Sage? Am I the man in your life?”
She nodded. “Yes, if that’s what you want to be.”
“It is.” He leaned away from her and gave her a warm smile. “Now that we have that part cleared up, do we continue talking or do we make decisions?”
She heard the huskiness in his voice. She also heard the thick desire in it. He brushed her lips with his, making talking impossible anyway, but she was determined to try and said, “We make a decision as to where we want our relationship to go now.”
The first thought that came to Gabe’s mind was that at that very moment, the only place he wanted it to go was the bedroom so he could do to her all those things he’d been dreaming about doing. But he couldn’t rush her into anything. “I’m letting you call the shots, Sage. I’m ready to take it to the next level if you are.”
Tingles of excitement raced through Sage at the thought of what that level entailed. “I’m ready,” she said softly, not knowing how much longer she would be able to hold on to her sanity if he continued to nibble at her lips the way he was doing.
“You sure?”
“Yes, I’m ready for everything you’re ready for, Gabe.”
“Everything?”
“Yes, everything.”
Gabe wondered if she knew what she was saying. Maybe she didn’t have a clue what his “everything” encompassed. He stood and slowly pulled her up with him and slid his hands down her back to pull her closer to him. He wanted her to feel just what she was doing to him.
He knew the moment she did, and instead of pulling back, she moved closer into the cradle of his hips, as if the front of her was drawn like a magnet to his erection. The feel of her so close to him, so connected, even through the material of their clothing, made his body throb unmercifully. He knew his “everything” included making love to her and needed to know if she fully understood that.
He stared down at her, held her gaze, wanting her to see the deep desire driving him that had his entire body in turmoil. But just to make certain there wouldn’t be any doubt, he leaned down and captured her mouth in his, determined to make love to it, to feast on it, to absorb her into himself and to make her want him as much as he wanted her.
They had kissed hot and heavy numerous times, had taken their kisses to several heights and then some, but like their relationship, he was determined to take their kisses to another level. He wanted his brand all over her. He reacquainted his tongue with every taste and every texture of her mouth. And her tiny moans of pleasure went straight to his groin and only intensified his determination to make her his. He continued to kiss her hard and thoroughly.
“It’s getting hot in here,” Sage managed to whisper when Gabe released her mouth, but only long enough to lick away at her lips.
“You have too many clothes on,” he responded, nibbling at each corner of her mouth and using his tongue to repeatedly trace around it.
“Umm, that can be fixed.” In a move that she knew he would find brazen, she pulled out of his arms, and her hands went to the buttons at the front of her dress. She began undoing them one by one. She watched him through lowered lashes and couldn’t help noticing he was having difficulty breathing and even a hard time standing still as he watched her every move. When the front of her dress hung open and showed a black lace slip, she heard him groan.
Pushing the dress down past her shoulders, she stepped out of it and kicked it aside, and stood before him in her bra, slip, panties, and tights and snow boots. “Will you help me take my shoes off, Gabe?”
He nodded as he sat down. Standing before him, she lifted her leg onto his lap. He removed both of her shoes, and then stepping away from him, she reached under her slip for the waistband of her tights and began tugging them down. When she had taken them completely off and had also removed her slip, he barely found his voice upon seeing the wispy scrap of black lace covering her femininity. “I thought I had taken those.”
She smiled, remembering what had happened in the elevator the week before. “This is a matching pair.” Slowly easing down onto the sofa in front of him, she placed her knees between his widened muscular thighs and brought her breasts eye level with his gaze. The tips of her breasts strained against the lace material of her bra, and then he began using his tongue to lick through the thick fabric while stroking the soft skin of her lower belly. The world seemed to spin around her. His touch was making desire race through every, over every, nerve in her body.
And when his fingers gently skimmed her inner thighs, she couldn’t take any more and lowered her lips to his and whispered, “Make love to me, Gabe.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Sage opened her eyes the moment Gabe placed her in the middle of his bed. She’d always wondered how it would feel to be swept off her feet, and now she knew. He had gently scooped her up into his arms and strode up the stairs to his bedroom.
She watched as he took a step back and kicked off his shoes, and when a chill touched her body, she moved to pull back his thick quilt.
“Going someplace?” he asked, smiling, as he pulled the belt from his pants.
“I’m a little cold and thought I’d get under the covers.”
He nodded as he continued to watch while she snuggled beneath the covers. His bed would be filled with her scent, and he intended to become entrenched in her feminine aroma. “I’m going to warm you.”
“Are you?” A bewitching smile curved her lips.
“You can count on it,” he said, chuckling softly as he removed his shirt.
He watched her watch him as he unzipped his pants and slowly took them off, leaving him clad only in his briefs. Her gaze ran the full length of him from head to toe but seemed to concentrate on his center that was bulging, solid and hard as a rock through his underwear. He had no shame with her seeing just what she did to him and just how much he wanted her.
“I want our first time to go slow, Sage.”
“Slow,” she repeated, not taking her eyes off him when he tugged at the elastic waistband of his briefs. He saw her gaze fixed on that very spot as if it was glued to it. And when he completely uncovered himself, the expression on her face was priceless.
“Oh, my.”
A smile tilted his lips as her words whispered through sultry lips. “Is that a good thing?”
She met his gaze and smiled. “Yeah, looks pretty good to me.” Her attention returned to his erection. “As good as it gets.” She then scanned his well-toned, athletically fit body, admiring all of him. “And then some.”
Gabe’s smile widened as he moved to the bed and dropped to one knee. Wanting to finish undressing her and see all of her, he pushed back the covers and began removing her panties and bra. Her body felt warm, hot and fiery all over.
He had seen her naked before, that time he had dried her after her bath, up close and personal. Now he was seeing her again, and as before, he was amazed by her body’s beauty, every intimate detail. A shaft of heat began spreading fast and furiously through his body. He wanted her and had wanted her from the first time he had seen her, but giving respect to the fact she was an engaged woman at the time, he had not done anything about his interest. But now she was no longer engaged and was presently in his bed, and he planned to do a lot about it.
He pulled her naked body to him and kissed her. Trying to keep the kiss as light as he could, he couldn’t hide the hunger he felt when he moved his mouth over hers, tasting and claiming, and the kiss became deep, intense, riveting, as he mated with her mouth in a French kiss that was more French than anything he’d ever shared with a woman, while his questing fingers reached out and touched her breasts, liking the way they fit in his hands.
Slowly lightening the pressure of his mouth on hers, she released a moan and arched her body closer to his. A moan escaped him as well, as he eased her back onto the bed.
Kiss, touch and taste.
Placing her arms above her head, his hand began a total exploration of her body, and his mouth followed as his tongue ravished her all over, making her shudder, moan and thrash about in the bed.
“Gabe.” She called his name on a low, urgent plea as heat flared through her. Her body quivered under the assault of his mouth, and she clenched the bedcovers in her fist.
Gently, Gabe released her hand, ready to join them in a way that he had dreamed so much about over the last few months. He wanted Sage more than he’d ever wanted another woman. He took several deep breaths to calm his racing pulse, determined to take things slow. He reached over in his nightstand drawer for the pack of condoms he had placed there when he’d first arrived but had never used.
“Let me,” Sage requested softly, raising up, grabbing his hand and eagerly taking the condom from his fingers.
He watched through desire-intense eyes as she opened the packet. And when she touched him with trembling fingers, teasing him with languid caresses of her thumb to his swollen erection before sheathing him in latex, he squeezed his eyes shut and groaned. She was driving him insane, and he was too far gone to care. He opened his eyes and met the heat shimmering in her gaze.
“I have to mate with you,” he whispered hoarsely, desperately, needing to be inside her so badly that he ached all over, especially in his loins. When she eased back against the pillows, his inflamed body moved into place over hers.
He gazed down at her, feeling total want and need for her. “Slow,” he reminded her in a voice that was low and seductive.
“You think so?” she asked coyly, returning his smile while skimming the tips of her fingers over the surface of his hairy chest.
“I was hoping so,” he murmured huskily, leaning down, not being able to resist flicking his tongue across the swollen tip of her breast.
Biting back a moan, she breathed in deeply. “You may be asking the impossible.”
He shifted to meet her gaze. “Nothing is impossible with us, Sage. We’re a perfect fit.”
Gathering her close and still holding her gaze, he lifted her hips to him and slowly entered her, stretching her, filling her completely, burying himself inside her to the hilt.
“Aaah, baby.” He released a long, deep, guttural moan when her womb clenched him snugly. She couldn’t move and neither could he. It was as though they were glued together in that position. Moments later, he reached up and weaved their fingers together, then entangled her legs with his, wanting to be joined with her in every way. She tried to move, but he held her down tight; and when he felt her womb clench him again then quiver with him in its clutches, he sucked in a deep breath.
“Don’t,” he said softly.
“I can’t help it,” she said breathlessly upon realizing he was holding still to make sure her body adjusted to his. With trembling fingers she reached up and traced the line of his jaw, tight from restraint as he tried maintaining control. She didn’t want him to be in control. She wanted him to be out of control like she was. “You feel good inside me, and I want you, Gabe. Now.” She arched her body to take him deeper.
Not able to take any more, he eased his hips back, for just an inch, then forward, beginning a rhythm of thrusting in and out of her over and over, increasing the rhythm, expanding his strokes, engaging in the most powerful and the most soul-stirring lovemaking of his life. The pleasure of being inside of her, mating with her, was so intense, he began growling in sensuous pleasure as a sharp, spiraling need consumed him, making him want her even more and throwing the notion of going slow right out the window.
He began pumping frantically into her, strong, powerful thrusts. She managed to keep in tune with him, feeding and abating with the fluid movement of her body. She raked her nails down the length of his back and moaned deep in her chest as she rocked against him in the fast-paced rhythm he set, urging him deeper and deeper.
The turbulence of their lovemaking consumed them, and when Gabe felt Sage’s body shudder uncontrollably beneath him, he closed his eyes and tossed his head back, giving in to his own earth-shattering release. Every part of his body felt connected to her in an intimacy so profound it took his breath away.
He lowered his head and kissed her as slow shudders shook him, taking him into a world where only the two of them existed. And the only thing he could think of when he gathered her up into his arms, their bodies damp from the whirlwind of passion they had shared, was that the next time they would take it slow.
Or at least they would try.
They tried several times that night and still didn’t take things slow. Each time they came together seemed more passionate than before. After a while they stopped trying and resigned themselves to the fact that whenever they made love, although there would be plenty of foreplay, there would be no time devoted to teasing preliminaries. The sexual chemistry between them was too strong, and the two of them were too greedy. They wanted it all.
Sage couldn’t believe just how her body responded to Gabe. It was as if his touch was what it needed and most desired. Why? She ignored the question, thinking there had to be a logical explanation. And she refused to believe that she would be responding that way to any man, after five years with the same man. A part of her believed she could only respond this way with Gabe.
A knot formed in her stomach when she thought of all the things that had happened since moving to Anchorage and the part Gabe had played in it. After what had happened with Erol, she had wondered if she would ever let another man get that close to her again, and then to top it off, her father’s unfaithfulness
had convinced her that there was no such thing as total love and commitment between two individuals. But being with Gabe had helped her to see the world in a new light. She had dealt with Erol, and now she knew she would have to find a way to deal with the issue of her father and the hurt he had caused her. She could not continue living each day with one part wanting to despise him and the other wanting to love him the way she always had.
Sage knew the moment Gabe had awakened when he reached out and pulled her closer into his arms, and she went into them willingly as anticipation rose inside of her.
“I can’t get enough of you, baby,” he said huskily, letting his fingers stray down to cup her bottom before slowly caressing their way to her front. As soon as he touched her in that place that seemed to have throbbed for him all night, she sucked in a deep breath.
“Too tender?” he asked with deep concern in his voice.
“No, too greedy. It wants more.” She stroked her hand down his hairy chest past his tight stomach to that part of him her body wanted. It felt hard, rigid to her fingers. “I need you inside of me, Gabe.”
After putting on another condom, without wasting any time, he leaned down and kissed her deeply while he placed his body directly over hers. She felt the blunt tip of him probing her entry, and shifting slightly to raise her body to meet him, she felt him enter, stretching her, filling her, pleasing her and loving her.
She heard his sharp intake of breath and knew his thoughts were the same as hers. Tonight they had proved just how good they were together.
When he began moving in the rhythm and pace he wanted them to go, sounds of ecstasy she couldn’t hold poured forth from her throat, making him intensify their kiss that much more. A delicious hot sensation poured through her. She didn’t want to think of the future that was not promised to them. She only wanted to think of now. And then later when it was time to let go and walk away, she would have no regrets.
Gabe woke the next morning with a long, satisfying stretch and a contented smile on his lips. Flipping onto his back, he gazed up at the ceiling as memories, stark, potent, clear, flooded his mind, making his body get hard all over again. In all his thirty-two years, he had never experienced anything like he had last night with Sage. And that included his lovemaking sessions with Lindsey and Debbie. Something was different. Nothing was the same. The kiss, the touch, the taste was uniquely Sage. Last night she had definitely become the spice of his life.
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