Walk on the Striped Side

by Jessie Lane

  Lifting his head to set his chin in the middle of her chest, Gage looked her in the eyes and murmured back, “Because you make me want to be more man than animal. You make me want to live and love deeply enough for one lifetime rather than live hundreds of lifetimes without you.”

  Turning away from Elena’s confused expression, Gage laid his head back on her chest and settled himself in for the night. Even with everything left unresolved between them, he was content enough to have her in his arms again that he started to do something he hadn’t done since he was a youngster.

  He purred in contentment.

  CHAPTER-ELEVEN

  Elena

  It was the growl that woke her up. It wasn’t a menacing ‘oh shit, something large and furry is about to kill me’ growl. No, it was the low, husky growl of the man who was still lying on top of her. The drool worthy, built like a brick shithouse man who was once again rubbing his face slowly in the space between her breasts. What the hell was his sudden fascination with that part of her body? He hadn’t been nearly as enamored with it when they’d been together before. Which was a good thing, because frankly the man rubbing his face against her like that made all of her much neglected girl parts throb. Elena was pretty sure that if she looked down to her chest, she’d see her nipples were hard enough to poke an eye out. Stupid, traitorous body!

  “I know you’re awake wildcat.” He mumbled.

  She looked down to see that Gage still had the side of his face firmly plastered to her chest and wasn’t even looking at her. Maybe if she ignored him, he would think he’d made a mistake and she was still asleep after all. Giving Elena a much needed few moments of quiet so she could think. She was still feeling a bit off kilter from their talk last night. Plus her girly bits were all excited about him pressed up against her like this, pinning her to the bed. She’d never admit it to anyone, but Gage’s natural dominance over her could make her soak her panties faster than you could say ‘Euripides’.

  Closing her eyes, she couldn’t help but go back in her memories to the time when they’d been together. He’d been the first one of her lovers to figure out that while she had a tough attitude on the outside, inside was a bit of a different story. She liked being feisty in life, and sometimes in the bedroom too, but she also wanted a man who would take over. To make her feel feminine and cherished.

  Elena wasn’t looking to kneel at some guy’s feet and call him master though. In fact, she’d probably roast Gage’s nuts off with that flame thrower she’d illegally bought a few years ago if he ever asked her to do that. But there was still something inside of her that needed to have a man take charge a bit. Prove he was strong enough to protect her by overwhelming her with his brute strength. Prove that he cared enough to push her limits literally and metaphorically when she needed it, but not to hurt her with that same power he used to subdue her.

  Gage had been the only one she’d let into her bed who had done those things without thinking she was some kind of circus freak in bed. Or without being an asshole by trying to turn bed play into something abusive. He’d also been the only one who had given her the dominance she needed from him, but also instinctively knew when she needed some gentleness because she felt vulnerable with surrendering. It was a delicate balance between Elena getting what she needed in the bedroom without her own dominant nature outside of the bedroom feeling bruised somehow.

  What had seemed like the best part back when they’d been together was that Gage wasn’t putting on some act to fill her needs. No, he was just being himself while letting Elena be herself. Between the two of them, they’d filled each other’s physical, mental, sexual and emotional essentials beautifully. Naturally. So it made sense that the man who had somehow fit her perfectly in every way was also the man who’d broken her in ways that she wasn’t sure could be fixed. Because he’d been, and would always be, the only man who owned her. Heart and soul.

  Which was why it scared the shit out of her that he was back in her life. When she’d agreed to work the Ninth Circle’s case with her family, she’d never imagined that Gage would be happy to see her. Never imagined that he would start throwing the word ‘mine’ around like he was a big kid and she was his favorite toy. And she’d certainly never would have guessed that he’d come at her with declarations of love. She wanted so badly to believe the words he’d given her last night, but honestly, she didn’t know if she could. What if she gave him what was left of her heart, those many jagged, bruised, jaded and broken pieces, and instead of fixing what was left, he threw them away again?

  She didn’t think she could survive that.

  Her already closed eyes squeezed even tighter and she willed her breathing to stay slow and steady. She couldn’t very well pretend she was asleep if she got herself all worked up and started balling like a blubbering idiot, now could she? She felt Gage move his head off her chest and she wondered what he was up to. Then, slowly he dragged his body the small distance up her own so that their bodies were aligned. His hips were now firmly nestled in the cradle of her thighs so that she could feel every hot, hard, delicious inch of his cock pressed against her core.

  She could feel his face hovering just over her own and the warmth of his breath on her lips. She was so tempted to open her eyes so that she could look into his. She loved the exotic coloring. Missed the way those eyes had looked as he held her stare while making love to her. But she couldn’t do it. She couldn’t open her eyes to see Gage’s own rich, swirling green and gold own looking back at her because he might see something she wasn’t ready to show him yet. He might see that she still loved him. Desperately.

  She felt him move again above her right before felt a sharp nip to her bottom lip, causing her to gasp in surprise. Her eyes sprung open against her will, just in time to watch Gage’s face dip close again so that his raspy tongue could lick where he had bitten her seconds before to soothe away the sensual pain.

  “What are you doing?” She snapped.

  Gage leaned down closer to her face again, his tongue coming out to presumably lick her lips and Elena freaked. Slapping her hand over his mouth, she watched as he narrowed his eyes at her in calculation just before she felt his raspy tongue lick her palm.

  “Stop licking me Ivanov!”

  Elena felt, rather than heard, the small growl he let loose against her hand before he licked her palm again. Every time she felt the wet, pink, sandpaper tongue of his glide across her skin it reminded her of when it had caressed much more intimate parts of her body. Causing her nipples to tingle and her pussy to clench with need.

  Frustrated with her reckless attraction to him, she started to pull her hand away from his mouth only to find it caught and trapped in his own large, strong hand. He brought her palm back to his lips, where she couldn’t see what he intended to do and then bit her gently on the fleshy section just below her thumb. She gasped at the erotic sensation. It was a small bit of pleasurable pain that he soothed away with more caresses of his tongue.

  Her hips arched into Gage’s involuntarily as her needy body tried to take over her reluctant brain. His cock started to grind down into her, rubbing right over her clit. Elena didn’t know whether to curse or thank the jeans she was still wearing. It had been so long since she’d felt the large, familiar stalk of him sliding so deep into her that it almost hurt. So long since her senses had been overloaded with nothing but pleasure. That little bit of fabric that was causing the most delicious friction in all the right places as Gage thrust his body against her. More importantly, those jeans were keeping her from making a huge mistake. Elena knew better. If she let him in now, he’d run over her like he was a Mack truck and she an upcoming piece of road kill to decorate the highway.

  “We can’t do this” she gasped.

  Licking her palm one more time, he then forced her hand over her head and pined it to the mattress. “Don’t worry baby. I’m not going to fuck you yet.”

  He wasn’t? Well just what the fuck did he think he was doing to her then? Le
ading her on? Getting her all worked up so he could walk away while she suffered, unfulfilled and needy? Sure she knew it was a bad, bad idea for them to have sex, but she hadn’t thought that he would be the one to stop them. THAT ASSHOLE. Just like that, Elena’s famous temper snapped. “Well why the hell not?”

  Gage gave her a predatory smile, then thrust his cock to rub right over her clit again. Her legs were starting to tremble, her panties were soaked, and if he rubbed her the right way just one more time, she was going to explode.

  “Because you’re not ready for us to have sex yet wildcat.”

  Ignoring her irritated glare, he leaned down to her left breast and sucked her hard little nipple through her t-shirt and bra. Elena rocked her hips up into his, suddenly needing that impending orgasm more than she needed her next breath. As she rubbed against Gage’s magnificent arousal, he nipped at her sensitive, aching peak.

  Elena was now writhing up against Gage’s hard body, ignoring the warnings her muddled brain was trying to send her. The release that she needed was right there… almost within reach, and she was nothing but a tangled mass of sensation. She was riding this wave of euphoria, desperate to reach that pinnacle of carnal liberation that she had denied herself for so long. Gage released her left nipple, and she cried out in dismay. “Gage!”

  “Shhh baby.” He licked over the skin bared just about her shirt’s neckline before dropping his mouth to linger just above her right breast. “Jesus nothing has ever tasted as sweet as you.” He lightly nipped her tightly beaded nipple. “I’m going to lick you all over soon and you’re going to beg me for it.”

  Elena would have protested his statement, but Gage gently tugged on her quivering peak before suckling it into his mouth. After that, she forgot how to think. All she could do was feel. With every thrust of his hips against hers, every tug on her nipple, she felt that tide of sensation growing. Seizing her body until every muscle was locked tight in anticipation. Her mouth dropped open in a silent scream, and then she was consumed. Cresting on that giant wave of ecstasy that had her screaming out in bliss as bursts of lights went off behind her eyes. Her inner walls were fluttering, wishing Gage had been filling her to overflowing instead of achingly empty.

  Toes curled, panting through the remaining spasms of pleasure, Elena lay trembling in the aftermath of her long overdue orgasm. Lethargic after being overwhelmed both physically and emotionally. She’d only meant to keep her eyes closed for a few more seconds, but as she felt Gage’s body scoot back down her own and settle into her again as he had the night before, she fell asleep. Completely missing those internal alarms of her that were screaming she was in jeopardy of emotional danger since she was basking in the one thing she hadn’t felt in two long years.

  Gage’s loving comfort.

  CHAPTER-TWELEVE

  Gage

  He’d been lightly dozing for the past couple of hours like any respectable feline shifter would do when he sensed his mate start to wake up. He wasn’t ready to hear her bullshit, so he pretended to keep sleeping since he knew she wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. At the moment, she was serving as his personal body pillow because he was still lying on top of her with his face resting between her breasts, and he didn’t plan on giving that up anytime soon. She was just so damn comfortable!

  The remaining arousal of her scent, leftover from her previous orgasm, started to dissipate, he tried not to cringe at the sudden slight tang of her wariness. After all, it was his own fucking fault his mate was reluctant to believe how much he loved her. He was the idiot who had spewed a bunch of hurtful bullshit in order to push her away. All he had to do was continue on with his plan and she would eventually forgive him.

  Right?

  Okay, so he might be a little more worried than he cared to admit before. Elena was one of the most bull headed individuals he’d ever met. They’d once gotten into an argument while dating because as she was staring out his apartment window, she’d said the sky was the prettiest shade of powder blue she’d ever seen. He’d stupidly looked over from the tv, out the window, and had replied “Babe, it’s just blue.”

  This led to the dumbest thirty minute argument of his very long life, which he’d then foolishly made worse by telling her it was the “Dumbest fucking argument of my life.”

  Yeah, not his brightest moment. So, it was a good thing he’d ducked when she’d thrown that glass at his head, but it was an even better thing when he’d caught her after she’d tried to take a flying tackle at him. Twenty minutes of pretending to let her wrestle him later, he’d had the best make-up sex with an angry, energetic woman known to man. Or Other.

  Now, as his mind moved back to the present, Gage started to wonder if he was going to break through to his stubborn Amazon at all. The idea that she might deny everything they had due to her stubborn pride scared the shit out of him. If he could sit her down and flat out explain the ‘why’ of doing what he’d done, then she’d forgive him. But he couldn’t do that, because knowing his Elena, the moment she realized that he’d tried to prevent himself from attaching to her both physically in a mating sense, and emotionally, was because of her mortality, she’d leave him. A shifter’s odds of survival after losing their mate weren’t good. The human half of them might survive the depression, but their bestial half usually pushed them over the edge.

  The McPhee Wolf Pack had almost taken out their own Alpha Adam when he’d mistakenly thought he’d lost his mate Jenna in the hospital a couple of months ago. The man’s wolf had been enraged enough to take over and Adam had terrorized the woods surrounding his Pack’s property for days before Jenna had been able to go to him and calm him down. Now Adam had a second chance with Jenna and forever. Even if Gage talked Elena into a second chance, he’d never have forever with his mate. He would have the duration of her life span. When she died, he would probably perish shortly after. If he didn’t die from the depression, then someone would probably have to kill him because his tiger went insane. Very few shifters ever survived both circumstances.

  The feeling of movement beneath him brought Gage out of his somber musings. Elena wiggled her hips, which caused her breasts to jiggle in front of his face, and he had to bite back a groan. What was she trying to do to him? Was she trying to entice him, or trying to escape? Not that she could escape since she was still handcuffed to him. He felt her wiggle again while shifting her legs a little. Even though their bodies weren’t exactly lined up for her inundations to be beneficial, it was driving him crazy because he could imagine sliding up a couple inches until the most intimate parts of them were rubbing each other. Holy shit, the woman needed to stop! His dick had gone stiff as a board at the first wiggle and now he was lying here with a hard on big enough to hurt somebody… or cause permanent damage due to blood loss to his brain.

  A few moments later when she wiggled her hips again, he couldn’t help himself any longer. Wrapping his free hand around her waist, he gently squeezed her to him while rubbing the side of his face between her breasts, marking her with his scent.

  “If you don’t stop wiggling those sweet little hips I’m going to do something we’ll both regret.”

  By the end of his statement Elena’s entire body was frozen with stiff muscles. “Regret?” Her sleep husky voice asked.

  Growling a little he picked up his head to look her in the eyes. “YES. REGRET. I know you’re not ready for me to spread your legs and fuck you so hard that we threaten to pummel our way through the damn mattress. So, until you’re ready for that, stop with the damn wiggling woman!”

  The scent of renewed arousal filled the air, and the smell of it was so thick and lush that Gage’s mouth actually watered to taste it on her. Elena’s pink tongue peeked out to swipe nervously over her bottom lip.

  “Who said I’m not ready for that?”

  He was shaking his head no by her third word. “You’re not tricking me Amazon. If I fuck you now, you’ll try and play us off as a one night stand for old times’ sake. Or some other chees
y ass line. That’s not happening. The next time I slide my dick into that tight little pussy of yours will be after you admit to me that you still love me. And not one second before.

  The sharp tangy scent of her anger filled the air between them. “Then what the hell was that earlier, huh? If you didn’t plan on having sex with me, why’d you start fooling around in the first place?”

  She was pushing at his chest and shoulders now with her free hand, trying to move Gage off of her. He snorted. Like that was going to happen? But her attempt was kind of cute. “I don’t know what you’re complaining about. You got off and I didn’t exactly hear you say no while you were screaming my name.”

  He watched as his mate’s face turned an interesting shade of red then she sputtered. “Y-You’re a cock blocking twatwaffle!”

  Cocking an eyebrow back at her, Gage replied. “Cock blocking? Last time I checked it was my cock. I can block it if I want to.”

  “You cat nip addicted crack head! I ought to take one of those squeaky mouse toys I left here and shove it up your ass!”

  He was trying really hard not to laugh at her, but she was making it difficult on him. Her little insults were more cute than anything. Every time he got her riled up like this, it just made him want to find really creative ways to shut her up. “I’m not into that kind of ass play babe, but if you want me to play with your ass, that’s good to go.”

  Elena started slapping his chest and bucking her hips wildly trying to dislodge him.

  “Damn girl, why do you always have to get violent?” Gage moved his legs to straddle Elena’s and then took the hand that was still attached by cuffs to hers, and used it to cross over her chest and pin her down. When his mate realized that he had her effectively pinned down again, she sent him a death glare that would have scared the kiss out of any man, Other or not.

  He shouldn’t try and ruffle her feathers anymore, but he just couldn’t help himself. “I do like it when you get all feisty though. It makes me want to kiss you.” Bending down, he brought his face in closer to hers. Before he could connect their lips, he found himself once again thwarted from his goal by her free hand over his mouth.