Trust in Us

by Altonya Washington

  “I never want her to leave my bed.” Gage gave Clive a level gaze. “But that’s about sex. I still don’t know what else it is about her that I can’t shake. The sex was...” He closed his eyes, obviously working to locate the proper descriptive word or phrase.

  Clive smirked, wind whipping light hair about his tanned face. “I got it.”

  “But there’s more and I—I mean it when I say I don’t know how to go after her.”

  “Well maybe it’s not something you can plot or strategize over like a business deal.” Clive stood. “Maybe it’s one of those things you’re just gonna have to trust your gut on.”

  “Hell, Clive—” Gage worked the heels of his hands into his eyes “—that’s what got us all into this mess.”

  “Sounds like you need to decide whether you’re gonna sit here until the perfect plan materializes before the woman you want distances herself physically and emotionally.” Clive dropped a playful slap to Gage’s cheek, then his shoulder and then turned to leave.

  Gage studied the vibrant view with bland interest for a time before he dug out his mobile.

  “All is well, boss,” Webb confirmed when he answered after two rings.

  “Glad to hear it.” Gage settled down deeper on the lounge, holding the phone at his ear using the crook of his shoulder. “That’s not why I’m calling. I need you to help me find someone.”

  Chapter 11

  Alythia decided to focus on work. It was the one thing that she hadn’t screwed up. She had decided not to return to North Carolina with everyone else. Despite their misunderstandings, Jeena and Orchid went back to Charlotte together, Orchid on the warpath with Jayson Muns in her sight. Myrna had suddenly discovered she had a photo shoot that had taken her off to parts unknown. Word was that the guys had all returned together.

  Aly could only imagine how heated that onboard conversation had become. No, she was in no hurry to return home. Instead, she decided to pay another visit to Aspen and her boutique there. There was nothing that required her immediate attention, other than inventory, which her staff could handle as well as or better than she could.

  Nevertheless, Alythia needed the escape. As cowardly as the move might have been, she needed the time to herself. She needed the stillness, the peace of mind the place provided.

  That peace was one of her main reasons for selecting the town for the new boutique. There were few African-American-owned businesses there, which made her store, Alythia, something of a novelty and provided her with a delightful profit. Not to mention a getaway.

  The girls knew she had opened the Aspen boutique but not that she’d secured digs there, as well. The condo commanded a hefty portion of her earnings, but it was an investment that had proved worthwhile. The condominium was in the same building as her store and served as a home to those who visited Aspen frequently throughout the year. Aly didn’t know if her workload would require such extensive travel, but she hoped that it would.

  While the building’s first floor was home to such establishments as bookstores, eateries, boutiques and salons, the upper floors were dedicated to high-end condominiums. All areas provided splendid views of rolling hills of white that were often dotted by tracks of skis and snowboards, which trekked across the fresh powder on and off throughout the day and much of the night.

  The place was the epitome of serenity whether it was teeming with snow seekers or was bereft of bodies, with only the waves of snowy hillsides and distant white-capped mountains. The place had repaid her in more ways than the obvious. Her contentment. That satisfying peace of mind was at its highest whenever she spent time there, and never had she been so in need of solace.

  Aly took another sip of the steamy white jasmine tea before setting the mug on a stone end table that flanked a massive sofa, which lent a glorious vantage point for enjoying her view or the TV, whichever held her fancy. She snuggled into the thick fleece blanket that was usually thrown across the back of the sofa and nuzzled her head into the arm of the chair while she enjoyed the late-afternoon scenery.

  The forecast had called for a fast-moving early-season storm that the meteorologists weren’t anticipating would be much trouble. Still, fresh powder was always cause for celebration, and Alythia only wanted to hunker down and enjoy the show.

  With the exception of the shallow lamplight filtering in from the short hallway leading to her bedroom, the condo was dim. That would change as the moon rose. Aly felt her eyelids grow weightier, a testament to her relaxation. She shivered, another bit of proof of her contentedness, yet Aly debated whether to grab a robe to cover the tank sleep dress she’d lounged in for the better part of the afternoon.

  She noticed a heavy flake land on one of the sliding glass doors leading out to her wooden balcony. She decided the blanket and hot mug of tea suited her nicely.

  She’d been watching the increasing intensity of the snowfall for about twenty minutes when a soft rap fell upon her door. She raised her head from the arm of the sofa, at first thinking she’d misheard. No one ever knocked on her door, not even her neighbors, who were spread out across the four units along the wide U-shaped corridor.

  The knock came again and again and Alythia considered the camouflage-print tank gown she sported. Suddenly, the robe sounded like a great idea as she contemplated answering the door. The knock returned and she silently commanded away her silliness. Perhaps the storm was to be a bit more vicious than the forecasters had predicted.

  “Coming!” she called out hastily, pushing herself up off the sofa. She grabbed the fleece blanket as an afterthought and tied it in a makeshift sarong about her waist.

  As a precaution, she looked through the privacy window and jumped before going rigidly still. She snapped to after a second and then pulled open the door to stare dumbfounded into Gage’s devilishly amused eyes.

  Aly closed her mouth, which had fallen open upon first glimpse at who stood on the opposite side of the door. Her lips parted again as questions raced through her mind, begging to be asked. She only closed her mouth when those questions refused to leave her tongue.

  Gage’s smile only gained definition. “Let me help you.” He moved closer.

  “Gage, what are you doing here?”

  He sought to mimic her by making his voice softer and overtly breathy.

  The attempt took Aly’s mind off her surprise and tapped into her amusement. “I don’t sound like that,” she insisted.

  He was leaning on the doorframe, something seductively male belying his easy expression. “I can recall a few times when you’ve sounded exactly like that.”

  Cheeks burning, Alythia bowed her head and silently repeated the question he’d anticipated.

  All the while, Gage relaxed against the framing, seemingly delighted in watching her as she tried to get a handle on what was going on.

  * * *

  He wouldn’t deny the fact that he had selfishly cheered the way she’d lived her life. For that lifestyle had kept her available for him. Selfish indeed, he added grimly. It was no way to live, regardless of how he felt it had benefited him. She had brought such a feeling of contentment with her and to him without even knowing it. The least he could do was show her that living didn’t mean she was unworthy.

  Alythia’s verbal skills returned as his thumb smoothed across her jaw. “What are you doing here?” The words tumbled out.

  “You left me without saying goodbye.” He set his head at a stern tilt. “I tend to take stuff like that personally.”

  “Gage, I’m sorry, it—”

  “Tsk, tsk. Although this would be the time for apologies, I’m afraid you’ve worn out your welcome with all those sorrys. You’ll have to come up with another, better way to get your regrets across.” In case she was confused, he let his chocolaty stare travel the length of her body.

  “I can’t.”

  “Why not?” His query held a simplicity, as if he honestly had no clue about any of the drama that had befallen them over the past four days.

 
; “I...” She licked her lips. “Are you alone?”

  “Very alone.” He exaggerated his disappointment with a forlorn shrug. “Sent my friends back on the plane, took another one here.”

  Aly smiled, seeking to make light of the moment. “You trust them not to talk your pilots into carrying them off on another adventure?”

  Gage left the doorframe and Aly straightened, as well. She tilted back her head in order to maintain eye contact when he looked down at her.

  “I don’t give a damn where they go as long as they don’t wind up here.”

  “I can’t sleep with you,” Aly virtually moaned when he cleared the door and pushed it shut.

  “Can’t or won’t?” He rested against the closed door.

  “Does it matter?” she countered.

  Shrugging more casually then, Gage pulled off the hat he wore. “Really it doesn’t,” he said while tossing the knit cap back and forth. “Either way poses a challenge, but it’s nothing I can’t handle.”

  “Gage—”

  He snagged her wrist, drew her flush against him, and the rest of her comment collapsed. She shivered instead, a fact she could have attributed to her fleece blanket tumbling to the floor or the cool leather of the black bomber jacket he’d yet to remove. Her bare skin reacted to the chill that penetrated the clingy fabric of her gown.

  His mouth moved along the slim line of her neck while his hands charted a similar course along the curvaceous plane of her body. Every part of her reacted, her nipples already contracting against the leather, her sex aching for his attention. Alythia squeezed her eyes shut.

  “Gage...” Her hands found their way inside his jacket to rest over a team emblem emblazoned across the sweatshirt beneath. “Wait...”

  “Forget it.” He let the words merge into the kiss he sought to punish her with.

  Aly then lost any ability to stand, her strength abandoning her even as she labored to twist and arch herself against him while heightening the fire of her kiss. It was no matter as Gage balanced her bottom in his hands and perfectly aligned her sex with his. The fiery intensity of their kiss eventually had its strength-stealing effects on Gage.

  Keeping her sealed against his tall, unyielding frame, he leaned against the door. Soft, intermittent groans resonated from his throat as he squeezed her almost unbearably close as if seeking to feel her through the barrier of his clothes.

  Gage acknowledged Alythia’s resistance. He ended their kiss in midthrust of his tongue and pressed his mouth to her ear. “Are you trying to tell me to stop? Alythia?” He tapped her bottom to encourage her answer.

  She gave an obedient shake of her head and sent a slew of blue-black waves into her face. “Only to wait...” she managed.

  His gaze was easy, sympathetic and without a shred of mercy. “Afraid I can’t do that.”

  When he kissed her then, Aly accepted her fate. Melting, turning into a pliant mound of sensation beneath his hands, she worked at taking him out of his jacket. She didn’t make much headway, preoccupied as she was by his kiss. She accomplished her task while he crossed the room, cradling her high against him. Aly was able to push the jacket from his shoulders just as he settled in the armchair that sat catercornered to the sofa.

  Gage had her straddle his lap, which sent the hem of her gown rising to the crease of her thighs. The wispy panties she wore beneath the garment sent a growling obscenity from someplace deep in his throat. Kissing resumed, tongues battling fiercely as they moved feverishly, desperate to be closer. Aly whimpered, shifting her thighs when his fingertips brushed the hem of her panties’ crotch.

  She whimpered yet again when he withheld in giving her the caress she wanted. She dropped a playful slap across his dark, lovely face, having spied his lopsided grin. Gage, in return, brushed his fingers a little closer to the center of the garment’s dampening middle.

  Shameless, she raked a thumbnail across the shadow of whiskers that blessed his face with a fully dangerous and sexy appeal.

  She gasped into his skillful mouth, emitting a tiny grunt. At last he ignored the barrier of material separating his fingers from her core. Desire had completely drugged her by then, and she was unable to even return the ravenous thrusts of his tongue against hers. Her mouth was a weak, circular O, suitable only to grant escape to the countless signs of satisfaction he coaxed. The slow dips and rotations of his middle finger set her femininity on a continuous moisture cycle. Greedily, Alythia rode the exploring finger, her lashes fluttering uncontrollably as she hungered for the release she knew his touch would provide.

  “No...Gage, please...don’t...”

  He’d intentionally stopped the love he was making to her, observing her with a wry smile in place. “Are you done with wanting me to wait?”

  “Yes...please, yes...” she moaned in tandem with wriggling her hips, urging his fingers into movement.

  Gage braced off the back of the chair, then drew the sweatshirt up and over his head with one hand without removing the other from its naughty position. Alythia spasmed vigorously when her fingers grazed the sleek, toned wall of his chest even as her hips resumed the sensual rhythm they performed above his waist.

  Gage took the time to release her hips and relieve her of the gown. The task was barely done and he was nourishing himself at her breast as though she had the power to curb his famished state. He’d removed a condom from the back pocket of his jeans and was pressing the packet into her palm. He left her to handle the necessary chore, preferring to share his attentions between her chest and her intimate folds, which were slick with the moisture her passion had conjured.

  She was quivering terribly. Gage kept one breast captive in a secure yet gentle hold and subjected its nipple to infrequent rounds of suckling and insistent brushes from his thumb.

  Alythia applied the protective sheath perfectly once she’d unfastened his button fly to free a stunning erection.

  Gage muttered something in the neighborhood of impatience. Abandoning her breasts, he suddenly dropped his hands to her hips, lifted her and filled her with the thick proof of his virility. She had no trouble allowing him to direct her moves and chanted his name in a thankful litany.

  Gage rested his head back against the chair, studying her as he worked her body to his gratification. For a time, Aly held her hands over his where they handled her hips. Then she was smoothing them over her tummy and across her rib cage. Briefly, she cupped her breasts, making him groan while bringing more potency to his already fortifying thrusts.

  Once Aly moved on to thread all ten fingers through her hair, Gage indulged in more nourishment, suckling her nipples, still budded and glistening from his earlier attention. Aly wrenched out a sound fueled by pleasure and pain when his grasp on her hips took on a viselike intensity. She dropped her hands across his once more and was satisfied that they would maintain the delicious rhythm they had perfected.

  Gage surrendered then, unable to uphold any promises he’d foolishly made to put his hormones on the back burner and devote himself primarily to her fulfillment. Burrowing his head into her chest, he realized that he had lived up to his promise. He could feel her climaxing, shuddering in unison with him as they submitted to waves of pleasure that rolled them in a seductive storm.

  * * *

  “Why’d you leave without saying goodbye to me?” Gage kissed the top of Alythia’s head.

  They had moved from the large armchair to the sofa, where they shared the blanket and took in the sight of the steadier snowfall. The condo was moonlit and quiet but for the minute tapping of the snowflakes against the glass doors leading out to the balcony.

  “Didn’t I just make up for leaving?” she asked.

  He dropped another kiss to her head, gathering her impossibly close. “You definitely made up for it.”

  Alythia discovered she had been wrong. She’d only thought she’d known true contentment lounging there alone on her sofa. But this was it and if it wasn’t, it was certainly a damn sight closer than she’d been
a few hours ago. She didn’t want anything to infringe on that and curved into Gage as she tried to will away the conversation.

  “Why’d you go, Alythia?”

  “You know how it is,” she huffed. “Work to do...”

  “Right, business worries can make you forget everything.”

  Regret forced Aly to close her eyes. She didn’t want him to think that her work was enough to make her forget him. “Coming here was all I could do to forget everything that went on back there, Gage.”

  “That’s got nothing to do with us, Alythia.” His arms about her tightened in sync with the hardening of his voice.

  “I can’t understand how you can feel that way.” She clenched a fist to the center of his chest and held it there. “These are people we’ll have to see all the time.”

  “Not necessarily.”

  “Are you suggesting we dump our friends?” Her tone was playful.

  “Not at all, but it’d be hard to get tugged into crap if we aren’t around.”

  Aly braced herself on an elbow and gaped down at him. “Are you talking about not going back?”

  “Yeah...” He shrugged as though the plan were perfectly logical.

  Alythia couldn’t believe what she was hearing and that fact was amplified as she studied him with a look of amused disbelief. Gage graced her with a roguish wink and tucked her back between his arm and chest.

  “Look at that snow,” he marveled, and put another kiss to the top of her head.

  Chapter 12

  “You live here?” Aly figured more words would fail her as she stood just inside the grand corner condo.

  The place occupied the opposite end of her floor. There were only two of the L-shaped units, one at either end of the hall. Alythia had considered herself blessed to have acquired the spot she had and often wondered about the kind of people who could afford digs on such a scale and rarely use them.

  Gage kept his place leaning on the condo’s open door, arms folded over a lightweight burgundy hoodie. He seemed more interested in watching her observe his home than in the place itself.