“Gage,” she gasped. “Gage.” She repeated his name over and over, faster and faster, until he felt her core tighten and then release.
She lay back relaxed on the table as he made his way back up her body, dropping kisses along the way.
She smiled up at him and ran her hand down his chest. “Hmm, not bad.”
He chuckled. “High praise from you. Don’t worry, I won’t let it go to my head.” Then he trailed his lips along her neck. He touched her breast, tenderly flicking his thumb over the nipple. She bit her lip again. He was so hard it hurt.
She sat up on the table and then reached down, and he felt the button of his jeans go. He helped her push them down. She grabbed his boxer briefs and pushed those down as well. He shifted his weight to one foot and tugged everything off.
Then he stood up straight again and pulled her close. He continued to rub her nipple while nibbling on the hollow of her neck.
She reached down and closed a hand around him. He groaned. It felt so good he couldn’t help it. She moved her hand slowly up and down his length. He claimed her lips again, and she immediately deepened the kiss. The blood thrummed through his veins as the tempo of her hand matched the movement of her tongue.
He broke off the kiss. “You’re killing me,” he growled.
“Good. Turnabout is fair play.” Her smile was sexy and filled with promise.
“Just hold that thought.” He grabbed his wallet and got the condom he had there. He tore it open and started to put it on.
Dani brushed his hands away. She took the condom and rolled it slowly over him. It was the sexiest thing Gage had ever experienced.
When he pulled her hard against him, she laughed. She then kissed him, nibbling on his lips and moving down his jaw. When she bit his earlobe, he hissed. She was driving him crazy. Her hands were everywhere, and her tongue was leaving a trail of desire in its wake as she moved down his chest.
She licked first one nipple than the other. He tried to bring her lips back to his, but she refused. He moved to pull her hips to his, but she shook her head. Then she smiled.
She shifted her weight and moved to the edge of the table. Then she locked her legs around his waist and pulled him inside of her. He was rock hard. “You’re so tight. You feel so damn good.”
Her movements were slow at first, but she gained speed until he couldn’t stand it. He grabbed her hips and picked her up off the table. He turned and leaned against the edge of the table as he guided her down on top of him. his hands on her hips, guiding her. Faster, harder.
She opened her eyes, and their gazes locked. He knew, at that moment, he would do everything in his power to keep her safe. She was his and his alone. She called his name, and her core squeezed the length of him. A couple more thrusts, and the force of his release almost buckled his legs, his voice raw as he called out her name. He turned and rested her butt on the table and leaned on her as the two of them sat there gasping for breath.
“That…was…incredible,” Gage managed to huff out between breaths.
“Uh huh.”
“I feel weak,” he admitted.
Dani pushed away from his chest. “Does that mean there’s no round two?”
New energy surged at her invitation. He grinned. “Not on your life,” he said and then picked her up and carried her over to the sofa. Her yelp of surprise ended in a fit of giggles. It was music to his ears.
Chapter Seventeen
Dani lounged against Gage’s chest, her fingers tracing the outline of a scar on his ribs. “How’d you get this one?”
“A knife fight in Egypt.” His voice rumbled out of his chest, vibrating in Dani’s ear.
“Sounds interesting. What happened?”
Gage chuckled. “I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you.”
Dani smiled. “What about this one?” she asked as she ran her finger across an odd-shaped scar on his lower abdomen. Gage stayed silent. She heard him sigh and felt the muscles in his chest tense up under her head. The silence went on, and she was about to give up on him answering when he finally started speaking.
“It was caused by a piece of shrapnel.” He went silent again.
Dani didn’t want to push. Hell, everyone had their secrets. She certainly did, but at the same time, she sensed the memory of the injury caused Gage pain. Her curiosity got the better of her and she asked, “Was it from an IED?”
“No.” His response was clipped, and his voice was flat. She’d hit a nerve of some kind. Better to leave it alone. But she’d revealed so much to him, she was a bit hurt he didn’t want to share back. In truth, it was making her uncomfortable. She hated being vulnerable, and yet she’d been open with him. Now he was shutting her out.
He must have sensed something because he started speaking again. “It was a Stinger. Someone shot a Stinger missile at a building that was across the road and down the block a bit from where I was, and some shrapnel hit me.”
“Oh.” She chewed on the inside of her cheek. She shouldn’t have asked. She was way out of her depth.
“The building, a café, was hit…I was running towards it. Someone I worked with”—he paused, and she felt him swallow—“a friend was there, and I was trying to warn him.” Gage’s voice was soft. “He wouldn’t answer his phone. He was at a meet. I was too late.” His voice cracked on the last word.
Dani found Gage’s hand with hers and squeezed hard. There were no words.
“My friend, his name was Joel, Joel Cutter, was a great guy. From California.” Gage’s words tumbled out faster now. “He had this talent. He could do impressions of everyone. Famous people, regular people. It was amazing. And not just their voices, but he’d do the actions, too. He’d turn into them. He would’ve been a big star in Hollywood if he’d made it back.
“Joel was big on giving people second chances and believing that everyone had good in them. Even after everything we’d seen, he still believed in people. It was amazing.” His legs shifted restlessly. “And it was his downfall.
“We had a new commanding officer. Roderick. He was green and in over his head. We all hated the stupid mistakes he made. I’ve never reported to anyone who made such poorly informed decisions. Putting guys where they shouldn’t be. Haphazardly planned ops based on shitty intel. He was in a hurry to make a name for himself.”
Dani pressed her palm over Gage’s heart, dreading what had to be coming in his story.
“I wanted to complain through back channels. The brass had to know it was only a matter of time before this guy got some of us killed. But Joel, he said we should give the guy a break. He was doing his best. Just give him a bit more time to sort himself out. Joel even went and talked to Roderick about chilling out.
“Roderick didn’t take it too kindly. He retaliated by assigning Joel every shit job for a week. Roderick was some higher-up’s son. Someone with stars on their collar. There was a lot of pressure on him. Joel thought Roderick would smarten up if we just gave him a break.”
Gage stopped speaking. His breaths increased. His muscles tensed under Dani’s cheek. When she squeezed his hand again, he continued.
“There was a meet. We’d been working this guy, an informant, for a while. He’d given us some good intel in the past but there was a problem. We’d heard rumors that command had been hacked. There was a good chance the Taliban knew this guy was feeding us info. We all balked at going. It was too risky. Not worth it.”
Dani’s stomach dropped. Her heart slammed in her chest. A hacker was responsible for his friend’s death. Gage’s hatred for her work and hackers in general made so much more sense now.
“Roderick didn’t care. The informant said he had details on the location of a high value target. One of the top enemies on the list. One that would make Roderick’s career if he bagged the guy. So he sent Joel.
“We got confirmation after Joel left for the meet that Command had been hacked. Roderick, that asshole, knew before Joel left. I tried to get to the meet. I tried to call.
We all did but, in the end, we were too late. Ten people died in that cafe, Joel being one of them.” Gage ran a hand through his hair and then down over his face.
“I lost it. When I got back to the base, I went after Roderick. I beat him ’til he was almost dead. I probably would’ve killed him if the guys hadn’t hauled me off him.” He swallowed. “I should’ve been court martialed, but Logan got me off. I have no idea what he told them, but I even got an honorable discharge. I’m guessing Roderick’s father pulled strings. He wouldn’t want his son’s fuckup to get out.”
She lifted her head off his chest. “I’m sorry Gage. So, so sorry.” Their eyes locked, and she shivered. She’d known from the beginning he’d had hands that hit. Hands that could hurt.
He said nothing for a long moment. Then he looked away and said, “Thanks. Joel was a good man who didn’t have to die. If we’d had a better system, a secure, impenetrable setup, he’d still be alive.”
It was as if he’d slapped her across the face. Her breath caught. She put her head back down on his chest while her heart thudded against her ribs. What was she supposed to say to that? That she got the message? People like her were the reason his friend was dead. Better not to say anything at all. It would just lead to a big fight, one she knew she couldn’t win.
Dani sat up and covered her chest with her arms. “I really am sorry about your friend. Life sucks most of the time. Nothing is more brutal than watching someone you love…die.” Dani swallowed hard as she blinked back tears. She wasn’t going to cry again, not in front of Gage. Not after what he’d just said.
She started to climb over Gage. She wanted off the sofa and back in her clothes now.
Gage locked his arms around her so she couldn’t move. She struggled a bit against him, but he refused to let her go. “You’re right, life does suck sometimes, and it’s very hard to watch people you care about die. I hated what happened to Joel almost as much as I hated watching my mom waste away. Both were awful.”
Dani made the mistake of looking at Gage. His beautiful blue eyes were full of pain. She wanted to resist. She wanted to get up and move away from him. They couldn’t be together. It wasn’t good for either one of them. But she couldn’t move.
He’d been kind to her. Helping her with her phobia and taking care of her. She needed to help him. No, she wanted to help him. She wanted to make him forget his pain. She wanted to tell him everything would be fine but she had never ever known life to work out that way. There was always a curve ball coming.
Chapter Eighteen
Dani woke with a start. Where was she? She sat up and blinked several times. Her heart thudded against her rib cage. The flash of lightning lit up her surroundings. Right, the cruise ship.
She looked around in the inky darkness. Gage was asleep beside her. She could scarcely make out his bare chest in the ambient light. She didn’t even really remember moving to the bed. She sure as hell remembered everything else, though. It had been amazing. Right up until she found out Gage’s best friend had died because of a hacker. A tremor ran through her. She needed some space. It was all…so much.
She shifted and swung her legs over the side of the bed, stifling a groan when her feet hit the floor. She was sore all over. The “I’ve had amazing sex” kind of sore. Still, everything hurt. She got up slowly. Where were her clothes? All over the suite if she remembered correctly. Damn.
She swallowed hard as images of their intimacy flickered like a high-speed camera through her brain. She shook her head. It wasn’t so much the physical intimacy as all the sharing about Carly and her own feelings.
She moved silently down the stairs. She really didn’t want Gage to wake up. She wasn’t ready to face that. What if he regretted what happened? Or worse. What if he just didn’t care either way?
No, he cared. Gage was the type of guy who cared about everything to one degree or another. She just wasn’t sure he cared about her in a positive way. She swallowed the lump that was rapidly forming in her throat.
He’d been so kind to her. All her pent-up worry about Carly had come flying out in an avalanche of emotion and she’d needed to be held, but in the cold light of day, there was no doubt in her mind he was going to regret it. Regret her. He’d already said as much. She was a hacker, a criminal, and he’d been hired to protect her. She was his job, and he’d crossed a line. In the cold light of day, she was certain he would kick himself for the choice he’d made.
She walked over to the dining area and picked up her jeans and her bra, carefully avoiding looking out the windows even though it was pitch dark. It took a moment to find her red T-shirt and her lace panties but, at last, she had it all in a ball in front of her.
She went back toward the front door and then around the wall to the bathroom tucked into the end of the hall. Showering here was a safer bet then upstairs by Gage. She needed a bit of time to collect herself.
She needed to rebuild the wall she’d so carelessly torn down last night. She was going to do a reset. Keep her distance. She just had to make it off this ship and back to New York. Then she would be able to put real distance between her and Gage. Distance she so greatly needed right now.
She almost tripped over her laptop in the hallway. Cursing quietly, she turned on the bathroom light and brought the bag inside with her before she closed the door. She put the toilet seat down, threw a towel over it and a towel around herself, and then sat down and opened her laptop.
Glancing at the clock on the screen, she noticed the time. 4:00 a.m. It would be too early to call Carly. She needed another couple of hours for her sister to be awake. Guilt flooded her chest. This was the first time in a long time she’d missed their nightly call.
When she tried to launch a browser, she realized she probably couldn’t have called anyway. The internet was sporadic at best since they weren’t at port anymore. It was an excuse, and she knew it.
Carly was counting on her. That little girl deserved to meet a real flesh and blood family member after everything she’d been through, and it was up to Dani to make it happen, but she was no further ahead on the software. She drew in a shaky breath and then closed her laptop. The only thing to do was grab a shower and then get back to it.
Dani put her laptop down and leaned it against the wall. Then she stood and grabbed the clothing that she’d dumped on the floor. She rinsed out her underwear and then looked around for a hair dryer. After finding one under the sink, she took the risk of waking Gage and flipped it on. It didn’t take more than a couple of minutes to dry her stuff. She’d have to live with the T-shirt and jeans, but at least she’d have relatively clean undies. She turned on the shower and let out a groan of pleasure when she stepped into the warm spray. Twenty minutes later, Dani slung her backpack over her shoulder and opened the bathroom door.
Gage was standing directly on the other side of it. She opened her mouth, but he quickly put a hand over her lips and put a finger to his own.
Dani glared at him. Was he trying to give her a heart attack? Why was he standing right outside the door? Why was he only half dressed? She was eye level with his chest. The urge to touch him was intense.
He made a small sound so she looked up. He gestured toward the door to the cabin. She listened. Someone was on the other side of the door in the outer hallway. Her knees got weak and sweat broke out on her palms.
Gage gestured for her to move down the inside hallway toward the living room. Dani moved but stopped at the end of the wall. It would be getting light out soon, and she would start to be able to see the water. She looked at Gage.
He cocked his head as if he was listening. Then he grabbed her hand and pushed her head down gently so she was looking at the carpet. He pulled her into the living room.
Dani strained to hear, but didn’t detect a sound. Frowning, she realized the rain had stopped. The weather was finally silent. Then she heard a faint click. The door lock.
Gage stopped moving. She looked up. He motioned for her to go between a chair and the
wall. She squatted down, pulling her backpack with her, and slid into the spot.
Gage moved over and flattened himself on the floor in front of the sofa. She could just see his head peeking around one end, and the blackness beyond the back of the sofa.
Dani’s heart was beating double-time in her chest. Surely, it was just Jeremy. She listened intently but still heard nothing. Maybe it was a mistake. Maybe something else had clicked in the suite. It could be anything.
But then she heard the soft tread of a foot on carpet. She didn’t dare look. It wasn’t Jeremy. He would have called out by now. Her heartbeat went to stratospheric levels. Sweat trickled down her back. She labored to keep her breathing quiet. Her lungs were on fire. The roaring of blood in her ears muted all other noise.
Suddenly, a shadow moved behind the sofa. It turned to her left and then back to her right. It started to move toward the stairs to the loft when a second shadow approached and turned toward the dining room. There were two of them!
Her breath hitched and stopped altogether. Fear crawled up her throat and tried to claw its way out. She clapped her hands over her mouth to stifle her scream and tried to focus. She glanced at Gage. He was still. Unnaturally so. What was he—?
Gage shot to his feet, then picked up the end table and threw it at the guy next to the stairs. The shadow let out a yelp as the table hit him square in the chest. He fell back against the stairs with a crash. Gage turned toward the other shadow, but it was gone. Where did he go? Dani searched the darkness, straining her eyes, until at last she saw the shadow charge toward Gage from his left. She was about to yell, but Gage had seen him, too. The shadow jumped, and the two of them hit the coffee table and crashed to the floor.
“Dani, run!” Gage yelled as he fought with the shadowy figure.
Dani scooped up her backpack and made a mad dash for the door. The guy untangled from Gage and grabbed her foot as she ran by. She crashed to the floor. Gasping to catch her breath, she tried to get back up, but he still had her ankle. Gage was struggling to get him to release her, but he wouldn’t let go.
Hit and Run: A Thrilling Novel of Romantic Suspense (Callahan Security series Book 3) Page 12