Chapter 43
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
Kate
Two hours later, I walk into Tin Anchor with a red dress on and a poetry book in my hand.
After I got home from Central Park, I pulled a cardboard box out of my bedroom closet. I stared at it for at least ten minutes before I opened it and tossed all the contents onto my bed.
Most of it was my collection of winter accessories. The countless pairs of knitted mittens and scarves are courtesy of my mom.
I have at least one set in every color of the rainbow.
Hidden beneath that treasure trove was the item I needed to see.
It’s the poetry book that I’m clinging to now.
It was the last gift that Gage ever gave to me. It was wrapped in newspaper and a pink ribbon when he put it in my hands.
My favorite poet, Grayson Marks, inscribed the book to me. Crying, I thumbed through it noting right away that Gage had dog-eared a page. On it was a poem and a circle of red ink.
Inside the circle were two simple lines.
He knew where she was without a word from her lips.
She lived in his heart; today and forevermore.
Gage told me to always remember that I would live in his heart until the day he died and that if he closed his eyes, he’d feel me with him.
Just a few months later, he set sail without me and everything changed.
I approach the bar, hoping that he’ll be finished with the male customer by the time I reach him.
I have a million things to say, but only four words have been playing on the tip of my tongue since I read his last text. It’s the words I haven’t said to him since the day before he left me.
I love you, Gage.
He spots me as I near him. The serious look on his face softening into something I’ve seen countless times.
It’s love, compassion, kindness, and a heavy dose of lust.
He always loved me in red.
He used to tell me that it was a reflection of the spark that’s inside of me.
I watch as he smiles at the man before he moves to the side.
“Katie.” My name leaves him in a low growl as soon as I’m standing next to an empty stool across the bar from him. “Red is your color.”
“You love me in red,” I say softly. “You used to tell me that.”
“It captures your fire.” His gaze drops to my hand. “Is that…”
“The book you gave me.” With a shaking hand, I rest it on the bar. “You remembered the passage.”
With a heavy swallow, he exhales. “I didn’t think you kept anything. It wasn’t in the box of things you left behind in our apartment, so I thought you trashed it.”
“I couldn’t,” I admit, taking a seat on the stool. “I packed it away. I brought it to New York with me.”
His eyes catch mine. “I’m glad. I’m really glad.”
“Did I live in your heart, Gage?” I ask, my bottom lip trembling. “Did you think about me after you left?”
His hands find mine. He scoops them into his, calming them instantly with his touch. “You always lived in my heart. I thought about you endlessly. A day didn’t pass where I didn’t wake up with you on my mind.”
He was never far from my thoughts either.
I may have fooled myself into believing that I could forge a life without him, but if I’m being honest, I longed for his touch every minute of every day.
“I love you, Katie.”
I stare at his lips, soaking in the depth of those words.
He used to say them to me at least a dozen times a day, but never before have they pierced my heart the way they are now.
I’m aching to repeat them back to him, but there’s something I need to tell him first. I’m not brave enough to do it today. I want a little more time to bask in the knowledge that he still loves me.
“Should we take this to my place?” He asks with a perk of his right brow. “Zeke can cover for me.”
I nod without saying a thing.
All I want tonight is to be in his bed. I hope with everything I am that when I wake in his arms tomorrow that courage will have found its way to me.
Gage lets out a deep sigh. “You have the most perfect ass. How in the hell is it this perfect?”
Glancing at him, I laugh. “Your ass isn’t half-bad either.”
All of him is chiseled perfection.
I watched him undress in the daylight. We used to make love with the lights on back in California. Dusk hasn’t settled over Manhattan yet, so we’ve been enjoying the early evening light by exploring one another.
I’m on my stomach. My nude body is stretched out on Gage’s bed. He’s next to me, on his side, his stiff cock teasing me each time I steal a glance at it.
We’ve been at his apartment for almost an hour, but we haven’t fucked yet.
Our hands have been on a quest to write to memory every inch of each other’s skin.
His hand grazes over my ass again. “I could stare at this for hours.”
I rest my cheek on my arm. “I can think of something else you can do for hours.”
“Eat you?” His fingers dive between my cheeks, skimming lower until he touches my core. “Is that what you want? You want my mouth here?”
I part my legs slightly, granting him more access. “Your fingers.”
A deep groan comes from somewhere inside of him as he skims two fingers over my pussy. “You want me to finger fuck you, Katie?”
I close my eyes. “Please.”
He slides one finger into my channel. Within a second another joins in. It’s not nearly as much as his thick cock, but it’s enough to lure my hips off the bed.
“That’s it,” he whispers into my ear. “Fuck my fingers.”
I easily find a rhythm, pushing up against his hand before I draw back down.
“Let go.” His breath skims over my shoulder. “Fuck it until you’re close.”
I up my pace. Chasing my release, sweat beads on my forehead.
“Tell me how badly you want to come.” His teeth graze the skin of my neck. “How much do you want it?”
“So much.” I pant, not caring that I’m losing control from just the touch of his fingers.
“Touch your clit,” he orders. “Lightly, Katie. Don’t take yourself there yet.”
I nod. My hand crawls down the blanket until it reaches my core. I moan aloud when my fingertips skim the swollen nub of nerves.
I hear the nightstand drawer open and the grunt that follows. He’s sheathing his cock so he can drive it into me.
I apply more pressure. Making tighter circles, I moan as I race to the edge.
“Don’t come,” he says harshly. “You’re going to come on my cock.”
He flips me over, pins my hands to the bed above my head and pushes into me with one fierce thrust.
I come instantly, colors dancing behind my eyelids, my skin heating, and my heart exploding.
“Ah, fuck,” he bites out before he pounds into me, sending me straight into the clutches of another climax.