Chapter Twenty-Nine
Jill
Making eyes at Gage as I saunter past him, he follows me to the back of the bar room—like a moth to a flame. Walking through the doorway, we enter the empty pool room. The rowdiness from the group at the bar fades into the background now that it’s only the two of us back here.
“You wanna play a game?” I ask over my shoulder as I approach the table.
“Something tells me we already are.” Gage snags my hand to turn me around. I don’t bother to bite back my devious smile as I look up at him through my lashes.
“Billiards,” I state, my tone chiding him for assuming otherwise.
“Hmm,” Gage’s voice hums deep in his chest as he gazes down at me. His fingertips gently brush a tendril of hair from my face before his strong hand cups my cheek. “You play pool?”
“Like you don’t already know,” I tease, but he simply tilts his head with an expression that insists he’s not sure what I’m referring to. We both know better, but I play along. “I play a little.”
A little is an understatement. I’ve been playing pool since I was tall enough to reach over the table. My dad basically lived on barstools growing up, and my mom worked nights, so I was practically raised in dive bars like this. Tommy taught me how to play pool to pass the time.
“I’m not going to let you win,” Gage says arrogantly with a smirk. I bite back my own smile and maintain my innocence—I’m sure he can see straight through me.
“You better not.” I lean up to press a soft kiss on his lips. “It’ll feel so much better when I do it myself.” Pulling away from him, I turn to start racking up the billiards.
I’ve never considered playing pool a sexual experience until I played with Gage. Watching the man lean forward to line up a shot is hypnotic, with his gorgeous arms flexing, and every ball he sinks into a pocket is like an aphrodisiac. I can feel his ravenous eyes on me every time I bend down to do the same. Our banter is a mix of trash talk and flirting until the air around us remains charged.
I play it cool for the first few shots, keeping my hits simple and even throwing a few so he doesn’t realize exactly what I’m capable of. But that only lasts so long until my competitive nature takes over.
“I never figured you for the kind of girl who would play dumb to appear weaker to a man. It’s beneath you,” he comments. I drop the pool stick with one hand to flip him off, making him throw his head back and laugh. Still grinning, he saunters towards me.
“Duh-dun, Duh-dun,” Gage starts singing the Jaws theme song under his breath as he walks around the table behind me while I bounce my cue ball off the side and sink two balls with one shot. “Duh-dun.”
“I’m not a pool shark,” I argue, biting back a smile, but it’s pointless. “You’re just not as good as you thought you were. That’s not my problem.” Lining up my next shot, I take out another two balls. At this rate, I’ll win in the next three shots.
“Oh, I’m good,” Gage counters. “I just don’t pretend I’m bad to mess with people’s heads.”
“Fuck you,” I mutter, leaning forward to cue up the ball. Only I don’t make it very far before a muscled arm is yanking me around, and a body is pressing to mine until my ass hits the pool table.
“You wanna try that again?” Gage asks deeply, getting in my face to check my attitude. His dominance is so fucking hot—it makes my pussy throb and my heart flutter.
“I love you.” My tone pretends like it’s what I said in the first place, but the words have his expression sharpening. When I move to turn back to the game, one of his hands grips my jaw to halt my movements and force my eyes back to his.
“Don’t fucking play with those words, Menace. If you don’t mean them, don’t say them.” His voice rumbles with conviction, making my humor drop as I really look at him. That’s when I see it—an image in the ink on his chest.
“Is that my switchblade?” My fingers tug at the neckline of his shirt to get a better look. I’ve seen a lot of tattoos, and it could be any knife. But it’s not, I’d recognize my blade anywhere. There aren’t any coincidences with Gage. The tattoo is hidden amongst all of his others, and it makes me wonder. Are there more?
Gage allows me to tug at him—pulling his shirt down, and lifting both of his arms to search the sleeves of ink covering them. That’s when my gaze catches on a pair of pretty eyes inked on the inside of his forearm. They’re green and feminine.
And mine.
He has my eyes tattooed on his body?
One glance up at his face confirms it, his gaze on me never wavering in its intensity.
“Take off your shirt,” I demand, pulling at the fabric in my way.
There have to be more.
Gage obeys without hesitation, lifting the shirt over his head and tossing it on the pool table behind me, leaving his magnificent chest bare. His rippling muscles jump beneath my hands as I trace over the images painted on his skin in search of anything else recognizable.
And I find them.
Black cherries, a red lipstick, a pinup devil that looks exactly like me—The more I look, the more I see pieces of myself woven into his tattoos. My favorite things and little pieces of my personality intertwined with his.
“Are there more?” I ask, my eyes trailing down to where his ink disappears beneath the waistband of his pants, before my gaze clashes with his. He nods. “Why?”
“I needed you with me.” His words have every muscle in my body stilling with realization. His hand reaches up to cup my face, caressing it sweetly before lowering to tow me in by my jaw.
“You love me, don’t you?” The unspoken truth calms my restless soul as the question leaves my mouth. My eyes gaze into his, searching for confirmation. What I find is so much deeper, it rocks me to my core.
“Love you? From the second I laid eyes on you, there has been an itching in my veins that only the sight of you can ease. Without you, the world has no art, and I have no purpose.” I swallow hard against his hand, the breath halting in my chest as his words seep into my bones. “I don’t just love you, Jill. I worship you. I bleed you. I am for you.”
My eyelashes flutter slightly as this revelation washes over me, taking a moment to revel in the feeling of complete and pure devotion. The sensations touching every nerve in my body are like nothing I’ve ever felt before.
His thumb strokes my jaw against his tight hold on me, his all-seeing eyes unrelenting on mine. He’s not letting this moment go until he’s sure I believe him, that I know the truth. And I do. There’s no denying something so certain.
“I love you, Gage,” I state, my eyes telling him just how much I mean it. “I don’t exist without you to see me.”
There’s a moment of silence between us, the world going still. Gage stares down at me like I’ve given him the answers to the mysteries of the universe. His eyes look into mine so deeply that I’m positive he can see his own soul intertwined with mine. Several seconds pass, the tension between us growing so thick it’s almost palpable. As we stand here, just gazing into each other’s eyes, our bodies slowly draw closer and closer with our irresistible magnetism.
Until the dam breaks and our mouths desperately clash.
This kiss is a tornado, a reckless give and take as we devour each other with all of our passion pouring into our connection. I don’t know how I ended up on the pool table, but I’m suddenly seated on the edge of it with Gage’s body between my thighs, his unforgiving lips never leaving mine for even a breath. With his arms wrapped around me, his hands on my back slide lower until they’re pushing under the waistband of my jeans on my ass. One of my arms snakes around his neck to anchor him impossibly close while the other holds his face to mine.
“Gage, we have to go—” Anders’ booming voice cuts off abruptly with a muttered, “Oh shit.”
“Hey boss, don’t shoot the messenger, but tweedle-dumbass locked the keys in the shop last night. So we’re gonna need your spares.” I briefly register Stevie’s voice as my mouth moves against Gage’s. His arms lock around me, hands palming my ass, and unrelenting lips tell me he has no intention of separating from me, no matter who’s watching.
Until the third voice sounds in the doorway.
“Hey, no sex on the pool table! We just had it re-felted after the last time.” Gage pulls away from me more than reluctantly, turning a murderous glare on the three people keeping him from me. Anders, Stevie, and Rio stand in the doorway of the pool room, each with a different expression.
Anders is looking at us as if there’s nothing to see—like he didn’t interrupt us almost fucking on the pool table. Stevie looks guilty, her eyes full of apology as she looks between me and her boss. Rio’s knowing smirk couldn’t look more like Gage’s if he tried.
“All of you, get the fuck out of here before I pull my gun.” The threat edging Gage’s tone could inflict serious physical damage.
“Sorry, not gonna happen. We have about half a billion dollars in the form of douchebags wearing boat shoes waiting for us at The Raven right now. That’s not money we’re walking away from. You two can mess around later,” Anders states, holding his ground.
“And I have a client coming from out of state who expects to be in my chair in the next forty-five minutes, so I’m gonna need those keys.” Stevie’s eyes apologize as she shrugs. Jaw clenched tightly, Gage stares down the three people who intruded on our moment like he’s considering cutting his losses and taking them all out by a bullet to the head. Placing a hand on his cheek, I turn Gage’s head to look at me in an attempt to deter any bloodshed.
“There are very few people I actually like, and those are three of them. You’re not going to kill them,” I say, making Gage’s eyes narrow on me slightly. “I’m going with Stevie to get the keys from the club. You’re going to your poker night. And when you come home to me tomorrow morning, you’re going to fuck me on the pile of money you took from those preppy asshats.”
Gage lets out a harsh breath that sounds dangerously like a growl. He pulls me in until my chest is pressed against his, and I’m gazing up at him through my lashes.
“Tell me again,” he demands, and I know exactly what he means.
“What, that you’re going to fuck me?” I ask, playing dumb, a mischievous smile tugging at my lips.
“Jill.” My name is a warning, making me grin.
“I love you, Gage Lawless. I didn’t know I could ever be this in love with someone.” I let the humor fall from my face to let him see my sincerity. Leaning up, I kiss him deeply, letting out passion linger for a moment before pulling back. “I love you. Now go.”
Releasing his face, I press my hands against his chest until he takes a step back, large enough for me to get off the pool table. My body slides down his as I lower to the floor, plush curves against solid muscles. Dark eyes pin me where I stand like they never intend to look away.
“When I get home, you better be in my bed ready for me. Because there won’t be any negotiating, and I don’t plan on being gentle with you.”
“I love it when you talk dirty to me.” I give him a smile full of promiscuous promises. With that, I’m pulling out of his embrace and turning to address the pink-haired woman across the room. “I hope you brought your car because I just came with Gage.”
“We hadn’t gotten that far yet, but we will soon,” Gage says deeply behind me, making Rio and Anders laugh. I roll my eyes at Stevie, who gives me a smile that laughs at the men, not with them.
“I can drive us.” Turning to follow me through the doorway, we walk out of the bar.