Chapter 21 - Carissa
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Carissa
My books were abandoned in a heap on the desk.
I couldn’t focus, couldn’t absorb a word, no matter how many times I reread the same lines.
The quiet of the mansion pressed against my ears, and the restlessness inside me was growing, bouncing off the walls.
I shoved my chair back and decided I needed air.
Silk camisole, skimpy shorts, nothing else.
But everyone was asleep, so I didn’t care to cover up.
I moved through the hallways, toes lightly brushing the carpet as I made my way to the courtyard.
I almost turned back to get Henry from the pillow fort and settle him in his bed, but changed my mind almost instantly.
He looked so comfortable, snuggling with Boone in that pillow fort.
The guys would probably wake up with all sorts of aches and pains, but Henry would be so happy to know they’d spent the night with him there.
Passing the gym, I caught the sound first: a measured grunt, the clink of metal.
Curiosity drew me closer, and I peeked inside.
Gage was on the weight bench, shirtless, shorts clinging low.
The bar trembled in his hands as he pushed through the lifts, muscles coiling and flexing with each press.
Sweat caught the light, sheen sliding over the planes of his chest, across his shoulders, down the ridges of his abs.
I licked my lips.
“You’re still up?”
His voice made me startle, and I looked around to make sure I was the one he was speaking to. Which was stupid, because who else would it be? My feet moved without any instruction from me, and approached the bench where he hadn’t paused his workout.
“Too wired. What’s your excuse?”
He exhaled, a sharp puff of air as he went into another set. “Same.”
I watched him push and pump, the rhythm of his body hypnotic, his arms quivering under strain, teeth clenched.
My gaze traveled the length of him, from the tight sweep of his shoulders to the line of hair trailing down the center line of his stomach until finally disappearing into his shorts.
I had to fight the urge to touch, to trace that line with my fingers.
Especially after noticing the tight stretch over his crotch area, and how it twitched every time he exerted himself in just the right way.
“Well, since you’re here, you might as well spot me,” he said.
I blinked, confused.
“Uh, any time you’re ready,” he added, the bar wobbling as his arms shook.
I moved, finally catching on, and positioned myself to help him lift the bar onto the rack just as it threatened to slip.
“That was close,” he said, coming up to sit.
I settled in front of him, straddling the bench so our knees touched. He tilted his head, eyes lingering on my chest, and I caught the glint of interest there. How he must’ve noticed the faint outline of the tips of my nipples through my camisole.
My stomach fluttered, heat creeping over me, liking that he saw me like this.
“What would you have done if I weren’t here?” I asked, teasing him a little.
He looked at me, and I could see the calculation there. “What are you doing here?”
“I told you, I—”
“You couldn’t sleep, yeah. But what’s the real reason?” His gaze held mine, and I knew he wouldn’t let me get away with anything less than the truth. To my surprise, though, he made it easy for me. “Let me take a wild guess… It’s Dawson.”
I laughed nervously, brushing a strand of hair behind my ear. “What makes you say that?”
He leaned closer, the faint scent of him and sweat and unfiltered masculinity filling the space. “You’re worried about coming between him and Boone. Maybe a little worried that dividing your attention could turn them against you in the end.”
I couldn’t answer immediately, struck by how simply he’d articulated the truth I hadn’t been able to admit to myself.
“I’m not imagining things,” I said finally. “Dawson’s been distant, and I know it’s because of me.”
“Dawson’s default setting is distant. I wouldn’t worry about it if I were you,” Gage said softly.
I knew he’d meant for the light touch of his fingers on my leg to be comforting, but all it did was awaken the fire brewing in me. The one he’d started in the pillow fort, when he chickened out of kissing me.
I hesitated, then forced the words out. “Then there’s Boone. He doesn’t hide anything about how he feels, and I just… I just…”
“Don’t want to hurt him,” he finished for me.
I dropped my eyes to my hands. He was quiet, but the way he listened, understood, made it easier to admit things I’d been holding back.
Gage shifted closer on the bench. A single finger lifted my chin, tilting my face so I’d look at him. The look in his eyes stole my breath—raw and uncompromising. His hand moved to my cheek, and I leaned into the touch.
“Everyone in this house loves you, and they’d all bend over backwards if you asked them to,” he said.
“Even you?”
“Even me.”
I turned my head, pressing my lips to the palm of his hand.
“Carissa…” he warned.
I pressed further, sliding my lips up to the inside of his wrist. “Tell me to stop and I will.”
He swallowed hard, gaze locked on mine. I knew that look, and a faint smile drifted onto my lips. I continued, kissing my way up his arm until I reached the crook of his elbow.
With a suddenness that made me gasp, he wrenched his arm from me, hooked his hands behind my knees, and pulled me right up against him so my legs dangled over his. My body hit his, every inch of us pressed together, and before I could catch my breath, his mouth was on mine.
The kiss was everything we’d been holding back. Aggression tempered by a sweet tenderness I didn’t know he was capable of. I became aware of every nerve ending, every pulse of him against me. His hands slid along my back, coaxing me closer, and I melted into him, my fingers tangling in his hair.
The kiss deepened, and it wasn’t just about lips or tongues.
It was every part of him pressed against me, every heartbeat echoing through my chest. His hard-on strained in his shorts, and I felt the undeniable shape of him pressing against my pussy.
I rocked my hips once, then again, grinding against him to feel more of that delicious friction that got me all hot and wet.
Every time he moved, every subtle push of his body sparked heat that coiled low in my stomach and radiated outward, making my fingers curl tighter in his hair. I could feel his chest against mine, warm and solid, and the way his hands roamed my back sent shivers down my spine.
I lost track of everything until all that existed was my aching pussy and how badly I wanted him to fuck me. My lips moved with his, matching his rhythm, desperate to soak in all of him. I arched against him, silently pleading for more. And my God, did he give it to me.
Tongues, teeth, all these months of restraint detonated all at once.
His hand brushed the bare skin of my waist where my camisole had ridden up, sending a blazing shock through me the second he made contact.
Drifting higher, he found the curve of my breast. His hand closed around me and a low moan spilled out of his mouth.
I tilted the angle of my hips to grind even harder against the ridge of his cock, thighs trembling with the way my heat took over.
He wanted soft, he wanted gentle, but all I could think about was having his dick inside me.
Our lips untangled with a disappointed groan trembling out of him. The feeling didn’t last long, though. Once Gage watched me slide back on the bench, fingers tucked into the waistband of his shorts, that disappointment quickly morphed into excitement, which he punctuated with a clipped, “Oh.”
He pushed up from the bench just enough so I could shove his shorts down to finally release his cock. Thick and flushed, with a bead of pre-cum pearling at the tip. My mouth watered in anticipation.
“God, you’re beautiful,” I breathed.
He seemed almost shy when he said, “Isn’t that supposed to be my line?”
I gave a soft laugh and stopped wasting time, starting with a long, lustful lick from the base of his cock, my tongue tracing every inch, savoring the taste and texture of him.
I paid special attention to his balls, laving my tongue over them, sucking them in.
His breath came in ragged gasps as I flattened my tongue to swirl around his tip, my movements teasing and precise.
He squirmed beneath me, his body responding to my touch in a series of spasmodic jerks that pushed his dick deeper into my mouth.
Deciding to help him along, I sank down and took as much as I could, cheeks hollowing as I sucked him in. His thighs shook, hands fisting in my hair to hold me in place. Or to keep himself from losing it totally. Either way, it turned me on even more. My short shorts were totally drenched.
I worked him with my mouth and hands, relishing the incomprehensible sounds he made to encourage me. Then his grip tightened in my hair and he shoved my head all the way down, until his tip hit the back of my throat. Until I gagged with it.
“Fuck…”
Fuck, indeed. My saliva mixed with his pre-cum, spreading over my tongue before dripping out of my mouth and down his cock.
When he finally released his hold on me, I lifted off him for a much-needed breath and then went right back, licking up whatever I’d left behind with a primal hunger that made my pussy throb.
My eyes locked on his, and in that moment, I felt a connection that went way beyond the physical.
As good as that part was, there was something about the way he looked at me.
Something that told me this was different.
I sucked him in again, bobbing my head up and down to match the thrust of his hips as he chased the ultimate high.
The weight bench creaked beneath us, but it only spurred me on. Faster. Deeper.
His breath hitched, and his whole body tensed as his hips bucked involuntarily, slamming himself deeper into my mouth.