Chapter 27
TWENTY-SEVEN
RIVER
We don’t move for a while—just kiss like the world can’t find us on this couch.
Gage tastes like the peppermint tea we forgot to finish and the kind of relief that makes my knees weak. His mouth is warm, sure, patient when I slow, greedy when I pull him closer. I thread my fingers into his hair and he sighs into my mouth, that wrecked sound I’ve already become addicted to.
“I’m here,” he murmurs, lips brushing mine. “Say stop if you want to.”
“I don’t,” I breathe.
His palm skims my side, under my shirt, fingers spreading like he’s learning the topography of me by touch alone.
Heat pools low. I press closer and the world tilts, and fall off the couch, landing sideways, half-tangled in the throw blanket, my leg over his hip, his hand curving around the back of my thigh to keep me where he wants me.
“River,” he says like a promise.
“Say it again,” I whisper, because the way my name sounds in his mouth turns everything else down to static.
“River.”
I kiss him harder. The knot of fear that’s been living in my body for weeks loosens under his hands.
He kisses like he’s thanking me for breathing.
I slide my palms up his chest, over warm skin, the steady drum of his heart.
He’s solid. He’s real. He’s mine—if only for tonight—and the thought makes my throat go tight.
“Can I?” he asks, thumb just beneath the edge of my shirt.
“Yes.” It comes out too fast, too needy. I don’t care.
He peels it off in one smooth motion, eyes never leaving my face. He looks like I’m a sunrise he doesn’t deserve. I want to tease him for it, but instead I let him look. It feels… good, being seen by someone who doesn’t want to break me.
“You’re beautiful,” he says simply.
My laugh wobbles. “Hypothesis confirmed: you’re trouble.”
“Absolutely.” He dips to kiss my shoulder, slow, reverent. “And yours.”
The words burn through me like good whiskey. I hook my fingers in the collar of his shirt. “Off.”
He grins into my mouth and obeys, the cotton dragging over muscle and heat and then there’s nothing between us but skin and the kind of electricity that redlines every nerve I own. I wrap both arms around him and he groans, low in his chest, like he’s been starving and just remembered how to eat.
We find a rhythm—mouth, breath, a slow grind that makes the room blur. His stubble scrapes my jaw in a way that will leave tomorrow written on my skin. He maps my collarbone with his lips, and I arch without thinking and his hand tightens on my hip, anchoring me to the couch and to him.
“Tell me what you need,” he says against my throat.
“You,” I say, shameless. “Just—don’t go slow to be polite.”
He laughs lightly. “You’re a bit bossy, you know that?”
“I learned from the best,” I say, and when I roll my hips he curses softly, like a prayer. I swallow the sound with another kiss.
He’s careful even when he’s desperate. He checks in without making it a speech. Like his fingertips pausing to ask, the tilt of his mouth waiting for mine to answer. When I nod, he moves. When I shiver, he learns. Every time I clutch at him, he gives me more.
I drag him closer, thigh hitching higher over his waist. The blanket slides off. The air feels cool on my back, because his body is a furnace everywhere else. He braces one forearm beside my head and the other hand splays at my waist, possessive and gentle and exactly what I didn’t know I craved.
“I’ve wanted this for so long,” he admits, voice rough. “Wanted you. Not just the idea of you—you.”
“Same,” I confess before I can be brave about it. “I kept pretending I wanted a ghost. Turns out I want the man.”
His mouth curves against my pulse. “Good. I’m tired of being a ghost.”
I tip his face up and kiss him like an answer. We move back to the couch. The whisper of our breathing fills the room. I taste salt where I bit his lower lip, and he hums like he likes it and the sound goes straight through me.
“Wait,” I manage, dragging a breath. “One rule.”
“Name it.”
“No masks,” I say. “Meaning you always tell me the truth, even if I’m not going to like it.”
His eyes soften, heat and something like relief flickering there. “No masks.”
He kisses me like he means it. I believe him.
We remove the rest of our clothing, and when I spot his dick I drag a deep breath through me. “Uh,” I whisper. “You’re huge.”
He blinks. “You really know how to build up my confidence.”
I laugh lightly. “I’m serious, Gage. I wasn’t expecting you to be so… big.”
He strokes his dick and the sight of it has my insides burning with need. “Do you know how many times I’ve jerked off to thoughts of you.”
My eyes widen. His admission turns me on more than I ever thought possible. “Tell me. Show me.”
He leans his forehead to mine, pumping his long shaft with one hand. “The other night I sat on the other side of this wall and watched you on camera, and my cock was so fucking hard for you, River.”
Oh. My. God.
“And you jerked off?” I ask him, gazing into his eyes.
He lets out a deep breath, like it’s almost too painful to breathe. “Yeah, I did.” He pushes the head of his dick at my entrance, and I wrap my legs around his waist. “I’ve wanted you for so long.” He pushes an inch inside me, and I moan.
“Ah,” I whisper, my whole body going tense. Sure, I’ve had sex before, but it’s been a while. And I’ve never been with anyone as big as Gage before. His dick is massive, and that’s not me overexaggerating. “Please go slow.”
He smooths a hand over my hair. “We can take all night if we need to. I’m not going anywhere.”
I smile, and then he kisses me. It’s long and slow. And oh, so passionate. He pushes inside me another inch, and I tighten my grip on him. The pain of his size dissipates, and what’s left is pure pleasure. I rock up into him and he smiles down at me.
“I feel that. You getting greedy for it?”
I bite my lower lip, wondering who on earth this woman is that Gage has brought out in me. I’ve never been this way in my life. Never been with a man so vocal and aware. It’s like he’s more in tune with my body than me. “Yes, Gage. I’m ready for you to lose control.”
His eyes search mine as his body stills. “You have no idea what you’re asking of me, River.”
I cup his cheek with my hands. “Yes, I do. You like control. You like staying in control, and now I’m giving you the permission to lose it on me.”
He presses his forehead against mine, and whispers, “I’ve wanted this a long time, River.
I’m going to fuck you hard and fast. I’m going to lose myself deep inside you.
You probably won’t even have a chance to come before I’m done,” he laughs lightly, “but I promise you once I get this fuck out of the way, I’m going to spend the rest of the night taking care of your sweet pussy. ” He bucks a little harder inside me.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had a guy be this truthful with me before.”
“My mind’s misfiring on all cylinders being inside you.”
“Well, I hope I’m as good as you imagined.” I thrust my hips up, and he groans.
“You’re even better,” he whispers, and then he loses it.
He bucks harder on top of me, his dick slamming into me with such a force I can’t do anything but hold on.
My nails rake down his back as he fucks me deeper into the couch.
My body vibrates, every cell activated. I grip tighter as he screws me faster.
His groans and grunts are deep and guttural.
Sounds I’ve never heard him make before.
He keeps going, his forehead still pressed against mine as we breathe each other’s air.
“So fucking tight, River. You feel so fucking good.” He pushes a hand between our bodies, toying with my clit as he growls out. “I want you to come.”
I kiss him quick and fast. “I thought you were going to take care of me later.”
His eyes meet mine, and he gives me a brief smile that makes my heart clench deep in my chest. “That was past me. This is present me, and present me wants you to come all over my cock.”
I cup his cheeks again. “And what does future you want?”
“All of you.” He crushes his lips to mine, and kisses me. The kiss goes on and on as he keeps slamming deeper inside me.
My body’s so close to coming undone, and I squeeze my eyes shut. “Oh, Gage, I’m so close.”
“Good, because I don’t know how much longer I can hold out.” He keeps rocking into me, his dick hitting a spot so deep inside me that makes white-hot heat burn beneath my closed lids. “God, I hope you’re on the pill, because the thought of pulling out of you is crushing me.”
“I’m on the pill,” I rush out as the first wave of my orgasm crashes over me. “Don’t stop,” I shout out.
True to his word, Gage doesn’t stop. He doesn’t let up at all.
And the feel of his hard dick pounding away inside me is like something straight out of a porno.
Not that I’ve ever even seen one, but this is definitely different than the deepfake video of us.
This is more raw. Possessive. Completely feral.
Gage fucks me like he’s never wanted anything more in his life. I keep coming, my body shooting off like the Fourth of July, and it doesn’t stop. I’ve never had an orgasm last this long, but I think it’s the way he hits this certain spot inside me. Like it’s the exact button to all my pleasure.
“I think you’ve hit my G-spot,” I tell him, my orgasm still causing me to shake violently. “Don’t stop,” I tell him, greedy for more.
“Keep coming all over me, River,” he says, rocking himself faster and faster. “I’m so fucking close to making you mine.”
“I’m already yours,” I tell him, because obviously how can I not be? All the thoughts about what this actually means rush into my mind. How he’s a coworker. How I promised myself I’d never trust anyone again.
How it all feels too good to be true. My orgasm dissipates, and Gage keeps screwing me. His orgasm takes hold, and he grips me tight, groaning out my name like a curse and a prayer.
Gage makes me feel things I’ve never felt before. Ever.