32. Chapter 32
Chapter 32
Abby
The drive to Gage’s apartment was awkward. Not because I hadn’t fallen into his arms and confessed my undying love for him or even because he ripped my door down to keep his brother from standing too close to me. The awkwardness was caused by the persistent heat radiating from my lower belly, causing my thighs to tremble.
Plus, there was the part where I thought I had a heart condition for the last three months and it turned out to be some mystical bond that existed between us because we were fated to be together. That wasn’t really any less insane than my heart palpitations having feelings.
I wasn’t opposed to the idea of mates as a concept, I was just overwhelmed by it. We weren’t strangers, but we weren’t lovers either. We had one brief and bewildering kiss. Our feelings were invisible, unspoken, and from my perspective, unrequited.
Now I was supposed to rearrange my life to be with him without warning? Because he changed his mind about our differences?
How many more times would he change his mind about something so life altering?
There were two ways to look at it. On the one hand, the universe was delivering me a handsome, confident man who intended to literally bind our souls together and live happily ever after. He wanted to move me into his beautiful waterside apartment and give me everything I’d ever dreamed of.
On the other hand, my neck still ached from the emotional whiplash. Gage was turbulent. His moods didn’t scare me, but they set me on edge. Left me wondering where we stood.
After my divorce I told myself I wouldn’t start another relationship until I built a foundation for myself. I had to know I was okay on my own.
More than that, I had to be careful with my heart the second time around. I needed to be handled with the most tender hands. My next—and final—partner had to be someone who could shelter me through a storm, not someone that made me feel as if I was in one.
I studied his long, stern face in my peripherals. The sight of him literally made my mouth water. I had to shift forward, watching the traffic lights flash in the misty rain.
He was undeniably attractive. But would I feel this way about him without the bond?
That was the problem, wasn’t it? I didn’t know what I liked anymore. I didn’t know who I was. For four years I wasn’t one person, I was half of a whole.
I halted in my thought, considering that. I was half of a whole, but I was still my own person. Or, at least, I should have been. A healthy relationship didn’t consume you, it exaggerated the best parts of you. Made it safe for you to express the worst parts of you without judgment.
My marriage was never like that. Everything I did was to further his dreams. To support him. To hold space for him and his own struggles. What did I do for myself? What did I have in my life that was mine ?
Panic bubbled up like a spring. I covered my eyes, uselessly taking deep breaths. It wasn’t helping.
What did I really, truly want?
I thought I knew the answer.
Family.
Safety.
Contentment.
Except now, my vision of those dreams had shifted. I used to picture my life like an advertisement between Hallmark movies. Mom doing the laundry, Dad bumbling around the garage. I would be cleaning up some mess or another, kids everywhere, but I would be content. Things were simple.
Bland.
Uneventful.
Repetitive.
Then I thought of Thanksgiving with the guys. Loud, messy in a totally different kind of way. There was too much drinking and too much brawling, but the food was good, and the company was better, and I wasn’t just content. I was happy.
I never knew what to expect at Silver Bullet. I never knew what to expect from Gage. Sometimes it was exhausting. Sometimes it was thrilling.
But among all of that, I did feel safe. I did have my feet under me. I was confident in my position, a valuable part of the team. I accomplished something even Gage had failed to do.
He startled me from my tangled thoughts. “You don’t have to come home with me.”
I uncovered my face. “Huh?”
His eyes were dull when he glanced away from the road to meet my gaze. “I’m a pushy asshole, you said so yourself. I can bring you to a hotel if you don’t want to stay with me tonight.”
“I never called you a pushy a-hole.”
“A bully,” he corrected, “because you’re too nice to actually tell me where to shove it.”
“I thought telling you to sleep on my floor like a dog was pretty mean.” My cheeks reddened. “Why did you change your mind?”
Twenty minutes ago, he was rifling through my duffle bag, stuffing anything that even resembled clean clothing and cosmetics into it and zipping it up without consulting me. When I expressed my concern about my new cookware getting stolen, he promised to buy me more.
I put my foot down when it came to the couch, insisting I couldn’t leave it.
“No one is going to steal your couch.”
“But what if they did? I love that couch.”
“I’ll buy you a new one of those too. I need more furniture at the apartment, anyway.” He hefted my bag and started for the doorway.
I stood my ground. “Why would you put my couch in your apartment?”
Gage looked at me like I was slow. “Because you’re going to live there.”
“I’m not moving in with you.”
“Yes, you are.”
“Gage!” I grabbed the straps on the bag and yanked uselessly. Holy hell, he was strong. “I thought we covered this. You can’t just bully me into living with you.”
He opened his mouth, probably to inform me that, yes, he absolutely could, but I cut him off. “I’ll stay with you tonight. We can talk about the rest in the morning.”
Creases formed around his eyes. “I’ll call someone to fix your door on the way. We can have a moving company pick your furniture up after we talk tomorrow.”
And that was that. He basically did shove me into his truck, hurrying away from my apartment before I could change my mind.
The quiet drive must have given him a chance to reconsider his behavior.
“Whatever you’re feeling…it’s because of me. I’m supposed to make you happy. If I’m not doing that, maybe I should leave you alone until you’re ready to talk.”
It cost him to say that. Not only because of his pride but because the bond was becoming like a boa constrictor, squeezing us in a molten grip, forcing us together. The longer I went without touching him, the more uncomfortable I became.
Even if I did stay at a hotel, I wasn’t sure I would survive the night. I needed him.
Gage was tense, hands too tight on the steering wheel, jaw clenching and unclenching every time we had to slow for a red light. He needed me too.
It hit me then that it didn’t really matter what I wanted, did it? I didn’t have a choice. This bond between us was already so strong, so determined. I couldn’t ignore it. I certainly couldn’t go back to work and pretend nothing had changed.
“Just pull over.”
He jerked the truck to the side of the road, slamming it into park and scowling at me. “What’s wrong?”
“Do I have a choice?”
“What?”
“If I don’t want this bond, do I have a choice?”
I already knew the answer, but I was still unsatisfied. There was something missing from this equation, and I was asking the wrong questions. But what were the right ones? I couldn’t think straight while I was trapped in his truck with him.
Gage slammed his eyes shut, roughly rubbing his chest as a growl poured out of him. “You always have a choice.”
“So, is there a way to turn it off?”
“A witch can sever the bond, supposedly, but it’s dangerous.”
I chewed the inside of my cheek. My questions hurt him, and it was distracting me.
“I would have chosen you anyway,” he murmured in response to my silence. Gage was staring at the steering wheel, avoiding my face, but when he felt my eyes land on him, he lifted his to meet mine. “Even without the bond, I would have chosen you.”
“You hated me.”
“I never hated you,” he said. “I hated myself. The problem with hate is that it’s messy. It spills out onto the people around you. You forced me to look at myself for the first time in years, and I didn’t like what I saw. That wasn’t your fault, and I shouldn’t have taken it out on you.”
“Gage—”
“You have a choice, Abby. I’ll deny the bond. I’ll leave you alone. I’ll go back to Alaska if that’s what you want.”
“How can you deny this?” I put my hand over his, where his heart was beating rapidly. “It’s constant.”
“I’ve lived with it for three months. I can live with it as long as you need me to.”
“You’d do that for me?”
He cupped my hand between his. “I would do anything for you.”
I knew what I wanted.
I didn’t want easy. I didn’t want safe. I wanted arrogant, pushy, and mercurial.
I clambered across the center console, honking the horn with my butt as I slammed into his lap. Gage flicked a button on the side of the seat, sliding it as far back from the wheel as it went. My arms flew around his neck, my lips smashing into his.
It wasn’t a fairytale kiss. My teeth bit into his lip, tongue battling for dominance with his. He won the battle easily, gripping the back of my neck and holding me in place as he reminded me how strong he could be. How pushy.
“You have to be honest,” I panted, fisting his shirt. “No more secrets. Even the hard stuff.”
“No more secrets,” he echoed.
“If you lie to me again, I won’t care how dangerous it is to remove a bond. I can’t tolerate liars.”
“I’ll rip it out myself if I ever so much as fib.”
He moved to kiss me again, but I interrupted him, my hand over his mouth. “And you have to be nice.”
“I am nice,” he mumbled beneath my hand.
“No, you’re not.”
Gage took my wrist, kissing along my veins. “Fine. You want nice? I’ll treat you like a fucking queen.”
“Good,” I nodded. “I am a queen and you’re going to worship me.”
He nipped at my pulse point, grinning. “Fuck, that’s hot.”
My mouth found his, sucking at his bottom lip. His hand slipped beneath my shirt, kneading my breasts. We were both wearing jeans and the friction as I ground over the bulge between his legs was perfect. Delicious electricity, hitting in just the right spot.
I was combustible, feverish, beyond desperate. This was something stronger than lust. My legs trembled. Shivers raced up and down my spine. Sweat beaded across my forehead, along my back, between my legs. Hot, so hot.
“Abigail.” The deep vibration of his voice found its way beneath my skin, down my body, and straight to where I needed him most.
I came. Hard, fast, unexpected, moaning against his mouth with the suddenness of it.
Gage froze. “Did you just…?”
I ducked my head, trying to hide from his probing gaze. “Yes,” I whispered.
“From the sound of my voice?”
“Yes.”
“God-fucking-damn, Abigail.” He flew back into action, shoving his hand beneath my shirt and wrenching it up over my stomach.
Instead of softening my need, my orgasm heightened it. My core was painfully empty, and I was halfway to unzipping his jeans to ride him right here in the front seat when he stopped me with an agonized sound.
“Stop,” he begged. “Stop, stop, stop. We can’t do this here.”
“We can. We have to.”
The constant growling in his chest grew in volume and his hand came around my throat. Thick fingers pressed gently into my skin, holding me in place and reminding me of his dominance.
“No, Abigail, you’re going to wait.” He emphasized the command with a slight squeeze. “I’m going to take you home and you’re going to submit to me like a good mate. Then, when you’ve got that sweet pussy on display, I’ll fuck you properly.”
He was right. I liked it when he bossed me around.
Gage lifted me into my seat and buckled my seat belt. “Put your hands in your lap.”
I did as he said, pressing my palms together and sliding them between my thighs. Immediately my hips began to wiggle, searching for even the slightest friction. A whimper built in the back of my throat, and I looked pleadingly at him as he reached for the gear shift. Tomorrow, I would be embarrassed about this.
Right now? I didn’t care if he made me beg on my knees for release. This swelling desire, fueled by the suddenly wide-open bond, was bordering on painful. Could you die from not completing a bond?
I must have asked that last question out loud because Gage was chuckling darkly. “No, Abby, you won’t die.” He palmed the gear shift, checking his mirrors before putting the truck into drive. “Distract yourself. Tell me what you want.”
“You know what I want,” I said pointedly, sliding one hand free from my lap and rubbing the bulge under the zipper of his jeans.
With a firm grip he removed my hand and placed it back in my lap. “I’ve been missing out.”
“That’s your own fault. Think about all the naughty secretary fantasies you could have been fulfilling. I bet you wouldn’t have been complaining about me as a distraction if I was under your desk swallowing your cock.”
“Holy fuck. Do you secretly have a dirty mouth?”
I bit my lower lip and twisted my body in his direction. “Take your clothes off and you’ll find out.”
“At home, dammit! I’d like to spend the night between your legs, not in jail for indecent exposure.” He cleared his throat, forcing his attention back on the road. “What I meant was, what do you want in life?”
“Cock. Preferably yours.”
Gage snarled so fiercely I squeaked, huddling into my seat. He fisted my chin, pulling my face toward him and hissing, “I’m going to punish you for that, Abigail. No cock will ever come within twelve feet of you except mine. If anyone tries, I’ll rip it off. Then I’ll rip their head off. Then I’ll stuff their limp dick in their—”
“Okay, okay. Jeez.” I pushed his hand away and covered my ears. “On second thought, that was a good distraction. Maybe you should describe more murder scenarios.”
“I don’t think you understand just how possessive a male can be over his mate. I’ll kill a guy for looking at you.”
“How will I ever go to work? Are you going to kill all your friends? Your brother too?”
“Probably.”
“That’s going to make work very awkward.”
The truck pulled into the parking garage. I didn’t wait until it stopped moving before unbuckling and flinging my door open. “Hurry up, or I’m going to fuck you in a parking garage and everyone in the building will hear.”
Gage made it around the truck so fast I barely registered his movement. In seconds he had me pinned against a concrete pillar, arms above my head, teeth scraping at my neck. “You don’t seem to understand how this is going to go. You are going to submit to me. Then I am going to fuck you. On all fours, ass in the air, presenting yourself for me like a succulent meal.”
My breasts brushed his chest with every breath. I couldn’t grab him, so I lifted a thigh and wrapped it around his, trying to get any kind of pressure. “You have very specific taste.”
“Shit, I should have explained this part first.” He dropped my hands to my sides, still holding them in place. “My wolf is very dominant. He expects everyone, even his mate, to submit to him. You’re mine to protect and if you don’t submit, you don’t recognize my strength. I can’t complete the bond unless you give yourself to me the way a shifter would.”
I licked my lips. “Doggy style?”
“You have to give me your throat.”
My head tilted on its own. “Like this?”
His growl vibrated my body, and I shivered. “Like that.”
“I’m yours,” I whispered, leaning forward to kiss his jaw. “Now take me.”
This shameless, confident woman wasn’t me. Inside I was a mess, my panties soaked, my mind scrambled so badly I couldn’t even make eye contact because all I wanted to look at was his crotch. I was utterly and completely sex crazed, like a female in heat.
Gage scooped me into his arms, carrying me through the parking garage, occasionally slowing to lick and nip at my neck. I peppered kisses everywhere I could reach, increasing the persistent growl in his chest whenever I got carried away and showed my teeth. If the receptionist at the front desk thought our extreme PDA was unusual, he didn’t make it known.
The elevator ride was endless and too short all at once. The fact that we were in the elevator and not climbing two hundred flights of stairs was a testament to Gage’s fading will power. I wiggled in his arms, riding him through his jeans. He sucked on my earlobe, hands cupping my ass.
My legs were still wrapped around his waist when he reached the door to his apartment. Gage held me up with one hand, pushing my back into the door as he fiddled with the lock. The click as he finally twisted the key was my only warning before I was flying backwards. He propelled us through the living room and into the bedroom so rapidly I was dizzy by the time I hit the bed.
“Clothes off. Now.”
“You too,” I demanded, tearing at my t-shirt.
Shit, I was wearing my worst panties. If I’d known I was going to have frenzied sex with my super hot boss, I would have worn a matching set, or something with lace, at least.
I suddenly forgot my underwear woes as several hundred pounds of delicious man muscle flashed before my eyes. Gage was carved from stone. Or maybe bronze, because he had this amazing tan that didn’t make sense for the climate we lived in. His natural complexion almost had a sheen to it in the low light, contrasting beautifully with his white scars.
I took my time moving from his flexed neck to those broad shoulders, drinking in the lines of his stomach and finally, with a small gasp, leaving my gaze on his cock.
It was too big.
Not that I was complaining but absolutely, without a doubt, it was too big. It wouldn’t fit.
It wouldn’t fit and I desperately needed it to because I was dying. My panties were so drenched the inside of my thighs was slick, and the emptiness inside me hurt.
Gage was watching me expectantly, eyes glowing that lovely, unearthly color. The growl in his chest was like a vibration, making my ears buzz, sending the ping in my chest into hyperdrive.
“Okay, hold on.” I crossed my arms over my chest to hide my breasts. Maybe that was actually my heartbeat this time, and I was freaking out. “So, once we…that’s it? Mates forever?”
“Once I bite you.” Despite the growling, his voice was gentle. He must have sensed my internal freak out. “If you let me fuck you, I’m going to bite you. I won’t be able to control myself.”
“God, it’s really hot in here.” I freed one arm to swipe my hair from my face. “Does it hurt when you bite me?”
“I’ve been told it’s the greatest pleasure you’ll ever experience.”
My core spasmed and I couldn’t choke back my moan. “And what about—what about everything? We didn’t talk about how you like to budget or what your retirement plan is or if you even want kids!”
“Does that matter?”
“Does that matter—of course it matters!”
“I budget by not spending all the money in my account. I don’t have a retirement plan, but I could retire right now and keep living the same lifestyle, so I’m not worried about it. Kids are fine.”
A bead of pre-cum caught in the dim light from the living room, glistening at the end of his cock and making me instinctively lick my lips. Gage smirked, fisting the base, and stroking it in my direction. “You like what you see?”
“Yes,” I groaned, trying, and failing to take my eyes off the sight of him touching himself. “But I’m kind of freaking out here, Gage.”
He released himself with a sigh, scooping his pants off the floor and tugging them back on. I startled when he settled on the bed, trying to scamper away from him. That same hand that only moments ago had been around his cock was clutching my ankle, denying my retreat.
The feel of his rough palm on my skin had me panting and raising my hips off the bed. Gage lifted me into his lap, brushing my hair from my face in a tender gesture that contrasted with the hard steel rod beneath my ass.
“This isn’t how I wanted it to go,” he admitted quietly.
“How did you…want…it…to go?” His fingers were dancing up my legs, slowly spreading my thighs, and it took all my energy to focus on my thoughts and not his touch.
“I wanted to tell you when the timing felt right. To say some nice shit about my feelings. To ask you to be my mate.” His two fingers moved up to the edge of my panties, pulling them aside to rub through the moisture building there. Each movement was methodical, careful, and yet he spoke as if he was doing any menial task. “The longer I waited, the harder it was to tell when the ‘right’ moment was. I almost admitted it on Thanksgiving, and again when you were moving into your apartment.”
“Gage, what are you—Oh, God.” He circled my clit three times, just enough to make my desperation peak, before plunging both fingers inside me. My muscles squeezed around him, and I tried to rock my hips, urging him faster.
He denied me, continuing at that slow, steady pace as he pumped in and out. “The bond has been ruling my thoughts since you walked out on me in the office. It’s controlling my mind, and all it wants is for me to claim you immediately, repeatedly, until neither of us can walk.”
“Sounds good to me.” I was barely coherent at this point, half listening and half dying because he wasn’t moving fast enough.
I reached a hand down, fingers ready to rub my clit and get this show on the road. Gage snapped my hand up with his free one, nipping the side of my palm and growling, “Don’t even think about it. I told you I would punish you, didn’t I?”
“I was only…teasing. Please.”
“I wanted time to explain this to you, Abby, but I’m out of time.” I realized then how tense he was. Every rigid movement revealed explosive energy that would eventually make him combust. “You’re going to submit to me. You’re going to be mine. It’s irreversible and irrevocable. When I’m done with you, you’ll never want to touch another man again. You’ll never think about one. And if one tries to touch you? Dares to think about you? I wasn’t exaggerating earlier. I will kill them. I will destroy anyone that threatens my mate and my bond in any way.
“You asked if mating is like marriage. It’s not. My wolf wants to dominate you, to own you. You will belong to me unquestionably and I will remind you of that constantly.”
“And you’ll belong to me?”
“I already belong to you,” he said, dragging his fingers out of my pussy to finally, finally , circle my clit.
I came again, body quaking, eyes rolling back as I gasped and sobbed. “Yes, fuck, yes, Gage. I want to belong to you. Make me yours. Now. Please, now.”
I was pinned to the bed in seconds, his hand around my throat again. “Submit to me,” he growled.
I stared into the winter blue glow of his eyes for one defiant moment before dropping my gaze to his chest, slanting my head to give him access to my throat. He struck like a cobra, teeth digging into my neck so deep I feared he would draw blood.
“Such a good mate,” he purred, kissing the spot where he’d almost taken my head off. “Now roll over and show me that pussy.”
I obeyed so quickly cool air churned around me. My panties dropped to the side of the bed, and I hiked my knees to my chest, shoving my ass upward. His pants hit the floor, and the anticipation built into a lump in my throat.
He wasn’t going to fit.
He wasn’t going to fit, and I didn’t care if he ripped me in half as long as he was inside—
“Oh. My. God.” I sputtered as the crown of his cock pressed into me.
He didn’t slam to the hilt like I expected, but he wasn’t slow either. Every burning inch pushed into me, and I was momentarily afraid that he was ripping me in half. I was stretched beyond capacity, aching at the fullness where moments ago I’d been empty.
It was too much.
I felt shaky and cold.
Then he fisted a handful of my hair, arching my back further than I knew it could stretch, yanking my head to the side, and clamping his teeth down in that same tender spot. This time he didn’t release me. His teeth had become fangs, and they sank all the way through my skin. Blood dripped into his mouth, spilling out around his lips.
For the third time I was climaxing, my core squeezing him so tight I could feel every vein and ridge of him. A noise rose in my throat like a howl. My legs trembled and gave out. My entire body shivered and rocked. I was astral projecting, temporarily escaping the too intense sensation to watch us from above.
Gage was mounting me, his eyes glowing, fangs buried in my skin. A droplet of blood trickled between my breasts. He pulled my hair harder, bending my back into him. His hips were crushing me as he pumped into me over and over.
It wasn’t a scene of delicate intimacy. It was rough, his urgency bordering on violence. At first it hurt. Burning, aching, and raw. Then it became a different kind of burn, a hungry ache, raw passion. It was true what he’d said about the bite. There was no pleasure like it, no ecstasy that matched the electricity that zinged across every nerve.
I understood now why he needed me to submit to him. Here, in the throes of mating, I was completely at his mercy. There was no escaping a frenzied male, so I had to trust him to protect me, even from himself. From three months of desire that ate him alive.
With an animalistic rumble he sheathed his cock in my core, buried so deeply I could no longer feel where he was separate. We became fused, the heat of our passion shifting us into one being.
Then I noticed the ping in my chest was no longer sporadic. It moved so rapidly it was a pulsating, living force that expanded within me. The warm, fuzzy feeling that came when Gage was near me transformed into a radiant strand of magic, like invisible sinew knitting between us. A wound I hadn’t known I was suffering finally closing.
Gage wrapped one arm around my middle, rearranging my torqued body so my legs straddled his, my back flush with his front. With quiet reverence he studied his bite mark, tracing the sensitive skin with his finger.
“Did I hurt you?” His voice was a husky rasp against my ear.
“Yes,” I answered honestly, “and I loved it.”
“Fuck yes,” he cursed, pulling out of me to flip me onto my back.
Our gazes clashed, his boiling with intensity. I could almost feel what was going on behind those eyes, hear the echo of thrill, relief, lust, and fear. Was I imagining it?
“I can feel you.”
“You’re going to feel me until the sun comes up,” he promised darkly.
“No, Gage.” I propped up onto my elbows, eyes flicking between his chest and mine, where I could visualize that golden rope between us so clearly. “I can feel you.”
He smiled hesitantly, afraid to hope for what he thought wasn’t possible. “You really can?” His tiny smile turned megawatt, blinding me with how brightly wonder shone on his normally stoic face. “I thought you wouldn’t feel the bond.”
“I’ve always felt it, I just didn’t know what it was.” I glared at him, baring my teeth in a mock snarl. “Now I’m going to bite you for keeping me in the dark. C’mere.” I snapped my teeth. “It’s your turn to be punished.”
“No, I don’t think it is.” His eyes flared with wicked intent as he speared into me.
I should have been exhausted after the first time. Or the second, or even the third. That glowing energy between us kept lighting me up, powering me like some magical battery and demanding more. More of him, more of us. Closer, and closer, as if it wanted me to absorb the very essence of him.
Our mating frenzy continued, to the point where I lost track of where I was, of the passage of time, of everything but him. There was a drive for more release, more pleasure, and there was this deeper drive for connection. Every touch was another fine thread in the bond, binding us more tightly, stitching over the torn places where we had once been ripped apart from each other.
I didn’t know how I knew that. It was instinctual, an innate knowledge that came with the completion of the bond. During these moments of initiation, I became open to it all. His lifetime, mine, the lives we lead before this. The lives we would lead after.
It was a circle. Endless, eternal.
And it was euphoric.
I was on my knees with him above me, beneath him with legs wide, riding him, tangled around him in ways that didn’t make sense. The taste of him coated my tongue. The taste of me too, both of us mingled together into this new sensation.
The first hints of dewy light seeped through the window when we finally stilled. Breathless, slick, sore in every imaginable way.
With silent grace Gage lifted me from the bed, carrying me to the shower, and setting me gingerly on my feet. The water was cold relief as it splashed against my back but soon, I was huddling into him, escaping the spray as it warmed.
Gage stepped fully into the water, shielding me from the cold, and with that one small gesture I realized that even if he wasn’t soft spoken and gentle, his love was.
His love was gentle.
Gage didn’t take his eyes off me as he adjusted the temperature, or when he reached for the soap. They remained on my face, watching me while he carefully rubbed bubbles across my skin.
In the cool light of the bathroom, with the initial heat of the bond dimming, I felt shy for the first time. I was a mess, sleep deprived, sweaty, and definitely bruised, and somehow, he was still beautiful—yes, beautiful. There was this unearthly force to his presence, his dominance, the wolfish glow of his blue eyes.
There was also those perfectly carved muscles, firm and defined. I understood why he hated them but even the jagged white lines and pink blotches across his skin added to his appeal. Battle scars for a warrior.
By the way he was looking at me, Gage wasn’t seeing me as any less beautiful. He stroked up my shoulder, tenderly caressing over the fresh bite on my neck, and whispering, “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“Your patience. Your confidence. For seeing me in my worst moments and still trusting me enough to give yourself to me.”
“Don’t thank me for that.” I wrapped my arms around his waist, pressing my cheek to his chest.
“I don’t deserve this,” he said. “I don’t deserve you.”
“You do,” I said. “You deserve to be loved unconditionally.”
Gage switched off the water and took his time drying us both off. I didn’t protest when he carried me back to the bed, tucking me into his side, and tugging the sheet over the both of us. I was too tired to even yawn.
Curling my leg around his hip, I smiled to myself.
I understood now.
He was a hurricane, tumultuous, dangerous, sudden, and sometimes violent, and that was okay because I was the calm in the storm.