Chapter 14

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

This house really did have everything and that included several bottles of brand-new nail polish. Whoever chose them had good taste and they weren’t cheap brands. After the shit show she called her life right now was over, she was going to demand to meet the owner. To have good taste he either had to be gay or have a very specific woman in mind. One that she would get along great with. Either way, she wanted to meet him or at least the designer of the house.

Dani watched in a dazed silence as Gage used the nail polish remover to get rid of the old polish. She had carelessly done it herself a couple of weeks ago after realizing the first color she chose looked more like fungus than the cute green she was going for. Instead of taking the first color off, she had just applied the second color on top. Not one of her finest moments but she figured no one would see her feet inside her sneakers. And she hadn’t planned to spend time with Gage this soon.

Slight oversight on her part.

“I never understood why you liked doing this so much.”

What man enjoyed painting a woman’s toenails? Obviously the men at a nail salon but none of them looked like Gage. And just how many other women had he done this for?

“Because it always relaxed you and that was something I always wanted to give you.”

Damn, he knew exactly what to say to soothe the green monster that threatened to take over. She would swear he was a mind reader. This wasn’t about him and what he did for just anyone. It was what he wanted to do for her.

As a teenager he had been just as good. She remembered asking him once how he could do such a good job. Because half the time, when she painted her nails, it looked like a kid had colored outside of the lines more than anything. To this day his answer stuck with her.

I’ve got steady hands and that’s all the experience I need.

“How have you not been swept up by now?” The question popped out of her mouth without warning, and she suddenly thought that maybe she didn’t want to know the answer.

Gage’s hand frozen midair and a drop of nail polish dropped onto the towel he had put down to protect the table. Thank heavens for his forethought. The last thing she wanted was to ruin anything in his boss’s house. Plus it would be a shame to ruin something so beautiful.

Without answering, Gage carefully put the brush back into the bottle and tightened the lid. She wanted to tell him to forget she said anything, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t get the words to leave her mouth.

“I think the answer to that is obvious, don’t you?”

Yeah, and that was why she wanted to take it back. It was her fault. Everything was her fault. He couldn’t move on because of what she had done to him. Now would’ve been a great time to say that, but all she managed to do was nod her head.

“I’m sorry,” she squeaked.

“You don’t need to be sorry,” Gage said gently. “You were it for me. My soul mate. My other half. I didn’t bother looking for anyone else because I knew I would never find anyone that I could have anything remotely close to what I had with you. I know it drove you crazy that, at seventeen, I had everything figured out, but it was the truth. I knew from the moment we started dating that I found my forever. Sure, it took a long time and there was some heartbreak along the way, but that never changed. You are the only woman for me. Finding someone else would’ve been a cheap substitute.”

She didn’t know what to say to that; she leaned farther back into the couch while her foot rested on Gage’s lap. He sat on the coffee table and just stared at her.

“I’m sorry . . .” she started. He squeezed her foot, as if to stop her, but she pushed on. “No, let me finish.” She needed to force the words out. “I’m sorry I hurt you. I wish at sixteen I could’ve been as sure as you because it didn’t take me long after graduation to realize you were it for me as well. My forever. My soul mate. I knew it, but didn’t know how to fix it, so instead I went down a path of self-destruction. But you need to know I feel the same way.”

Dani could tell the moment things changed. It was in his eyes. They were always the window to his soul. She didn’t know what was about to happen but she knew something was coming.

Gage set her foot aside and joined her on the couch. She was only left to wonder for another few seconds before he was picking her up so she could straddle his lap. Her hands landed squarely on his muscular chest.

An involuntary squeak fell from her lips. It might’ve had something to do with the new position but more than likely it was the feeling of his thick erection straining his jeans that was the cause.

“I think we’ve had enough time to reacquaint ourselves. Don’t you agree?”

She bounced her head up and down like a bobblehead. Her brain was moments away from short-circuiting. She wanted this more than she cared to admit.

But what did that say about her?

Was she just desperate for sex or was she desperate for the connection with Gage?

It was a no-brainer.

Everything revolved around Gage. Thinking otherwise was merely her overthinking life.

“We can wait longer … if you want?”

Fuck no, that wasn’t what she wanted, and to prove her point she slid her hands down his stomach until she found the hem of his shirt. She attempted to yank it up but hit a snag since his back was against the couch.

“I want this off.”

Gage laughed but he obliged and sat forward just enough that she could rip the shirt up his body and off. She threw it somewhere behind her and forgot all about it the second it left her hands.

“I guess we know your take on the matter.” His hands rested just under her shirt and burned her skin. It had been so long since she felt his touch.

Dani scrambled off his lap, onto the floor in front of him. “I can prove it to you more if you would like.” She didn’t wait for his answer, she went straight for his zipper. The sound of the teeth separating brought a smile to her lips. “Ass up.” He was more than happy to do so, and she pulled both his underwear and jeans down his legs, in one swoop. It was one of the rare times he was letting her be in control, and the power was going to her head. She liked this new side of their relationship.

“I wouldn’t fling them too far away. The condom we’re going to need is in my wallet.”

It was a good thing he spoke up when he did because she was a moment away from throwing them across the room to join his shirt. Instead she reached into the back pocket of his jeans and yanked out his wallet. Tossing it onto the couch just next to him, she flung the piece of denim somewhere behind her.

“Are you enjoying throwing my clothes far away from me?”

She smirked. “More than you know. But I’m enjoying the view in front of me much better.”

Gage sat directly in her line of sight, his pecs on full display. His tattoos glistened with each movement, but it was his cock resting against his lean stomach that had her mouth watering.

“I see a problem with this scenario,” Gage teased.

She quirked her brow and stood up. “Oh yeah? What kind of problem?” She already knew what he was going to say, and she hoped like hell he was about to remedy it.

“I’m the only one naked.”

“Well, we can’t have that.”

“No, we can’t.”

He hooked her around the waist and a peal of laughter filled the room. The lightning speed in which he relieved her of her clothes proved he was just as desperate to have her naked as she was to be bare to him.

“Are you wet for me?”

She was dripping, and had been since she felt his cock between her legs despite the clothes between them. But she wasn’t about to tell him that.

“I think you need to check and find out.”

They fell back into a familiarity born of years together. Sex was never their problem. Being vocal during it was their foreplay. Even as teenagers they had a comfort level that took people years to find.

Gage wasn’t shy. With one hand on her hip to keep her steady, he used the other to do as she asked. When his two fingers slid through her slit, she moaned loud at the first intimate touch she’d had from him in forever.

But when he brought his fingers to his lips and sucked her juices off, she was done for. There would be no slow sensual reconnection.

“You taste just as sweet today as you did back then.”

Yup, she was a goner. Dani climbed back onto his lap. “I need you inside me now.”

There would be time for foreplay later. They could learn each other all over again another time. Right now she would die if she didn’t get his swollen erection inside her damn pussy.

As if he knew exactly how desperate she was, he grabbed the condom out of his wallet and had himself sheathed seconds later. She barely gave him time to roll it all the way down before she was crawling farther up his lap and lining him up.

In one fluid motion, she dropped her pelvis and took him completely inside her.

“Fuck, Dani . . .” Gage dropped his head onto the back of the couch and closed his eyes. She understood how he felt. It was like finally coming home after months of being away.

Except in their case, it wasn’t months. It was years since she felt this right.

Despite how wet she was for him, taking him in one shot stretched her to her limit and caused a twinge of pain. It was quickly replaced with pleasure as soon as she started to move. She wasn’t in control for long though. Gage had a firm grip on her hips and was moving inside her just how he knew she liked it.

“Lean back, baby. Put your hands on my knees.”

She never thought she would hear that endearment again. She’d hoped so long for it. Wished every night to hear it whispered to her again, but she never truly thought it would happen.

Without a second thought she followed his command. She leaned back and let him control her every move. When his thumb zeroed in on her swollen clit, she knew he was close to finishing and wanted to make sure she was with him.

She was. From the second he filled her, she was ready to detonate. Just having him inside her was enough.

“Finish, baby. Come all over my cock for me.”

The words were all she needed. Like the damn Fourth of July, fireworks burst behind her eyelids and her vision went hazy. The last time she had this good of an orgasm was with him, and damn if her body wasn’t milking it for everything it was worth.

Gage moaned her name as he filled the condom. For a split second she wished she could know what it felt like to coat her walls with his seed. But then she remembered why that wasn’t a good idea and thanked heaven for the invention of condoms. This was no time for another accidental pregnancy in their lives.

Her hands slipped off Gage’s knees but he didn’t let her fall backwards. With an arm around her back, he pulled her so she slumped against his chest.

She listened to their combined breathing and savored the moment. Her wish was finally coming true. She was once again reunited with the only man who ever made her heart skip a beat and damn if that didn’t bring a smile to her face.