Chapter 8

Gage slid an arm beneath her knees and rose, cradling her against his chest. He walked to the bed and laid her gently on the mattress, following her down to rest against her body. "Baby, I'll tell you anything you want to know, down to the size of my underwear and my favorite ice cream flavor. But right now, I'd like to have another kind of conversation."

"We could talk while we enjoy our…conversation…"

"What do you have in mind?" he asked, although he was sure neither of them would manage to keep their minds on the topic once they were naked.

She fingered the top button of his shirt. "One question, one piece of clothing."

"Conversation will be mighty short," he said, eyeing her nightgown.

"When we run out of clothes, we can point at what we want touched for the price of an answer."

Gage laughed. "Okay, I like that game." He pushed up and straddled her hips. "For the shirt…why did you become a writer?"

Her smile held a hint of sadness, but at some point, they needed to address her past, so he held her gaze, waiting until she was ready.

"Mike was always leaving on long deployments. We put off having kids, and while I spent my days working as an executive assistant to a colonel on Fort Hood, I spent my evenings dabbling at writing. On his last deployment, I sold my first book."

He gave her a nod and quickly stripped off his shirt. Then he gave her a pointed stare.

She scooted from under him and began to raise the hem of her nightgown. "Why did you become a firefighter?"

"My dad was a firefighter in Nashville. It's all I ever wanted to do."

"Is he still in Nashville?"

He nodded. "He and my mom retired there. I see them once a month. More often when they need help around their place. What about your parents?"

"They live in Little Rock. I still live in Killeen, near the post, although I've got the house on the market. I was thinking of moving to Memphis. That's why I rented Herman's place. Never got a chance, though, to check out the local housing market." She stripped off the pretty gown, her only garment, and rested on her hands as she stared at the waistband of his pants. "How long have you been going to La Forge?"

He shook his head as he loosened his belt and unbuttoned his pants. "After Danny died, my crew was pretty torn up. One of the guys from the other shift—you met him in your kitchen, Billy Sorensen—he invited us all to spend an evening there. Didn't think it would be my thing, but Thursday nights are club night now. I liked playing. Sex without commitment. A way to blow away the cobwebs. And the guys, we've all become closer." He crawled off the bed, toed out of his shoes, and shoved down his pants.

She nodded, her gaze going straight to his cock, which was quickly filling. "You already know I write the kinky stuff, but I think that was only because it was so far from my experience with Mike. Another planet away. I could think about sex and men and not be overwhelmed. But I liked what you and I did," she said with a little smile. "I'm not sure I'd want to join your friends again, but now I can write it a little more authentically."

"I'll let my membership expire," he said, sitting on the edge of the bed beside her. "Only person I want to play with now is you. And I don't need a lot of furniture or gadgets."

She waggled her eyebrows. "You have a nice warm palm. And you said you're into rope work. I'd like to try that sometime."

Gage drew a deep slow breath to calm his heart rate. "Your question. What do you want touched?"

Viviana lay back and glided her hand over her breast, cupping it briefly before she smoothed it downward. Once she reached her mound, she parted her folds. "My clit, Gage. I want you to touch it."

He guessed the talking was over, but they'd made inroads. After they made love, there would be plenty of time for him to tell her they might as well look for a place together. Fuck taking it slow.

Gage stood and left the bed.

"Was it something I said?" she called after him as he walked toward the door where he'd dropped his bag.

He came back to her with a coil of silk rope held in one hand. "I'll touch your clit and do so much more. Do you want to play?"

She came to her knees, her gaze on the rope. Her nipples were pebbling, and her breathing was coming faster. After one more glance at his face, she placed her hands behind her back and lowered her head. "Yes, Sir."

Never once did Viv worry about giving Gage total control over her body or her pleasure. He'd asked her to wear a blindfold, so that, for once, she couldn't take mental notes of everything she saw. He'd said he wanted all her attention focused on what she felt.

As if she could hold a thought in the time it took him to slowly wind the soft ropes around her wrists, up her forearms partway, and fasten them behind her. He guided her onto her belly, lifted her hips, and put pillows underneath her so that she rested with her ass in the air. An awkward position at best.

He placed her knees wide apart, splitting her bottom, and worked a butt plug inside her. He rubbed oil all over her newly shaved folds—after spanking her pussy because she'd done it without his permission.

Her cunt was hot and engorged, and her poor clit throbbed. And he had yet to enter her, not a finger, tongue, or cock. She wasn't sure she liked being tied. Not when it took so long for him to get her ready for play.

She would have told him so, but he'd ordered her not to speak unless he asked for a response.

He settled his large warm palms on her cheeks. "I've never loved another person, Viviana. Didn't think I believed in it. Not until I saw it happen for Coop and Noah."

Viviana kept her breaths quiet and shallow. She didn't want to miss hearing anything he said.

"It wasn't something I was looking for."

A sentiment she fully understood. The last thing she'd expected or deserved was a second chance at love.

"And then there you were. Looking so pretty in your underwear. Your eyes so big behind those glasses. I think that's when it hit me. Although I was a little slow to figure it out."

He began moving his hands, smoothing them over her skin, warming her backside.

"I wanted to have sex with you. I thought fucking you was all I needed. But then I took you to the club and you weren't at all what I expected. I knew what you wrote, but you gave off this innocent vibe. I've never been the jealous type, but the second Anton touched you, I wanted to break his fingers."

She smiled at that.

He lifted one hand, and she held her breath because she knew what was coming. When he smacked her cheek, she felt the sting all the way to her core.

"There's not a thing about you I don't find attractive," he said, giving her a swat on the other side. "I love your soft skin, all your curves. Love those big green eyes when you watch me like you're trying to memorize the moment." He shifted and trailed his mouth over her buttocks. "You make me feel like I'm ten feet tall," he said, his voice growing hoarse. "Like I can slay dragons for you. And, baby, I would."

Her next indrawn breath was jagged. She did see him as her hero, and he'd already slain her loneliness. She'd barely been living these past seven years.

He flickered his tongue against the edges of her inner folds and then stabbed into her entrance.

Yes, yes, yes… She made a sound, half sigh, half moan.

His lips surrounded her clit and drew on it, and she went rigid, her back curving upward the pleasure was so great.

And then he slid fingers inside her, twisting them to rub against sensitive nerves while he licked her clit and her anus, something that still managed to embarrass her after every pleasure they'd shared. When she was gasping, he withdrew his fingers and latched on to her clit again, which was engorged and bared, and it was too much. She began to squirm and murmur, but he didn't let go until she muffled her scream against the bedding.

When he released it, he gave her another wet lick. "I'm already in love with you. Tell me I'm not alone."

There in the darkness, she felt him all around her. He smoothed his hands on her skin, and she felt infused with his power, his presence. Her body trembled as happiness warmed every inch of her, inside and out. And as crazy as it was, this feeling of belonging—to him—wasn't something she could deny, because she needed it to be true. "You're not alone," she whispered.

He loosened the ropes and drew them away. He pulled away the pillows from beneath her and rolled her to her side, pulling her close to his long, sturdy frame. When he pushed up the blindfold, he was right there, his dark gaze boring into hers. "I don't have to hear I love you. Not until you're sure. But there will be no running away from this, hear?"

She couldn't help smiling at his stern voice. "I'm right here, Gage. I'm not going anywhere. However long it takes for us to be sure."

His kiss was hard and satisfying. He crushed her against him, and she liked the fact he could make her breathless, that he forgot his strength. He could be the strong one, the one who knew where they were heading. All she had to do was trust him and hold on tight.

Viv set aside her cell phone and walked out onto the patio of the small villa she and Gage had booked for their honeymoon. The long, curving white sand beach was completely empty. Inviting.

Time to wake Gage up so they could play. They'd rented the bungalow on this little Caribbean island for a week. She didn't want to miss a minute.

Her editor, Mary, had crowed over the latest Instagram photo of Viviana in her wedding dress and Gage in his uniform running through a line of firefighters on their way out of the church.

She said Viv should have enough sexy inspiration to fill a whole series of new firefighter-inspired stories. When she'd told Gage what Mary had said, he'd sleepily gathered her closer, a smile curving his firm mouth.

They'd slept little since arriving the previous night, and after the orgasms he'd given her, she supposed he deserved the rest.

So instead of waking him, she changed into her bathing suit and left the door open as she wandered out onto the sand.

Gage watched Viv leave and slowly rose to sit on the edge of the bed so he could keep an eye on her movements outside. After the phone call to her editor, he'd wondered if the ever-inquisitive woman he'd married would be satisfied with just one manly muse. When he'd voiced his doubt, she'd laughed, the sound like tinkling bells.

That sound still echoed in the room. It was the sound of happiness and was something he was ready to embrace for the rest of his life.

He slid on a pair of swimming trunks and jogged out onto the sand to join her.

Gentle waves lapped around her ankles, and she turned to give him a smile.

He eyed the suit she'd chosen, dark navy and a two-piece, not the bikini he'd tried to interest her in buying because she was still self-conscious about her abundant curves. Something she'd have to get over because if he'd been tracking it right, she was pregnant. After their first few weeks together, he'd asked her to stop taking her pills.

So much had happened, and so quickly, he doubted she even knew. They'd found a house and he'd taken time off to head to Killeen to help her pack up all her belongings. His crew had pitched in to help move them in. They'd slipped into a happy routine, her writing while he worked his long shifts, so that their time together was spent getting to know each other better.

The decision to marry had been mutual.

"No pressure," he'd said one night when he'd held her sweat-slick body against his. "But don't you think it's time to make me an honest man?"

She'd laughed and snuggled closer. "Sure you're ready to be Mr. Moore? You know everyone's going to think I'm writing about our love life."

He'd grinned, because he didn't give a damn if she took the pictures to prove it. She hadn't frozen up when he'd hinted at the M-word.

Coop's wife, Moira, had stepped up to help with wedding plans. Noah's partner, Hoyt, had known a preacher who was in his biker club who hadn't minded shuffling his schedule so they could be married in his church. Everything else had fallen into place. A simple ceremony. All his buddies, their families, her editor there.

The ring sparkling on her finger branded her as his. Gage reached for her hand and brought it to his mouth. "I love you, Viviana Eastwood."

Her green eyes grew dewy even as she gave him a crooked smile. "I love you, Gage Moore ."

He shook his head as he drew her against his body. "Never thought I'd be grateful for a kitchen fire."

She giggled. "You still don't trust me around a stove."

"It's why I insisted on all electric when we bought the house. You don't need a flame to light this fire." She groaned at his corny line, but he didn't care. He wasn't the writer. "Guess you won't be using that line in a book."

"Never," she said, still chuckling. "You leave the writing to me." She reached up and laid her palm against his cheek. "Just be my muse and my lover, husband."

"Can I also be father to our children?" He hadn't meant to blurt it quite like that, but he held still, watching her eyes widen behind her sunglasses.

"Oh fuck," she whispered.

"Yup. That's how it's done."

"Fuck." Her eyebrows shot up. "Seriously?"

"I bought a kit on the way to the airport."

She slapped his shoulder. "And you didn't tell me?"

"I was waiting for the right moment."

"And you thought this was it?"

Still unsure how she felt about the news, he continued to hold her, waiting as her expressions changed—eyebrows lowering, indicating she was doing the math, jaw sagging as she realized he might be right.

Her gaze darted back up to his. "Are you okay with this? It's kind of fast."

"I think that's how we work, sweetheart. We're all in. Right now. Rapid entry's what a firefighter would call it."

Her mouth curved. "I like that." Her glance cut to the water. "Would you mind if we swam later?"

His grin stretched. "The kit's in the bathroom. Waiting on the counter."

As soon as he dropped his arms, she ran. He turned to follow, enjoying the view.

He wouldn't bother to wait until they returned from their honeymoon to call the guys. Family should know. And they were his. He wished Danny was still here. He'd have liked to lean on him for advice. But he knew, deep down, that his buddy was crowing. Laughing at the fact that Gage had fallen so hard and was so damn happy about it.

Smiling, he began walking back to the villa. There'd be celebratory sex. He just knew it.