As she drove home, her laptop seemed to be sending up flares: Right here! Evidence that Cassidy is screwing over Gage!
Her game, which was an utter betrayal of him, was on that thing. She wanted to fling it from the car as far as she could, but at the same time, she wanted to wrap her arms around it. That game was her baby. Her ticket to success.
She almost jumped when she pulled into her parking spot. How had she gotten home so quickly?
Her bones creaked with fatigue as she climbed from the car. She made her way to the passenger side door where she collected the brisket sandwich, then stared hard at her laptop bag. And kept staring.
Movement to her left caught her attention, and she glanced up.
Gage.
He must have jogged over after parking his bike. She resisted the urge to slam the door and keep him from seeing her laptop bag.
He arrived at her side and dipped his head, looking inside her car. “Oh, let me get that for you.” He turned to her with a smile.
She stared with wide eyes at the bag now hanging next to his hip, resisting the asinine urge to scream get away from it at the top of her lungs.
“Come on, Freckles.” He grabbed her hand with his free one. “Let’s get you home.”
His voice had descended into a husky range—well, huskier than normal—and goose bumps lit along Cassidy’s skin.
Yes. This was what she needed. A reminder of what they were doing here. A way to get things back on track.
She nodded her head. “Fuck, yes.”
With their hands connected, Cassidy couldn’t race to her apartment like she wished she could. Not without being conspicuous. Nevertheless, both of their steps were quicker than normal.
In no time at all, they were at her apartment. Cassidy’s hand shook as she unlocked the door, whether from anticipation or the sudden flood of nerves from returning to the location she’d been attacked, she didn’t know.
Let’s go with anticipation.
She clicked the lock into place as Gage set her laptop bag on the table by the door and then walked to the fridge, putting the sandwich inside.
She leaned back against the door, and he turned to face her. They stared at each other in silence as Cassidy’s pulse beat a strong, steady rhythm in her every extremity.
Gage flexed his fingers into and out of fists, and she got the impression he was restraining himself. Because he was worried how she’d feel after being attacked last night?
She didn’t want to be thinking about last night at all. She didn’t want to be thinking, period.
She was across the room before she’d realized she’d begun to move. His arms were already open when she arrived, and she walked into them, coming up on tiptoes and wrapping her arms around his neck.
As soon as her skin touched his, everything within her eased. She’d been in her apartment for several minutes, but this was the first moment she felt home.
He gathered her close to his chest, her breasts flattening against his ribs, and he sighed. She felt the muscles across his shoulders loosen as he leaned down and pressed his forehead against hers.
One of his hands smoothed down her back until his palm rounded over her ass. He squeezed her gently, and she closed her eyes, drinking in the sensation of his hands on her body.
“Kiss me, Cassidy.” His breath caressed her lips.
She couldn’t get any taller, so she pulled him down toward her. He exhaled as their lips got closer, and when she pressed hers to his, she drew in his breath as her own, filling her lungs with him.
True to form, a rush of lust overtook Cassidy. But everything about this was different. Rather than devour him, she wanted to savor him. Do all the things she knew drove him slowly crazy until he was groaning her name in a voice bordering on pain as he came inside her.
He seemed to be sharing the same sentiment. He lazily licked her bottom lip then sucked it into his mouth, rolling it between his teeth. At the same time, that palm on her ass kneaded in a slow, steady rhythm.
Her breathing hitched, and she wove her fingers into his hair, raking her nails across his scalp. He moaned, flicking his tongue against hers until she wanted to moan as well. She could taste the lingering bite of hops in his kiss. Too bad she couldn’t blame their beers on why she felt lightheaded.
He moved to nibble at the corner of her mouth, and her head fell back. Keeping one hand on her ass, Gage cradled the back of her head with his other palm. He pressed a trail of kisses along her jaw until he was nuzzling her ear.
He breathed her name, and every hair follicle on her body stood at attention. She tightened her arms to keep them from shaking. The sharp nip of his teeth on her ear sent a jolt through her, and she suddenly had to touch him everywhere or explode.
With him still holding her steady, she traced his chest with her palms, finding the ridged outline of his nipple piercings and giving them a quick flick with her fingertips. The result was a low growl in her ear, which only meant she did it again.
And again.
With a huff of breath, Gage lifted his palm from the curve of her ass and brought it back down with a smack.
She gasped then moaned, leaning up to press the edge of her teeth to his neck. She gave his nipple rings one more tweak, then continued down his abdomen, canting her hips back to allow her hands more room.
He was slowly licking her neck just beneath her ear when she cupped him through his jeans. He hissed in a breath, and in all the places they were pressed together, she felt his muscles bunch.
She stroked him, hard and hot. His dick was pinched in what had to be a painful way in the leg of his pants alongside his rigid thigh.
“Poor thing,” she murmured, tracing the ridge of the head through the denim seam.
“Mmm hmm.” Gage nipped her collarbone. “We should do something about that before loss of blood flow ruins our plans tonight.”
She smiled, her lips brushing against the soft fabric of his T-shirt. She gave him one last squeeze, then pulled away.
His eyes were shiny with lust as he gazed down at her. “Hey, where are you going?”
She reached for his hand. “Come with me.”
He jerked a nod, his breaths still making his chest billow. “Of course.”
There was so much trust in the simple statement, and for a moment, all the progress she had made since stepping into his arms disappeared.
Betraying him. Falling for him. Losing control of everything.
She swallowed hard and locked those thoughts away. She had this. She’d get control back. Figure everything out.
Just need to clear my head, first.
She turned and led him down the hall. As they neared her room, she felt the tension develop in his hand and arm where it brushed hers.
He’d figured out where she was taking him. They’d never had sex in the bedroom. The floor, yeah. The chairs and countertop, yes. Against the wall, door, window? Uh huh.
Never the bedroom.
What are you doing? Taking him to her personal space to fuck him was not going to give her the much-needed distance she required.
But she so badly wanted to see him spread out amid her pillows the way he had been last night when she’d sketched him—
She cut off that line of thought, too. Dangerous.
They walked into her room, and when she turned to face him, she was just in time to see his Adam’s apple bob under a hard swallow. He looked . . . nervous.
Makes two of us. Though why, Cassidy couldn’t tell. It was just a fuck, for Chrissake.
He dropped her hand and cupped her cheek. His thumb stroked her lips, and his gaze roved her face. “God, you’re beautiful.”
She nearly jolted. Beautiful? How many times had she used that word to describe Gage’s looks? She couldn’t count them all. She had several lovers under her belt. She knew she could be desirable. She also knew she was no slouch in the bedroom if the number of repeat requests were anything to go by.
But not one of the men she’d been with had ever called her beautiful. She shook her head. “Gage, don’t—” She cut off. Don’t lie to me? Don’t say things like that to me?
Don’t stop?
His other hand cupped her other cheek, and he stepped toward her. He traced the bridge of her nose with one thumb, the arch of her cheekbone with the other. “These freckles.” He smoothed the tips of his fingers over one of her eyebrows, and her eyes grew heavy lidded. “These eyes,” he said in a rumble.
He stroked her bottom lip again, and her tongue darted out to lick it. He groaned. “Fuck, this mouth.”
They both stilled at his words. They’d done pretty much everything imaginable to each other, but it’d all been as safe as possible. Other than the one time she’d given him oral sex over a condom, the intimacy of putting their mouths on each other was still something they’d avoided. They weren’t monogamous. Never would be. It would be a stupid risk, and neither of them were stupid about bedroom matters.
That didn’t stop her from wishing for it with every fiber of her being. A visual of his rich brown hair brushing the insides of her thighs as he licked her bare skin from opening to clit appeared suddenly in her mind, and she closed her eyes, shaken by how much she wanted that.
A similar image must have passed through Gage’s mind as well, because, with a soft groan, he pressed his thumb between her lips.
She opened her eyes and met his gaze. Deliberately, she closed her lips around his thumb and sucked.
His breath rasped out of him, and his eyes darkened. He tilted his head, and his eyes narrowed. He stepped closer to her, bringing their bodies into flush contact. She could feel his erection pulsing against her belly. Looping her thumbs through his belt loops, she pulled and ground against him, flicking her tongue against his thumb at the same time.
She was playing with fire, and she knew it. What’s more, if the expression on his face was any indication, he knew it, too.
He swore beneath his breath. “Want your mouth on me so badly.” He cupped the back of her head again, his thick fingers weaving through her riotous hair. “Suck it, Freckles.” He pressed his thumb deeper into her mouth. “Suck it hard for me.”
Her stomach panged with a desperate ache. She clutched at his hips and obeyed, drawing him across her tongue and savoring the saltiness of his skin. His other fingers ran along her cheek, and they flexed against her.
As she sucked, his hips began to rock, thrusting that cock she had grown addicted to up and over her belly. Between her legs, she was so swollen and wet she could hardly stand it.
He withdrew his thumb abruptly, her lips popping against it. With harsh breaths, he pressed his pointer and middle fingers against her lips. “Again, beautiful. Do it again.”
Her entire body flushed hot as she opened her lips around his fingers, licking and sucking them.
“Fuck.” His other hand was at her fly, and, uncharacteristically, his fingers fumbled as they tried to open her pants.
Her hands were there beside his in a shot. Her belt clicked loudly amid their frantic breathing. When her pants were undone, his fingers brushed over her stomach, which dipped in response.
“So soft.” He stroked the skin just beneath her belly button, and at the same time, he thrust his fingers against her tongue.
A coil tightened in her belly; she was a hair trigger away from coming already. The fingers against her stomach dipped lower, snagging the elastic of her panties and pulling it away from her body.
He began easing his fingers from her lips, but she wasn’t ready to let them go yet. She wrapped her hand around his wrist and sucked harder.
“Jesus,” he bit out. He fisted her panties. “Let me go, sweet thing. You’ll thank me for it, I promise.”
This time, when he began to ease out of her mouth, she reluctantly let him go. He rewarded her with a quick, heated kiss that lasted just long enough for him to thrust his tongue against hers twice before it ended.
Her lips felt swollen as she licked them, trying to catch every last trace of his taste, so she was distracted as he pulled at her panties again. When she felt the wet, slick fingers she’d licked pressing against her clit, however, she focused in the snap of an instant.
He wrapped the fingers of his other hand around the back of her neck and pulled her forward until their lips nearly brushed. “I may not be able to lick you here.” He circled his wet fingers over her clit. “But you can.”
Oh, fuck. Pleasure pinged from where his fingers pressed. She moaned something that sounded like his name and pressed a desperate kiss to his lips.
He opened his mouth to her as he began stroking her faster, and she didn’t pass up the opportunity to taste him deeper. Their tongues dueled as each pass of his fingers tightened the coil within her, the one that was already at the snapping point.
She pulled from the kiss, gasping. “Gage—”
“Come for me, then.” He pressed against her clit harder.
She squeezed her eyes shut. “Oh, no.” The pleasure mounted until she grew almost afraid of it. Of what it would do to her when it broke.
“I’ve got you,” he murmured, kissing her cheek and kneading the back of her neck. He spread his fingers against her skin, cradling her clit between them and giving the lightest pinch.
It sent her soaring. She cried out as her sex started spasming and light shot behind her closed eyelids.
She distantly heard Gage groan as he pulled her against his chest, tucking her face against his neck. He shoved his hand farther into her panties, and she felt his broad fingertip at her opening.
“Yes,” she panted against his neck. “Inside me.”
He thrust past her tight muscles, seating one finger to the hilt, and her body rejoiced, clamping down and milking that finger for all it was worth.
He fisted her hair and pulled her back, crashing his mouth against hers. Their teeth clacked together, and she bit down hard, earning a grunt as she sank her teeth into his lip. All the while, he thrust that finger in and out of her sex, drawing each wave of pleasure out as far as was possible.
He seemed to instinctually know when the pleasure began to abate, because he eased his finger from her, dragging it over her swollen and still-throbbing clit. She moaned into his mouth. When he pulled his hand from her panties, she clutched at it. “Don’t stop, please,” she whispered against his lips.
They couldn’t be done. She needed more.
He wrapped his arms around her waist, then tossed her to the bed. She landed with a couple of bounces, and before she’d settled, he was spreading out on top of her. He grinned down at her. “Just getting started.”
Before she could respond, Gage gripped the hem of her T-shirt and pulled it over her head. When she opened her eyes again, it was to the vision of the muscles of his torso rippling in the dim light as he took off his own shirt. Light glinted off his piercings. She reached for him, unable to keep her hands off such a tempting sight. Her fingers tripped over every ridge and furrow, and his rapt gaze watched as she touched him everywhere she could reach. When her fingertips headed toward his piercing once again, he caught both her wrists with one hand.
“You’ll get me carried away,” he said in a low rumble.
“That’s the point.”
“Well, then, we’re going to need our pants off first.”
Cassidy cocked an eyebrow. “Valid.” She reached for her already loosened jeans, but he placed his hand over hers.
“I want to do it,” he said gently.
This was new. She raised her eyebrows. Usually, the goal was just to get naked as soon as possible. Interfering hands slowed the process. “Okay,” she said.
Again, Gage looked nervous. He pressed his lips together and reached down for her jeans. When his fingers brushed against her hips, quite innocently, she arched. A small, plaintive noise sounded in her throat.
His gaze shot up to hers. Those brown eyes of his were the darkest she’d ever seen them. “Lift that gorgeous ass for me,” he murmured.
The rasp of his voice traveled all over her body, tightening her already pebbled nipples and causing her recently sated sex to feel achy all over again. Pressing her heels into the bed, she raised her bottom.
His gaze traveled down her torso, stopping for a moment at her up thrust breasts and then continuing down her stomach. He bit his bottom lip. “So pretty.”
There he went again. Saying things no one had said to her before in this situation. It threw her, just as it had moments ago.
As he pulled her pants down her hips, he began to stare at her breasts again. His gaze was so heavy, she felt it as a palpable touch. She lifted her legs one by one to help him get her pants the rest of the way off, and no sooner had she lowered back to the bed but he tossed her jeans to the floor and reached for her bra.
She sucked in a breath as the heat of his fingertips skimmed over the cups covering her breasts. When they trailed around the side, she automatically arched again.
He flicked a glance up at her face for just a moment. “Good girl.” Then he was focusing on her breasts once more, reaching around to her back and releasing the clasp between her shoulder blades with one flick of his fingers.
It took her much longer than that to put the damn thing on herself every day.
He pressed his hand flat between her breasts and, without a word, told her to lower herself back to the bed.
His breathing sped as he hooked his fingers in the straps looping her shoulders and began to pull them down her arms. Her gaze dipped to the front of his pants where his cock’s throbbing was evident even from this distance.
For the first time since he’d uttered beautiful, she began to believe he meant it. He’d seen her breasts—hell, her whole body—countless times. Yet, here he was, this incredibly experienced man, unveiling her breasts as though he were unwrapping the most coveted gift he’d ever received.
It humbled her.
It turned her way the fuck on.
The cool air in the room hit her nipples, and he cast her bra aside. With a groan, he cupped her breast in one rough palm, stroking his thumb over the peak. The rasp of his tough skin over her sensitive tip made her arch again.
“I never get tired of these,” he muttered. He leaned down over her other breast, and his hot breath washed over her nipple seconds before his lips made contact.
Another helpless sound escaped her as he opened his lips, laving his hot tongue over the sensitive peak. With his hand covering her other breast, he pinched her nipple in a wicked tweak. She gasped, then writhed beneath him.
“That’s my girl,” he breathed, his breath raising goose bumps as it coasted along slick, wet skin.
Through a haze of lust, she heard his words, and her mind latched onto them.
My girl.
That ache in her belly, which was already nearing unbearable, surged. She . . . dear God, she wanted that. To be Gage’s girl.
Of all the stupid, asinine things to want.
Get these thoughts out of your head!
As he moved his lips to her other breast, covering the nipple he’d just been sucking with his free palm, she bowed up to him, wrapping her arms around his wide shoulders. She clutched him. “Inside me, Gage,” she begged softly. “Please.”
His groan reverberated against her nipple, and her knees tightened, pressing into his hips.
With one hand planted on the mattress, he braced himself over her, and her gaze quickly flew to the way his arms flexed beneath the burden of his weight.
She trailed her fingertips over each of his bulging muscles as his other hand disappeared between their bodies. The click of his belt filled the air, and relief filled her.
Yes. Fuck me. Make me forget everything.
The metallic clacking lasted longer than normal. The muscles of the arm she was stroking began to tremble.
“Fuck,” he breathed. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.” He pressed a kiss to her sternum and looked up at her. His face was a mask of confusion. “I can’t get my belt open.”
For some reason, the simple admission made her chest hurt. “Let me?”
He pressed his lips together and gave a short nod.
She lightly raked her blunt nails down the ridges of his abdomen, and his breath left him in a shaky wave. She found his fingers against his buckle and brushed them aside, making quick and easy work of loosening his belt and giving his pants and boxer briefs a shove over his hips.
She looked up at him again, noticing his attention focused intently on her lips. “Better?”
He nodded absently, that heated gaze never wandering away from her mouth and making her even needier for his body inside hers.
She shoved the pants as far as she could, and when her arms could no longer reach them, she resorted to her feet.
He gave her a soft smile. “Impatient?”
She quirked a brow. “Aren’t I always?”
“Yes,” he breathed, as though that quality were her best. Before she could get caught in that, he slowly lowered his body to hers.
Their bellies met first, then their chests. Her small breasts flattened beneath his weight, and the pressure was exquisite. He kicked his jeans the rest of the way off, and they hit the floor somewhere with a jangle of pocket change.
The scalding tip of his erection pressed into her inner thigh. Was it possible to perish from horniness?
She wanted him to slide up her body and press himself inside her, skin to skin.
Skin to skin?
She’d never—never—had unprotected sex. And she wasn’t about to start now. What the fuck is happening to me?
“Gage,” she began, her voice uneasy. “Please.”
He leaned down and pressed his face to her neck, shaking it slowly back and forth. “Let me hold you for just a little bit first. Please, Cassidy?”
Something began happening in her throat. A tightness that did not bode well. She wanted to scream no with all her might, and she opened her lips to draw the boundary right away.
Instead of an emphatic no, however, a soft sigh escaped—a sigh he seemed to take as a yes.
He wrapped his arms around her, going so far as to tunnel them beneath her shoulder blades and the small of her back. The prodding of his cock against her inner thigh was still insistent, but he seemed in no hurry to move to the next stage. He exhaled slowly, and every muscle in his body relaxed against hers.
“God, the way your body cradles mine.” He groaned as he seemed to sink into her. “I love it so hard.”
Oh, shit. Oh, shit. Oh, shit.
Her hands against his back gentled. This . . . meant something to him. She could hear it in his voice. In the way he touched her. The things he said to her.
Worse, it meant something to her, too. And knowing that they had both crossed a line from fucking without care to something else—both mysterious and inherently dangerous—made her crazed for him in a way she never had been before.
She was ready to beg him to be inside her again. She needed him. Yet he nuzzled her collarbone with his cheek, the soft rasp of his day’s-growth beard gentling her.
They released a long, drawn-out breath in unison, and just like that, there was no place else on earth Cassidy would rather be than beneath this man in bed. And there was nothing else she’d rather do than hold him and be held in return.
Was this what normal people felt with someone they shared their bodies with? It was heady. Life changing.
She raised her knees on either side of his hips, settling in for the long haul. He hummed contentedly as his lower body sank between her spread thighs, fitting them together like puzzle pieces. She began languidly stroking his back with long, smoothing motions.
After a couple of minutes, he seemed to determine she wasn’t going to make him move. The arms tightly wound around her back loosened. One hand made its way up and over her shoulder, and his fingers curled in her hair. He nuzzled her with his cheek again and then began watching his hands as he wound one red curl around a finger, tugging gently. His other hand found the curve of her ass, where he squeezed, but not in the harried, passionate way he usually squeezed her ass. This was more of a you’re-here-with-me-and-I-like-that squeeze.
They lay intertwined for countless minutes, and time became abstract. When after what could have been five minutes or fifty he turned his face and pressed a soft kiss to the edge of her jaw, the desire that had faded to pure affection came roaring back.
With the shift in his muscled back beneath her hands, she could feel that it had for him, too. He sifted her hair through his fingers one last time, gave her bottom one more squeeze, then pressed his hands into the mattress and raised himself enough to look down at her but not enough to separate their bodies.
“Condom handy?” he asked, his voice rough. “I have one in my wallet, but . . . ” He seemed to turn sheepish. “I don’t really want to move that far.”
She didn’t want him to move either, and as it happened, he didn’t need to. She nodded toward her nightstand. “Top drawer.”
He had no trouble reaching them with his long arms and height, but the small bit of stretching he did pressed his body into hers in new, delicious ways. She scraped her nails along the dips at the sides of his ass, savoring every flex of muscle.
He tore one foil packet with his teeth, and, with a groan that sounded like regret, pulled away from her enough to roll their protection down his length.
He met her gaze as he began stroking up the inside of her thigh. When his fingers arrived at her sex, her eyes widened at the same time his did.
“So fucking wet,” he rasped.
She could feel him slipping through her arousal. She was wetter than she’d ever been with him, which, by default, meant she was wetter than she’d ever been. “Gage,” she whimpered.
“I know.” He swallowed hard. “Me, too.” He spread her wetness up and over her clitoris, and when he delved farther and eased one fingertip inside her sex, they both groaned. “Swollen and hot. So ready for me.”
All at once he couldn’t wait any more; he withdrew his finger and gripped his cock instead. But even now, with sexual tension running through them both in palpable currents, he took the time to draw the head of his cock up and down her slit.
On the second pass, Cassidy felt she would come apart at the seams. Planting her heels into the mattress, she canted her hips, and the next time he tried to caress her with his erection, she pressed up, taking the tip inside her.
A harsh groan broke from his lips, and his eyelids eased shut as he pressed his hips forward. The slow glide in wrecked her. In moments, he was seated to the hilt, but it had felt so much longer than moments. So much more poignant than a mere passage of time.
He lowered himself until they were chest to chest once more. “Am I too, heavy?”
She shook her head, her arms moving around his back to keep him there if he decided to take this delicious weight from her.
Bracing himself on his elbows, he cupped her cheeks with both hands. His eyes softened, and his lips curled the slightest bit at the corners. He stroked her cheeks with his thumbs, his fingertips playing with the tiny curls along her hairline.
“Hi,” he murmured.
“Hi,” she replied.
Slowly, he leaned down and covered her lips with his. As he deepened his kiss with light flicks of his tongue, he pulled back his hips, withdrawing to the tip. Then, in another slow, languid thrust, he returned home.
Her eyes nearly rolled back in her head. He was so gentle. Touched her so softly. She’d never experienced anything like it before. Never knew soft and gentle could be so good.
The next time he withdrew, she moved her hips as well so that when he thrust into her once more, they met each other halfway.
He moaned into their kiss, thrusting his tongue deeper into her mouth. She sucked on it as she wished she could suck on his cock, and, for the first time since getting in bed together, his touch grew a fraction rough. His fingers tightened in her hair, and the pressure of his lips increased. But he kept that same, slow pace, even as his breathing accelerated exponentially.
On his next thrust, his back arched, and his lips pulled from hers. “Cassidy,” he groaned before returning to kiss her cheek, her jaw, her neck. “Feel so good,” he breathed at her ear.
As he buried his face in her hair, she blinked up at the ceiling. God, she felt . . . cherished. And, fuck, was it working for her. Though his movements were unhurried, her pleasure was reaching its end quicker than ever.
“Gage,” she managed to bite out just before a moan tore from her throat. She threw her head back as her orgasm seized her from seemingly out of nowhere.
He lifted his head, and she could feel the weight of his gaze on her face. “Oh, God. Cassidy.” He hitched in a breath. “Squeezing me so tight—I can’t . . . ” She opened her eyes just in time to see him grimace. “Fuck.”
His face relaxed into a look of utter joy. “Fuck,” he groaned. Deep within her spasming sex, his cock kicked and warmth flooded her. The sight and sensation of him losing control sent her own pleasure rocketing to new heights, and she bit down on his chest as a cry that would bring the neighbors to her door tried to tear out of her mouth.
He cupped the back of her head, pressing her face to his chest and helping her muffle her uncontrollable reaction. As the pleasure poured through her, she clutched at him wherever she could reach: his shoulders, his back, his arms.
He shuddered atop her as his own orgasm began to abate, and with one last groan, he collapsed.
His weight pressed her down into the mattress and she could barely gulp the gasping breaths her lungs demanded, and yet, when he attempted to slide off of her, she dug her nails into his shoulders.
“Cassidy, I’m going to smother you,” he murmured in only partially intelligible speech.
“Don’t care,” she whispered, pressing another kiss to his shoulder and spying a red mark she must have left there at some point with her teeth.
Her strength was no match for his, however, and when he pushed up on straightened arms, her own hold fell away. He rolled to the spot beside her, but before she could examine the overwhelming sense of loss she felt, he reached for her. Gathering her close, he tucked her into his chest, then palmed the back of her thigh and drew her leg between his only to run his fingers back up to the curve of her ass, where he stroked her softly.
They lay tangled together, catching their breath.
But she knew she had no hope of catching her heart. She’d been losing it for weeks now, and had lost it fully as they’d made love tonight.
It was gone; she was a goner.
And she still, despite all efforts to displace it from thought, felt the thrum of her game emanating from her laptop.
“So amazing,” Gage muttered, sounding half asleep. His hand stilled in the midst of stroking her bottom, and seconds later, a deep, heavy breath resounded from his chest.
She pulled back slightly and stared up at him. His eyes were closed, his lush eyelashes resting against his rugged cheeks. He breathed heavily again, and his lips parted.
As she watched him for several moments, she felt herself falling even deeper.
I can’t do this to him. I won’t do this to him. To us.
For the first time in her life, she understood why people made sacrifices for others. Her goals seemed petty when weighed against the price her game would exact on her relationship with Gage.
It was clear: the game had to go.
Easing back from him, she kept a wary watch on his face for the slightest indication that he was waking. But he was heavily asleep and didn’t stir once, not even when his hand fell from her bottom to land with a thud against the mattress.
She tiptoed out into the hall, silently cursing the fact that she already felt cold without Gage wrapped around her.
She stared at her computer bag for a long second where it was propped up by the door, swallowing hard before scooping it up in her arms and carrying it to the kitchen counter. Releasing a breath, she slid her laptop from the case, a slew of papers and notepads sliding out with it to scatter across the countertop. For the moment, she left those notepads where they fell. She needed to do this right away or she’d lose her nerve.
When she opened the laptop, it chimed loudly in the silent apartment, and she cringed, darting a glance over her shoulder and holding her breath for several seconds to see if Gage would wake.
He didn’t. She turned back to the laptop. Already pulled up to the screen was the full plot summary of her game. The one she intended to turn into Mr. Callahan tomorrow at the all-staff meeting, during which she and Chris would pitch both games in contention for “the one.”
As she blinked at the pages she’d poured her heart out on, maneuvering the cursor to Select All was simpler than beating the first world in Super Mario Brothers 3. A simple double tap on the mouse pad set her up for a surprisingly easy decision.
Without another second’s thought, she clicked delete. The screen flickered, and she squeezed her eyes shut so she wouldn’t see it disappear.
With her eyes still tightly closed, she waited for the remorse. The panic.
It never came.
Releasing a pent-up breath, she turned from her laptop, opened her eyes, and smiled.
It’s going to be okay now. She’d figure something out. A better game. One that didn’t hurt or use anyone else in the same way she abhorred women being hurt and used in the majority of games the industry released.
You can’t resolve a wrong by committing the same one.
That truth echoed through her mind from a point of origin she couldn’t locate, but it packed a wallop.
She stumbled forward a couple of steps. Oh, God. She couldn’t believe she’d nearly submitted a game that was so hypocritical of everything she stood for.
She owed Gage. For so much.
“Cassidy?”
She stiffened as his sleepy voice traveled down the hall. But she didn’t have anything to be ashamed of anymore. Her lips curled as she padded toward him. When she stepped into her bedroom, Gage was sprawled in all his naked glory in the center of her bed, and her heart thumped extra hard at the sight. “Yeah?” she asked, her voice husky.
“Where’d you go?” he murmured, his eyes still closed as he rubbed an open palm between his pecs.
Does his heart beat harder, too? The thought made her toes curl. “Couldn’t sleep,” she whispered back.
He opened his arms to her, a gentle smile curving his lips. “Come back to bed, Gamer Girl.”
She tingled all over as her skin slid against his and he covered them with the sheet, tucking their bodies together just as they had been before she’d left the bed.
“Much better.” His words ruffled her hair, and his possessive hold on her ass caused goose bumps to spread all over her body.
“Definitely.”
In seconds, his breathing had evened out again. Shockingly, Cassidy felt her own eyelids drooping, and soon, deep sleep—like the kind she hadn’t had in weeks—overtook her.