Luke
“These are incredible, Sage,” I murmured, completely captivated by the intricate beaded designs of her jewelry. “I can’t imagine making something like this with my hands.”
“Why not?” she asked blithely. “You’re really good with your hands.”
As soon as the words were out, I heard her suck in a loud breath. A chuckle rumbled from my chest, watching vivid color stain her cheeks.
“For certain things,” I rasped. “But I’d like to keep those skills just for you.”
She froze. Like a delectable deer in headlights midway to opening the bottle of champagne again to refill her glass.
When we’d finished up downtown with the realtor, I’d insisted that a celebration was in order—one that involved her favorite takeout and some champagne. I’d guessed that neither of us felt like going out to a restaurant after all the running around we’d done today; I was right.
I also—selfishly—wanted her all to myself.
And from her heated stare that kept crashing into mine, I knew she felt the same.
I felt her look in my direction for only a split second before she was able to tell exactly which ones I’d been looking at.
“I got the bigger beads from a glassblower I found in Ogunquit. He thought I was joking when I asked him if he could make me beads like the set of chimes I saw in his shop window.”
My lips curved up into a smile. That sounded like her.
“But he did it.” She sighed, opening the garbage and dumping the containers from dinner inside. “And now, he makes beads for me every month.”
I carefully set down the necklace I’d picked up, layers of intricate tiny beads broken up by the larger glass-blown pieces.
“He’s a smart man… getting into business with you,” I murmured, raking my eyes over her and then letting them glance at the shelf of jewelry. “These are absolutely amazing.”
“Hopefully everyone else thinks so, so I can afford my new store,” she joked, clearing the rest of our Chinese take-out containers and throwing them in the trash.
I folded my arms and gave her a hard stare.
“Kidding!” She lifted her hands in defeat and laughed.
“Good.”
She knew her strengths. She knew her weaknesses. She knew herself. And damn if that wasn’t the sexiest thing about her. That, and those blushes.
Next, my fingers went to a bracelet that had familiar coloring and a very well-known snake crest in the center.
“My Harry Potter pieces are still fan favorites,” she said, coming to stand beside me.
“Maybe you should start a Wizard of Oz collection.” I grinned at her.
Her little groan made my cock harden.
I reached out and trailed my fingers along the necklace she was wearing. The center ornament was glass-blown like the other I’d been admiring and wine-colored like her dress, the smaller beads along the sides were mostly deeper red but broken up with a few teal beads.
I felt goose bumps shadow her skin when I traced the center glass circle where it rested at the tops of her breasts, drawing my gaze down the shadowed valley between them, down to where I could see how her nipples were beaded and tight.
“I don’t know about that. I think I gave the Wicked Witch a bad name.” Her pale throat bobbed.
“And here I thought it was quite a feat to bring Lord Voldemort to his knees,” I rasped, trailing my fingers up her neck to her jawline.
She snagged her lower lip between her teeth, making me ache to kiss her.
“Lord Voldemort? No.” Her hair fluttered against her cheek as she shook her head. “Luke Chambers, on the other hand…” she trailed off with a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Do you think we should head back?” she changed the subject.
I snaked my arm around her waist, hauling her to my front.
The catch of her breath turned my dick to stone. “We’re not going anywhere tonight, beautiful.”
She shivered in my hold and turned her head away like the endearment was too strong to feel directly.
“Sage,” I rasped her name, the urge to know too strong to bury any longer. “Let me see you.”
She laughed weakly and shook her head. “You’re looking right at me.”
“I am looking at you, gorgeous. And I’m asking you to show me the pieces of you that were broken.” I wanted all of her. Every beautiful, bold, and broken piece. Dipping my head, I said with a rough whisper, “I’m asking you to see me… to trust me.”
And as easily as all the other times color had risen to her cheeks, this time, it drained just as quickly.
“It was a long time ago. It doesn’t matter—”
“It matters to me.” My voice was hoarse, never wanting to mean as much to someone as I wanted to mean to her in this moment—enough for her to trust me with the truth. “Tell me what happened with Sean.”
She didn’t protest. Instead her tongue wetted her lips like it was convincing them to give way.
“We started dating in high school. Well, no, let me rewind. His friend started dating Rose, but they would always come over as a group to our house and Sean was with them.” She nodded as she talked like she was gearing up momentum to make it through the confession. “He was a senior. I was a sophomore. He flirted. I fell.” Her voice broke. “He was faking. I was a fool.”
My arms tightened around her, the instinct to protect her so strong my body thought it was capable of saving her even from her memories.
“He never saw me. He saw a lump of insecurities he could take advantage of. And I… I was too awestruck to realize what was happening.”
My jaw clenched.
I knew wars had been started over frivolous things—crimes committed for all kinds of slights. But when I saw that lone tear slide from the delicate rungs of her lashes and escape over the dewy pink of her cheek, I would’ve declared war with Sean on its behalf.
I brought my thumb to the tiny drop and smeared it over her skin.
I didn’t wipe it away, I wiped it in—because I didn’t want her to hide her hurt; I wanted her to know I saw the woman who’d blossomed from whatever had broken her.
“He stripped away little pieces of me that he didn’t like. Not like a hurricane that comes in and destroys everything in its path but like a regular wave slowly eroding away the shore.” She rolled her lips together and clarified, “My haircut. My clothes. My jewelry. And never in an outright mean way, but in a subversive way.” Her head lulled to one side. “‘You should cut your hair like Rose’s, muffin. You shouldn’t wear so many bright colors, it makes you look like a little girl, muffin,’” she mocked his psychological torture.
I pulled my lips tight together, anything to stop them from kissing her.
But god, did I want to kiss her.
I wanted to press my lips to every inch of her and brand the word beautiful to every spot they touched.
She stopped there for several seconds, her silence making the tightness around my chest even more brutal.
“What happened, Sage?” I prompted—pleaded. “What did he do?”
“He went off to college,” she said, her voice taking a hollow tone. “And I believed him when he said he wanted to make it work with me.”
I swore under my breath.
“For over a year, I believed everything he told me. All his excuses. All his promises.” I felt her weight sag against me, searching for strength. “And then I got my license.” She inhaled tremulously. “I got my license, and I drove to his dorm to surprise him one weekend. Turned out, I was the one in for a surprise.”
I felt every muscle in my body tense—like in the middle of a football game when I saw the other team’s lineman heading right toward me, and I was bracing for impact.
“He was with some other girl. Actually, she was the one who opened the door to his room wearing a shirt I’d bought him for Christmas.”
“Motherfucker—Tell me you punched him,” I bit out.
Her eyes popped wide.
“Slapped him?” I asked hopefully. “Maybe kneed him in the nuts?”
It might’ve violated some sort of guy code to suggest a direct blow to the junk, but Sean wasn’t a guy. He was a scum-sucking shithead.
“I wish.” A small smile stole across her face before it was doused in the shadow of the memory again.
“What did he say?”
She tried to pull out of my hold, but I wouldn’t let her.
Giving up, she answered, “He followed me outside—once he put some pants on, of course—and then proceeded to tell me I shouldn’t be upset because I should’ve expected this, for him to have another girlfriend.”
“What?” My brow screwed tight.
“He said I should be happy to be his muffin—his side snack,” she said with a gag, and if I thought that was bad, the look in her eyes gave me a brief warning that what came next was worse. “Sean told me that was the most… a girl like me… could expect from a guy like him.”
Fucker. My nostrils flared wide with each fuming breath.
“It’s a good thing we’re here,” I said roughly, practically vibrating with anger. “Because if we’d gone back, I’d be halfway to killing him right now.”
She moaned and wiped the backs of her hands on her cheeks.
“It just sucks that it still hurts. Not because I care about him or think that I really lost something worth having, but I wish I would’ve seen all the signs… realized sooner…” Her throat bobbed painfully. “I wish I wouldn’t have been so doe-eyed and optimistic that I wouldn’t have given into everything he wanted… given him everything he wanted.”
My chest pulsed out like a bomb exploded inside it. She didn’t need to elaborate; I understood her implication. She’d given Sean everything from her trust to her virginity, and he’d treated her like trash.
“Sage, you can’t blame yourself. You were a teenager, and he was—is a piece of shit,” I told her, sliding my hand up the curve of her back to cup her nape, supporting her head as I tilted it so she couldn’t look away.
“I know.”
I couldn’t stop myself from bending forward and pressing a tender kiss to her cheek. And then another. And another. Until my lips were nestled against her ear.
“You deserve to be adored. And cherished.” I kissed the sensitive spot just behind her ear. “And thoroughly melted.”
She shivered. “Luke—”
“You asked me earlier what I saw when I looked at you.” I moved my head back, capturing her gaze with mine. “I see a woman who was disrespected and betrayed at one of the most transitional times of her life… and instead of caving and breaking—instead of trying to be more like whatever that asshole wanted, you watered the woman you were meant to be—you strengthened the beautiful, kind, independent, creative… and delightfully wicked witch in my arms.”
A laugh bubbled from her throat, and I’d never felt a rush of pride like I did in that moment.
“Only you could turn the word witch into a compliment,” she said quietly, rocking forward into me and gripping my shirt in her hands.
I grinned. “Only you could turn a wicked witch into a wet dream.” Color burst back into her cheeks, and my smile widened with success. “And I can’t get enough of you,” I added hoarsely just before my lips crashed down on hers.
I groaned as her mouth opened eagerly like a pliant peach for my tongue. She always tasted so sweet and tart. Perfectly addictive. And rare. Just like the Pink Ladies that were tough to grow but exquisite when they did.
Every lick made me want more. Every stroke made me hungrier.
She brought out an animal inside me that I’d never known existed—one that would never stop wanting her.
“Luke, please,” she moaned and rocked against me.
“I know, sweetheart, I know.” Sliding my hands to her ass, I filled my grip and lifted, backpedaling until I reached the door to her room, backing through it and then using my foot to kick it shut.
I managed to get her arms out of her sweater before she wrapped them tight around my neck, clinging to me like my kiss brought her life.
My cock throbbed against my pants, aching to be back inside her from the moment I’d woken up this morning.
“So beautiful,” I murmured as I unzipped the back of her dress, repeating the words with every inch of skin I revealed. “Do you know what you do to me?”
I spun us and wedged her against the door, letting her feel how fucking hard I was for her as her softness cradled my cock.
“Make you melt?” she countered tremulously, whimpering softly when I pressed tighter.
“Turn me to fucking stone.” I sank my teeth into her jawline, alternately biting and kissing until I reached the rapid flutter of her pulse at the top of her neck.
With a groan, I pushed off the door and away from her, smiling at the brief confusion in her eyes.
“Take off your dress, Sage,” I instructed, stepping back until my legs hit her bed.
Unzipped, it didn’t take much for her to wriggle out of the material and let it fall to the floor.
I didn’t have to ask before she slid off her tights, too, and rose up wearing a matching burgundy bra and panties.
A hot stream of air hissed between my teeth, losing my mind over her curves.
God, she was so full. Full of life. Full of spark. Full of passion.
And soon, full of me.
Reaching over my head, I pulled off my shirt; it landed on the floor as Sage stepped up to me.
She hooked her fingers into my waistband. “Let me.”
Hell yes.
When the tips of her fingers brushed my cock, my head dropped back and I looked up at the ceiling, praying that I wouldn’t fucking explode just from her innocent touch.
It was so crazy how I felt around her. I’d slept with enough women to easily consider myself sexually experienced, but with Sage, that didn’t matter. She brought my body to a place that no amount of experience could tame or temper.
A rumble bled from my lips when my cock sprung free, bobbing low under its own weighted want.
“I always had a crush on you,” she said as she tried to curl her fingers around my girth.
My balls tightened, her words affecting me almost as much as her touch.
“And now I’m yours.”
“All of you?” she said quietly, a trace of teasing in her voice as she brushed her thumb over my tip, smearing the bead of moisture that collected there.
“Yes.” My chest tightened, feeling her hands work their way around my straining thickness, stroking confidently in spite of her inexperience. “Fuck.” The word rode out on a hiss when she moved one hand to cup the cool weight of my balls while the other did its best to grip my pulsing cock.
“Even this?”
“Especially that,” I grunted and took hold of her wrist, snapping my gaze to hers. Her eyes were hooded and dilated, a sultry siren just waiting for me to make her body sing.
Which is why I had to draw the line before this ended too soon.
Freeing myself from her grasp, I slowly sat down on the edge of her bed, bringing my gaze level with her phenomenal tits.
Gripping her hips, I tugged her between my legs and let my head drop forward, my tongue itching to taste the sweetness of her tits that rose above the edge of her bra.
God.
Her skin was so smooth—smoother than the glass beads I’d held a few minutes earlier. And warmer. Hotter.
“Mine,” I repeated her wording, locking my teeth on the edge of the lace and tugging it down, inch by silken inch, until the peak of her strawberry-pink nipple popped free.
“Yes—” she broke off with the most delectable sigh as my mouth latched over the sweet bud, sucking it deep into my mouth.
My hands slid up her sides to the vault of her ribs, holding her close while I licked and sucked her like a starved fucking man.
But she was too good—too enticing.
I was joking when I made up the term in-Sage-able, but it didn’t feel like a joke now. There was nothing funny about the way I couldn’t stop wanting her. There was nothing funny about the kind of need she created in me—a kind of desire I’d never felt before. And it tore at the edges of every breath and rattled the ends of every heartbeat.
Her hands worked their way to my head, holding me close while I settled into a rhythm of tugging and stroking. Meanwhile, my fingers searched out the clasp of her bra, flicking it open with one twist.
The material sagged, and I let her nipple pop free from my mouth so I could peel her grip from my hair long enough to let the material fall to the floor.
My cock pulsed and then swelled thicker.
The sight of the heavy hanging weights adorned with bright rosy tips was straight out of a fantasy.
“You are magic,” I rasped, my voice sounding heavy and unsettled.
I slid my palm to the center of her stomach, my palm settled in its softness and the tips of my finger pressing in the valley between her breasts.
“Luke…”
Sage lifted her arms, reaching behind her neck to take off her necklace.
Moving my hand higher, I pinned the large glass oval beneath it and murmured, “Leave it on.” I dragged the tips of my fingers along the beads and then back down, filling my hands with the weights of her tits. “I want to fuck you wearing nothing but that.”
Her chest trembled and she let her arms fall.
Finding the edge of her underwear, I worked them off her hips, leaving her standing naked like a full, flushed Venus in front of me.
Feminine fucking perfection.
I held her eyes as I dipped my head to her other breast, teasing her nipple until her soft moans returned. Only then did I carefully slide my fingers along the inside of her leg until I reached the soft, trimmed hair between her legs, the curls slick with want.
I groaned against her skin, stroking over her clit until I felt her knees tremble. Then I pushed one finger inside her clenching muscles, savoring their reluctant spread.
She was so tight and responsive—so hot it made a man lose his mind with just the thought of being back inside her.
Keeping my hand on her hip, I feasted on her tit until her nipple was bright red and continued to tease between her thighs. Adding a second and then a third finger to her sweet cunt until the sound of her slickness added a new melody to her moans.
She swayed and bent over me, her breaths rocky with the precipice of release.
Flicking her nipple one last time, I licked a path to the valley at her sternum and pressed an openmouthed kiss there.
“So wet for me,” I told her, sliding my fingers slowly to her G-spot once more, savoring the shudder that racked her entire body when I pressed. I groaned. “Love how your pussy melts for me, beautiful.”
And not just for my touch. But for every endearment, every dirty word, she grew wetter.
My cock pulsed with another sharp ache, needing to be inside her.
The last of my restraint fizzled. Sliding my fingers from the hot clutch of her body, I reached down for my pants, kissing her stomach as I fished out a condom from the pocket.
Tearing open the foil, my jaw clenched impossibly tight as I rolled it down my length, Sage’s eyes tracking my measured movements the whole time.
My breath released in a hot hiss once I finished, my head snapping up and pinning her gaze as I lay back slowly on the bed until I was propped on my elbows.
“Take what’s yours, Sage,” I instructed her, my eyes flicking down to my cock that lay red and swollen on my stomach.
Her eyebrows popped high, the movement sending a rush through my veins. Innocent but unstoppable.
She didn’t question or overthink. She took charge and began to move over me.
My very own witch exploring a new, very wicked spell.
Tipping forward, she slid one leg and then another onto the bed, her knees burying on either side of my hips.
She rose up like a goddess, flushed and full of need.
I tensed when she reached down to lift my cock, sliding the tip through her slick seam until it notched at her entrance.
My balls tightened as she pulled her lower lip between her teeth and began to sink down, gasping my name as I started to stretch her wet flesh.
“Fuck…” My body jerked, barely holding it together as her tightness threatened to tear me apart.
The smooth, hard pressure of her body fighting to pull me deeper made a sheen of sweat break out over my skin. My hands ran over her body. Up her thighs, along her sides, cupping and releasing her breasts... I was losing my mind.
I was losing much more than my mind.
She moaned as she worked me deeper, taking inch after fat inch of my flesh into her slick pussy. Her muscles tightened, sending a shock wave through my system. My hips jerked higher, shunting me to the hilt and drawing her gasp.
“Move, Sage,” I pleaded hoarsely. “Ride me.”
Her lips formed a small o, but then she followed my command. Rising up tentatively at first, before letting gravity pull her back down my cock with a small gasp.
I groaned, feeling the pleasure it released inside her as her pussy squeezed me.
After that, there was no hesitation. She moved up and down along my cock, quickly learning the ways to tip and rock that not only let me caress every inch of her pussy but that hit every button of pleasure for her in the most exquisite way.
I stared in awe—captivated and imprisoned by the most beautiful sight I knew I’d ever see.
This woman riding my cock, her tits full and red, bouncing with every thrust, her neck adorned with a piece of jewelry that was as exotic and exquisite as she was, and her dark and foggy eyes locked on mine the entire time.
“God, you drive me wild.” My hands dug into her waist, spurring her to move faster.
Her movements grew unsteady. The rock and circle of her hips turned frantic, skin slapping against skin in a rhythm that bred something primal. I reached for her tits, shackling them with my hands as she bounced on my cock. Each slick impact created more tension—more promise of pleasure—until there was nothing left except the need to fulfill that promise.
Her knees slid wider, letting me sink deeper. Her head tipped back, her body arched into me—clamped around me—and I felt my balls tighten with my release.
“More, Sage,” I ordered roughly.
She moved faster, her mouth parting as she got close to her climax.
Gritting my teeth, I slid my fingers to her nipples and slowly squeezed, tighter and tighter, watching as her mouth widened, her inhales catching in sharp bursts, until the pleasure building inside her detonated and she came apart.
Screaming, she jerked against me, her pussy seizing my cock in a violent grip that made me come with a shout. With a low groan, heat surged from my cock, filling the condom with hot jets of cum, savoring my release as I watched the waves of hers tumble over her.
“So fucking beautiful,” I rasped minutes later when I found my voice again.
Reaching up, I tucked her hair behind her ear and then pulled her down onto my chest, holding her there for longer than it took our bodies to come down from the high of pleasure.
From there, I took my time cleaning us up before settling us under the covers in her small bed.
“We should go back,” she said, groggy with pleasure. “Your bed is bigger.”
I chuckled low, finding everything about this woman both sexy and adorable.
“I like cuddling you.”
Her satisfied hum warmed my chest.
“You’re going to have to hold me all night,” she murmured, practically asleep.
I pressed my lips to her forehead and whispered, “What makes you think I ever want to let go?”
I didn’t want to let her go. I wasn’t going to let her go.
This hadn’t just gone from fake to real—what I had with Sage I intended to take from fake to forever.
I waited several seconds, but my only reply was her soft and steady breaths as she slept. Smiling, I let my eyes drift shut, wondering what kind of luck a man had to have to find the woman of my dreams.
But it wasn’t luck—it was magic.
She was magic.
And I… I’d fallen in love with her.