Eleven

Stepping into his arms felt like coming home.

For a woman who’d never lived in the same place for more than eleven months until after she’d turned eighteen, that sense of homecoming was all the more potent to Elena. She tried not to think about that, not trusting the emotions as Gage’s hands wrapped around her hips.

Instead, she lost herself in the warmth of his lips as he brushed a kiss along her ribs. In the huff of his breath along the scalloped lace of her bra. She began unbuttoning his white dress shirt, slipping open one fastening after the next while he skimmed touches up her sides. In the end, he had to help her with his cuff links, but she wrestled the shirt free, baring all that golden muscle to her hungry gaze. Standing, he spun her in his arms so her back was to him before he pulled the pins from her hair, letting the waves fall down her back briefly before he swept it to one side and kissed her neck.

For a moment, their reflection in a wall mirror captivated her. The sight of Gage wrapped around her, his muscles shifting as he caressed her, seemed pulled straight from her fantasies.

She traced a finger through the maze of tattoos on his arms where they banded around her waist, desire heating her from the inside out. His tongue darted beneath her ear, igniting a fresh wave of tingling sensations down her spine.

“Take me,” she demanded, reaching up to comb her fingers through his hair. “Please.”

She twisted around to face him again, cradling his face and drawing him close to kiss her. He tasted her lips with the skillful finesse of someone who knew his way around her body better than anyone. Better than she did. He wrapped one hand around the length of her hair, tilting her this way and that to give him the best access to her mouth. Her body quivered with pleasure and they weren’t even naked.

He lifted her against him with one arm, hauling her close. She helped him by wrapping her legs around his waist and locking her ankles there. With his hands anchored under her thighs, he carried her easily to the bedroom, each stride a delectable torment that brought the hard length of him more fully against her sensitized flesh.

When he set her in the center of the puffy duvet, she unclasped her bra and tossed it aside while he unfastened his belt. His pants. Anticipation coiled inside her until one long, hot look from Gage threatened to send pleasure boiling over.

He hooked a finger in the silk of her thong and drew the fabric slowly down her legs. When they were naked at last, he was about to roll a condom into place when she nudged his hand aside to take over the task. He shuddered with her touch before he stretched out above her.