Split(114)

I open my mouth to tell him I’m a lot of things, and cold isn’t one of them, but he flips on the shower and tests the water until steam fills the room.

With one hand he reaches behind him and pulls his tee off, then holds his arms out. “C’mere, baby. Let me take care of you.”

I’ve been naked with this body before, but not with this man. I move to him and he swallows me in his embrace. Our bare chests press together and I can feel his heart beating against mine. So intimate, gentle, the opposite of what I’d expect. He rubs my back and then puts his lips to my ear. “Get in.”

“Not yet.” I walk him back to the toilet and sit him on the closed seat.

He quirks a brow and the look is so confident, sexy, and I realize how lucky I am to have this incredibly complex man, so sweet and vulnerable, and also so dangerously beautiful it’s too much to ever hope for and more than I can comprehend.

I kneel at his feet and unlace his boots, pulling them off and tossing them aside along with his socks. When I stand, he pulls me between his open legs. His arms come around me, holding me in place while he covers my bare stomach in tender kisses. Running my fingers through his hair, I watch as he skates his lips over my skin, tasting and breathing me in until I’m squirming with want.

Sensing my restlessness, he stands, cups my jaw, and pulls my mouth to his. “You’re perfect.” His lips lightly brush against mine and I’m awestruck as he treats me with a gentleness I didn’t think he was capable of.

“Perfect for you.”

He tilts my chin up to meet his eyes, now molten with desire. “Perfect for us.” Kicking his sweatpants off, he half leads, half carries me to the shower. I’m barely in when he pushes my chest to the tiled wall. I arch at the sensation of the cold tile against my heated breasts and he holds my hips in place.

“Please, Gage . . .”

“Love you.” He slides his fingers into my hair and twists my head to the side; his mouth on mine he swallows my gasp of surprise.

He grinds against me and his hands shake as if he’s holding back, afraid to lose control. My breath saws in and out of my lungs in anticipation. He must sense it and releases his hold on my hair to turn me around. His mouth moves from my lips to my neck, then down to my breasts, and he sucks each nipple so hard it shoots bolts of sensation across my skin. He explores every inch of me with precision, as his tongue leaves nothing neglected. A powerful grip holds me captive to keep me from bucking uncontrollably in his hold.

He drops to his knees and tosses my leg over his shoulder, opening me to him. He stares in between my legs until insecurity has me wiggling away.

“Stop.” He stills me with a firm grip on my thighs. “You’re gorgeous.” He groans against me as he dips to taste me there. I cry out, my head slamming back against the tile. His sensual assault is relentless as he coaxes my body to bend to his will. His powerful lips play against my sensitive flesh. Sounds I’ve never heard before fall from my lips in a symphony of need and when I can’t take another second, he’s gone.

I blink open my eyes to see him standing before me and I startle at the ferocity of his stare. “I’ll never forgive myself for hurting you.”

My lust-fogged mind struggles to comprehend, but the way his eyes shine with unshed tears tells me all I need to know.

“I know you won’t.” I press a kiss to his mouth. “But I have.” After another kiss, I close my eyes and whisper, “I forgive you, Gage. I forgive you.”

His eyes search mine with confusion etched into his beautiful features and he must find what he’s looking for when he slams his body to mine in a hug that steals my breath. “I don’t deserve you, but I’m going to keep you.”

With my face buried in his neck, he reaches for something in the soap tray, then separates our bodies enough to roll on a condom. He hoists me up, pressing my back against the wall as my legs lock around his hips. I expect him to power into me, but he holds me just out of reach and cups my cheek. “Tell me this is real.”

For a second I wonder if Gage pulled back, but the low set of his brows and firm set of his jaw give away that this isn’t Lucas. “I hope so; if not, then waking up from this dream will be torture.”

He nudges against me and slowly inches inside. His eyes never leave mine and we watch each other in fascination as our bodies come together, to connect physically the way we already have emotionally.

He pins me against the tile in an unrelenting hold. “We’re never letting you go, Shy. This is it. Run, we’ll find you. Hide, we’ll sniff you out.” He thrusts forward in what I’m sure is supposed to be threatening, but it only works to pull my orgasm closer to the surface. “You’ll never be rid of us.”

“I’m not going anywhere.” His threats should scare me, but instead they make me feel safer, more secure, than I’ve ever felt before. Because that’s been my fear all along, my reason for keeping distance from those who mean the most to me, because I’d never survive losing someone I love again.

His face twists in agony and he drops his forehead to my shoulder while pushing and pulling inside me. “Promise me.”

I can’t imagine life without Lucas. Without Gage. All my hopes and dreams paled the day I met them and since then have fizzled into something so much bigger than a job and notoriety. Now all that matters is us. Our love, a life together.