“What makes you think they had silencers?” asked Gail.
“There was no actual sound of a gunshot… you know, like a bang or the backfire of a car. All I heard was a kind of a weird spitting sound and pieces of the tree being chipped off by the bullets.”
Gail laughed. “Who knows what silliness kids will get up to. They probably scared themselves more than you. Go easy on the bread and butter, will you?”
“Sure.” Sage rolled her eyes. “Thanks again,” she said, following Gail to the door and securing the night latch before double-checking the door that led to the private terrace.
She sat at the table and enjoyed her meal, devouring every bit of bread and dollop of butter. Heaven.
After she finished, she checked the doors again, then headed into the bath. She turned on the shower before getting out of her robe and taking a critical look at her body. She really did need to lose a few pounds, but hot artisan bread and butter was something not to be missed. Besides, someone had tried to shoot her, regardless of whether they thought she was some kind of varmint. She deserved a little indulgence.
Chapter 2
Sage stepped into the hot, pulsing shower and let the water rush over her. She adjusted the showerhead so it pounded against her tense muscles, forcing them to relax. Turning her back, the hot water did a lot to dispel not only the tension she had been holding in her body, but in her mind. She could feel everything beginning to unwind. By the time she got out, her good mood had been restored, her fears abated, and a feeling of sexiness began to creep over her body like the mist rolling in from the sea.
She walked back into the main suite and set up her laptop. Sage hadn’t really planned on doing any writing while she was here, but she never went anywhere without her computer. She never knew when any new character might speak to her or Roark had a new story to tell her. That was the oddest thing about her work—she wasn’t a plotter who did meticulous research and planned out the entire book. She heard characters in her head, and she simply wrote down the stories they told her. No one understood the strength of Roark’s personality.
Roark had started off as a fairly typical romantic hero, but from the beginning, she’d had trouble keeping him from going dark and just a bit kinky. The sex became more graphic in the second novel, which outsold the first almost two to one. By the fourth novel, he had begun spanking his heroine of the month and incorporating other elements of dominance and submission. Each novel did better than the ones before, so Gail insisted she continued to write them.
Sage had to admit, in the beginning, they had been fun to write, but more and more, she longed to do something else—paranormal, cowboy, romantic comedy, anything other than what she felt had become formulaic—but the money was too good to walk away from.
Flipping her laptop open, she sat in the comfortable office-style chair.
Let’s see… where did I leave Roark… right, he’d just spanked and fucked his latest heroine…
He watched her as she worked. She was really quite lovely. Granted, she was not the size of a fashion model, but he’d never been particularly fond of skinny girls who looked like a teenage boy from the back. No, he wanted a woman with dangerous curves—voluptuous, with large breasts, and a smaller waist that flowed smoothly into generous hips. If she had a nice, lucious ass… all the better. Sage had been a bit on the thin side when they’d begun and always wore those severe suits with boring, serviceable lingerie. Now, she indulged herself, enjoyed life more, and her clothing was more in keeping with that of a successful romance writer. He wondered if people knew her fondness for expensive, utterly feminine lingerie and corsets. He liked it best when she danced around naked in the solarium.
Sage wrote for several hours, and finally, realizing the time, hit save on the story, turned off the light, removed her robe, and climbed into bed. She arranged the pillows so she was comfortable and didn’t draw the covers over her body. He watched as she ran her hands down her body, glad she had worked on a sex scene—they often left her aroused and ready to play.
She moved her hands down to her mons, trailing down to part her labia and bring some of her honeyed moisture from her slit back up to her clit. Sage moaned and her toes curled, her legs relaxing to give her more room to pleasure herself. He wondered if she had any idea how incredibly desirable she was.
She rubbed her swollen nubbin in small circles with her index finger, using her other hand to separate the petals of her sex, isolating her clit, and exposing her pussy. God he loved looking at her pussy. The physical effects of her arousal could be seen—nipples stiff and hard, pussy soft and wet, and skin flushed with desire.
Sage reached into the bedside table. That naughty little minx—she’d packed her favorite vibrator. She stimulated her pleasure nub until it peeked out from under its hood, her breath becoming thready. Setting the toy to a lovely hum, she placed it against her clit and let it work its magic while her other hand went up to play with her nipples—rolling, pinching, and tugging. Her hips undulated as she moaned, enjoying her pleasure.
Moving the hand that had been stimulating her pebbled tips, she brought the vibrator to the entrance of her core and eased it inside. That’s where she got it all wrong… she didn’t need some small, vibrating toy slipping gently into her pussy. No, what she needed was a man’s large, hard cock, throbbing as he steadied and mounted her, driving to
