“And yet you’re here.”
She smiles, “Yeah,” pushing hair away from my eyes. “You have to work tomorrow, Crocodile?”
“Yep.”
“Me too.”
“Early?”
“Mmhmm.”
“They’ve got this great invention.”
“What is it?”
“Coffee.”
Lexi grins, “What a miraculous invention.”
I kiss her, murmuring against her wet lips, “Let’s go make some curls.”
Chapter Thirteen
LEXI
“Y ou keep a clean house,” I note as my index finger slides along the back of a brown leather armchair. Suddenly I’m lifted into the air, “Whoa!” cradled in Gage’s arms, carried upstairs as I watch him concentrate. “Why the frown?”
“You think mechanics are messy.”
“What? No, I…”
Mid-staircase I’m set down, both of us standing on higher and lower steps so I’m almost as tall as he is, but not quite. More eye-level though which I don’t know is a good thing considering I can better see from this position how pissed he is. “Why don’t we keep our supposed status-levels outside of my house?”
I blink, and stutter, “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Gage.”
“Yeah you do. And I get it — you come from city royalty. Hell, maybe even country, or world, if we’re counting someone like your cousin…”
As he searches for the name, too aggravated to remember, I finally offer, “Gabriel,” just so he can continue what he needs to say.
“Yeah, Gabriel. I get it, Lexi, you have it in your head that—”
“—You don’t know what I have in my head!”
“I can see it in your eyes!”
I poke his chest. “You just met me on Saturday!”
He frowns, “Doesn’t matter,” and picks me up, his arms around my thighs, face smashed into my stomach until we reach the top. I’ve gotta hold his shoulders to stay balanced, and when he sets me down, that frown is still there. “Look, I’ve been thinking about you all week, and it’s been a rough one.” At my questioning expression, he hurries to explain, “Not rough because I was thinking about you. That actually got me through it. Don’t ask me why because I don’t have a fucking clue.” Cupping my chin, Gage leans in so that all I can see is him. “This is just sex.”
Frowns are contagious. “That’s all I thought it was anyway.”
Even as I say it, it stings.
Why?
It doesn’t look like it stings him. Relief flashes and his left hand clasps my jaw before Gage kisses me with commitment to a night of pleasure without chains.
My mind is reeling and I’m not present at all. There is no Now. There is only what he just said to me in the past.
I’ve been thinking about you all week.
He misunderstood my reaction. I never thought his rough week was because I was on his mind. What was really hitting me was I’d been thinking about him, too, and to hear Gage had been doing the same had a strong impact. Much stronger than I want.
“Wait!” I gasp, breaking free of the kiss. “Wait.”
He searches my eyes, “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know…” I push him back to step away, dragging all ten fingers through my hair as I stare at my confusion. “I just feel weird.”
Concern is in his, “Did you eat something bad?”
I ironically chuckle, “No, it’s not that,” and spin around to see him.
Gage is owning the hallway with his height and broad shoulders hunched a little still from when we were kissing. His hands are spread open to understand me better, solid fingers and wide palms under sinewy forearms probably built from endless hours at his job. He’s wearing black slacks again, but with a white t-shirt this time, no emblem, just smooth, clean cotton stretched over his muscles. It makes his shiny raven-black hair all the more striking over those damn crocodiles. Looking at him makes my heart tremble.
And I don’t like it.
But I love it.
A whisper strains from my lips, “Come here.”
Gage grimaces need and resistance. He lunges for me and I meet him halfway, kissing hard and hungry. We start to tear each other’s clothes off, I claw his back as he bends to unzip my boots. My socks stay on but the jeans disappear with a struggle. He unsnaps my bra as I go for his zipper, and his right hand digs in his pocket for his wallet.
Soon we’re in only socks, right here in the hallway, protection making sure I don’t get pregnant as we fuck each other’s brains out up against the wall, on the long, rectangular area rug, and again against the wall with him behind me this time.
His girth hits my g-spot in seemingly every position, but here with my eyes closed I lose control, crying out. Gage’s climax is instantly brought on by mine. The erratic, primal motions of his hips, make me so happy I start grinning, and finally burst into a fit of giggles.
Pressing his chest into my back, Gage catches his breath, heat warming my neck. “You having fun?” he asks, with a chuckle.
I giggle, “Yes!” and shiver as goosebumps sing across my skin.
He makes sure everything important stays intact as he pulls out with a smiled, “Come with me to clean up.”
“Mmm-kay.”
Taking hold of his free hand, I soundlessly pad to the bathroom with him where Gage makes use of the trash bin, tugs off his socks and strolls naked to turn on the shower, smirking over his broad shoulder. “Bye bye straight hair.”
As I catch him checking out my breasts while I’m bent over to pull my socks off, too, I wink and straighten up to stretch my arms as high as they can reach. “Now they’re flatter.”
“I like them both ways.”
“Smart.”
He laughs, and guides me into the stream with him where I close my eyes and let my hair mat to my head. This is what products are for, so who fucking cares how long it takes to get it where I like it? I’ll never again let something so silly stand in the way of having this much fun.
Just like the other night, we wash ourselves and each other, kissing while taking turns and
