by Joya Ryan
Her eyes met his. “I do. Very much.”
Gage had never expected tonight to go as well as it did. Dinner was wonderful, but Chloe was even better. She was trying, which meant she clearly cared about him—that alone was enough to make him hold on to the hope they could actually make this work.
They walked down the street, the lights of the nearby shops twinkling. She slipped her free hand into his, and it felt good. Better than good. It felt right. As though strolling down the street after a nice night of talking and laughing was so normal, he could feel it in his bones.
And he wanted more. Wanted to know her more. Wanted her to finish all the things she’d ever stopped herself from telling him. Wanted to hear her mind when she spoke and watch her eyes when she laughed. He just wanted…more.
“Ever think about adding ice cream to the menu at your restaurant?” he asked.
She smiled and took another lick of her cone. “Are you kidding? I could never beat the creamery.” She moaned around another long lick of the ice cream, and the sight of her tongue made Gage’s cock take notice. But he stuck to his mission. Getting to spend time with her outside of bed. If this worked, it would be all the more satisfying when they fully gave in to their desire.
“Besides,” she finished, “Natalie would kill me if I had a direct dessert competition.”
He nodded. Time to push just a little bit. “So it’s safe to say that the dish you’re trying to make for the anniversary isn’t a sweet one?”
Her stride slowed and she glanced at the ground. Gage knew that look. Like if she could turn her vanilla cone into chocolate right now, she just might. But when she looked at him, there was a different light sparkling behind her eyes. Like she…trusted him. At least wanted to see if she could.
“I’m trying to make crab cakes. My mother’s epic, amazing, can’t-be-replicated-ever crab cakes.”
“I see,” he said. And he wanted to help. Because of all the times he’d seen Chloe, he’d never seen something be so important to her. “There are only so many ingredients in crab cakes. Did your mom get creative and use a difficult recipe?”
“No,” she said calmly. “That’s just it. It’s not putting them together that’s hard, it’s how she cooked them. The ingredients I can handle, well…for the most part. But no matter what I do, I can’t cook them right. It’s really annoying.”
She huffed and took another lick of her cone. But she kept holding his hand. Kept talking to him. And damn, Gage wanted to keep that rhythm going. She was opening up. Trusting him with more.
“I always end up burning them. Even when I turn the stove down.” She shook her head. “I swear the stove just hates me. It’s secretly a robot out to destroy anything I bring near it.”
“That’s a valid hypothesis,” he said.
She laughed and nudged him. “Yeah, evil robot stove is way more plausible than me not being able to boil water.”
“Surely you can boil water…” he said with a wink. “Just don’t go too crazy and put an egg in it or anything.”
“Oh God no!” she teased. “My luck, the damn egg would turn into a chicken, flip me off, and fly out of the pot.”
“Now you sound magical.”
“Not in the kitchen, I’m afraid. Which is hard, because my mom was so good in there. Like second nature. I can still remember how it smelled with her in it. Like she could create anything. There was always this smell of…love.” She didn’t make a sound, but her grip on his hand tightened, and Gage waited a breath and silently begged for her to continue. Finally, she said, “Sounds stupid, doesn’t it? The smell of love.”
“Not at all,” Gage said. “It’s how you know her. How you remember her. It’s comforting.”
She stared at him. “It really is. The clicking sound right before the burner lights or the soft sway of a kettle before it whistles are like triggers. For a second, I can almost see her. Forget that she’s gone. And it’s in that tiny moment, I have her back.”
Gage squeezed her hand. “It’s like she’s still with you.”
The corner of her mouth trembled. Just barely, but he couldn’t miss it.
“But those moments are getting shorter and shorter and fewer and further between.”
“You miss her,” he said.
“Yes. So much. Even when she was alive I missed her.”
That made him frown. “What do you mean?”
She shook off that last question, and with one last lick of her cone, she dropped the rest into the trash can as they approached her restaurant. Gage did the same thing and walked her toward the entrance of her place.
Their talking time was over. He could sense it. He wanted to know more. Wanted her to dive deeper, but he would take what he could get. Besides, she’d already given him quite a bit tonight. He was grateful for that small step.
“Well, this is me,” she said as they rounded the restaurant to her door around the back of the building.
“Nice place,” he said, falling into the role of her new date. A role he was liking. “I hear this is a pretty special restaurant.”
“It is…” She glanced away, as if mulling something over. Then she turned back to him and said, “The twentieth anniversary of this restaurant is happening next weekend. You should come. If you want.”
Holy hell, Chloe was inviting him to the anniversary event? That was an invitation not just to a date. That was an invitation into her world.
Hope spread from his chest to every other part of him. He’d brought her into the great outdoors and she’d passed with flying colors—not that he’d been grading her. But she was an A+ no matter what. Now maybe their worlds could merge—or at least, maybe they could step in and out of each other’s worlds with minimal issues.
“I’ll be there,” he promised.
She smiled and swayed, playing coy, and his body went on alert.
“I sure had a lovely time, Mr. McGraw.” She batted those long lashes, playing the cute and not-so-subtle role.
Now he would play, too.
“I had a mighty fine time myself, ma’am.” It went against his New York accent to drop his vowels and coat his words with the North Carolina twang, but it made Chloe smile.
“Would you like to come up for a cup of coffee?” she asked sweetly and leaned in. “And by coffee, I mean sex.”
He grinned. “Absolutely.”
She rushed up the stairs. Gage didn’t get two feet into her apartment before she slammed the front door and plastered him against it.
Nothing ever felt as good as Chloe wanting him.
“Anxious?” he said between bites at her lips and deep tongue thrusts into her mouth.
She drove her hands into his hair and tugged him closer. “You have no idea.”
“Oh, I think I do.” He scooped her up, and her legs locked around his waist as he carried her to the couch. With her wrapped around him, he sat and let her straddle him. She wasted no time tugging on his shirt, freeing the buttons, and trailing her hot mouth down his chest.
“Jesus, you feel amazing.” He reached up beneath her dress, grabbed her ass, and groaned. “No panties?”
“They get in the way.”
“All damn night you were walking around without panties on?” he growled.
“Yep.” She rocked against his jean-clad cock. “Now what are you going to do about it?”
And wasn’t that the question of their entire relationship? He ground her against him, and her breath hitched against his chest. She bit down on his pec and reached between them to unfasten his belt.
“Now,” she said. “I can’t wait anymore.”
“Whatever you want.” She’d fulfilled his request for romance and the date, now he’d more than meet every desire she had. Time to remind her exactly what he was good at—pleasuring her.
He unzipped the back of her dress as she unzipped his jeans. The material covering her plump breasts fell down her flat stomach and pooled at her waist. With one arm wrapped around her lower back, he palmed
the perfect handful of her breast and sucked hard.
“Yes, please, more,” she cried to the ceiling. He gently bit the tip of her nipple and pulled her closer until her wet heat pressed against the throbbing crown of his shaft. He scooted enough to peel his jeans down his thighs, finally baring his entire length.
So close. They’d been skin on skin a few times now this visit, the chance for him to again be inside her, and he’d resisted every time after he’d first seen her at the bar.
Except tonight would be different. Tonight, he was taking everything. No more playing. No more games. He’d bury himself inside her until neither of them could move.
“Do you have any idea what you do to me?” He sucked her other breast.
“I’m concentrating on what you’re doing to me.” She arched her back, offering up more sweet skin.
“I’m going to be doing a lot more to you here in a minute.”
She palmed his jeans. His cock was hard and pulsing, and the brief touches of her damp flesh against it were driving him fucking insane.
No more waiting.
Not tonight.
She finally found the condom in his pocket she’d been looking for. She pulled it out, ripped it open, and worked it over his cock. Her arms pushed her breasts together like the best damn offering he’d ever been presented with. He buried his face in her soft cleavage, sucking, kissing, and licking. Back and forth, he took one nipple into his mouth, then the other. Devouring her in long draws and coming back for more.
When she’d covered his cock with the condom, she wiggled and tried to get closer, but he cupped her ribs and lifted her until her hot flesh was right above his waiting cock.
She gripped his shoulders, looked him in the eye, and whispered, “Please.”
It was all he needed to hear. He set her down on him, impaling her as he went.
They gasped together. She was tight, hot, drenched, and it was all for him. All the pent-up need of the past few days, hell, the past few months, were finally culminating in this single moment.
“More,” she begged, clawing at him. One word with so much meaning: deeper, harder.
Gage wanted more, too. He sat forward on the couch and tugged her knees until she was wrapped around him.
He thrust deep. “Like that, sweetheart?” She nodded vigorously while grinding her hips against him. No up and down, that’d be too much space. He was sheathed to the hilt and wasn’t fucking going anywhere. He stayed deep, rocking enough to hit her every inner inch while she worked him right back.
Grinding and moving. So damn close he could feel her everywhere.
“Missed you. Missed this,” she said.
“Me too,” he rasped. He reached between their bodies and spread her sex with two fingers so that her clit rubbed against his lower stomach.
“Oh, God, so good,” she moaned. As she whipped her hips in his lap and he delivered deep thrust after thrust, her slick little bundle of nerves glided along his abs, and with every sweep, her channel gripped him tighter.
“Lean back.” He cupped her waist and held her steady as she obeyed. Her back arched, breasts high and round, those pink nipples pointing to the sky, and her long hair danced around his shins.
She was at his mercy. His. And he had a front row view of her sexy body spread out and at his disposal. She trusted him to hold her, and that was a gift he wanted to take. He’d hold on to her now and every time he returned. He’d keep her safe.
“Hold on,” he growled. With a tight grip on her, he leaned forward, never breaking their connection, and laid her on the floor, following her down. “I’m just getting started with you.”
Her legs locked tighter around him as he thrust into her, over and over, each time harder and deeper than the last.
“Yes! Oh please, please baby.” She’d never used an endearment with him before—it was like a shot of sugar to his veins. He reached beneath her, grabbed her shoulders, and pulled down as he plunged up. He was being rough, but he couldn’t stop. He needed to feel her everywhere.
Good thing she didn’t want him to stop.
Her fingernails scoured down his back. “Right there!”
He growled, loving the sting. The raw, wild passion. It was all Chloe. All he thought of when he was away from her. All he wanted when he was near her.
He fucked her impossibly hard, and she was there to take it all. When her tight sheath clamped down on him, her body tensed and gifted him with her release.
“That’s it, sweetheart,” he whispered in her ear as she let herself go. “Show me how much you missed this. How much you want it.”
She moaned and pulled at him. Writhing, shivering, begging. She was gone—spiraling into a powerful orgasm he was proud to have given her. And he was there to cover her. Catch her. And go with her.
His balls were heavy, and he couldn’t resist anymore. With her name in his throat, he pumped in and out while he shook with his release.
Slickened with sweat and breathing against him, she cupped his face and kissed him wildly. His cheeks, his chin, his nose. Rained down praise and satisfaction without saying a word. It was these moments he felt immortal. Nothing could touch him so long as he had her praise. As long as she wanted him.
Yet one word kept beating in the back of his brain…
More.
Chapter Six
Chloe dropped in some change, opened the newspaper bin, and grabbed a fresh copy. After the other night with Gage, it was difficult to think of anything but him. Or his body. Or the way he owned hers.
But she had a restaurant to run and an event around the corner.
She opened the newspaper on the side of a busy street and skimmed through it.
“Damn it,” she huffed, taking apart the newspaper and reading the social section another time to make sure she hadn’t missed the article on her restaurant.
“What are you doing?” Michelle Ruby asked, stepping out of her boutique. The fashionable city woman owned and ran Chic Storm, and judging by the few looky-loos hovering around the storefront display, the boutique was doing well today.
Which wasn’t surprising. Even though Michelle was relatively new to town¸ her high-end fashion apparel was already a staple around Beaufort.
“Just checking the paper.” Chloe crumpled it back together. The sun was already burning off the morning dew and making way for a bright summer day, yet a gray cloud hovered right above her head.
Michelle looked at the paper. “Are you job hunting or something?” Her bright red hair was fastened into a bun, and her light blue eyes were lined with smoky kohl that made her look like a Paris model.
“No, I’m looking for something. The paper was supposed to do a little article about my restaurant.” And her mother. “It was supposed to come out last week, but I still haven’t seen it.”
Last week. As in exactly five days ago. Chloe had been so excited and had gotten up at dawn to get the paper, but the article hadn’t been there. She’d checked every day since, even the online version, but had seen nothing.
Silly thing was, it was important to her. Yes, the article would help advertise the anniversary, but it was more than that. The piece was about her mother, how she’d opened the bar with little more than a dream and a small business loan. Twenty years later, it was the center point of the town. And it was struggling. Chloe was determined to bring back the joy and light that made the restaurant great, including her mother’s food. Just the possibility of this article gave her a flare of connection to her mother. Like others could still experience her memory.
“Oh, I saw that!” Michelle said. “It was an insert a few days ago.”
“An insert?”
She nodded. “Yeah, like a little two page spread. Had some pictures and a story about the bar and its origins. The woman who opened it was really incredible. She renovated her house into a restaurant!”
Chloe nodded. “Yeah, I know. She was my mother.”
Michelle gasped. “Oh, I’m sorry.” She clasped he
r hands together. “I should have put that together. Let me go check to see if I saved the insert.”
“Thanks, I appreciate it.”
She nodded and hustled into her boutique while Chloe gripped the paper tighter. She already knew what Michelle would say when she came back. It was an insert, which meant she’d thrown it away. Chloe knew Michelle had done that because Chloe had done that. The inserts in the paper were usually a bunch of ads and the local grocery store deals of the week. She hadn’t thought the article would be amongst the filler.
“Beautiful day,” a smooth sexy voice said near her.
“Are you stalking me?” she said to Gage as he stepped in front of her.
“I’m trained to search and rescue people,” he said.
“So is that a yes?”
He glanced at Michelle’s shop, then back at Chloe. Maybe he was trying to get another look at Michelle? Not that Chloe cared or anything. They weren’t committed—far from it. One date didn’t mean anything, and one night of hot sex didn’t mean anything either.
Yep…totally didn’t care.
Gage smiled. “I won’t admit to stalking off the clock. But I must say that a beautiful woman puts even a beautiful day to shame.”
Chloe glanced at where Michelle had disappeared to. “Yeah, we all know how beautiful Michelle is.”
She wasn’t jealous he was talking about another woman. No reason for her to care.
He tucked a lock of hair behind Chloe’s ear. “I was commenting on the beautiful woman in front of me.”
“Smooth.”
“Hey, that was one of my best lines.” He winked at her, and that mushy feeling flared up in the way only he could manage. She laughed a little. But when he flashed those dimples, he had her hooked.
Oh God…were they flirting?
Not the sexy I want in your pants flirting, but the cutesy Will you take me to the sock hop? flirting. It needed to stop. Now.
“So what are you doing?” he asked.
“I was heading to work, just stopping to get the paper.” She tapped the small bin where the Beaufort Daily Gazette rested.
He opened his mouth, but Michelle’s voice boomed out, followed by the clicking of her four-inch stilettos.
