by Roma, Laurie
“You feel so good,” Mikayla whispered.
Gage let out a groan at her words. She wasn’t doing anything to help to control his raging hard-on in the least. Focus. He needed to focus on something else besides how good she felt against him. “Are you feeling warmer?”
“Little. Still cold…”
“It’s all right. We’ll get you warm, baby.” Gage wrapped his arms tighter around her, using his large body to shelter her smaller frame underneath him. The intimacy of this lifesaving act stirred emotions inside him he had sworn to lock away forever. Mikayla doing something to him he didn’t understand, and he didn’t like it.
“I wish you wouldn’t have done that,” he whispered gruffly.
Mikayla’s long, dark lashes lifted so her violet eyes slanted up at him as he pulled back slightly so he could see her. “I couldn’t wait. Those girls would have died.”
“I know. But I still can’t help wishing you didn’t have to do it.” Gage sighed. “We should get you to the hospital.”
“Wait…” Mikayla whispered as her arms wrapped around his back, holding his body to her. Her small hands played over the thick muscles on his back, stroking and feeling his hot skin with her fingertips. “Warm me. I’m so cold, Gage.”
She meant more than just her body. Inside there was a part of her that stayed cold, calculated, allowing her to do what she did. But the price to her soul left her chilled, as if she would never feel warm, never feel normal.
Mikayla squirmed under Gage’s warm body, trying to get closer to him. As the heat of him chased away the cold, it also lit an ember of need deep inside her. Her breath hitched as she felt his thick shaft pressed against her.
He was long and so very hard.
It made her want to feel him closer, moving over her, inside her. She rubbed against him, barely aware of what she was doing as she stroked his engorged shaft over the silken folds of her pussy that had become wet with her juices.
Her soft moan sounded loud in the quiet stillness. Gage pressed his hard body down on hers, stilling her motion. She opened her eyes again to see his nostrils flare, his brilliant green eyes burning with lust so hot she could almost feel it melting her.
“Stop it, Mikayla. I won’t take advantage of you like this,” Gage snapped.
She wanted him, wanted to be normal for just this moment. “You want me.”
Gage let out a strangled laugh. “I think we’ve established that. But not like this. Not when you don’t know what you’re doing.”
“I know. Be with me, Gage. Make me feel real, just this once.”
Gage’s heart began to pound so hard he thought it might jump right out of his chest as need flooded his system. God, he wanted to touch her, to taste her so bad that he thought he might die if he didn’t have her. Her words gave him pause though, just enough so he struggled for control instead of taking what he so desperately wanted.
What the hell did she mean by saying she wanted him to make her feel real?
Thoughts scattered like snowflakes as Mikayla shifted under him, parting her legs so he was nestled between her thighs. His hard cock throbbed with a painful ache against the moist center of her. Damn him, he couldn’t help but rub the crest of his cock over the silky, wet folds of her pussy. One thrust and he could be inside heaven. But still, he held back.
She was trying to kill him.
Gage clenched his teeth against the pleasure raking through him at the feel of her. What kind of sick bastard was he to take advantage of a woman in this position? He had only wanted to get her warm. He had never meant for it to go this far, but Christ he wanted her.
“Baby, we can’t. I don’t want you to hate me later.”
“I won’t,” Mikayla whispered. “No games, just us. Just this once, Gage. Let me feel this, feel you. Love me just this once.”
He looked down at her and something inside him clenched, then broke free. There was no way he could say no to her about anything when she was looking up at him like that. He wanted her, needed to be inside her more than he needed his next breath.
“Just this once,” Gage replied softly, his breath caressing her lips. Damn, he knew it was a lie even as he said it. Once would never be enough to sate the hunger he had for her. He shifted his hips then pushed forward so the head of cock lodged at her entrance.
He paused there, holding his breath as he studied her. If they did this he needed her with him, every step of the way. He needed to see that she wanted him as much as he wanted her.
“Mikayla…”
She raised her hips, linking her feet into the crook behind his knees to pull him deeper. His large cock slid into her snug pussy like a sword into a sheath. She let out a low moan as he filled her. He was a perfect fit. Mikayla tightened her hold on his back, letting her head fall back onto the seat below so she could look up at his blazing green eyes.
“So good. You feel so good inside me…”
Gage clenched his teeth against the acute pleasure of feeling her wrapped around him like a hot, wet fist. It was heaven. The cool contrast of her skin against his heated flesh and the fiery inferno of her tight pussy welcoming him inside her had his head swimming with so many different emotions he didn’t know exactly what he was feeling.
There was a level of intimacy here with Mikayla that he had never felt with another woman. It could have been the way he lost himself in those dark-violet eyes as he entered her. Those eyes were so knowing, like she could see into his very soul. He felt stripped before her. He closed his own in defense, but immediately felt bereft at the loss of the connection. He opened them again, wanting, no, needing to see her every reaction to his touch. To see if she was feeling as much as he was.
And she was.
It was there, shining back at him in her eyes.
He slowly pulled back until only the head of his cock rested inside her and pushed in again until he was seated to the hilt. Christ, she felt as if she had been made for him and him alone. It was quiet in the cab of the truck, their deep breathing the only sound. He began to move inside of her, slowly pumping his long shaft deep until he hit the entrance to her womb then pulled back again. Something flickered in his head, but the thought disappeared when she reached up and wound her hand in his hair, pulling his head down to her.
Gage felt the armor protecting his heart crack as his lips touched hers. God, the taste of her. It was exquisite. He growled into her mouth, stroking and sucking at her tongue as she met him with equal force. He was open to her, bare and so fucking vulnerable he wanted to jerk away and run as far as he could.
Instead, Gage took the kiss deeper, slanting his mouth over hers. He fed off of her as he rocked his hips harder, thrusting deep. It was only sex, he told himself. He knew this was a mistake. He never took a woman face-to-face like this. It was too intimate, too real. But he could allow it, just this once. Not holding back any longer, he gave into the bliss of fucking her
Yeah, enjoy it while it lasts…you bastard.
Gage reached down, pulling her thighs wider so his cock could go even deeper. He didn’t notice Mikayla’s wince as the movement pulled at her injured leg. Still, she clasped her legs high around his waist so she was opened to him, needing him to keep thrusting, stroking over that spot high inside her that made her wild.
“Gage, yes…please, more…”
“Fuck yeah, baby. Let me give it to you.”
Mikayla felt the tension building inside her as they moved together. Gage levered up onto his elbows so he could power into her, harder, deeper. No more words were spoken as they looked into each other’s eyes.
“Oh, oh!” she moaned as passion exploded inside of her.
Her body clenched, locking down on his thick cock so hard he could barely move. He let out a low groan as he shoved deep, once, twice, then came spurting his hot seed straight into her womb.
Gage watched as Mikayla’s eyes drifted closed, a small smile playing across her lush lips. He collapsed, breath heaving out like he had just run a
mile at full sprint. His head still fogged with residual pleasure of the best damn orgasm he’d ever had, Gage couldn’t stop himself from rubbing his face into the side of her neck.
Damn it, he knew this was a mistake. Mikayla was like a drug to his system.
A dark and dangerous drug.
And he knew that having her once was never going to be enough.
Chapter Six
Mikayla came awake slowly, taking in her surroundings while she kept her eyes closed, her breathing steady and even. From the faint sounds around her she could tell she was in the hospital. Damn, she hated hospitals. Even though there was no auditory indication, Mikayla instantly knew she was not alone in the room. It was a feeling she had trained herself to know over the years. To know when someone was sharing the space she was in, even if there was no sound.
Gage…?
Her time with Gage was over. She wouldn’t classify it as a mistake, but it was done. Their time together in the truck had been intense. Never before had she felt closer to another human being than she had to Gage. In his arms she had been the woman she rarely let the outside world see. She hadn’t been the warrior, she had simply been…his. For that brief moment of time she had been his. A real, loving woman, filled with passion and desire. Gage had fought back the cold that seemed to constantly surround her, keeping her apart from the real world.
But he wasn’t for her. He wanted something different. Someone different. Added to that, he didn’t know her. Not really. It had only seemed like he did for that short time. No, he didn’t know her and she could never let him know the truth about her.
She opened her eyes and turned her head slightly to look at the man sitting in the chair next to her bed. A sense of loss filled her briefly before she pushed it back and smiled.
“You’ve been sleeping for hours. Naughty, Lynx. If I didn’t know you would shoot me, I’d punish you for ending up in the hospital again.”
Mikayla grinned at her friend Slade. Built like a tank, Marco Sladerman was a large man, slightly larger than the other IAD agent she worked with. He was a big, scary son of a bitch and most people were intimidated by his size, but not Mikayla.
She knew him too well for that.
Slade had a scar slashed across the right side of his face from a shrapnel wound. It made him look dark and dangerous, although he was still a handsome man. Slade was a bad-ass, but Mikayla knew he was self conscious about his scar. Like her, he was one of the best snipers in the world and it made them kindred spirits of sorts.
Mikayla had been in his unit and knew him better than most people. Unlike Slade, Mikayla was a social creature. While most people came from shitty backgrounds that had chipped away at their souls, Mikayla had braved the loss of her parents with considerable grace. Not a candidate for spy-craft in the normal sense, Mikayla had been drawn into the world of shadow due to her aptitude for the work.
Slade hadn’t been as lucky.
Her friend had dark demons riding him, and her love for him had her heart aching when she saw those demons rising closer to the surface, like they were now. Slade was one of those people who had not escaped a horrible past, but he did his damndest to try to overcome it. Mikayla loved him like a brother and knew that the fear that lived inside him was unwarranted.
Over the years of serving with him in the military, and now with IAD, she and Slade had become family. Mikayla knew Slade was aware that she was capable of protecting herself, but he now considered her part of the small, select group of individuals he would die for.
Or kill for.
“I’m fine, Slade,” Mikayla assured him. “What are you doing here?”
He heaved out a sigh and leaned forward in the chair that creaked in protest of his massive size. “When you were brought into the hospital, they called Brett as your emergency contact. Since I was in LA with him, I flew out. He’s finishing up some business, but he’ll be here soon. The wonder twins will come by this weekend for a visit too.”
Mikayla groaned. “You guys didn’t have to come here. I’m fine, really.”
“They had to restitch your leg and they said you were damn close to having hypothermia,” Slade gritted out. “What the hell happened to ‘I’m just going to take it easy?’”
She sighed. “This was me taking it easy.”
“Clarify.”
Mikayla sighed again then quickly explained what had happened down at the river, leaving out the incident in the truck with Gage. Slade leaned back in his chair. “The kids are all okay. I asked the nurses, knowing you’d ask when you woke. The two little girls, Megan and Lindsey, were asking for you. They were in bad shape, but they should recover completely.”
“Good. I’m glad. I’ll stop in and see them before I leave.”
“Now,” Slade said casually as he studied her with piercing light-blue eyes that gleamed like blue ice. “Would you care to tell me why you arrived at the hospital an hour after the kids did? I know you were practically a popsicle when you left the site of the accident with Gage Stark instead of in an ambulance.”
Oh, shit.
Slade’s voice lowered. “Am I gonna have to go hunting, Lynx?”
“No,” Mikayla said quickly. “No, it’s fine. Everything is fine.”
“Since you’ve been sleeping I’ve done a little reading up on this Gage,” Slade said. “An actor? Really?”
She barely held back a groan. “Gage isn’t an actor anymore. And don’t give me that look. You love his movies. I know you do. You’ve dragged me to enough of them over the years.”
“Doesn’t mean I won’t fuck his shit up if he steps out of line with you,” Slade growled.
Sweet Jesus, not this. Mikayla had recently witnessed the chaos that had ensued when her friend Tara had initially hooked up with her fiancé Julian. Their male IAD counterparts had gone all Alpha male on poor Julian and Mikayla feared what they would all do to Gage if they were ever in the same room. Not that she had a relationship with Gage. They’d simply had sex and now they were done.
End of story.
“There is nothing between us, Slade. Gage is…he’s not looking for a relationship. And I…well, I don’t think he could deal with the real me.” That was obvious by the way he practically dumped her at the entrance of the emergency room and ran. Hell, she was surprised that he had even bothered coming in to see her settled and hadn’t drop-kicked her out of his truck instead. It hurt more than she thought it would, but then again, she’d known it was the way it had to be. They weren’t good for each other and she needed to stay away from him.
“Ah, it’s like that then,” Slade said roughly, the sympathy clear in his voice. “Well, your vitals are back to normal. Let’s get you checked out of here and get you home.”
“I’m all over that.”
* * * *
Gage sighed with relief as the sight of home came into view. Earlier when he had pulled up to the hospital he knew he was better off just leaving Mikayla to the medical staff, but he couldn’t just leave her there by herself. He should have left after she was checked in, but instead he’d paced the floor of the waiting room like a caged animal, waiting impatiently to hear that she was all right. Only after the doctor had confirmed she was fine did he finally leave.
Putting distance between him and Mikayla didn’t help to get her out of his mind though. With every mile he drove further away from her his mood had darkened, until he was ready to rip someone’s head off by the time he got home. It was a good thing that Katie and his brother Dylan were busy in the office they had built a mile away from the main residence.
Gage knew he should have checked in on work, but seeing the lights on in their offices had Gage driving home instead of stopping. In his mood it was better off if he kept people away from him until he didn’t feel like he was ten seconds away from exploding. He just wanted to go inside, take a hot shower and forget today ever happened.
But of course he couldn’t be so lucky.
Gage parked in front of the large house w
atching as Sebastian came out, carrying two bottles of beer with Wulf trailing by his side. His cousin Sebastian was tall with the same Stark green eyes as Gage and he kept his dark hair cropped short like he did when he was in the Army.
Sebastian set the beer down on the railing and stood on the wraparound porch, leaning against one of the posts as he lit a cigar. Wulf raced down the steps, tail wagging as Gage got out of the truck. He leaned down to rub his hands though Wulf’s fur when Sebastian’s voice reached him.
“Took a detour, did you, cuz?” Sebastian’s knowing drawl darkened Gage’s mood even further.
“Back off, Seb,” Gage snapped as he walked up to join Sebastian on the porch. Gage took the offered beer bottle and ripped the cap off then took a deep pull of the dark liquid.
“We got all the kids out safely,” Sebastian stated after he took his own drink from his bottle.
“Good. Glad to hear it,” Gage said, setting the bottle down so he could shove both of his hands back into his pockets. Shit, it was freezing outside, but Katie had made a no smoking rule inside the main house that everyone abided by, hence the smoking on the porch.
“What’s got you in such a mood? Is the woman okay?”
“Yeah, Mikayla’s fine.”
Sebastian tapped his cigar with his finger as he eyed Gage’s brooding expression. “Ah hell, you fucked her, didn’t you?”
“Goddamn it, Seb.”
“I guess that’s one way to warm her up.” Sebastian laughed. “Can’t say I blame you. What’s the matter, Gage? She get under your skin?”
‘It’s not like that.”
