They needed to have a long talk and get back on track. They had to remain professional at work, no matter what had happened in their private life. Frankie had no regrets but she’d seen careers destroyed by this sort of indiscretion. Gage had made his point. He did what he set out to do. She’d seen spots, hundreds of them. He didn’t need to torment her further at work.
Frankie blushed.
Gage looked so relaxed and sexy lying there. She hadn’t realized how much her body could want a man’s touch. She chewed on her lip. One last memory wouldn’t change the eventual outcome, would it? One more time before he woke up, got dressed and left her?
She took his earlobe in her mouth and gave it a small nibble. She reached around his hip, running her hand over him with a feathery touch. He was hot and hard. Was he awake? She held her breath and waited. He didn’t move. She began to slide her hand over him.
His rhythmic breathing hitched.
“Wake up, sleepyhead,” she whispered seductively. “I want to have my way with you.”
He grunted but didn’t move. Her hand ran up and down his length.
“Wake up, I know you feel me.”
Gage’s full lips peeled back in a lazy, seductive smile. He heaved a dramatic sigh, rolled onto his back and stretched his muscular arms overhead.
“Climb on,” he yawned.
He didn’t have to tell her twice. Primed and ready to go, Frankie lunged across his lean hips and scrambled to guide him right where she needed him most. She jerked upright and gasped, erotic vibrations skittered over her like pulsating waterfalls. Carnal heat spiraled upwards.
“Gage?”
“Uh huh?” His voice was husky with sleep.
“That feels really good.”
“It’s supposed to,” he drawled.
It took all her will to speak. “No, I mean, really, really good.”
He opened one suspicious green eye to peer at her.
“It would feel even better if you’d start moving.”
Frankie shook her head negatively. “I can’t.”
He reached out and grabbed her waist in both hands. “Why not?”
“Because, if I,” she stuttered, staring straight ahead with the glazed expression of someone teetering on the brink.
Sensing precisely what the holdup was, Gage gave a long forward thrust. His thumb found her sensitive bud and hurled her into ecstasy. She clutched his forearms and screamed her release.
It took several minutes for her to recover. Instead of the orgasm leaving her limp and pliable, Frankie jumped off him and immediately scrambled about the bedroom. She tugged on a sweatshirt and gathered her hair on top of her head in a loose, wild ponytail. Gage rolled on his side, propped up on an elbow and watched her mad dash. Frankie stepped into a pair of khaki shorts.
“Going somewhere?” he asked.
“For a walk on the beach,” she answered from the bathroom while washing her face. Soap bubbles lathered up. She splashed them away.
“If you want more exercise, get back in bed.”
Frankie shot him a sanguine glance. “I’m hungry and I need coffee.”
He frowned when he answered in a surprisingly edgy voice. “I’ll make you coffee when I’m done making love to you.”
“When you are done?” she asked. Her pewter gaze raked him from head to toe and zeroed in on his burgeoning erection. She smiled sweetly. “I’m not sure my blood sugar level can wait that long. Get your cute ass out of my bed, buster. I need sustenance. You’ve got too much stamina for this girl.”
“Poor baby,” he clucked. “Did all that screaming wear you out?”
“Screaming?” she feigned. “Who me? You were the one auditioning for the opera.”
Gage chuckled. Frankie bent, grabbed a pillow and lobbed it at him. She had a wicked right hook, a strong, softball-pitching arm. The feather pillow arced straight for his face. Gage shot to his feet, wiggled his outstretched fingers in a wavy pattern that insinuated an old-fashioned tickle was in store for her. She squealed, took off through the open door and into the living room at a dead run, stumbling over the sofa before she regained her balance. Gage, naked, sleek and muscular, was right behind her.
“Still hungry?” He feinted left.
“Famished.” She dodged the move and put an extra three feet of distance between them. The idea of being chased down for a good fucking had her so turned on she could barely see straight.
“Stop running and I’ll give you something good to eat.”
“You gotta catch me first, big guy.”
Frankie bolted toward the kitchen table with Gage breathing down her neck all the way. She had uncanny reflexes and moves that rivaled a football running back yet she knew she had to be ultra-tricky to evade Gage for any length of time. He chased her around the house and eventually cornered her by the fireplace, tossing her flat on her back. Frankie struggled while his fingers plied her ribs. Every exhalation was a red-faced scream at the top of her lungs.
“What’s the matter?” he tickled. “Huh? Do you give?”
Curled into a protective ball to shield her ribs, she gasped a breath to scream, “Never!” And then she changed tactics.
Frankie started to sob.
Gage stopped, his victorious expression turned to one of curious alarm. He leaned back. It was the break she was waiting for. Kneeing him in the gut, she scrambled off to safety only to find herself tackled to the ground almost immediately.
“Stop fighting me,” he murmured lustily. He tossed her on the sofa, pinned her down with his larger body and dragged her shorts off. “You can’t win.”
“I already have,” she gasped and spread her legs wide for him.
* * * *
Gage somberly watched her over the rim of his coffee mug. He tapped a finger on the edge of his plate. Unease flickered in Frankie’s downcast eyes. The death grip she had on the mug she held was classic white-knuckle. When she’d asked him to go for a walk that morning and have breakfast at her favorite café, he was delighted to go. But when they passed George Harvey on the crowded beach and Frankie stopped to socialize, even inviting him to come along, he was pissed and hadn’t said two words since that time. Fortunately, George had the good sense to decline the offer.
Gage had not made the effort to seriously communicate with a woman for many years. He and Frankie were accustomed to long spells of comfortable silence, never demanding more than the other was willing to give.
Gage grimaced.
What should he do next? Apologize and start up a heart-to-heart talk about all his past sins in the middle of a coffeehouse? Neither of them would want that!
“Gage?”
Her soft voice snapped him out of his dark thoughts, once again bridging the distance between them.
“Yes?”
She kept her eyes glued to the table while she asked in a voice too low for the others in the coffee shop to hear. “I was wondering if you—” She stopped short, trying to regroup wayward thoughts.
“Wondering what?” he probed.
“Would you like to stay with me today?” She swallowed hard, looking around nervously. “Tonight too, if you don’t have anything else planned? I mean, I would understand if you’re busy and need to be somewhere else.”
Of all the things he expected to hear, that one was not on the list. He scrutinized her closely. She was literally holding her breath, waiting for a positive answer. Gage thought he had been reading her fairly well. The offer blind-sided him.
“Absolutely,” he blurted. “I intend to spend the entire week with you. Day and night.”
Frankie blinked up with open excitement. “Really?”
His gaze narrowed. “Really,” he echoed. Then he lowered the boom and dealt with the other issue he’d been stewing over. “Whatever plans you made with Lauren, call her and break them.”
“I don’t know.”
“Do it,” he insisted.
She hesitated. “Okay.”
Gage had been anticipating
more of an argument. When victory came so easily, he couldn’t help be suspicious. He made a sweeping motion with his fork. “The same goes for date plans with George Harvey or anyone else Damon has tried to set you up with.”
“I haven’t made any plans with George yet,” she admitted.
“Good,” he barked. “Don’t bother trying to.”
“Have you always been this bossy?”
“Affirmative,” he snapped, the hint of a grin crossing his features. “Now eat your breakfast before it gets cold.”
“Yes, Daddy.”
Gage responded with a cocked eyebrow and set about finishing his meal. “Eat,” he ordered. “You’ll need your strength for what I have in mind.”
Frankie smiled. Calmly, she scooped up a load of scrambled eggs, levered the spoon between her fingers and launched. They catapulted in a perfect yellow arc, splattering right between his eyes. Gage reached up and swiped the mess away with a napkin. “You know you’re going to pay for that later, don’t you?”
Frankie snickered. “I certainly hope so.”
* * * *
She’d been so certain that at any moment Gage was going to say “Adios amiga, see you at work” and take off for his cabin that agreeing to stay with her came as a total shock. She wrestled with the idea of asking him in the first place. After all, she reminded herself, he had done what he set out to achieve.
What he told her he could do.
Her luscious co-pilot had boldly taken her where no man had gone before, shown his exceptional prowess and didn’t need to tie her to the bed to prove it. One look at him as he hovered above her, inside her, stroking slowly, was enough to make her vision blur and Frankie wanted more.
So, she wondered, why he was still browsing the waterfront shops with her? And why did he seem to be enjoying himself so much? And why was being tied to the bed the predominant thought returning time and again to her mind this beautiful sunny morning?
She wasn’t mistaking the enjoyment on his face. Gage was having fun and he was having it while doing what most women enjoyed above all else.
Shopping!
She walked past a freshly washed window and caught the reflection of her satisfied smile, saw the kiss-bruised lips, aware of her body in a way she’d never experienced before. She blinked and inhaled a sweet aroma, strolling into a saltwater taffy shop with Gage a few steps behind.
“What flavors do you like?” she asked him.
“Lemon, lime and anything berry.”
“I didn’t know you liked taffy.”
“You don’t know a lot of things about me,” he smirked.
She bought a mixed pound of the fruitiest and they moved on.
The tourists negotiating the sidewalk had nearly doubled within the last hour. Frankie stepped into the street and kept moving, window-shopping until she wandered past a gardening store, stopped and went inside.
She purchased a new trowel and assorted wildflower seed packets before she noticed that Gage no longer lurked over her shoulder. Frankie wondered when and where she had lost him, backtracked. Fifty feet down the sidewalk, she caught him as he slipped out of a boutique with a small pink bag tucked under his arm.
Gage knew he had been caught. He smiled widely, threw his free arm around her shoulder and gave a squeeze. “Can you fly a kite?” he asked.
“Of course I can.”
He laughed in spite of himself.
“Just because you’re a pilot doesn’t mean you can fly a kite.”
“Wanna bet?”
He watched her hands when she spoke. Deceptively delicate fingers articulated each word. Gage remembered their feel as they ran along his spine, clutched and kneaded, pulling him closer while he rammed his cock deep inside her. His gaze fell to her lips while she spoke and conjured images of that same mouth against his ear, pleading him for release. Not a minute went by that he didn’t think of touching her, kissing her.
“I’ll bet you two tickets to the Bon Jovi concert in Portland next month that I can fly a kite better, longer and do more tricks with it than you can.” She paused for a deep breath of salty air while Gage considered her offer. He stopped and turned to stare at a car driving past.
“It’s a deal,” he answered.
Frankie turned, poised to make the sprint back to the kite store. Gage saw the twinkle of competitiveness in her eyes.
“I’ll race you there,” she piped up.
“I’ve been chasing you all morning,” he complained. Frankie was already jogging down the sidewalk. Gage let out a curse and pursued.
* * * *
It was dark by the time they wandered back to the beach house. In the distance, an engine stuttered and backfired. Gage ushered her inside and shut the front door. Turning, he found her on tiptoe, lips seeking his. Her teeth tugged at his bottom lip. With a deep groan and a rush of air, he caught her up in his arms and took long steps to the kitchen counter. Setting her down gently, his hands roved her body while he smothered her face in a blaze of urgent kisses. A heavenly wave of lightheadedness rushed over her.
“I have a present for you,” he whispered.
Frankie smiled against his mouth. “I’ve been wondering when you were going to show me what’s in that pretty bag you’ve been pretending so hard not to have.”
“Presentation is everything,” he echoed Max’s line.
Gage placed the bag in her hand and eased her down off the countertop, letting her leisurely slide the entire distance down his hard thigh. Frankie gasped and shuddered, disappointed when her feet hit the floor
“Put it on,” he ordered.
She eyed him suspiciously.
“It’s the least you can do after trashing my kite.”
Her mouth pulled into a smile. When it became clear that Gage matched her flying ability, she had deliberately plunged her multi-colored, tri-level starcruiser kite into his, hopelessly entangling both their lines and calling the bet a draw.
She snatched the bag from his hand and skidded across the tile into the bathroom. He had bought her a present! Other than a few obligatory apology-flowers, Frankie had never received an unsolicited gift from any man. She dove into the bag and found —
A lace camisole and matching thong?
Not the cheap stuff but expensive silk in an unusual shade of peach. Frankie peered closer, swept by a sense of déjà vu. She’d seen this same outfit somewhere before. Where? She fondled the camisole until an answer popped into her head.
“Andie’s catalog,” she mumbled.
Frankie closed her eyes on a deep sigh and quickly toed off her sandals. She couldn’t get undressed fast enough. Blouse and shorts flew through the air and hit the shower curtain. Her faded bra and underwear made roughly the same arc and fluttered into the bathtub.
She knew the frills had cost Gage a bundle. For months Andie had been trying to convince Frankie to get a complete wardrobe makeover, starting at ground zero. Andie was an aficionada of naughty nighties, gourmet garters and teddies that made you want to go bump in the night. She was eager to impart her knowledge to others.
Frankie looked but never bought. She couldn’t justify the expense of paying big bucks for something that would never be seen by anyone but a few inebriated girlfriends.
With extreme reverence, she slid the delicious fabric over her naked flesh. Her nipples tightened as the fabric slithered over her bare skin. Frankie gawked at her reflection in the full-length mirror. A perfect fit. Even the tiny spaghetti straps had been adjusted to accommodate her size.
She turned slowly, inspecting herself from every visible angle. She smiled and shook her head in wonder. From the other room a deep voice called to her.
“Come out here and model it for me.”
Frankie took one last look at her fabulous reflection before slinking into the kitchen. She stopped a few steps away from him and spun in a seductive twirl.
Gage stared heatedly. Raw desire burned in his eyes. His gaze settled on the clearly visible mound of soft pale hair
between her legs. He held out his hand and crooked a finger.
“Bring your tattoo over here.”
“Why would I want to do that?” she responded coyly.
“Come here and I’ll show you,” he purred.
Frankie shook her head no.
“Do I have to chase you around this house again?”
“Chasing is not what I have in mind,” she spoke in a breathy whisper.
There was a new look to her, one that spoke of knowing she was sexy, desirable, and able to use that power to seduce.
Frankie gingerly touched her aching breasts through the translucent cloth, feeling heated skin beneath. Running her hands slowly down her waist, she stopped at the juncture of her thighs and slipped her fingers under the lace. Sharp green eyes followed the gleaming path her hands took. Beneath half-lidded eyes glazed with hot desire, she touched herself and whispered his name on a sigh.
Gage swallowed convulsively and lunged. He was on her before she could blink, throwing her over his shoulder in a perfectly executed fireman’s carry.
For Frankie, the rest of the night was a glorious blur.
He gave her no mercy. She asked for none. He took her on the kitchen table and in every room of the house, in every position they could think of. When neither had strength enough to walk a straight line, they crawled into bed and fell asleep in a tangle of satisfied arms and legs.
Chapter 10
A NEW TRICK
She was making up for the years that orgasm had been denied her and she was doing it all in the course of one short week. Gage leaned against the back porch wall and inhaled a long, deep breath. The tinkling wood and aluminum wind chimes played a pleasant tune in the cool evening air. Overhead, clouds gathered in shades of pink and blue-gray. He glanced down. On the beach below the bluff a flock of seagulls congregated to rest, facing into the wind to keep their feathers unruffled.
Like any new physical relationship, he and Frankie couldn’t get enough of one another when it came to sex. She had a lot to learn. He had been pleasantly surprised by her inexperience and overjoyed at her responsiveness. Mixed in with an intimate shyness she was quickly overcoming, he found a passionate, enthusiastic lover eager to try anything.
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