Gabe had decided to prepare dinner at his home instead of taking them out to a restaurant. Leaving his office early, he had gone home to cook what he considered a feast, then left to pick Sage up from her home to bring her to his.
During dinner Christopher had been completely charmed by the likes of Sage Dunbar, and for any woman, other than Maxi and Joella Blackwell, to charm Christopher was not easy. Gabe had enjoyed taking a backseat while Chris and Sage got to know each other, first on a business level, then personally. She had engaged him in conversation about Maxi and Christopher Max, which were Chris’s favorite topics of conversation. Gabe had actually seen his best friend blush profusely when after showing Sage a photograph of his son, she had gone on and on about how much Christopher Max looked like his father, a fact that Christopher was pretty damn proud of.
Later that night when he returned Sage to her apartment, Gabe couldn’t help but grin.
“What are you smiling about?” she asked as they walked from the elevator toward her apartment door.
“Oh, I was just thinking about how taken Chris was with you tonight.”
Sage smiled as she glanced up at him. “And I was just as taken with him. I can see how the two of you are such close friends. He’s a pretty nice guy.”
Gabe chuckled. He remembered a time a lot of women didn’t think so. Christopher had been the type of man that women couldn’t stand but couldn’t resist either. Gabe knew that during that time his mother had constantly stayed on her knees praying for Chris’s redemption. And like he’d told Parnell that day, he really believed his mother had connections up there.
“Would you like to come in, Gabe?”
Sage’s question brought his thoughts back to the present. Oh, yeah, he definitely wanted to come inside. She would be leaving tomorrow morning to meet her ex-fiancé, and Gabe intended to leave her with something to think about. Before he left tonight, her mind would be so full of him she wouldn’t be able to think straight. A couple of times during the course of the evening, he had wished that Christopher would get lost, just to have Sage all to himself. When he saw that wouldn’t happen, then he had started counting the minutes, then the seconds, before he would take her home.
“Yes, I’d like to come in if you don’t mind. I know you have a plane to catch in the morning, and I wouldn’t want to keep you up late,” he said, trying to keep the desire, the deep feeling of arousal, out of his voice.
“No, I don’t mind,” she said softly, opening the door.
As soon as Gabe stepped into her apartment, into the soft glow of lighting that filled her living room, he picked up her scent which was already embedded in his nostrils. Now inside her apartment, her scent was more prevalent. This was the place where she came home from work each day, to eat, to sleep, to bathe. This was her space, and he intended to invade it real good tonight.
“What would you like?”
Her question caught Gabe’s attention, and he met her gaze. In all this thirty-two years, he was quite sure he had never wanted a woman as much as he wanted the one standing before him. But he knew that he had to stick to his goal. He didn’t want a night with her; he wanted a whole lifetime. He blinked at the thought, taken aback by what he’d just decided. But then when a man loved a woman, he thought such things. The key with him would be to convince the woman that he was worth loving.
“Gabe?”
“Yes.”
“I asked if there was something you wanted or did you want to talk?”
Gabe leaned against the closed door. He found himself smiling at her question. And since she’d asked …
“No, Sage, I don’t want to talk, and yes, there is something I’d like, something that I want.”
Sage swallowed, knowing the answer to her next question, but she found herself asking anyway. “What?”
“You.”
For a full minute Sage didn’t say anything. There was nothing she could say. He had every right to want her, especially after the past few weeks. Unselfishly, on five different occasions, he had brought her to the pinnacles of total fulfillment with orgasms so strong, so potent, so unlike anything she’d ever experienced that even now the thought of them was making her tremble inside. And each time that he had fulfilled her needs, his own had gone unsatisfied.
He’d been determined to keep his word to her, determined to prove he could be trusted. A part of her knew that trust was no longer an issue between them. In a way, it never had been. There had been something about Gabe that had let her know from the first that he was a man who wouldn’t take advantage of her and her feelings. He was a man who proved to her that he would put her well-being before his own. He’d done exactly that over the past weeks.
She was woman enough to know that sexual pleasures should work both ways; yet for him they hadn’t, and it was time to put his torment to an end. It was the first time she would try seducing a man, and Sage hoped she did it right.
“Tonight is usually my pamper-yourself night,” she said softly, as a whirlpool of desire erupted in her stomach with the intensity of Gabe’s gaze.
“A pamper-yourself night?” he asked huskily, pushing himself away from the door to come and stand within a few feet of her.
“Yes, it’s a night that I pamper myself. I usually take a long, leisurely soak in the tub with lit vanilla candles all around and soft music playing in the background.”
He nodded, then flicked a quick glance at the door that led to her bedroom and master bath. “Don’t let me stop you. Go ahead and enjoy yourself. I’ll sit and wait out here for you.”
Sage took a step toward him. “Or you can join me.”
Gabe considered it for a moment, the full extent of her invitation. He was a man who could take only so much, and would have to be made of stone to join her in a bath and not make love to her. Did she not know what she was asking of him? Did she not think there were limitations to their madness? Evidently, she didn’t. He intended to push a lot of her buttons tonight, but they were buttons he knew he could push and still maintain control. She was asking for the impossible, and like he’d told her on several occasions, he was no angel.
“Thanks, but I’ll wait for you.”
She nodded. “If that’s what you prefer.”
He wanted to tell her it wasn’t what he preferred but that he had no choice. The decision was the best one to make for the both of them.
“If you change your mind, I’ll be right through that door,” she said, pointing to her bedroom. “Make yourself at home. I’ll be back later.”
With a walk that had his full attention, astounded, he watched as Sage crossed the room to disappear into her bedroom. Rubbing a hand down his face, he wondered if he had literally lost his mind. She was getting naked in the other room, and here he was, standing in her living room with an erection the size of Texas.
Deciding to do something, anything, whatever he could, to pass the time away, he walked over to the television and turned it on. He tried to ignore the sound of her moving around her bedroom, the scent of vanilla candles being lit that filled the air and the soft sound of the music the television couldn’t even drown out. Then when everything in the room suddenly went pitch black, except for the glow of candlelight that cast shadows of flickering light in the living room, Gabe knew he was in trouble.
Deep trouble.
Sage leaned against the back of the tub that was filled with bubble bath. She closed her eyes, not wanting to think about her trip to Dallas tomorrow. She wanted to concentrate only on the present, which included the man in her living room. If he was still in her living room.
She was hoping that he was following the candlelight to her bathroom. It would be just the way she had fantasized that day in her office when she’d thought of taking a bath with Gabe standing in the shadows watching her. She took a deep breath and forced herself to think positively. Gabe was a man, and men had certain needs. He couldn’t last much longer.
Over the past two weeks she’d had to rethink her positi
on about wanting to share a relationship without sex. Maybe for another couple sleeping together now was too soon, but for her and Gabe it made perfect sense. She smiled, not believing she felt that way. Never in a thousand years would she have thought she could feel comfortable sharing herself with a man she’d known only for a few months, although they had actually met seven months ago. But there was something about her and Gabe’s relationship that wasn’t normal. It seemed they weren’t destined to take things at the pace most people took them. The sexual chemistry between them was too volatile, almost explosive, too plain old hot. And to top that off, she felt comfortable with him and the trust she had placed in him.
But then she had also discovered there was more to their relationship than just the sexual aspect of it. She enjoyed doing things with him, spending time with him, talking with him, working with him. It seemed that she and Gabe were a good combination, a solid match on all levels.
Sage slowly opened her eyes when she heard the sound of footsteps. She held her breath as she felt her body beginning to stir with anticipation, with wanting, with desire. She turned her head and locked her gaze on the doorway.
She stared for endless seconds before he finally appeared. The sight of him took her breath away. He had removed his suit jacket and had pulled his dress shirt from the waist of his pants. He didn’t have any shoes on his feet, but he still had on silk socks. He looked sensuously comfortable, and at the same time laid-back. The multitude of emotions in his dark gaze said it all.
He still wanted her.
“I forgot to mention that I have a remote in here that controls all the lighting in the apartment,” she said quietly, holding his gaze and explaining why the apartment had gone totally black. “On pamper-yourself night, the only light I want is candlelight.”
He leaned in the doorway. “Evidently,” he said slowly, not taking his eyes off of her.
Not wanting him to see too much too soon, Sage eased her body a little beneath the bubbles. Nervously, she darted her tongue out to moisten her lips. Big mistake, she thought, when Gabe’s attention was drawn to her tongue.
She cleared her throat and placed her attention on his sexy-as-sin appearance. “Do you plan to take a bath with me?” she found the courage to ask, ready to take things to the next level. Especially with the ache between her legs intensifying in slow, tormenting degrees.
Still holding her gaze, he slowly walked into the room and rolled up his shirtsleeves to his elbows. “No, I’m not going to take a bath with you, but I intend to kiss you, touch you and taste you all over.”
Sage watched his approach, and the only thing she could think of saying while her heart beat rapidly in her chest was, “Oh, my.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Gabe released a long, stirring breath as he glanced down. His gaze swept over the enticing womanly body submerged beneath a ton of bubbles. Sage wasn’t letting him see anything just yet, which wasn’t such a bad idea. If he was to see her now, naked and wet, he would lose control, and he couldn’t do that.
He closed his eyes for a second, trying to get his bearings, maintain what little control he did have and remember his promise, his word, and he intended to keep it someway, somehow.
“Gabe, I’m ready to get out of the tub now.”
Sage’s words made him open his eyes. He met her gaze and immediately knew that for some reason, she wasn’t going to make tonight easy for him. She would intentionally push him to the limit. Why? Was she counting on him not keeping his word so she could claim a reason not to trust him, which would make her walking away after tomorrow that much easier, that much more convenient?
He tightened his hands into fists at his sides. No, his thoughts couldn’t go there. He refused to let them. He couldn’t start doubting her or the ground they had covered over the past weeks. Her decision to become an enticing vamp tonight had nothing to do with seeing her ex-fiancé tomorrow. He had to believe in his mind as well as his heart that one didn’t have anything to do with the other. So whatever plan she had in mind for them tonight, he had to keep his cool, let her take it to the heights he would allow it to go and make sure in the end, no matter what, they didn’t make love … although, he thought, smiling, what he had in mind was penetration of a different kind.
“Gabe?”
His smile widened. She wouldn’t have to call his name a third time. Grabbing a huge velour towel off the rack, he held her gaze as she slowly began standing.
He sucked in his breath, almost forgetting to breathe. She was a mind-blowing vision rising from the bubbles, with tiny rivulets of water coursing down her body. Standing tall, naked, wet and sudsy, she was the most beautiful and the most desirable woman he had ever seen.
He couldn’t help but take a moment to appreciate what he saw. Everything. Every single curve, indention, hollow, body part. Nothing was missed during his scan of her body. Nothing.
Stifling a groan, his gaze lowered and made contact with that part of her he wanted desperately, but couldn’t have yet. But boy, did he want it. When he saw her tremble, he reached out his hand to help her out of the tub. She was getting cold, and it was time to dry her off.
“I can do it,” she said quietly, reaching for the towel when she stood on the floor mat in front of him.
“No, let me,” he said softly. “I want to do it.”
With trust in the depths of her eyes, she nodded and gave herself to his ministrations. Sucking in another deep breath, Gabe began drying off the water from her body, deliberately lingering in certain places, stroking her, patting her wet skin, flesh that felt hot to his fingers through the thickness of the towel. He moved the towel over her shoulders, past her breasts, down to her stomach, hips and thighs, deliberately saving the best spot for last.
He slowly began kneeling, patting her legs dry, parting her knees and drying between them, going lower and drying her ankles and liking the way the gold chain looked around her left ankle, and thinking her polished toes looked sexy, too.
Raising his head, he came eye level to that part of her he had to resist … up to a point. He lifted his gaze to hers, wanting to see her reaction to what he was about to do. Her eyes went wide, and her lips parted in surprise. He could tell by her expression this was completely new and an alien form of love-making for her. This would be her first time, but he had no intentions of making it her last.
But he wanted to handle it in the right way. He wanted her comfortable with it. Dropping the towel, he began using his hand and reached out and began stroking the soft skin of her stomach, and each time he stroked, his fingers slowly moved lower and lower at the same time he leaned closer. Then he began using the air from his lungs to blow her dry. Up close and definitely personal and with the same force one would use to blow out a hundred candles on a birthday cake, he watched, torturously so, as her body became dry in a very special spot with him as her personal blow-dryer. Her womanly scent surrounded him, filled his nostrils, his mind and his heart. She smelled of vanilla, a result of the candles and bubble bath she’d used. He glanced up. Her eyes were closed and her breathing ragged, and she’d placed her hands on his shoulders for support. Inhaling deeply, he breathed in her scent and dipped his head for the exquisite taste he knew awaited him.
Sage came fully awake, rolled to her back and stared up at the ceiling. She clutched her pillow to a very naked body and released a deep moan as hot, tantalizing memories flooded her mind. Once again Gabe had pleasured her beyond belief, unselfishly and without reservations.
And while she had slept from sexual exhaustion, he had left and not received anything in return.
Nothing she had tried doing had pushed him beyond the limits of control. Instead, he’d concentrated on giving her intense pleasure. He had used his mouth to savor every part of her body, every texture. He’d taken the words kiss, touch and taste to entirely different levels than anyone she knew. Even now her body was tingling all over just thinking about all that he had done.
And still they hadn’t m
ade love.
Gritting her teeth, she smacked the pillows into the mattress. Gabe Blackwell had given her pleasure for the last time without letting her reciprocate. When she saw him again, he’d better be ready, because she had a thing or two to show him, and the next time she would be the one in charge.
* * *
Cold water cascaded down Gabe’s body as he stood in the shower and wondered how many of these he could take. Tonight it had been hard to leave Sage, after tasting her from head to toe.
He closed his eyes and rested his head against the back of the shower wall. The scent of her would be forever embedded in his nostrils, and the taste of her would always be implanted on his tongue. Everything, every part of her, had been exquisite.
The woman was made for him. He knew it, and he believed that she was beginning to realize it as well. A part of him tried not to think about what she would be doing in Dallas. He had to believe that Friday evening when he called her, she would be back in Anchorage and would want to see him.
Deciding it was time to get out of the shower before he caught pneumonia, he stepped out and began drying himself off. If anyone had told him he would have endured all of this torture in the name of love and trust, he would not have believed them.
He heard the sound of Christopher moving around in the kitchen. His best friend had one more day to spend in Anchorage before leaving to return to Detroit and to his wife and child.
Wife and child.
Gabe shook his head and groaned. He couldn’t even begin to think of a future with Sage until he first let her confront her past.
Sage stood at the hotel’s reception counter and glanced around the lobby of the place where she would be staying for the night. The weather in Texas was hot, definitely a lot different from Anchorage. She checked her watch. She had agreed to meet Erol at four. That would be just enough time for her to get to her room, unpack, shower and change into something else.
Perfect Fit Page 20
