Angels & Assassins: BWWM Romance

by K. Alex Walker

  She’d cried when she lost her mother. She’d cried when she realized that, with each passing day, she was also losing him. She’d cried when he’d resented his disability to the point of anger and took it out on her by streaming objects across the room at her head. Then she’d nearly bawled herself into a fit when she’d found him, pale and unmoving with sediment caked around his mouth, in the driveway. It was the night she’d mentally prepared herself to be an orphan, and that night had come back to her when she’d spotted Gage.

  It seemed so long ago that her life had been normal, nuanced only by a handful of sticky notes that she’d mistakenly deemed harmless. She tried to wrap her head around the workings of the universe and the odds that a man like Gage, a man who’d stepped in to claim protection over her life, would show up before she even knew she needed him. Now she needed nothing more than to get away from this place, to try to get a grasp of normalcy and to be cocooned by the anonymity of a large city.

  “Tayler?”

  His voice, although soothing, didn’t stop the tears. So many tears. She was terrified, a feeling that she’d hoped to only ever encounter in her dreams.

  He pushed open the door and shame prevented her from meeting his eyes. Next to her, she felt the ruffle of jeans over her skin. Automatically, she moved over to give him more room in the tub. His lips went to her forehead, cheeks, and fingertips. He pulled her onto his lap, holding her as close as she needed to be and showing her warmth in a moment when she’d never known more cold. Then he spoke, reassuring and sure, “I called Mo. We’ll leave tonight.”

  She cried harder. He held tighter.

  -10-

  A massive structure awaited them at the end of a long, paved road, its architecture boxy and modern with large windows. It had all clean lines with virtually no curves, and hugging the shiny, lighted driveway were garages whose doors were also made of clear glass. Strategically placed columns and dark trim made the openness of the house seem less obtrusive. A long stairway was inset by double front doors made of a heavy brown wood. Not even in the moments when her imagination was its most active could she have ever conjured this up.

  She tilted her head toward Gage. “Property…investing?”

  The car came to a stop in the middle of the driveway. “More or less,” he answered. “Of course there’s more money in commercial properties and land, but you can still make a decent haul in residential if you ever decide to take that route.”

  He hopped out and Tayler followed, looking around for the butler that would come out and collect the bags. Instead, Gage pulled the luggage from the trunk, rapped on the car twice when he was done, and the black luxury vehicle that had been waiting for them on a private tarmac pulled away. They’d left Ares with Mo for the night so that she could take him to get a quick follow-up evaluation by a vet friend of hers. She’d fallen in love with him instantly and promised to bring him by once everything was finished the next day.

  “No butler?” Tayler asked, reaching for the only two bags that Gage had allowed her to bring.

  “I’ll take these in,” he said, picking up the bags himself. “Let’s go inside so that I can show you where you’ll be sleeping.”

  “It won’t be with you?” Traveling to the other side of the country meant that she no longer had to have him right next to her in bed, but that didn’t mean that the need for safety hadn’t manifested into a different type of need. One that placed him dead center in every aspect of her life.

  The bright, open floor plan struck her the minute she walked inside. Travertine floors soared from end to end—if she could call twenty-foot glass dribbling over into an outdoor space decked out with a swimming pool and elegant furniture, an end. The room appeared continuous, welcoming in the infinite reach of the Pacific Ocean and captivating mountain views.

  They climbed a floating staircase encased by a balustrade made of stainless steel. She wanted to yell about that, a loud, “Oh my God, stainless steel” which would have been the most accurate depiction of her zeal. But, she kept her lips shut and alternated between running her gaze over the architecture like fingertips, and the lines of Gage’s back as he walked ahead of her.

  They entered a room that was all black, white, and grey. More of the large windows were dispersed throughout and dark flooring added an unexpected, yet exquisite touch of warmth. A king-sized bed at the head of the room was set against headboards that matched the floors. Recessed lighting in the ceiling twinkled like starlight. The room was purposefully masculine, but it was still a design that she would have loved in her own bedroom.

  “Is this where I’ll be staying?” She walked to the glass doors separating the room from an upstairs deck area. The doors suddenly opened, the mechanism reminiscent of the bellows of an accordion. When she turned around, Gage was pointing a remote controller in her direction.

  “Yes,” he answered.

  “This room is lovely. Where will you be staying?”

  He angled his head in confusion. “Here.”

  “In the same room?”

  “Isn’t that what you just said? That you thought we’d be sleeping in the same room? Did I get that wrong?”

  “I was kidding about that.”

  His confusion carved deep lines into his face. “Oh. Well then, let me show you to the room I was originally going to take you to.”

  “No need. I’ll stay here with you.”

  He paused as though piecing everything together, then dropped his shoulders and took the bag over to a row of drawers that had been built into the wall.

  He took out the few articles of clothing that she’d been allowed to bring and placed them neatly inside. When he was finished, he tucked the suitcase away in an alcove that, from the suits lining the walls, appeared to be the closet.

  She met him halfway on his stride over to her and wrapped her arms around his midsection. He didn’t freeze or tense up, which meant that he was getting accustomed to her random gestures of affection. She wished for the chance to hold him and feel that sense of security forever.

  Forever?

  She knew that she liked Gage, and in a perfect world, there would be more to their relationship. But forever was a long time. If her mind had thrust that word into the mix so effortlessly, it forced her to wonder if her feelings were truly simple infatuation or if they were growing deeper. If she was falling for him.

  “Thank you, Gage,” she said, tightening her grasp and waiting for the moment he would become uncomfortable, lock his muscles, and gently peel her away. Her body grew warmer as he wrapped her up in a mirrored embrace.

  “You’re welcome, Tayler, but you don’t have to keep thanking me.”

  “I’ll stop once you stop doing me favors.”

  “Bringing you here wasn’t my doing you a favor. That would imply that I get nothing out of the arrangement.”

  Her head tilted up. “What are you getting out of the arrangement?”

  “Seeing you safe. Seeing you happy.” He gently touched the side of her face. “The first time I saw you, you looked so at peace. That’s why I told you to pack light. I don’t want you to worry about anything while you’re here so that you can get that back. That relaxed look. It does something…something to your eyes.”

  “What does it do to my eyes?” she asked.

  His finger traced her eyelid. “Everything.”

  The bed was so close. He felt wonderful pressed against her. She wanted his lips and his hands, his chest and his—

  The feeling of his mouth interrupted her thoughts, and something inside of her erupted. She snaked her fingers into his hair and put everything into the kiss, hoping that he could sense how much she wanted him. How much she needed their bodies joined at their closest points. The only thing her heart was missing were talons and wings, it soared so high.

  His lips traveled down to her neck, and she suddenly felt nothing beneath her feet as he lifted her into the air. Her legs automatically went around his waist, and his tongue carved a warm path from h
er neck down to her chest. She curved her back to push her breasts up toward his mouth, but he’d already stopped.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked on the edge of a breath. His eyes met hers, and she could see the fight against his desire in their jeweled depths.

  “This isn’t why I brought you here, Tayler.”

  Of all the times he would choose to be noble.

  She touched their lips together in soft, successive pecks. “I…want…you…Gage…Wolfe.”

  He groaned and his grip tightened nearly to the point of pain against her skin. He slipped his tongue between her lips and she circled her hands beneath his arms, gripping his shoulders. He lowered her slightly so that she could feel his desire, and she moved her hips against him, giving him the confirmation he needed. The next thing she felt was the plush mattress against her back while he hovered over her, then his lips as they found hers in what she hoped would be one of many times that night.

  He planted his hands on either side of her body. The heat coming off of his skin enveloped her. The man was squeezing her heart until she bled into his veins. Tonight might have been all about sex for him, but in her mind, they were making love. As he lowered his head to her top and grazed his teeth against her nipples—she loved when he played with her nipples—he was hers alone, even if just for one night. It didn’t matter what that meant: friend, protector, lover. Tonight, not even a sharp jab of reality could tear her from his grasp.

  Her shirt came up over her head. He flicked his wrist and snapped off her bra. The wind coming through the patio doors bathed her nipples in balmy, California heat. He lowered his mouth to her breasts, letting his breath tease her nipples firm. He touched his tongue to the bud and flicked, and her body responded with electric jolt that traveled down her belly toward her center.

  “No, don’t tease me,” she pleaded, gripping a section of his hair to push his mouth closer to her breast.

  His tongue traced her areola. “Not teasing. Savoring.”

  His hand covered her other sensitive nipple, which was already pebbled as though it had been the one at the center of attention. His thumb and tongue then began a tortuous, erotic dance that caused her hips to lift and press against his belt buckle. His tongue was firm, lapping at her breast until she cried his name and felt her clit swell. Hot arousal bathed her walls and pleasure rippled from the bottom of her feet, escaping in gasps between her lips. Her lids shut, but she forced them open to look down at the way his mouth moved against her…the way he savored.

  He feasted on her nipples, moving between the two peaks before pushing them together and running his tongue from one to the other, circling and nibbling with each pass. She sucked air through her teeth, amazed at the feelings such a gentle, rapid motion could give.

  He released her breasts and sat back on his knees to tug off her pants. The grating fabric over her smooth legs and thighs was magnificent, and she watched him watch it come down, seemingly taken with the way her curves were released with its descent.

  He cupped her between her thighs and stroked where she’d begun to seep through. All of the years she’d spent putting off and breaking dates because of her work schedule had left her as a fulcrum, dangling between abject loneliness at night and the independence that came with being single. As Gage’s fingers found her entrance, her legs parted wider, and she realized how crazy it had been to go without for as long as she had.

  She brought her foot to the seam of his zipper and her toes trailed the thick bulge until she stopped at his tip sitting against his thigh. She throbbed in preparation of his girth. It would happen this time. She needed him.

  His knuckle pressed against her entrance. Her teeth sank into the inside portion of her bottom lip, nearly drawing blood. Her lids closed again and this time she couldn’t help but leave them there. She needed to close off as many of her senses as possible to fully appreciate all that was happening.

  “Teasing,” she said in a voice too ragged to truly be her own.

  “No,” he replied. “I’m savoring you.”

  Suddenly, she felt the ridges of his tongue against her wet clit. The finger inside of her was still probing, but his tongue was now tasting, lapping, and feasting between her thighs, sucking at her like a morsel. Greedily demanding her pleasure and sanity.

  “Gage…so good. So damn good, baby.”

  He groaned at the sound of his name, and his tongue flicked impossibly faster against the tip of her clit. He probed her walls with his fingers as he licked. Sucked. Licked again. She could no longer tell. The sensations all merged into one.

  She nearly tugged every last strand of hair out of his head as release built somewhere inside her. She both yearned and despised it, needed it, but didn’t want him to stop.

  Her eyes rolled back to the whites. Her lungs squeezed for air. A maelstrom began somewhere inside of her before exploding in needle points of ecstasy along the length of her body, settling in a comfortable, ethereal warmth that spread through the breadth of her pulsing sex. Her walls clamped his fingers, rippling the sensation into the longest orgasm she’d ever experienced.

  As the rhythmic movements inside of her began to quell, she felt him back away. Heard him shrug out of his clothes. But when the hardness of his body didn’t find hers, she opened her eyes. Not this again. She couldn’t take this again.

  He was standing at the bottom edge of the bed, naked and as chiseled as an ancient Greek statue. He was staring at her like he always did, right through her and as though there was nothing else in the room worth looking at.

  “What’s on your mind?” she asked. “And if you say you don’t know, I’m going to kick you.”

  His smile was slow. Sexy. His accent slipped out again, deeper than she’d ever before heard it.

  “Still don’t know where you came from. It’s like you fell from the sky.”

  “So I’m an angel now?”

  He climbed onto the bed and ran the head of his cock along the length of her opening. She heard tearing foil, felt him move away, and then felt his head again, this time with a bit more pressure.

  “Maybe.”

  He entered her slowly. Inch by tantalizing inch, ridge by agonizing ridge, growing thicker from tip to base.

  She pressed her heels into his back to speed him up, but he resisted. Her mind was completely useless. The only organ that currently still worked was in his complete control.

  When he’d finally fitted himself as deep as he could go, she cried out and he moved forward to bite her bottom lip. He slipped his tongue into her mouth, and their tongues tangled in a sensual duel that left her dangling off the edge of something new and amazing.

  “Maybe,” he repeated, moving his hips away from hers in the same slow motion. The combination of his size and her inadvertent abstinence yielded to the kind of ache that slowly dissolved when his hips fitted against hers again, then drew away only to return with the same deliberate, controlled force.

  She tilted her hips so that she could take him deeper, and he tossed his head back and hissed as he plunged further inside her tight sheath. Her fingernails grated his back. His forehead met hers. The words that spilled out of her mouth came without hesitation or embarrassment.

  “Stay, Gage. Stay with me.”

  She repeated her declaration, each one of his thrusts punctuating the request as they became harder and deeper.

  Her body tensed as her orgasm built. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and neck, pulling him closer. He sensed the impending explosion that she knew would consume her and fucked her harder.

  The world went white and silent. Her legs locked around his back. Spasmodic waves darted somewhere deep inside of her body and around her clit. If her eyes had been closed, she would’ve been convinced that she’d been draped with a wool blanket.

  “Just how I pictured you’d come,” his voice rumbled.

  She laughed, breathless. Then she realized that he was still hard inside of her.

  He began to move, the motion t
hrowing her right back into the build of orgasm. How her body could already be priming for another one, she had no idea. But the tingle in her clit started, more intense than the last.

  She clamped her walls around his shaft and he hissed again, this time with a sharp fuck and deep groan.

  The tingle spiked. She had no idea what he was doing to her, but if it was a competition, she was about to come in dead last…or first.

  “Shit, Tayler…you feel…” His words came out almost as though he’d been trying to keep them in, and it kindled something inside of her that was a few seconds away from engulfing her in another wave of bliss.

  Her legs latched onto him and she erupted, her cries on the tail end of screams. He continued to stroke until she felt him at his hardest inside of her, heard the long deep moan of his conclusion, felt the molten surge of his liquid satisfaction and his throbbing shaft beating against her walls.

  Then he kissed her, a gentle peck on the lips completely contradictory to the sounds he’d made deep in his throat. His heart thundered against her ribcage, and he relaxed into the feeling of her lips on his skin. After a few silent moments, she felt him slip from her body and the sharp, cold displacement of his chest. It was quickly replaced as he palmed her thighs.

  “I want more of you,” he said, followed by the sound of tearing foil. “And more of you.” His thumb was on her clit. “And even more of you.”

  Then, he was inside of her again, as hard as before.

  *****

  Tayler’s muscles felt as though she’d just run a marathon. Between her legs throbbed with the kind of ache that had made her question whether or not she was crazy when she’d felt Gage pressing into her for the umpteenth time in the middle of the night, then sliding deeper than any man had ever been. She’d felt like a raving lunatic when she’d let him press her stomach and breasts against the headboard while he’d pumped into her until the bed pulled away from the wall. Then, he’d covered her hands with his in the simplest and sweetest of gestures to protect her knuckles from banging against the wall.