Gage: A Love Under the Lights Novel

by Paige, Rochelle

  “I’ll do my best not to make another headline without giving you fair warning first,” Gage conceded with a chuckle. “I’ll be spending the rest of tonight taking Morgan everywhere she needs to go. We can talk tomorrow.”

  The warmth of Gage’s hand against the lower portion of my back made it hard for me to concentrate. I kept flashing back to the moment outside of the pressroom doors when we’d kissed for what absolutely hadn’t been a long enough time. My body was still humming from that small amount of contact. It was also busy reminding me of how incredible it felt to be naked in a bed with Gage. In the grand scheme of things, it had only been a week since we’d made love, but it felt like an eternity.

  Within a minute of Mario and Howard leaving, I felt someone jabbing at my left arm. I grinned as I turned, knowing from the annoying bam-bam-bam of it that it was Allie.

  “Hey—”

  “Yeah, hey,” she said with a little laugh-snort. “Girl, you’re national news right now and not only because you just won an Oscar.”

  I cringed. “How bad is it?”

  “Scale of one to ten?” she asked.

  I nodded.

  “Twenty-two,” she answered, totally deadpan.

  “Shit,” I sighed. “Really?”

  “In the past ten minutes, I’ve watched the footage of you two kissing your way into the press junket no fewer than forty times. You’re breaking news on CNN right now.”

  Gage slid his hand from my back to my waist, where he gave me an encouraging squeeze.

  “It’ll be okay, beautiful. We’ll deal with the paparazzi together. I’m sure we’ll be old news in a hot minute.”

  Allie and I exchanged dubious looks. Gage wasn’t just some guy. He was Gage freaking Ryan, for God’s sake. All around the world people were seeing news alerts that he’d used the B word—as in boyfriend. The story wasn’t going to blow over easily. Even though I’d known when we went public that the press would have a field day, I hadn’t realized that it would be worldwide news. Then again, I hadn’t planned on us being caught making out two seconds after I won an Oscar, so there was that.

  Regardless, whatever happened, I’d be going through it with him at my side. That being the case, I knew I’d be okay. I was momentarily diverted from thinking about myself when I spotted Vaughn Corbett coming toward us.

  “Gage, my man,” he said as he stopped next to Allie. “I just saw the footage of you in the pressroom. Are we getting a new addition to the casino night crew?”

  Gage laughed as he ran his hand up and down my side. “She’ll be with me, but I’m not going to force her to participate if she doesn’t want to,” he answered before looking back at me. “Do you play casino games, beautiful?”

  “Like poker?”

  He nodded. “We do regular poker, dart poker, roulette, and dice.”

  “I like to think I’m good with cards, but I’m not great with roulette, and I’ve never played dart poker, so there’ll be a learning curve there.”

  Gage grinned down at me. “I’ll teach you everything you need to know,” he said huskily. I fell into some kind of trance as I stared into his eyes for countless seconds. I could tell he was just as lost in me as I was in him.

  He smiled as he leaned in and kissed me softly, the tip of his tongue teasing against the seam of my lips for a second before I opened them. He pulled me in closer and deepened the kiss. I leaned into him, a happy sound erupting from my throat as I learned the addicting taste of him. When he lifted his head, I stared up at him with a dopey smile, wishing we could kiss forever.

  “You’re really good at that,” I murmured.

  “It’s all you, Morgan.”

  My smile turned to a wince when my left arm protested the position I had it in.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked immediately.

  “I’ve always heard this thing wasn’t light, but I had no idea it’d start to weigh down on me the way it is.”

  Gage laughed as he reached over and took it from me.

  “I’ve got you covered.”

  Suddenly, it dawned on me that we’d been mid-conversation with Vaughn when we’d broken off into a kissing session. Blushing furiously, I looked back his way, only to find that he and Allie weren’t paying even one bit of attention to me and Gage. Instead, he was leaning in to talk to her, his forehead almost against hers as they whispered back and forth.

  I was wide-eyed when I looked over at Gage, who seemed just as surprised as me. My gaze narrowed when I turned my attention back to Allie and Vaughn, and the pieces started coming together. He’d been pretty weird on the red carpet when we’d first walked up, but I hadn’t any clue why. Now that I was connecting the dots, I realized Allie only started acting like a nut after we left Vaughn’s area.

  “Huh,” I mused aloud.

  Allie turned my way, blushing furiously as she did. We exchanged a silent look that was a world of BFF conversation in a fraction of an instant. Yeah, she was into Vaughn. I couldn’t wait for a chance to have girl talk with her.

  “When are you guys leaving for the Vanity Fair party?” Vaughn asked.

  Gage looked around, assessing the situation. “About ninety minutes,” he said. “Morgan is starving, and Wolfgang’s food is nothing to sneeze at. I’ll get her fed and make sure she gets a bunch of photos with Gloria. Why?”

  “I told my director from tonight’s show that he’s free to use my limo anytime he wants to leave. I figured I’d hitch a ride with someone else. Allie tells me she’s going wherever Morgan goes. Mind if I catch a ride with you guys?”

  “Not at all,” Gage assured him. “You wanna sit at my table with us? I have my usual six-seater reserved at the back of the room.”

  I noticed that Allie looked thrilled when Vaughn nodded.

  “Perfect,” Vaughn answered. “I could definitely go for some food. Wish it was larger than bite size, but beggars can’t be choosers.”

  It took more than ten minutes to make our way through a labyrinth of celebrities, all of whom wanted to congratulate me and say hello to Gage and Vaughn. By the time we got to the table, my cheeks hurt from smiling so much and my eyes were still seeing cell phone camera flashes. Everywhere I looked, people were staring at us with unabashed interest. Most made no real effort to contain their surprise, not that I could blame them.

  I gritted my teeth when I saw Kerri Anderson glaring at me. Her Oscar night outfit was worse than her Golden Globes dress had been, which was one hell of a feat. She was in a strapless, red velvet pant suit that was so skintight it did nothing to hide her nipples or her insane camel toe. And just to make it clear that the toe showing wasn’t an oopsie, she had a big heart-shaped diamond placed right in the middle. The sides of the outfit were done in red lace, and across the ass of the pants was a set of huge diamond-encrusted lips. Seeing who I was looking at, Allie leaned in and told me that word was the diamonds were real. Typical. The girl was so tacky it was ridiculous. Her shoes had diamonds and rubies floating in the four-inch heel, the heart-shaped earrings she wore were so large they weighed her earlobes down, and her décolleté and arms were covered with thousands of tiny crystals. Her hair was platinum blond, swept up and covered in what seemed like hundreds of tiny ruby colored crystals. She might’ve been able to be seen from space, but it wasn’t a good look. Untroubled by the way she was glaring at me, I twinkled my fingers at her. The middle one may have stayed up for an extra half a second.

  Luckily, my attention was quickly drawn away from her because we’d arrived at our table. I was overjoyed to find that Gloria, Dane, Garrett, and Shaelyn were seated at the table connecting to ours. Not long after we sat down, we were joined by the current People Magazine sexiest man alive choice, Liam Hall. He’d been on the scene for about six years and already had three Oscars under his belt, two supporting actor and one lead actor. Hollywood was oddly small, and everyone knew everyone else somehow. It turned out that Liam lived across the street from Gage while Vaughn lived a few blocks away in the same development


  I enjoyed how fun and relaxed our group was. I snuck bites of food in—delicious, but super small, just as Vaughn had said—as people came and went from our table. I’d taken what felt like hundreds of photos, but I knew there were more to come at the Vanity Fair party. We left an hour or so later, the silence in the limo almost deafening on the heels of the above normal volume at the Governors Ball.

  Vaughn had made arrangements to go with us, but at the last minute, low and behold, his limo turned up right behind ours. Not wanting to “waste” it, he asked Allie to ride with him to the Vanity Fair party. I barely held in my inelegant snort of disbelief at that one. Seeing how happy Allie was about being alone with him meant I was thrilled with the change in plans.

  More than that, I was delighted to finally have a few quiet minutes alone with Gage. The second the driver pulled away from the curb, Gage had me in his arms. I linked my fingers behind his neck and watched in wonder as his lips descended toward mine.

  “God, baby,” he groaned so close to me that I could feel the warmth of his breath against my lips. “You have no idea how much I want you right now. I’ve been insane without you.”

  “I missed you, too,” I whispered.

  “Now that I’ve officially declared you mine, I get to kiss you whenever I want,” he rasped. He gave me a quick grin before he took my breath away with a kiss that melted my brain, my panties, and my entire body in one fell swoop.

  Best. Night. Ever. And it wasn’t over yet.

  Twenty-Two

  Gage

  As we pulled up at the Vanity Fair party, I seriously considered telling the driver to head straight to my house instead of stopping. Kissing Morgan in the back of the limo during the short ride over wasn’t nearly enough after missing her for a week. But she’d earned her first Oscar tonight, and this party was a rite of passage she’d regret missing later on—even if I gave her plenty of orgasms to make up for it. Which I still would, just later than I wanted.

  Sliding closer to the door, I laced my fingers through Morgan’s, and asked, “Are you ready for this?”

  “Heck, yeah!” She flashed me a big grin and squeezed my hand. “I’m looking forward to walking the red carpet with you by my side and an Oscar in my hand.”

  “Then let’s get you out there, beautiful.”

  After the door opened, I climbed out and turned to help Morgan from the car. She practically glowed with excitement as the cameras recorded every step we took.

  “Gage! Morgan! Can we get a kiss for the cameras?”

  “Morgan! How did you manage to snag Hollywood’s hottest bachelor?”

  “Gage! How long has this been going on? Are you the mystery man from Morgan’s trip to Georgia?”

  “Morgan! Did you skip the dress change because you wanted more time with Gage?”

  Morgan glanced over her shoulder and called out, “Who needs a different dress when you’ve got your boyfriend—who used to be Hollywood’s hottest bachelor until you snagged him—on your arm?!”

  The crowd went wild, and I knew clips of Morgan’s answer were already being uploaded to social media and news outlets as we walked away. “That was fucking perfect,” I murmured.

  “You’re not mad?” she asked softly, her gaze darting up to scan my face for any sign that I was pissed about what she’d just done.

  “Not at all, beautiful,” I reassured her. “A little bit of humor won’t hurt while everyone’s already busy talking about our relationship.”

  “Phew! For a minute there, I was worried that the first thing I did as your girlfriend was mess things up.”

  I trailed my fingers up her back, stroking the bare skin that her dress left exposed and making her shiver. “Feel free to stake your claim because I’ll be doing the same with you.”

  “Yeah, I think you already did that with the hickey that was spotted from miles away.” Her plump lips curved up in a tiny grin, and her blue eyes sparkled with humor.

  I dipped my head low and skimmed my lips over the shell of her ear. “I didn’t hear you complaining about it when my mouth was on your neck and my cock was pounding deep into your pussy.”

  “Alrighty then,” Allie laughed, wrapping her hand around Morgan’s wrist and tugging her away from me. “No way am I going to ask what you just said to my bestie that has her blushing like a virgin at prom, but I am going to steal her away so we can grab an In-N-Out burger.”

  “I could eat a burger,” Vaughn chimed in from only a couple of steps away from Allie. His bow tie looked a little askew, and I was pretty sure that Allie’s hair didn’t look the same as it had when we’d headed out for the Vanity Fair party. Not that I could judge, since Morgan and I had done more than our fair share of kissing on the way over.

  “C’mon! I totally need to snap a pic of you munching on a burger while you’re holding your Oscar,” Allie urged as she dragged Morgan deeper into the party. When we reached the area where the burgers were being served, her attention shifted to me. “Aha! And I guarantee it’ll go viral if you’re in the picture, too.”

  I went along with the plan, even going so far as to playfully take a bite out of Morgan’s burger at one point, which made her burst into delighted laughter. After swallowing, I turned to Allie. “I’m going to need a copy of that one.”

  She nodded in agreement. “Yeah, you really are.”

  “This really is the best night ever,” Morgan sighed as she finished off the last of the burger and drained her glass of champagne.

  “It’s about to get better,” I promised, tugging her toward the back room where they had the dance floor set up.

  Having her body close as we danced was a definite improvement although I’d much prefer to be moving together naked in my bed. But she was having too much fun for me to suggest we cut out early, and it wasn’t like it was a hardship since I got to hold my woman close.

  We were only one song into dancing when the music shifted to something fast and the couple to our right almost bumped into Morgan. I quickly swung her out of their way right as a long arm stretched out to help block us. Glancing up, I spotted Kael Stewart. The former Navy SEAL was newer to the Hollywood scene, pulled into it when he fell in love with Chloe Porter while protecting her from a crazed stalker.

  I jerked my chin up in greeting and smiled. “Thanks for the save.”

  “No problem.” He pulled Chloe close and added, “Us guys have to stick together to keep our women safe.”

  Chloe laughed softly and rolled her eyes. “Even if it’s just from a couple of light bumps on the dance floor.”

  “From anything and everything, baby,” Kael promised as he lowered his head to give his wife a kiss.

  “They’re so perfect together,” Morgan whispered.

  Cupping her face with my hands, I brushed my lips over hers. “If anyone’s the perfect couple tonight, it’s us.”

  She giggled and I twirled her around, having a sigh of relief when the music slowed down again on the next song. About an hour later, I spotted Kerri Anderson glaring at Morgan from across the room. She was standing by herself, wearing an outfit that was better suited to standing at one of the corners on Western Avenue than the Vanity Fair party. Remembering the shit she’d had to say at the Golden Globes, it had to be eating her up that Morgan had won an Oscar tonight. “It’s too bad Kerri Anderson isn’t wearing green.”

  “Huh?” Morgan lifted her head from my shoulder and peered up at me in confusion.

  I twirled her around until she had a good view of where Kerrie was standing and explained, “I can smell her jealousy from here.”

  Morgan just shook her head and smiled. “I’ve got you and an Oscar; I don’t have it in me to worry about what she’s jealous of.”

  “I like the way you think.” I pulled her closer and groaned when her tits pressed against my chest. “Hell, I like everything about you.”

  She tilted her head back, her blue eyes filling with desire. “It’s a good thing you do since there are no take backs on the w
hole boyfriend announcement thing.”

  The man I’d been before Morgan would’ve been searching for the nearest exit the second the photographers caught us kissing, but she’d changed me. “I have no interest in finding a way out of our relationship.”

  “You better not,” she mock growled before lifting her lips to mine for a quick kiss.

  “Why don’t you two lovebirds head out?” Allie interrupted us to offer, “I’m sure I can find a ride home.”

  Considering how close Vaughn had stuck to her all night, I figured she was right. Shooting my friend a quick glance, I jerked my head in Allie’s direction. When he nodded in response, I asked Morgan, “Are you ready to leave? Or did you want to stay longer?”

  “I’m good to go.” She flashed Allie and Vaughn a quick grin before lowering her voice and adding, “I think it’s about time we celebrated my win in private.”

  I had plenty of ideas for how we could do that, naked and christening as many rooms as we could at my house. After a quick goodbye to our friends, we left the party and hopped into the limo that was waiting out front for us. As soon as we pulled away from the curb and the tinted windows hid us from prying eyes, I lifted Morgan off the seat and settled her on my lap. Her pussy pressed against the straining bulge in my tuxedo pants, and her tits looked like they were about ready to spill out of her dress. “Did I remember to tell you how fucking gorgeous you look tonight?”

  “I’m pretty sure you did,” she whispered as she twined her arms around my neck and leaned closer. “But I certainly don’t mind hearing it again.”

  I slid one of my palms up from her ass to trail my fingers down her plunging neckline. “Whoever dressed you tonight did a great job, but this dress is going to look a hell of a lot better on my bedroom floor.”

  “Please, please, please let it be late enough that the traffic isn’t horrible,” she chanted.

  “I’m not gonna wait that long to get my mouth on you,” I rasped before plunging my hand into the soft curls at the back of her head and pulling her mouth closer to mine. I nibbled at her lips, and when they parted, my tongue swept inside. It didn’t take long for our kisses to turn hot and heavy, and the need continued to build inside me. When it reached the point where I was seriously considering stripping her out of her gown and pinning her to the seat, I ripped my mouth away from hers and peered out the window. Spotting the neighborhood next to mine, I heaved a deep sigh of relief and lifted Morgan off my lap.