He cupped her chin and lifted her face. “Why?”
“I have makeup everywhere and I’m all muddy and—”
“And you’re still gorgeous.” He took her hand. “Stop running, Chloe. Let go so we can fall together.”
She didn’t know exactly what he meant, but he took her several yards away from the house and down a small hill as the rain pounded on their shoulders. When they reached the crest, he tugged her with him and slid down the muddy hill.
She screamed and laughed, and Gage was right there with her.
He rolled over to face her, covered in mud and grinning ear to ear. “See, dirty isn’t so bad.”
“Maybe you’re right.” She scooped up a big handful of mud and slapped it on his cheek.
“Oh, you’re going to pay for that, sweetheart.” He smeared mud on her thigh.
“Oh, it’s on now,” she said and leaped on him.
He hit his back on a thick patch of grass. She straddled him, but instead of searching for mud, she gripped his shirt and kissed him hard. The thick scent of rain and grass surrounded them. Her clothes were plastered to her body, and she wanted to peel them off and feel his skin.
The heat was too much to bear. It burned up every ounce of willpower she had. She wanted—needed—to feel him closer. Experience him again, because he was better than any roller coaster and gave her an incomparable adrenaline rush.
Gage caught on real quick and kissed her back. There in the sopping grass, she tugged on his shirt, and he hiked up her skirt. His hands slapped against her ass and flecks of water tickled her skin as he ground her body against his.
“Is this still reality or fantasy?” He pulled her bottom lip into his mouth.
“Both,” she murmured. She floated somewhere between the ground and sky, between emotions and lust. She couldn’t stop, and she didn’t want to—she needed him.
He ran his hands from her thighs, up her back, and then cupped her neck. He tilted her head and kissed her hard. Plunged deep to taste her, worked her lips with his powerful tongue. He relaxed further into the grass, grinding against her and sampling every inch of her mouth. His every muscle was straining and taut beneath her. The ridge of his hard cock pulsed between her legs while his biceps and abs flexed and cut out of his skin.
He was fighting something within himself. She sensed it. Felt it. As if content with having her stay right there with him, while also fighting the urge to push. But push for what? Push her for more? Or push her away?
She slowed her kiss, ready to ask if what she was reading from his body was right, but he didn’t let her get a fraction from his mouth before he yanked her back.
“Don’t move away from me. Not tonight.”
“What’s happening, Gage?” she asked. Because something was happening. With him. With her heart. With their relationship.
“I’ll have to leave at some point.”
“I know,” she whispered against his mouth. He had missions to go on. But he held her like maybe he’d come back. Like he’d just travel for work for a few days and that was it. Not the end of the world surely. Or maybe she was reading into his hold on her. Maybe she wanted him to stay more than she’d realized.
“You’re here now,” she offered.
“Yes, and this is where I want to be.”
That was all she needed to hear. Gage wanted to be here. With her. That was something, right?
Chloe nodded and found his mouth with hers once more. She wasted no time unfastening his pants. Keeping his hot kiss on her, he reached between their bodies, grabbed a condom from his pocket, and slid it on. She couldn’t wait any longer. She was starved for him, and he wanted her, too. Wanted her to stay.
“Gage,” she whispered. She moved her panties aside and surged down on him, hard and fast and dirty.
So dirty, and she loved every single second.
“Fuck, baby, yes,” he groaned. With one arm wrapped around her middle and fusing her to his body, the other reached up and yanked down the top of her dress. Cool rain pelted her sensitive breasts, hitting her nipples and beading them so hard she moaned.
“Don’t you dare stop.” He pulled her down even further on top of him until her breasts bobbed above his face. He latched on, sucking the entire peak into his mouth. She gripped the grass on either side of his head and bore down. Rocking back and forth in hard, distinct thrusts, keeping him deep while hitting every internal nerve.
“Stop?” She whipped her hips again. “I’m just getting started.”
He grinned and bit her nipple gently. She gasped—the sting of his teeth and the rain pelting her skin lit her up like a bolt of lightning hitting the ocean.
Her knees dug into the soft wet ground as she moved over him. She shifted her hips to take him deeper. Everything fell away when she ground down so hard the tiny bundle of nerves pressed against his pelvis and his cock rubbed that perfect spot inside.
“Oh God.” She whipped her hips again. “Oh yes, right there.”
“Making yourself come on me already, sweetheart?” He gave a final kiss to her breasts, then threaded his hand in the back of her hair, bringing her face to face until the tips of their noses touched. “Do it. Use me to make yourself come. Let me feel it.”
She was helpless not to. He was giving her power to take him. Use him. Feel him. And she would. Because reality or fantasy, she had him right now. All his strength and power was under her, and she was clinging to it. To him.
Her inner walls tightened, her stomach fluttered and tensed as thick lava climbed her spine…
“Thatta girl. I feel you. You’re right there. So fuckin’ sexy, sweetheart.”
His dark rasp was all it took to kick her release over the edge. Her body cracked and popped with an orgasm so intense it felt like she’d been shot from a cannon. Over and over she gripped him, seeking more but on the brink of too much.
This right here, as he looked into her eyes and they moved in sync, this was more real than ever before. This was the connection she’d been running from for so long—and now that she’d had a taste, would anything less be enough?
He growled her name and lifted her up, spinning her and pushing her back against the ground. Blades of grass scratched her skin while Gage’s hot flesh pressed against her front. His massive body mostly shielded her from the downpour, and his dark eyes practically glowed in the night, like a predator. Like a man on the brink of devouring her.
“Don’t you dare stop,” she said, repeating his command to her. She bit his ear as she threw her hips up to take his length in and out of her. “This is what I’ve wanted.” She grabbed his ass, digging her nails in, and he groaned to the sky.
“You make it hurt,” he said, so much pleasure lining his voice.
“So do you.”
“Do you like it as much as I do?” He thrust hard back inside her.
“Yes…maybe more.”
“Impossible,” he whispered into her hair, then kissed her. His wet chin scraped against hers and the prickle of him taking up every inch of her body was consuming.
In and out he took her, each surge inside more powerful than the last. He drove his arms beneath her shoulders and wrapped her in a hug, clutching tight as he worked faster and faster.
She gasped his name as another release spired through her body like pop rocks in soda. He held her so tight that she thought he might never let her go.
“Chloe…there’s got to be a way.” He groaned as his body stiffened, and he gripped her even tighter as his release flooded him. He shuddered against her.
There’s got to be a way?
What was he getting at? Was he saying there must be a way for them to be together? To make this work? To date?
She wasn’t sure, but as his strong chest rose over her, she knew no matter what was possible, reality always won out.
As they caught their breath, she opened her eyes to rain crashing down on them. This wasn’t a fantasy. This was real. And she had no idea how to get out.