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“Yeah, I really am,” I sigh, letting my eyes roam over his handsome face. He’s so big and strong that I don’t feel nearly as big.
I love his beard. It’s new, as it the slightly longer dark brown hair on top of his head, but I can definitely still see the military training in him with the shaved sides. He might be wearing all black right now, but the flannel I’m still wearing would look incredible wrapped tight around his thick muscles. I can’t wait to see his home, especially if it’s really on a mountain. I could totally see him as a mountain man. Well, a better-groomed mountain man at least.
His deep green eyes darken as he stares at my lips, and I can’t stop the moan that falls when he drops a real kiss on them, his hands cupping my face. It sends shockwaves entirely through my body and I lick them when he pulls back, unable to help but smile. “Take me home?”
“Try and stop me now, baby, you won’t get an inch from my side before I have you over my shoulder to steal you away,” he says, warming me despite the chill that accosts us when we get outside.
His car is parked in the drop off lot and we quickly reach it. My stomach grumbles as he helps me inside, and he grabs the bag of snacks we bought at the store. He gave Sam and Jess a couple hundred dollars so they could get food after going through security, since we all declined stopping somewhere else after the store. The girls were anxious to see when they could get on a flight, and I just want to get to Gage’s. I know I’m safe next to him, but there’s something that’s making me want to be in his home fast. Some part of me perhaps that’s scared something will happen to tear me away from him—especially now.
I give him a grin when he offers me one of the snack packs. It has little cheese cubes, cashews, and cranberries. I haven’t had them in years, but they were always my favorite snack, and I was super excited when he grabbed them for me after we got some stuff for Sam and Jess to take with them. Theirs was cracker sandwiches, jerky and some candy, while Gage grabbed these, some apples, peanut butter, and bananas for me.
“How did you know I loved these?” I ask, letting the various flavors dance on my tongue. “This, the apples, peanut butter and bananas…you didn’t even ask before grabbing them.”
“David,” he says, making me smile despite still feeling his loss—maybe even more now that I don’t have to worry about my crazy family and those nuts at the homestead any longer. “He got a kick out of your emails, so anytime we had apples and bananas in the mess, he’d snap a picture, telling us he was sending it to you because you’d be jealous, but then you’d likely send back that you had the good peanut butter and then he would be the jealous once again.”
“I’m really glad he had friends like you over there. I hated him being gone because Harvey was just…insane. If it weren’t for David, I think we’d have been out there a lot sooner.”
“Speaking of being out there, you told that manager about a crazy cult and selling you as a bride,” Gage says, glancing at me as we’re stopped in exiting traffic. “How much of that was real, Emery?”
A full sigh falls from me, and I turn a bit more to see his profile as he waits for his turn in the stream of cars. It’s far busier than I remember an airport ever being, but maybe it’s just this airport. I haven’t been on a plane in probably ten years, so it’s not like I have much experience.
“The cult stuff was real. That’s where Harvey took us after we got the news about David. The leader is some nut that’s created his own religion based on doomsday prepping. They’re strict about men and women not mixing unless they’re married, and only certain people can get married when he allows. I’ve tried to get the hell out of there since I turned eighteen, but they have it wired with cameras. There was no way out, and every time I tried, I got punished for it. Most of the punishment I didn’t care about getting. It just meant they weren’t going to ‘allow’ me to marry someone there. I’m guessing that’s why they allowed an outsider to take me,” I add feeling comforted when Gage’s jaw tightens in anger at my words.
I know it’s not for me, but those loons I’m now free of, and likely with Jonah but he’s gone and can’t hurt me. “They rarely let outsiders take brides. I was mildly excited that I was the one getting to leave there, and I plotted ways to get away from whoever it was as soon as possible. I didn’t have a clue what to expect when Jonah pushed me into the van, zip-tied my hands, and told me he’d just bought me, but he intended to sell me to get all his money back and more. That there was likely one of the men that would want a ‘fat’ virgin.”
“You are not fat, baby. Don’t you ever say that fucking word in relation to yourself with that connotation to me again, unless you want that sexy ass of yours spanked hard,” he growls. He literally growls and my underwear are so wet, they cling to my lips, while my nipples press hard against the flimsy bralette thing that was pretty much the best I could find at the store that would hold my boobs. “I don’t care if you’re just telling me what some other asshole said, you don’t ever say or think that word truly represent your gorgeous curves, you got me?”
“Should I say yes Gage, or yes sir?” I tease, smiling as he relaxes a bit, and it deepens when his tension falls as I slip my hand onto his shoulder.
“When my cock is buried deep in one of your holes, it’ll be yes sir,” he returns, his eyes meeting mine for a moment and holy shit, the throbbing between my legs just grows. His hand lifts mine from his shoulder, bringing it to his mouth and he presses a kiss to my palm that makes my thighs rub together to try and ease that throbbing. “Actually, let’s make that when any of me is inside or touching one of your holes, baby. I want to hear you telling me yes sir when I tell you to come for me while you’re riding my fingers, or licking them clean, telling me you love how good your pussy tastes.”
“Gage,” I moan as he gives my hand another kiss before returning it to my lap.
“Tell me the rest, while we head home. It’s about a two hour drive so we have the time,” he commands, and I tell him everything that’s happened recently, leading up to him finding me in that place.
He continues to ask questions, pulling more from me about the cult, its leader, and the things they made us do until we pull onto a side road that barely looks touched. “Welcome home, Emery,” he states, nodding forward and my jaw drops seeing the huge log and stone masterpiece we’re pulling up to.
“This is your house?” I ask, looking back to him certain it can’t be true. “I mean you said there were ski resorts around here, so is this one of them? Do you live at a resort?”
“No baby, this is all mine—ours now,” he corrects, hitting a button and a garage door opens, letting him pull inside before he turns off the car.
“Are you kidding me? How…I mean…you couldn’t have made that much while in the military to afford this, could you?” I finally fluster out as he opens my door, helping me down into the cool but definitely not close to freezing space.
“I invested my extra pay, didn’t spend much beyond food and things even when I was in the states. I got combat pay from several of the deployments I was sent on before your brother became part of our group. Together they left me with plenty of cash, but after I got back here, found you missing, I set up an online security slash investigation company. I used every trick I knew to try and find you, but I couldn’t find anything on you all, not even IRS filings from Harvey and your mom. I couldn’t buy that you all were dead, so I figured he’d taken you somewhere off the grid.”
“So the cult thing wasn’t too shocking,” I muse leaning my face into his palm as he cups my cheek again.
“Not on the surface no, the type yeah. I wouldn’t have thought Harvey would be messed up with any type of religion from the things I found out about him,” he says and my brow lifts curiously. “He had several accusations from neighbors that he talked to their teenage daughters too much, watched them, was being a Peeping Tom, but he usually moved on before the cops could question him.”
“That’s why you wanted to know how much time he spent with me?” I guess and he nods. “He said I was too…the words that’s not allowed all the time. Said I needed to lose weight and I’d be pretty long before we moved to that crazy place.”
“So he never touched you?” Gage asks and I shake my head no. “That’s the only thing that’s going to keep him breathing then.”
“I…he works as a ‘teacher’ at the school. Since he had a college degree the leader said he was qualified, but it was just a scam. They don’t teach you anything except how to prepare for the end of the world. Like that’d help me find a job beyond being a survival guide.”
“You don’t have to worry about a job at all, baby. Just need to answer me one thing,” he states, and I swear, his eyes are serious about the job thing, making my heart flutter again.
“What’s that?” I ask as his arm wraps around my waist, pulling me up against his hard body.
