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“Oh my God, Gage,” she exclaimed, panting hard. “That was amazing! Oh God...I don’t think I’ve ever come so hard.”
He smiled and rolled to his back on the carpet, completely spent. It was several moments before either could speak coherently. She joined him on the floor and lay next to him. He tucked her under his arm and they remained like that for several long moments before she spoke. “Being here with you is like heaven,” she said softly, interlacing her fingers with his. “Even though it will kill me to leave...I’m glad I came.”
He kissed her forehead and sighed. “Me too.”
He just tried not to think of what would come with the dawn.
***
Elise was warm and sated lying against Gage. For a wild moment she entertained the thought of simply staying, of saying goodbye to her old life and letting the chips fall where they may. But then she cringed when she pictured the conversation with their parents, how her stepfather would look disgusted and her mother would pale. There simply was no polite and safe way to admit that you’ve been in love with your step-brother since the minute he entered your life. The drama, the tears, the accusations of betrayal, not to mention the stigma...Elise simply couldn’t risk it.
Not even for Gage.
“We should shower,” she suggested as Gage’s seed was dribbling from her body and drying to her skin. Not that she minded terribly, in a perverse way she enjoyed having his essence on her body. Somehow it felt like they belonged to one another for as long as their fluids mingled.
“All right,” he said, slowly rising to his feet, holding his hand out to her. “But only if I get to scrub your body.”
“Deal,” she said, grinning.
She held his hand as they walked to his expansive bedroom and when he flicked the light, bathing the room with light, she sucked in a wild breath at the luxury. A California King platform bed dominated the room with masculine accents throughout the room, but beside his bed, right alongside his alarm clock was a framed picture of her. It wasn’t recent; in fact, it was the picture he took of her at her high school graduation. Her secret smile told a story, one only she and him had known.
Her gaze found his. It was difficult to chastise him for holding onto such an obvious memento because it warmed her in places that had felt frozen for far too long. Instead she smiled and said, “You need a more recent photo.”
“This one is special to me.”
She smiled, almost identically to the one in the photo. “Me too.” She gestured to the bathroom. “Shall we...?”
His stare devoured her and a flush of anticipation raced across her skin. She suspected it would be difficult to keep their hands to the task of washing when they both wanted to touch and feel every inch of each other’s body.
They showered slowly, washing with gentle hands that explored and rediscovered and after a quick fuck against the shower wall, they emerged exhausted but squeaky clean. A yawn escaped and she climbed into his huge bed without reservation, as if they’d always shared a bed together and this was simply their routine.
His eyes told her he approved and he slid into the bed with her. He spooned her naked body and pressed tiny kisses along the nape of her neck. She was so tired but she felt his cock twitch as if wanting to play. She grinned and pressed her backside against him to torture him. “Sleep, baby,” she instructed him playfully and then yawned again.
“I don’t want to sleep. The morning will come too quickly if I do.”
She sobered. “Then hold me all night while I dream.”
“Dream of me.”
“Always.” She sighed.
Elise slept soundly and when she woke, Gage was still crashed out, sleeping like the dead. She gazed at him for a long moment, memorizing every line so that when she closed her eyes at night, she would see him. Scott and Gage were worlds apart. She half suspected that was the true attraction she felt for Scott. She’d never be able to replace Gage, so she wouldn’t even try. But Scott was a good provider, kind and gentle. He’d make a wonderful father and a faithful husband. A woman could do a lot worse.
But he wasn’t Gage.
She traced the faint frown line from Gage’s forehead, smiling at how innocent he managed to appear in slumber. The clock read six a.m. She would have to leave soon. But first...
She maneuvered beneath the covers and quietly sucked his soft cock into her mouth. Within seconds, it began to stiffen against her tongue. He groaned in his sleep and thrust against her mouth. She smiled around the cock in her mouth and began to suck harder. The heat beneath the blanket became intolerable and she paused only long enough to toss the covers from their bodies. She glanced up at Gage and found him smiling hazily at her with sleepy eyes. “Hey gorgeous,” he murmured, closing his eyes as her mouth found his cock again. He moaned as she worked his cock, sliding up and down until he was groaning and jerking his hips against her. She teased the head, then worked the shaft, as her palm worked in tandem with her mouth. She loved the taste and feel of him. She wanted to feel him spill across her tongue and taste his cream sliding down her throat. She wanted his essence to be a part of her. “E-elise!” he cried out, spurting hot, thick loads of his cream into her mouth until she gulped his seed down in great, greedy swallows. She lovingly sucked him dry, delighting in the way his body spasmed and jerked with the aftershocks of his orgasm, and once he was finished, she climbed his body and planted her hot, needy core right on his face.
“Eat me, baby,” she crooned, exclaiming wildly with the first flick of his tongue against her clit. She ground her pussy against him as he clutched her ass cheeks, holding her to his mouth. Her release came quickly and within minutes, she was shuddering as wave after wave crested over her. She reluctantly lifted off Gage and sighed as she climbed from the bed.
“Where are you going?” he asked, a note of trepidation in his tone.
She turned. “I have to get ready to leave.”
“Not yet,” he said, holding his hand out to her. “Just a few more minutes.”
She relented and returned to the bed, cuddling up to him as if it were the most natural thing in the world. The heaviness of their thoughts squatted on the happiness in the air around them but neither spoke. Words weren’t necessary, really. What could be said that hadn’t been said already? Neither saw the logic in beating a dead horse and their mutual silence reflected that shared understanding.
“If he ever treats you wrong...I’ll be there for you,” he promised solemnly.
“I know.”
“If he ever hurts you...”
“He won’t,” she countered softly.
“I love you, Elise,” he said, his voice cracking.
“I love you, too Gage.” She squeezed her eyes shut to prevent the tears. When she could safely open them again, she forced herself to say, “I want you to find someone you can love freely. Someone you can have children with and grow old with. You deserve that happiness, Gage. It will break my heart to know that you have denied yourself these things because of me.”
“There is no one but you,” he said bleakly.
“For now. But there will come a time when that will change. At least I hope that it will. I want you to be happy. That is my wish and my desire, my love.”
“You will always be first in my heart.”
Elise stomped on the selfish joy that fluttered in her heart at his admission. He deserved the same happiness as she. Elise took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I feel the same,” she admitted. “But we can’t live in that world. Promise me you will find someone.” He shuddered, as if the thought was an anathema to him but she persisted. “Don’t break my heart, Gage. Don’t make me hate myself for succumbing to my desire for you fifteen years ago. I don’t want to believe that the memory of us together ruined your life. Please!”
His arms tightened around her. “Don’t cry,” he said hoarsely, pressing a hard kiss against her crown. “I’d do anything you ask. I swear it.”
She sagged against him, relieve a
nd broken-hearted at the same time. She wanted him to move on, but the reality of it was, knowing he was going to actively try and forget her sent daggers through her heart. It’s what she wanted, though, right? Good God, saying and doing were two different things.
“Thank you,” she said, wiping at her eyes before lifting her face to his. “Now kiss me goodbye, my sweet brother.”
He gripped her tightly and kissed her as if his soul were dying. She felt his pain because it mirrored her own but it was the right decision. Of that, she was certain.
They both needed this closure to move on.
As much as it hurt.
As much as their hearts screamed the opposite.
Their love was forbidden.
And that would never change.
“I’ll never forget,” he whispered against her lips.
Her throat threatened to close. “Me neither.”
Gage slowly let her go and Elise dressed quietly. Gage called a cab and it arrived within minutes. He walked her to the door and knuckled her cheek. His eyes said everything and more. She smiled at the pain but resolutely walked away.
It was not their time.
Perhaps it had never been their time and they’d stolen what hadn’t belonged to them but Elise knew in her heart that it was time to close the chapter on this particular book in their lives.
And it was time to move on.
For the first time in years...Elise had closure.
A single tear oozed down her cheek as the cab pulled away.
She’d accomplished her goal: one night to say goodbye — one last kiss.
Even if it would take a lifetime to heal the rending in her heart.
Goodbye, sweet brother.
Goodbye.
#
Gage watched her go, knowing for certain Elise had taken his heart with her as she went. He could lie to her and say that he’d try and move on but if it hadn’t worked in fifteen years, he held no hope that it would suddenly work now. Her scent remained on his body, on his fingertips, branded on his soul — forgetting her would be as impossible as forgetting who he was at his core. Her happiness was paramount to him and so he’d succumbed to her request, against his better judgment. Hell, who was he kidding? He probably would’ve given her anything she asked without batting an eye.
But he’d been right when he told her that one night would be a mistake. It was not closure but an awakening of a desire that’d refused to die no matter how many layers he piled on top of it. There was no sating the soul-deep hunger that gnawed on his heart like a ravenous beast with rabid tendencies. He wanted her like he needed air to live. She was going to marry another man — face it, he told himself.
Let her go, a voice whispered.
Impossible.
He and Elise belonged together.
And if anything, the last twelve hours had proven that.
Now, he just had to prove it to Elise before she made the biggest mistake of her life.
— Author’s Note —
Dear Reader,
When I wrote this short story I was amazed by the pull I felt toward these characters and it wasn’t until recently that a reader told me that I should consider expanding their story for a longer read. I took that suggestion to heart and I’ve rebranded the story with a fresh new cover and close to 2,000 more words to the original story. I’ve also left it open to an even bigger story, if the readers would like to see what happens with Elise and Gage.
