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A sheen of sweat misted his skin. The room was warm from the morning sunshine hitting the glass as he kept up the slow, relentless rhythm that wouldn’t let her finish.
‘Memories taunted me for years and now I have you.’
She arched back, groaned. ‘I need.’
‘I know.’ And yet he didn’t relieve the ache, it only intensified. She chased the pressure, him grinding against her. His hand. Anything other than this torture. But he didn’t relent. ‘I’ll make you scream if you answer.’
Her body was wound so tight she thought she would tear apart. She trembled underneath him. ‘Anything,’ she panted. Closed her eyes because if she concentrated hard enough she might get there, with or without him. But he eased off even more and that delicious fall over the edge remained just out of reach.
‘How long?’ he murmured. She tried to ignore the question but she couldn’t as the sharp bite of pleasure went on and on. Gage leaned down and grazed his teeth on the shell of her ear. ‘How long has it been since someone’s touched you like this?’
Only him.
She shook now. Their bodies coming together but never enough for her. He knew what it took to get her over the edge, that hadn’t changed. Her body hadn’t learned anything different because he’d been her only lover. In her own guilty explorations after they’d parted, all she’d been able to think of had been him. She’d tried to imagine sex with anyone else, but no one other than Gage entered her fantasies. Now he was denying her and she didn’t care about secrets. All she wanted was him.
‘Don’t be afraid, cher.’
Tears burned her eyes and ran down her cheeks. Tears of frustration and need, sure, but more at the loss of this. All the years they’d missed.
She opened her eyes and he looked down at her, his gaze searching her face. His golden hair had fallen over his forehead and his eyes were intent, as if he could see everything like he’d used to—her hopes, dreams, fears. So many fears. And for a few moments she wanted to give him a truth so it could set her free. She’d stitch herself up with lies later.
‘Seven years.’
Seven long, lonely, devastating years. A look scudded across his face, a thousand thoughts hidden there, all of which were unreadable. Then he pulled away. She was left empty and aching.
‘No. That’s not—’
‘You promised,’ she sobbed.
He hesitated then kissed the middle of her chest, lingering over where her heart pounded. ‘And I keep my promises.’ He kissed her navel, trailed his tongue down lower, and lower. ‘I’ll look after you.’ His breath was a warm caress between her legs. He lingered for a few moments then dropped his head. ‘I always will.’
Gage stroked his tongue over the centre of her. That’s all it took to make her scream and lose herself in the promise she could never allow him to keep.
CHAPTER NINE
THE MORE THINGS appeared to have changed, the more Gage realised they’d stayed the same. Except life wasn’t imbued with the innocence of seven years ago. It had been tainted by something unknown, lurking in the shadows. A brooding monster he’d try to get to the bottom of, if Eve would let him.
She lay sleeping in his arms, where she’d been for a few hours now after turning his world on its head with one truth. Now he was frozen at the information she’d disclosed. Like a sliver of glass in the sole of his foot, the thought stabbed at him. Seven years. As if time hadn’t moved on for her at all. He’d thought she didn’t want him, that her trust fund or marriage to a society prince was all she’d sought, with him a toy along the way to play with. He’d been convinced that he wasn’t good enough, and yet in all that time there’d been no one else for her.
She could be lying, but he knew deep down that she wasn’t. The question was, why? He would get to the bottom of it, but telling him seemed to cost her a great deal so he allowed her a break, letting her sleep while his thoughts whirred. He couldn’t escape the realisation that the choice to reject him might not have been hers. What threats had been made against her? What had been done to turn their love into this twisted charade?
The burning heat of rage threatened to ignite in his gut. All this time. The wasted years. For what? And whoever was responsible, they’d pay. He’d get to the bottom of what happened, and then burn it all down.
Eve stirred. An elegant stretch of her body as she gently woke in his arms. Parts of him stirred with her. He could tell the moment she realised where she was. Her body, previously languid and soft, now stiffened and moved away from him. She looked at him, the barest of creases between her brows, her eyes watchful. He hated that, the uncertainty in them.
Once they’d been certain of each other. He craved that certainty again. He brushed a soft kiss over her lips and gloried in the pink flush that bloomed over her skin. He didn’t want to break the moment, but he needed answers. And he needed to ask the questions carefully. But Eve continued to distance herself from him.
‘When are we leaving for the US?’ she asked, her voice husky from sleep.
‘Keen to get home?’ Home. That word held a tantalising hint of what might have been between them. Building a haven against the world. What still could be, if he allowed himself to be honest...
‘America hasn’t been home for a long time.’ Eve’s fingers tortured the sheets. ‘No. I can’t get any information about my father. Mom and Veronique aren’t making any sense about what’s going on.’
It was as if someone had thrown a bucket of iced water over him. Gage resented mention of Hugo Chevalier entering the hallowed space of this shared bed. He breathed through the ever-present burn of anger that the man still had some malevolent power over Eve.
‘I’ll check flight arrangements. I’ve got some things to tie up in Mississippi first, before we head back to Seattle.’ Except every part of him railed against leaving here, a sickening knot in his gut only getting tighter. As if reality would intrude and nothing would be the same again.
She nodded, looking far away. ‘I should get up and—’
