Bound, Branded, & Brazen (20 page)

“What?”

She shook her head. “Nothing. You’re just . . . different.”

His lips curled. “Is that a bad thing?”

“No. Trust me, it’s not a bad thing.”

“Good. Then come lay down next to me and look at the stars.”

She situated herself on her back next to him and stared at the clear night sky. “I haven’t done this since I was a kid.”

“You should do it more often.”

She probably should. She’d forgotten how awe-inspiring the night sky was, especially out here in the country where no city lights dimmed the darkness and the awesome cosmos could shine down on them in all its glory. Gage was right. She hadn’t appreciated this as a child. Whenever she looked up in the city, street and building lights masked the stars. Out here, nothing did. She lifted her arm and traced the Big and Little Dipper with her fingertip, then scanned the constellations to locate her favorite star systems.

She was so lost in stargazing that it was awhile before she realized Gage had stopped speaking. She turned her head and found him on his side, his head propped in his hand, staring at her.

“You’re supposed to be looking at the stars, not me.”

“I did look at the stars. Now I’m looking at you.”

“Well, stop it.”

He traced her cheek with one finger, and chills popped out on her skin.

“You don’t like when men pay attention to you.”

“That’s not true.”

He shifted, scooting over toward her. He raised up and loomed over her, planting one hand on each side of her ribcage. “Is that right? So me leaning over you like this doesn’t bother you?”

Oh, it bothered her plenty. But not in the way he thought. “No.”

He moved again, this time straddling her, his crotch aligned with hers. He held his weight off her with the powerful muscles of his arms and thighs. But his body on top of her was so intimate she could barely breathe. Her skirt had ridden up her thighs, and if he shifted just a little more, he could be rubbing all that delicious denim against her panties. She got wet just thinking about it.

“How about this? Does this bother you?”

She was finding it hard to breathe. Sexual arousal got in the way of all her synapses firing correctly. “No.”

“Just ‘no’? That’s all you have to say?”

Her heart pounded, her breasts felt full and achy. She wanted Gage to touch them, to lift her top and fit his mouth around the throbbing buds. Did he really want to have a conversation with her now? Couldn’t he read her breathy signals?

“What’s wrong, Brea?” He leaned forward, captured her wrists in his hands and moved her arms to her sides. “This bother you?”

“No.” She’d squeaked the word out, all she was capable of now. Her entire body, including her tongue, felt swollen, thick with desire and need.

“Is there something you want?”

Why was he torturing her like this? Couldn’t he tell? Her bra was flimsy, and so was the top. She was sure her hard nipples were poking through, her arousal evident for him to see.

Gage had a firm hold on her wrists, but she knew he’d let go of her if she asked. And for some reason him holding her like this, his weight on her, was so damn exciting. She felt his erection, knew he was affected, too, and that stimulated her even more. Unable to resist her body’s primal instincts, she lifted her hips, searching for that intimate male-to-female contact.

“I like that, Brea. Do it again.”

Why was it so easy for him to say exactly what was on his mind, and so difficult for her to put voice to her own needs? She lifted, rocking her pelvis against him.

He leaned toward her, his breath washing over her face. “That makes my dick hard.”

He spread his body over hers, and now she could really feel his cock, hot and hard, pressing insistently against her. He nudged her legs apart so his shaft wedged between her legs, right at the sweet spot of her pussy. She let out a moan and he surged against her.

“Like that?”

“Yes.”

“Want more?”

“Yes.”

“Then tell me what you see happening between us tonight, Brea.”

dear god. gage wanted her to spell it out for him?
Wasn’t it obvious? They were body-to-body, though still fully clothed. He could rectify that easily enough. Or they could do it without taking their clothes off. At this point she didn’t much care. She just wanted to feel him inside her. She tried to shift, to spread her legs, to give him a subtle—or maybe not so subtle—message, but he had her effectively pinned to the ground.

He shook his head, his blue eyes boring into her. “Not with your body, honey. Tell me what you want. Say it.”

“Isn’t it obvious?”

“To my dick? Yeah. But I think you need a few lessons in self-esteem.”

She rolled her eyes. “Really. And what made you decide there’s anything wrong with my self-esteem?”

He let go of her wrists and brushed his hand over her hair. “Your eyes have a wounded look. When you’re around men, you draw your shoulders toward your chest and almost shrink inside yourself. And you avert your gaze and look at the ground like you consider yourself unworthy of a man’s attention.”

She gaped at him like he’d grown two heads. “How long have you been watching me?”

“Since the first day you got here.”

“You make it a point to study women’s body language and eyes?”

“No. Just yours. And I can tell a woman who’s been hurt by men before. You have.”

She opened her mouth to object, but he pressed his finger over her lips. “Don’t bother to deny it, Brea.”

Okay, so she wouldn’t. And fine, so he’d read her signals all too clear. It was a little disconcerting to discover she was so transparent. Or maybe she wasn’t and Gage was just more adept at reading women—at reading her—than any other man she’d met. “Why do you care?”

He smiled down at her. “Because a woman deserves to be cherished. She deserves to be treated like she’s the most special creature a man has ever met. And if you haven’t been, then it’s damn time someone gave you the power you deserve.”

She snorted. “Women don’t have the power.”

“Oh, that’s where you’re wrong, darlin’. Ain’t no woman alive who doesn’t have power over a man.”

“How do you figure that?”

He rolled to the side and fisted her skirt with one hand, drawing it up her thighs.

With his free hand, he slid his palm over her sex. Heat lightning shot between her legs and she melted right there.

“Because you have this,” he said, pressing his palm lightly against her pussy. “And a man will fall to his knees and do whatever you want just so he can have it.”

He slid his fingers under the fabric of her panties, his touch a bare whisper over her flesh. She shuddered at the contact, was so close to orgasm already it was embarrassing. She gripped his shoulders and arched her pelvis against his hand.

“Now. Tell me what you want, Brea, and I’ll give it to you.”

She wanted his hand right there, doing exactly what he was doing. She wanted his mouth covering her sex, licking her until she screamed. She wanted him to rip away her panties to shove his cock inside her. She wanted him to fuck her hard. And then even harder. But she couldn’t form the words, could only fight to retain control before she tunneled off into oblivion.

“No. Don’t think them. Tell me. I want to know exactly what you’re thinking about.”

She swallowed—God, her throat was parched—and took a deep breath, nervous as hell about uttering these words to a man for the first time.

“I want you to make me come, Gage.”

His lips lifted in that smile that made her turn to melted butter. “Good. How do you want me to make you come?”

“First with your hand. Then with your mouth. And then I want you to—”

“Go ahead. You can say anything you want to me. Do you know when you tell me what you want it gets me hot?”

“I want you to rip my panties off and fuck me.”

Now it was his turn to suck in a deep breath. “Oh hell yeah. I like the sound of that.” He slid his hand back and forth, using light and easy motions, coating his fingers with her moisture. “You want me to fuck you easy or hard?”

She dug her nails into his arm, hardly aware of her own sanity as his fingers danced magic across her clit. “Hard. Really hard.”

“Make you scream kind of hard?”

Her belly did flip-flops hearing him say it. She tightened her grip on his shoulders. “Yes.”

“Then let’s get to it.”

Molten heat burned her, took her ever closer to the edge as he slid his finger inside her and pumped while he used the heel of his hand to glide against her clit.

“You’re a beautiful woman, Brea, your body is made for sex. I can feel you clench around my fingers. You’re wet and hot and you’re body’s crying out to come.”

And then he kissed her, that same blistering kind of kiss he’d given her the night before, the one that made her believe he could take possession of a woman and she’d beg him for more. She whimpered against his mouth as he continued to do magical things with his hand and fingers, never once letting up. That and his sinfully sexy words were all it took to send her crashing into a climax. She cried out and arched her butt off the blanket to drive herself closer to his hand as waves of pleasure catapulted through her.

Gage covered her lips with his, absorbing her cries, swirling his thumb around her clit while she rode an orgasm that could only be described as the best she’d ever had. And still, his finger lingered inside her. Her pussy continued to spasm around his finger until the pulses grew light and easy, just like her breathing. Clarity returned bit by bit. He drew his lips from hers, smiled down at her. She lost herself in the incredible beauty of his mesmerizing eyes.

“Now that was sweet, Brea. Nice to see you all warmed up for my mouth. You ready for it?”

And just like that, heat and desire and need swelled inside her. She wasn’t used to this. “But what about you?”

“There’s plenty of time for me. This is all about you right now. Just lay back and enjoy my mouth on you.”

She shivered, though the night was still plenty warm. She couldn’t believe she’d just come, cried out, bucking in Gage’s arms here in the outdoors. And now he was lazily drawing her skirt up over her hips, kissing her thighs, raking his fingers down her legs and back up again, then teasing her by kissing her belly.

She leaned up on her elbows, wanting to watch everything he did. The man was too beautiful for words. What was he doing with someone like her? There were girls in town built like centerfolds or models who’d be more than willing to give a hot guy like Gage a ride.

“Brea.”

“Yes?”

“What are you thinking about?”

“Nothing.” She couldn’t tell him.

“I want you thinking about the fact that I’m about to go down on you. How good that’s going to feel. And nothing else. Got it?”

She swallowed. “Got it.”

“Good.” He gave her a lazy half smile, then teased his tongue over her panties, his hot breath ruffling the silk against her sensitive tissues. She started to lift so he could take her panties off, but he pressed her hips back down to the blanket.

And then he put his mouth over her sex. She felt his wet tongue right through her panties, the warm melting sensation of her own response, her body drifting in some sort of state between relaxed and tense, where all she felt was his mouth, his tongue and the incredible sensations he evoked. Soon she was nothing but liquid limbs, spreading her legs to give him more access. He tucked his fingers under her panties, teasing her flesh by running his fingertips over her pussy lips while he sucked on her clit. The sensations were maddening. She wanted to feel his mouth on her without the silk barrier, yet she couldn’t deny the sensuous torture ramped her up inch by delicious inch.

And then he pulled her panties aside and covered her sex with his mouth, his tongue drawing lazy circles around her clit—teasing, but not yet hitting the sweet spot. She arched against him, craving the contact. He only hummed against her, which further tightened her need. He had to hold her down because she wanted to lift against his mouth, to slide against his tongue, anything to draw closer to the heat and wetness of his mouth.

She was close again, so embarrassingly close to orgasm after just experiencing one of monumental proportions. Maybe it was the man, or the location, or a combination of both. And maybe it was the masterful way he seemed to know her body, to know exactly where to lick her, to move his fingers, to give her the sensory experience that would take her right to the edge and hold her there as if she were suspended in space, hovering, waiting for the moment when he pressed his tongue flat against her engorged, throbbing clit at the same time he slid two fingers inside her pussy.

She was watching him, and feeling it all at the same time, and it was all too much. His fingers buried deep inside her, pumping away, his tongue pressed hard against her clit, drawing circles around the taut bud as if he knew exactly what it would do to her.

She shattered, reaching down to hold his face right there, rocking against him with wild abandon as she cried out, this orgasm even more intense than the first. She felt like she’d never come before, as if this was the very first time she’d had an orgasm. She felt it in her muscles, in her bones, in her nerve endings, shooting out from her toes all the way to the ends of her hair, leaving her shaking all over.

And then Gage was there, his face hovering over hers. He kissed her, and she tasted the tart sweetness of her own come on his mouth. She’d never done that before—never knew it would excite her to taste herself on a man’s lips. She held his head between her hands and licked his lips, loving that he groaned, that the muscles of his body tightened against her. She felt the rough slide of his denim-clad shaft rubbing against her and wanted him inside her so badly she could hardly stand to wait any longer.