Only for the Night (If Only Book 2) (28 page)

Sage’s eyelids snapped open when he grasped the flogger. “Hank,” she whispered, voice hoarse, “please.”

Not
please stop
; no, this was
please continue
.

“Shh, baby.” Gripping her hair, he brought her mouth to his. A deep, hot kiss grounded them both. “I’ll give you what you need, I promise.”

Sage seemed too dazed to respond, but the desperate plea in her gaze told him all he needed to know. He moved back behind her.

Eyeing V., Hank mimicked his friend’s stance. He gave the flogger a couple of experimental swings away from Sage, refamiliarizing himself with the weight and movement.
Easy, Hank.
Just like with the spanking, he lifted the flogger and gave it a light push toward Sage’s beautiful, waiting ass.

Swish. Snap.

Sage’s “yes!” reassured him.

Another swing.
Swish. Snap.
Another. Just like before, he set up a rhythm. Sage responded beautifully. Her body rocked back toward him, her breath starting to rush along with the flogging. Her swaying breasts caught his attention on the in swing, and when he moved up and lightened his touch along her back, he reached for the nearest tit and played with the nipple. Sage’s whine went high, frustration and need combined, when he moved back down her body.

Stepping around her became increasingly difficult as his own arousal grew. He cupped his erection, pressing hard to ease the ache as he switched between cheeks. The feeling brought a grunt to his lips.

Sage heard him, her own cry catching in her throat. She switched back to words. “Hank, please!” She arched her ass higher into the air, exposing her core. His next swing landed right above her pussy.

“Yes!”

This time she lifted onto her toes. The flogger landed directly on her wet center, and Sage’s cry went up an octave as her elbows gave way. The sound was the same one she made when she climaxed around him. Hank dropped the flogger in an instant. He had to know, had to—

Her vagina clenched madly around his seeking fingers as he shoved them inside. “Yes!” she cried again. He rode her hard, meeting her demand, her need, until her spasms lightened and her cries turned to shuddering groans. The sight of her, spent and fulfilled, acted like fire on his already raging hunger.

“Sage—”

He couldn’t ask; they hadn’t discussed full-on sex for tonight. But Sage seemed to sense what he needed.

“Take me, Sir, please.”

His hand went to the button of his jeans as he glanced over at V. and Jane. His eyebrows shot up. Okay, no problems with public sex there.

He shoved his zipper down, sheathed himself, and moved between Sage’s thighs a moment later.

At the feel of him against her tender ass, she let out a sigh of satisfaction and lowered her forehead to the couch. Careful not to rub her reddened skin, Hank pushed inside, and then it was he who groaned. She was wet, tight, gripping him as hard as he gripped her hair. Using his hold as leverage, he pulled her back onto his begging cock, released her, pulled her back. Before long he couldn’t control it anymore. He shoved into her over and over, all control lost. Sage didn’t mind, though—her cries went high again, up and up and up, and just before he reached the edge, she contracted around his cock and drove him over into insanity.

Heavy arms wrapped around her waist from behind, pulling her back against a broad, muscular chest. “Bear claws. My favorite.”

The familiar growl sent a tingle down Sage’s spine as she relaxed back against him. Hank had been asleep when she left at dawn. That husky tone in his voice told her he hadn’t been up long. She was getting very good at reading him, seeing beneath the surface. She was starting to rely on him. Surprisingly the fact didn’t make her want to run away anymore.

The creamy icing was right there in the bowl next to her hand, waiting, beckoning. She couldn’t resist. Didn’t want to. She swiped a finger across the sticky surface and brought it up blindly to Hank’s nose. A quick dab decorated him just like his favorite treats. “Good morning.”

His laugh rumbled through his chest and into her. Merry joined in from across the room. “Could you two get any cuter?” she asked with a wink.

Sage winked back, finger in her mouth to suck it clean.

“Hey now, that’s mine,” Hank complained.

Sage tilted her head back and to one side until she could meet his eyes, noticing he’d already cleared the icing from the tip of his nose. “There’s more where that came from.”

He had his mouth open to respond when Jill pushed through the swinging doors. Merry shushed Hank quickly, her smile teasing. “Quiet. Much more of that sexy stuff and you’ll scare the newbies.”

The look Jill flashed over at them didn’t seem scared;
envious
might be a better word. Sage didn’t blame her.

The handful of orders Jill flapped in the air caught their attention. “Here’s the latest batch.”

“Thanks, Jill.” Sage reached from beneath Hank’s arms for the small stack. When he refused to ease up, she wiggled inside her “shackles.” Hank’s grunt confirmed her rear had rubbed across the spot she’d intended.

Merry giggled. “Here, gimme those. Sage is occupied, obviously.” She shook her head at Hank. “Always trouble, that’s what you are.”

“Absolutely.” Hank was unashamed, and it showed. He curled around Sage, his head filling the space next to hers so he could nibble his way up her neck.

The swinging doors whooshed, announcing Jill’s exit. Sage turned in Hank’s arms. “I need to work.”

“I know.” He pushed her hair back to hook behind her ear. Baring her face. Her emotions. She wasn’t sure what he was looking for. Whatever he found caused the hard, ultra-masculine lines of his face to soften. “In a minute.”

He held her still, taking his time to bring their mouths together, to gift her with the taste of his kiss. His full lips brushed across hers, once, twice, and when she instinctively licked them, sugar and hot male spice registered on her tongue. Hank’s gaze went dark, too intense for her to handle, but her closed eyes made everything that much more intense. Hank’s grip hardened. His kiss became a conquering as he delved deep, molding them together, taking her over until his touch, his hold, his body and breath became her world.

When he finally drew back, she kept her eyes closed, savoring the moment, the burn his beard stubble had left on her skin, the throbbing of her lips, his taste on her tongue.

The hand on her hip disappeared. Sage opened her eyes.

An icing-coated finger appeared in front of her face. Hank tapped the end of her nose, leaving behind a dollop of the sticky substance.

“Hey!”

His laugh this time rumbled through her breasts. Sage sucked in a breath as her nipples tightened into hard little nubs.

Hank rubbed his nose against hers. “Fair’s fair.”

She swatted him. Too bad her hand didn’t want to leave once it made contact; she ended up stroking the hills and valleys of his chest instead. Her nipples weren’t the only hard ones around here.

“It certainly is.” She reached behind her to the bowl of icing. This time her finger went to his lips instead of his nose. Hank opened for her, his tongue tracing the length of her finger before he clamped down and sucked. A thready gasp escaped her throat.

“Sage?”

The deep voice hit her like a punch to the gut, her fingers curling into Hank’s pec until he winced. Her anchor. She’d misheard, that was all. Kevin couldn’t be here. Hank was here, she was touching him, he—

“Sage, what the hell are you doing?”

God, he wouldn’t come here. Would he?

She would’ve snatched her finger from Hank’s mouth, but he increased the suction, allowing no more than a slow slide as he narrowed his eyes at something—someone—behind her. With a deep breath that did absolutely nothing to calm her thudding heartbeat, Sage turned in the circle of his arms.

He would. Of course he would.

Kevin stood across the counter from her. She’d talked to him just a couple of weeks ago, hadn’t she? Told him in plain words that he wasn’t to contact her ever again, and here the arrogant ass stood in her kitchen, face-to-face for the first time since the most humiliating experience in her life. Memories clashed with the real world—Hank’s arms around her, Merry crossing the room toward her. God, she must have some terrible look on her face for Merry to be wielding her sandwich knife like that. A laugh fizzed in her throat, but though she tried, nothing came out.

Kevin didn’t suffer the same problem. “Aren’t you going to say hello?”

Merry stopped at Sage’s side, knife still at the ready. “You okay, Sage?”

Everything inside her screamed to respond. Why couldn’t she respond?

Hank didn’t say anything either. Didn’t move.

The silence thickened until she thought she’d suffocate. Until she managed to choke out one word: “Kevin.”

Her tone was as blank as her mind, but she felt a hard ripple of response go through Hank’s body.

Kevin’s stare, his frown bored into her like a battering ram. “You haven’t answered me, Sage. What are you doing?”

“Sage doesn’t answer to you anymore,” Hank said quietly. Too quietly. There was something more menacing about those few words than if he’d screamed them in Kevin’s face.

Still Kevin didn’t appear fazed. If anything, he seemed amused. “Who are you?”

She felt Hank shift then. “Merry,” he said, the words staying gentle, “could you give us a minute?”

“Uh…sure.”

She didn’t want to; Sage could hear the reluctance. She shot the older woman a grateful look, but only managed to mouth a thank-you.

Kevin didn’t wait for the swinging doors to settle; he stepped closer. The wide counter still separated them, but Sage couldn’t help the instinct to step back, the animal need to avoid pain. She came right up against Hank’s wide chest.

This had to stop. She didn’t care what this man had been to her in the past, she wouldn’t show fear now, especially when it had nothing to do with the physical and everything to do with her heart. Hank held that part of her as solidly as he held her body right now, so there was nothing to fear. Not anymore.

“What do you want, Kevin?”

Her mental pat on the back for getting the words out was cut short by Kevin’s laugh. The sound rolled over her, at once familiar and alien. Had she ever truly known this man?

Hank’s hands slid to her hips, but he didn’t speak, even when Kevin nodded his way. “You’ve acquired a couple of mother hens.”

Hard fingertips dug into her. Sage forced herself to ignore them, to focus on the man in front of her right now.

“I’ve acquired a lot more than that,” she assured Kevin. “Now I’ll ask you one more time: what do you want?”

Kevin’s brows shot up. “You back, of course.”

“Not gonna happen,” Hank warned.

Kevin ignored him. He reached a hand out to her, commanded her, “Come here, Sage.”

Funny, a few months ago she wouldn’t have even thought about it; she’d have obeyed without question. Now she stared at him, probably like he was a complete nutcase, which he was if he thought she’d ever…

“No.” Her voice was hoarse, like she’d been screaming instead of laughing with Hank just a few minutes before. It had sounded that way at Heathers too. “What happened to you? You don’t even know what you did to me, do you? You can’t if you think I’d ever come back.” She couldn’t figure it out. Kevin was an intelligent man. Why chase after her when he’d let her go so publicly?

She frowned, trying to put the pieces together in her head. “What happened? Did you finalize your deal, come home, and finally realize there was no one there?”

The way he avoided her gaze shouted
bingo
better than any yell could have.

“So you, what, need a maid again?”

“Sage, we were always good togeth—”

Anger had her leaning over the counter despite Hank’s grip. “There are two key words in that sentence. We were good together. Past tense. And there is no always about it. You hurt me, and then instead of taking care of me like you should have, you uncollared me in front of the whole damn club. What in any crazy-ass world is good about that?”

She was shouting by the time she finished.

Something like remorse leaked into Kevin’s gaze. “I was busy with work, Sage. Just distracted.”

“You were so distracted you left me tied to a St. Andrew’s cross while you walked away?”

Hank made a small sound in his throat. Sage startled—she’d forgotten he was even there. And if she’d thought he wasn’t upset? For all its quiet, the rage creating that one sound was crystal clear.

In the silence that followed, Sage realized something else: saying those words aloud felt good. She’d essentially walked out of Kevin’s life without a word, or he’d turned away from her without a word. She’d even managed to move out of his apartment while he was at work. All she’d had to do was leave her key on the counter. She’d needed to validate what happened, make him see exactly what he’d done—and even if he couldn’t, she needed what had happened to her to be witnessed, this time by someone who gave a damn about her.