The Risk-Taker (12 page)

“And I’ll have him charged with assault.” The idiot had pulled a backbone out of somewhere. Hope really wished he hadn’t bothered, because it was only going to get him hurt worse.

Sighing, Hope leaned against the doorway and crossed her arms over her chest. “Good luck with that. Sheriff Grant is my godfather. Gage is a town hero. Do you really think they’re going to arrest him? Especially when Lexi and I tell them that you swung first.”

“He doesn’t have a mark on him.”

“That can be remedied,” Gage promised ominously.

“Oh, and if one word of this—” Hope waved her hand around the kitchen “—finds its way into print, Lexi will be filing charges of stalking, professional misconduct and sexual harassment.”

“And I’ll tack on a suit for libel against you and anyone who runs the story.”

Hope knew that wouldn’t stick, and if Brandon was any kind of reporter he would, too. But she had a feeling the
Courier
wouldn’t appreciate that kind of publicity. And she knew even the whiff of misconduct could ruin the man’s career.

He spluttered, snapped his mouth shut and glared at them. Hope grinned evilly. Apparently, Brandon knew that, too. Maybe he wasn’t as stupid as she’d feared.

The second the front door chimed his disappearance, Lexi crumbled. Bravado and anger had been holding her together and now that Brandon was gone...

Angry tears streamed down her face. She pushed against her brother’s hold on her, but Gage didn’t put her down. Instead, he shifted her in his arms, cradled her against his chest and walked across the room to a chair.

How could a man as big and broad as Gage Harper be so gentle? Hope had never seen this side of him, although she shouldn’t have been surprised. He’d always been protective of the people he cared about—especially Lexi.

“Don’t,” he whispered into the crown of her hair. “He isn’t worth it.”

“You don’t think I know that?” she lamented through her tears. “But that doesn’t stop it from hurting. I thought he liked
me.
All he wanted was dirt on you.”

Realizing she needed to give them some privacy, Hope walked into the front room, flipped the sign to Closed and headed Sheriff Grant off at the pass.

12

E
VERYONE
AROUND
HIM
KEPT
getting hurt. Tanner. Lexi. Because of him.

The look on his sister’s face had crushed him.

Gage paced restlessly around his childhood bedroom, searching for something that would make the churning sensation in his belly stop. Nothing did.

Where was a plane when you needed one to jump out of?

Growling in frustration, Gage spun to head out on the Harley—as close as he was going to get to an adrenaline rush in Sweetheart. But the sight of Hope standing in the doorway stopped him.

The door was closed behind her, one shoulder pressed against the jamb. How long had she been there?

Her arms were crossed beneath her breasts, pushing them against the tight curve of the jacket she’d worn this morning. From a prone spot on her bed he’d watched her put it on.

What really bothered him was that he hadn’t even heard her come in. God, what was wrong with him? A few weeks ago that kind of lapse in awareness could have cost lives—his or someone else’s. That made the agitation jangling through him worse.

The idea of losing his edge did not sit well.

“How did you know?” he asked, warily. It was a question that had been plaguing him for hours.

She ignored his question. “I came to see how you’re doing. I’ve already been by Lexi’s.”

And that wasn’t going to work for him. “How did you know?”

She glanced away, her gaze darting around the room. “Let’s just say I received an anonymous tip.”

The fact that she couldn’t look him in the eye said differently. “Anonymous my ass. Who was it?”

Tiny lines crinkled the space across the bridge of her nose. Gage wanted to step up to her, press a kiss there and smooth out the evidence of her upset. Why? What was wrong with him that even as he realized she was keeping something from him, his instinct was to say it didn’t matter?

It did. So he stayed right where he was.

Finally, she looked at him, serious and solemn. “I’m not going to tell you, Gage, so you might as well drop it. It doesn’t matter.”

Something in the set of her mouth made him think otherwise, but short of employing some of the torture tactics he’d gotten firsthand knowledge of, he couldn’t make her tell him.

“No question, Brandon’s a self-serving jerk, but don’t think that excuses what you did, Gage.”

He sucked in a deep breath and wished it hadn’t been full of that spicy and decadent scent that was solely hers. He pressed both hands against the door behind her and leaned closer, anyway.

“The only thing I did was defend my sister’s honor. And I’d do the exact same thing again if I had to.”

A single, red-tipped fingernail flicked down his nose. “I know. And give him a sensational story. Before all he had was secondary information from your sister about your childhood. Easy to find most of it without getting her involved. What Brandon wanted, and couldn’t get because Lexi didn’t know, was a firsthand account of your capture and rescue. What you gave him was even more than he expected—scandal.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because I run a newspaper. It’s the story we want to publish.”

“The story I won’t give you.”

She nodded, slowly.

“What was I supposed to do?”

Sadness clouded Hope’s green-gold eyes. “Stop for thirty seconds and take a deep breath before leaping off into the abyss. Something you’ve never been real good at.” Her voice was full of resignation and disappointment.

He hated that just as much as the pain on Lexi’s face.

Wanting to wipe the expression away, he did the only thing guaranteed to accomplish the goal. He leaned down and kissed her, filling the connection with all the churning restlessness and energy that filled him.

He half expected her to reject him, had been waiting for the moment when the past met the present and she crushed him yet again, but it didn’t happen.

She gave in to the pressure, meeting him with enough roiling passion to make him forget anything. Forget everything. He knew he shouldn’t use her to anesthetize himself, but she felt so good.

When he moved to pull the jacket from her shoulders, her soft hands stopped him.

Her eyes were hot and her breath hitched as she said, “Your parents are downstairs.”

Like he cared. He wanted her. She wanted him. They were both adults. Besides... Pressing his hips tight against hers, he settled the swollen length of his erection right where he knew it would do the most damage. And then rocked against her over and over again, torturing them both in the sweetest way.

“Do you have any idea how many times I fantasized about you in this room? How many times I woke up hard as a rock from an X-rated dream that starred your hands and mouth all over me?”

Her pupils dilated, her eyes straying over his shoulder. He didn’t have to follow her gaze to know she was looking at the bed. His bed.

He’d had her in her bed, floor, kitchen, shower, but in that moment none of those was enough. He wanted her right now, right here. Where he’d always dreamed of having her.

Leaning closer, he ran his lips over the sensitive curve of her ear. And whispered, “I don’t know how many times I touched myself, thinking of you.”

Gage found the warm spot right behind her ear and sucked. She gasped softly and shuddered, her eyelids weighting with the same desire that filled him.

He tasted her skin, running kisses down the side of her throat. “Only you.”

Without asking for permission, Gage swept her legs out from under her and carried her over to his bed. It was smaller than hers, only a double, but as long as she was in it that was all he needed.

He should have known Hope had never been one to accept things at face value. She pushed. She questioned. He hated and loved that about her.

Her back had barely hit the mattress before she was bounding up to grab him and pull him down beside her. “Fantasies, huh? What kind of fantasies?”

Tucking her beneath him, Gage rolled until they were stretched diagonally across the bed. “Well, there was one with you, me and Spider-Man.”

“Kinky.”

“But I was ten and it was hardly explicit so I don’t think that counts.”

“There go my plans for using that sticky web.”

Gage grinned down at her. She was so beautiful that it hurt. If someone had told him a month ago he’d be holding Hope Rawlings in his bed he’d have laughed and called the man a liar.

How quickly things could change.

How bizarre life could be.

But he refused to let the whys ruin this moment together.

Resolved, he rolled his hips against her, pressing her into the mattress. She arched her back, meeting him, a smile tugging at her lips.

“Anything else? Maybe something I could fulfill for you?”

A long-dead fantasy flashed across his mind, past and present melding together. How many times had he woken up hard and throbbing from a dream of her sucking him off? Only this time when the vision popped into his mind it wasn’t the teenaged Hope with her long tawny hair and serious green eyes, it was this Hope. The sexy, contained, delightfully challenging woman she’d become.

“Well...” he drawled, letting the full weight of his Southern accent pull at the vowel.

Her hands found the edge of his shirt and the strip of skin where it had ridden up his ribs. The teasing point of her fingernails raked across his abs, making the muscles jump.

“Yes?” she asked, her sultry eyes flashing with interest.

He touched her lips. The bottom one contorted when he dragged a fingertip against it. Her mouth parted and she sucked the single digit into the hot recesses.

The tantalizing edge of her tongue scraped against the sensitive pad of his finger. It was as if she had a direct path to his cock. A jagged bolt of electricity shot through him, turning him rock-hard.

Gage groaned, dropping his head back at the feel of her.

“Kiss me,” he ordered, pulling his finger from her mouth.

She melded their mouths together and brought him low. As devastating as the kiss was, it wasn’t what he wanted.

“That’s not what I meant,” he said breathlessly when she finally let him go.

Her gaze glittered with impish delight. “I know.”

The air backed up into his lungs. With steady pressure, she pushed against his shoulders until he dropped back onto the bed. She rose above him. The soft strands of her hair fell around her face, blocking out everything but the vision of her.

He scraped her hair back, anchoring it at the nape of her neck. He wanted to see her.

That grin only grew when she dipped down his body and opened his jeans. Her hands were cool and steady. Or maybe that was just because he was shaking and on fire.

She found him, hard and throbbing with a need only she could stir inside him. She stroked him once, not nearly enough, before she paused to strip him of his clothes. She didn’t stop with his jeans and shorts, insisting that he lose everything. When he realized he couldn’t sway her determination, he quickly complied.

Although the moment he was stretched out in front of her, completely naked, while she still had every stitch of clothing on, he thought maybe that had been a tactical error. It felt wrong. He wanted to see her. Touch all of her.

But when he moved to return the favor she’d waved a single finger in his face and said, “Uh, uh, uh,” while moving out of the range of his searching hands.

Her hands ran roughly across his chest and abs, heading exactly where he wanted. But she didn’t touch him. His traitorous cock leaped, anyway, absolutely certain it was about to get what it wanted.

“Not yet,” she murmured. Instead, she let her hands continue down the flexed ridge of his thighs.

She leaned forward. The ends of her hair tickled over his abs. Her hot breath wafted across his erection. It wasn’t enough. He thrust his hips forward, trying to reach what he wanted.

She just smirked, pulling back to kneel between his spread thighs. Slowly, she ran her hands up her own body. Her fingers lingered over her own breasts and his eyes zeroed in on the tenting peaks of her nipples against the tight cotton of her shirt.

Hope pressed a thumb against one of them, rolling it beneath the pressure. Her eyelids slid closed and she dropped her head back with pleasure.

Gage shifted, wanted to be the one to touch her. But the moment he moved her eyes popped open and speared him. A single eyebrow rose in a pointed order. He debated the merits of doing what she wanted and finally decided to settle back.

The reward was her taking her shirt and bra off, at least letting his eyes touch her if nothing else could.

She teased him and delighted in it, using the flat of her tongue to lick him like the best ice cream cone. She stroked up and down, the moist heat of her breath bathing over him.

Finally, her bright pink lips parted, taking him deep inside. His entire body tensed for the unbelievable reality and the remarkable fantasy to finally merge.

He wasn’t disappointed. Actually, he was blown away, because there was no comparison.

She sucked hard, slowly letting him slip through the pressurized tunnel of her mouth. Her tongue stroked him. Damn, she felt so good.

He was close, and until the moment when that band of pressure built at the center of his back, ready to let go, he’d thought he wanted to come with her face buried in his lap. But as good as it felt, it wasn’t enough.

He wanted to look in her eyes when he came. He wanted to know she was right there with him, sharing the moment in every possible way.

Finding a strength he hadn’t known he possessed, Gage grasped her by the shoulders, tore her away from his erection and had her flat on her back in less than ten seconds.

Hope blinked up at him, her mouth puckered open, disoriented. The expression was cute. He rather liked to fluster her because it happened so rarely. Efficient, structured, determined Hope.

Gage tore at the few clothes that she’d kept on, making quick work of them. At the same time he managed to find a condom from the bedside drawer, spent about a nanosecond worrying how old it could be before deciding he really didn’t care and rolled the sucker over his aching erection.

The scent of her arousal—warm, spicy—slammed into him. It was more temptation than he could deny. He spread the folds of her sex to find her slippery with wanting him. Apparently, her little teasing job hadn’t only worked on him.

He slowly sank home, devastated by the perfect feel of her. She made a quiet gasp and arched up to meet him. Her swollen sex tightened around him, pulling him closer. He paused, relishing the way they came together. A perfect fit.

Her body stretched, welcoming him even as he slowly, deliberately moved against her. Her feet scraped restlessly against the bed. He buried his forehead against her throat, breathing her in and letting everything about her wrap around him. Her hips writhed, searching for more.

Gage pulled out and quickly thrust back in. Her eyes widened and glazed. Sharp teeth bit into her bottom lip. Running the pad of his finger over it, he freed it and leaned down to suck it into his own mouth.

They worked together, finding a rhythm that rang the most pleasure out of each and every joining. Hope began to whimper...soft, urgent sounds that drove him to give her more.

Nails raked down his back, taking skin and leaving marks. He didn’t care, but he understood her need for something to hold on to. The storm building inside him was almost more than he could bear.

At least alone.

It was more than physical. More than sex. Reaching behind him, he grabbed her hands, threaded their fingers together and pressed them into the mattress beside her head. Held tight to her.

Unable to tear his gaze away from her, he watched. And knew the moment the pressure building inside her snapped. Ecstasy flooded through her, spilling out and crashing over him.

Her release rocked through him just as surely as his own. Stars burst across his vision, blinding him to everything but Hope. His entire world narrowed down to her.

When had that happened? When had she become everything?