Stroke of Love (27 page)

“Jesus, Kate, you’re driving me nuts.”

He reached for her again, and she shook her head. Then she slid her hand beneath his briefs and wrapped her hand around his hard length. He reached for her again. She caught his hand midair and drew his fingers to her mouth. She rolled her tongue around his index and second fingers, then drew them out slowly, pulling a needy moan from his lips. She shimmied back down his body, tugging his pants along with her. Sage was quick to help, and within seconds he’d divested himself of every stitch of clothing. With her hand on his waist, she danced around him as if he were a dancer’s pole. And oh what a glorious pole he was!

She came around to his front and found his eyes closed and his lips parted, making it easier for her to continue being brave. She kissed her way across his muscular hips to the dip at the top of his thigh. Then she dragged her tongue from base to tip and felt him shudder. His hands tangled in her hair—gently—adding no pressure, no direction. Just feeling her as she took him in her mouth and loved every blessed inch of him. He fisted his hands, tightening his grip on her hair, but still refrained from guiding her in any way. Hell if she wasn’t already wet. Her seduction had worked on both of them. She kissed her way back up his body and felt his hands slide down her hips. He met her in a warm, delectable kiss as he slid his hand beneath her panties and teased her.

“God, Kate, I feel like I’m gonna explode.” He kissed her again, and she couldn’t think past her need for him. She pushed him playfully toward the mattresses. His eyes darkened, and when she pointed to the mattress, he went down willingly. She drew her panties down, her body trembling with need.

Jesus
. Every inch of his body was taut, ready. He reached up for her, and she straddled him, burying him deep inside her, before lowering her mouth to his. In one swift move, Sage wrapped his powerful arms around her and swept her body beneath him with a sexy, guttural sound that was all male, completely indiscernible, and utterly captivating. He drove into her, pressing his whiskered cheeks against her face, and
oh God,
did she love the scratchy roughness of his whiskers and the virility of his body, the way he took control. Between the soft kisses he pressed to her earlobe and the hardness of his hips against hers, she nearly came apart.

“You’re the sexiest woman I’ve ever known.”

His breath was hot on her neck as he held her tight and moved slowly inside her, electrifying every nerve in her body. She felt the pull of an orgasm teasing her, tugging her toward the edge.

“Sage.” One fast whisper was all she could manage before her fingernails dug into his back, her eyes slammed shut, and her head fell back as he carried her over the crest of a toe-curling, mind-numbing climax. He was right there with her, meeting her thrust for thrust, carrying them both through a feverish release.

Kate closed her eyes as he came to rest on top of her.

It didn’t matter if she knew what they were doing the next day, the next month, or the next year, as long as they were together.

SAGE LISTENED TO the night sounds echoing in the forest and watched shadows dance across the cabin as he lay with Kate on their mattresses. She’d completely blown him away. He’d been only half kidding about seeing her freaky side. Every time he thought he had her figured out, she revealed another part of herself. Whether it was the way she loved him, the way she kept the volunteers and the project organized, or her determination in advocating for the wells, she was always being more than he anticipated.

Kate’s stomach growled, and she covered her belly with her hand.

He kissed her temple. “Wanna shower and go grab some food? Have a drink under the moonlight with Luce before she leaves?”

“You don’t mind?”

“Mind? What am I? Six? I’m not competing for attention. I like Luce, and she’s your friend. It’s important for you to spend time with her.” It dawned on him that she might want time alone with Luce, and as he’d watched Kate move seductively around him earlier, inspiration had hit him like a brick. He’d tucked it away until now, but he was itching to get his hands on that canvas. “Would you rather spend some girl time with her?”

“That’s okay. I don’t want to miss time with you.”

“Kate, I have all night with you. You don’t get much time with her, and we’re both leaving in two days. Let’s get cleaned up, grab a bite and a beer, and then I’ll go paint while you two talk about how great of a lover I am.”

She smiled up at him, and he couldn’t imagine ever loving a person more than he loved Kate.

“A little overly confident?” she teased.

“Maybe. Would you rather I said you could talk about how much I suck in bed?”

She smacked his stomach.

“Right. That was my take on it. Always spin things positive.” He pulled her up to her feet and hugged her close. She looked up at him again. He was always getting lost in her beautiful blue eyes. One kiss that lasted a minute too long, the right touch, and they’d be right back on that mattress.

“I love you, Kate Paletto.”

“And I love you, Sage Remington.”

An hour later, after they shared a shower and dressed, they went to the mess hall, where the kitchen was already closed for the night. Kate and Sage raided the refrigerator and ate standing in the kitchen like a couple of teenagers, filling their stomachs with fresh fruit and warm Johnnycakes with butter. It was just after eight o’clock, and Sage thought about the painting he was going to begin. A familiar adrenaline rush snaked its way through his body, and he reminded himself not to fuck up tonight. Not to get lost in his artwork and leave Kate hanging. She smiled at him as she ate the last bite of her Johnnycake.

“You’ve got that look in your eye,” she said.

“What look?”

“That
I wanna go draw something look
.” She took a sip of her beer.

“I didn’t realize I had a look.”

Kate leaned against the refrigerator, and Sage moved in front of her, spreading her legs apart with his knees, then pressing his body against hers. “I thought maybe it was a different look.”

“No. This is a definite
I want to paint
look. You have a few looks that I’ve noticed. You have the lusty,
I want to devour you
look, which melts my heart every time I see it.”

“Careful giving away all your secrets.” He leaned down and kissed her neck.

“Then there’s your
get any closer to Kate and I’ll rip your head off
look.”

“I do not have that look.”

“No, of course you don’t.” She rolled her eyes. “Maybe we’ll just call it the
hands off my woman
look.”

“Okay, maybe. I’ll give you that one.”

“And then there’s the intense
, totally in-the-zone
artist look. I even like that one.”

Sage felt his smile falter. “I’m working on that one.”

“It’s adorable. I’ve never known anyone who really zoned out like that.”

He took a step backward and ran his hand through his hair. “It’s not adorable. It sucks. It’s disrespectful, and I’m gonna fix it.”

“What’s gotten into you?” Kate touched his arm, and he twisted away. “Sage?”

“Before Clayton left this afternoon, I went to give him hell about letting you down. I don’t like people not keeping their promises, especially to you.” He rubbed the back of his neck.

“It was fine. We didn’t even need him.”

“I know you didn’t need him, but that’s not the point. And it’s not fine. I picked him up and slammed him against the car. I was pissed, and then I realized that I’m no better than him. And then…Shit, this is hard to admit. I realized that I was so angry with him
because
I saw my own actions in what he did. I didn’t blow you off that night because I didn’t think you were important. I blew you off because I was lost in drawing. If you take it apart, it all boils down to the same thing.”

“Sage, that’s not true.”

He crossed his arms over his chest, tension settling onto his shoulders and back like a heavy cape. “You can’t do that, Kate. You can’t say it’s okay. I need to be held accountable when I do something like that.”

She pulled her brows together and shook her head. “It’s not that big of a deal. I understand.”

“Well, I don’t, and I’m gonna fix it.” He folded her into his arms and kissed the top of her head. “I never want to hurt you. I know in relationships that happens to some degree anyway, when couples disagree, or whatever, but I don’t want you making excuses for me. I want to be the best man I can be for you. And you deserve a man who will put your needs ahead of his own.” He pulled back and looked into her eyes. “I want to be that man, Kate, so you can’t say it’s okay. Deal?”

“But…”

He shook his head. “No buts. I want to be the guy you can count on. Always. I want to be the person that you can call and I’ll know why you’re calling before you say a word. I want you to know that and take it for granted, and you can’t if you’re busy making up excuses about why I was late, or didn’t show up, or worked until three in the morning.”

Kate sighed and bit her lower lip. She dropped her eyes.

“Hey, please look at me. I’m serious.”

She met his gaze and nodded. “What you just said, about me calling you and you knowing what I’d want. You remembered what I’d said about having someone who could do that. That was like the second day after we met.”

“I can do this, Kate.”

“Sage, you already are that person. While we were standing here, I was thinking about if you’d stay out all night painting or if you’d come back to me. You knew.”

“No. I knew what I was feeling bad about. It was just coincidence that you were thinking the same thing.” He brought her hand to his lips and kissed the back of it. “But I will be that person, and I’ll be more. You’ll see, Kate. I’ve never told a woman I loved her before, and I take that seriously. I can’t give you my heart unless my heart is worthy of all of you.”

“You are more than worthy of me, Sage. So you get a little lost in your work.” She shrugged, but he saw a shadow in her eyes.

“That look you have right now? I’ll never be the cause of it again. Come on. Let’s find Luce. We’re getting a little deep, and if I can’t carry you up the stairs to your hut and make sweet love to you to get rid of that hint of worry in your eyes, then at least I can deliver you to a girlfriend who is better prepared to tell you all the reasons why you can’t put up with a forgetful artist.”

THEY FOUND LUCE sitting at the small table in her cabin, surrounded by handwritten notes scrawled on notebook paper. She looked up as they said hello through the screened door. Her hair hung straight down her back, still wet from a shower.

“I knew you’d find your way here eventually,” she said. “Come on in.”

Luce waved to the bed. “Sit down. I want to show you guys something.”

Kate sat on the bed, and Sage hovered over the table, scanning the loose papers. “You’ve been busy.”

“Hell yes. Like a dog with a bone.” She gathered the papers in a pile and reached for Kate’s beer. She took a long drink. “Oh, that is so good on a hot night. Thank you.” She handed the bottle back to Kate. “Sage, I’ve been thinking about your idea, and I made a few phone calls. Do you know Shea Steele?”

Luce had a spark in her eye that Kate hadn’t seen more than a few times since she’d known her.

“No,” Sage answered.

“She’s one of the best internationally connected nonprofit PR reps around. Whatever she touches turns to gold. She splits her time between Colorado and New York. Anyway, I hope you don’t mind, but I asked her take on your concept, and she had some great ideas about how to package and market it. She said she knows companies that’ll want to invest if you want to go that route, and she rattled off at least fifteen artists she thinks will want to take part. You might want to give her a call when you get home.” Luce shuffled through the papers and spread three of them out across the table. She tapped one repeatedly, her eyes darting from Sage and Kate.

“I also did some research on different nonprofits that started and failed that had to do with the arts. I haven’t come up with any that were trying to do what you’re thinking of doing, but I did take note of a few so that you could review what didn’t work for them.”

“Thanks, Luce. This is great information.” Sage picked up the papers and scanned them, then handed them to Kate.

“So, this is totally real. I mean, we’re really moving forward with this?” Kate already knew it was real, but sitting there with the two of them and seeing that Luce had taken the initiative to research and think so much about the idea was confirmation. The serious look on their faces was proof of their commitment.

“Unless my attorney comes up with a reason not to or my accountant says it’s going to be a total money sucker with no potential benefit—which we both know isn’t going to happen—then yeah. I think so. I mean, once I took the idea further and went on a fact-finding mission about wells, I realized how much good we could do for people.”

“You’re doing this because of me.” Kate’s eyes shifted between Sage and Luce.

Sage sighed. He ran his hand through his hair and rubbed his hand over the tattoo on the back of his neck.

Kate scrutinized the look in his eyes and quickly named it. “You’ve got another look. The
shit, I’ve been caught
look.”

“Kate, the things you said sparked the idea, so in that sense my fact-finding mission began because of you, yes. But if you think I’m doing this as a way to keep my girlfriend around, or as some kind of crazy gift or whim, you’re wrong. This is going to take serious dedication, a lot of travel, and at the beginning, a moderate amount of capital. I’ve got my guys looking into the ins and outs of it all now and we’ll see what they turn up.” He took a long drink of beer and then set his bottle on the table.

“I’m dying in New York. I’m working day and night because what else is there to do? Go to bars? Socialize with the rich and famous? I told you, I’m spending half my time wondering how to get the hell out of there and the other half buried in my work. I have so much that it turns my stomach to think about it.” He paced the floor.