Walk on the Striped Side (11 page)

He felt everything about Elena
pause after his statement. Even her chest stopped moving as she momentarily
stopped breathing. Eventually, after inhaling a much needed deep breath, he
heard her cautious voice reply, “Yes. You could have easily heard me moving
around. So, if that’s the truth, then why do that? Why pretend to have a
conversation with someone, in which you make me feel about as welcome as a dried
up five dollar hooker instead of just breaking up with me to my face? Why would
you want to hurt me like that if I had meant something to you? This is why I’m
having a hard time believing you. If I had meant anything at all, you would
have never hurt me the way you did.”

“That’s where you’re wrong.”

“I’ve been wrong about a lot of
things in life Gage. You’re a great example of that. I don’t think I’m wrong
about this though.”

Gage ignored the dig, and kept
going. “You’re wrong because you did mean a great deal to me. In fact, I had
fallen in love with you.”

“Bullshit!” Bucking her body to try
and get him off of her, she started to lose her temper again. “You never
fucking loved me you giant prick! People who love each other don’t set out to
break the other person’s heart into so many pieces that it’s impossible to fix
it again afterwards.”

“The fact that I hurt you to push
you away proves what I’m telling you. If you would stop thinking with your
emotions for a minute, and think with your head instead, you could probably
figure out why I was afraid to fall in love with you. Why I was afraid to make
you my mate.”

Settling down again, she asked in
complete exasperation. “If you’re telling me the truth, then just spit out the
reason Ivanov. Tell me this all important excuse why you felt it was such a bad
idea for us to be together.”

“No.”

“Why the fuck not?” Elena screamed
in exasperation.

“Because when you figure out why,
you’re going to try and run from me and I won’t let you do it. So, I’m going to
let you figure it out on your own. Until then, I’m going to spend every second
I have proving to you that I did love you. That I still love you. And I’m going
to make you love me in return again too. I’m going to do everything in my power
to tie you to me in every way imaginable so that when you do figure it out,
maybe you won’t run from me. Because I can’t live without you anymore Elena.
I’ve tried for two years and it was the biggest mistake of my life. You walked
back into my life and now I’m doing what I should have been man enough to do in
the first place.”

“What’s that?” She whispered.

“I’m claiming you for my mate.”

“But you’re not a man, remember?
Less than an hour ago you told me that yourself. You said you’re more animal
than man. And if I remember my science teacher correctly, tigers aren’t exactly
known for mating for life. So why should I believe anything you’re telling me
right now?”

Lifting his head to set his chin in
the middle of her chest, Gage looked her in the eyes and murmured back,
“Because you make me want to be more man than animal. You make me want to live
and love deeply enough for one lifetime rather than live hundreds of lifetimes
without you.”

Turning away from Elena’s confused
expression, Gage laid his head back on her chest and settled himself in for the
night. Even with everything left unresolved between them, he was content enough
to have her in his arms again that he started to do something he hadn’t done
since he was a youngster.

He purred in contentment.

CHAPTER-ELEVEN

Elena

It was the growl that woke her up.
It wasn’t a menacing ‘oh shit, something large and furry is about to kill me’
growl. No, it was the low, husky growl of the man who was still lying on top of
her. The drool worthy, built like a brick shithouse man who was once again
rubbing his face slowly in the space between her breasts. What the hell was his
sudden fascination with that part of her body? He hadn’t been nearly as
enamored with it when they’d been together before. Which was a good thing,
because frankly the man rubbing his face against her like that made all of her
much neglected girl parts throb. Elena was pretty sure that if she looked down
to her chest, she’d see her nipples were hard enough to poke an eye out.
Stupid, traitorous body!

“I know you’re awake wildcat.” He
mumbled.

She looked down to see that Gage
still had the side of his face firmly plastered to her chest and wasn’t even
looking at her. Maybe if she ignored him, he would think he’d made a mistake
and she was still asleep after all. Giving Elena a much needed few moments of
quiet so she could think. She was still feeling a bit off kilter from their
talk last night. Plus her girly bits were all excited about him pressed up
against her like this, pinning her to the bed. She’d never admit it to anyone,
but Gage’s natural dominance over her could make her soak her panties faster
than you could say ‘Euripides’.

Closing her eyes, she couldn’t help
but go back in her memories to the time when they’d been together. He’d been
the first one of her lovers to figure out that while she had a tough attitude
on the outside, inside was a bit of a different story. She liked being feisty
in life, and sometimes in the bedroom too, but she also wanted a man who would
take over. To make her feel feminine and cherished.

Elena wasn’t looking to kneel at
some guy’s feet and call him master though. In fact, she’d probably roast
Gage’s nuts off with that flame thrower she’d illegally bought a few years ago
if he ever asked her to do that. But there was still something inside of her
that needed to have a man take charge a bit. Prove he was strong enough to
protect her by overwhelming her with his brute strength. Prove that he cared
enough to push her limits literally and metaphorically when she needed it, but
not to hurt her with that same power he used to subdue her.

Gage had been the only one she’d
let into her bed who had done those things without thinking she was some kind
of circus freak in bed. Or without being an asshole by trying to turn bed play
into something abusive. He’d also been the only one who had given her the
dominance she needed from him, but also instinctively knew when she needed some
gentleness because she felt vulnerable with surrendering. It was a delicate
balance between Elena getting what she needed in the bedroom without her own
dominant nature outside of the bedroom feeling bruised somehow.

What had seemed like the best part
back when they’d been together was that Gage wasn’t putting on some act to fill
her needs. No, he was just being himself while letting Elena be herself.
Between the two of them, they’d filled each other’s physical, mental, sexual
and emotional essentials beautifully. Naturally. So it made sense that the man
who had somehow fit her perfectly in every way was also the man who’d broken
her in ways that she wasn’t sure could be fixed. Because he’d been, and would
always be, the only man who owned her. Heart and soul.

Which was why it scared the shit
out of her that he was back in her life. When she’d agreed to work the Ninth
Circle’s case with her family, she’d never imagined that Gage would be happy to
see her. Never imagined that he would start throwing the word ‘mine’ around
like he was a big kid and she was his favorite toy.
And
she’d certainly never would have guessed that he’d come at her with
declarations of love. She wanted so badly to believe the words he’d given her
last night, but honestly, she didn’t know if she could. What if she gave him
what was left of her heart, those many jagged, bruised, jaded and broken
pieces, and instead of fixing what was left, he threw them away again?

She didn’t think she could survive
that.

Her already closed eyes squeezed
even tighter and she willed her breathing to stay slow and steady. She couldn’t
very well pretend she was asleep if she got herself all worked up and started
balling like a blubbering idiot, now could she? She felt Gage move his head off
her chest and she wondered what he was up to. Then, slowly he dragged his body
the small distance up her own so that their bodies were aligned. His hips were
now firmly nestled in the cradle of her thighs so that she could feel every
hot, hard, delicious inch of his cock pressed against her core.

She could feel his face hovering
just over her own and the warmth of his breath on her lips. She was so tempted
to open her eyes so that she could look into his. She loved the exotic
coloring. Missed the way those eyes had looked as he held her stare while
making love to her. But she couldn’t do it. She couldn’t open her eyes to see
Gage’s own rich, swirling green and gold own looking back at her because he
might see something she wasn’t ready to show him yet. He might see that she
still loved him. Desperately.

She felt him move again above her
right before felt a sharp nip to her bottom lip, causing her to gasp in
surprise. Her eyes sprung open against her will, just in time to watch Gage’s
face dip close again so that his raspy tongue could lick where he had bitten
her seconds before to soothe away the sensual pain.

“What are you doing?” She snapped.

Gage leaned down closer to her face
again, his tongue coming out to presumably lick her lips and Elena freaked.
Slapping her hand over his mouth, she watched as he narrowed his eyes at her in
calculation just before she felt his raspy tongue lick her palm.

“Stop licking me Ivanov!”

Elena felt, rather than heard, the
small growl he let loose against her hand before he licked her palm again.
Every time she felt the wet, pink, sandpaper tongue of his glide across her
skin it reminded her of when it had caressed much more intimate parts of her
body. Causing her nipples to tingle and her pussy to clench with need.

Frustrated with her reckless
attraction to him, she started to pull her hand away from his mouth only to
find it caught and trapped in his own large, strong hand. He brought her palm
back to his lips, where she couldn’t see what he intended to do and then bit
her gently on the fleshy section just below her thumb. She gasped at the erotic
sensation. It was a small bit of pleasurable pain that he soothed away with
more caresses of his tongue.

Her hips arched into Gage’s
involuntarily as her needy body tried to take over her reluctant brain. His
cock started to grind down into her, rubbing right over her clit. Elena didn’t
know whether to curse or thank the jeans she was still wearing. It had been so
long since she’d felt the large, familiar stalk of him sliding so deep into her
that it almost hurt. So long since her senses had been overloaded with nothing
but pleasure. That little bit of fabric that was causing the most delicious
friction in all the right places as Gage thrust his body against her. More
importantly, those jeans were keeping her from making a huge mistake. Elena
knew better. If she let him in now, he’d run over her like he was a Mack truck
and she an upcoming piece of road kill to decorate the highway.

“We can’t do this” she gasped.

Licking her palm one more time, he
then forced her hand over her head and pined it to the mattress. “Don’t worry
baby. I’m not going to fuck you yet.”

He wasn’t? Well just what the fuck
did he think he was doing to her then? Leading her on? Getting her all worked
up so he could walk away while she suffered, unfulfilled and needy? Sure she
knew it was a bad, bad idea for them to have sex, but she hadn’t thought that he
would be the one to stop them. THAT ASSHOLE. Just like that, Elena’s famous
temper snapped. “Well why the hell not?”

Gage gave her a predatory smile,
then thrust his cock to rub right over her clit again. Her legs were starting
to tremble, her panties were soaked, and if he rubbed her the right way just
one more time, she was going to explode.

“Because you’re not ready for us to
have sex yet wildcat.”

Ignoring her irritated glare, he
leaned down to her left breast and sucked her hard little nipple through her
t-shirt and bra. Elena rocked her hips up into his, suddenly needing that
impending orgasm more than she needed her next breath. As she rubbed against
Gage’s magnificent arousal, he nipped at her sensitive, aching peak.

Elena was now writhing up against
Gage’s hard body, ignoring the warnings her muddled brain was trying to send
her. The release that she needed was right there… almost within reach, and she
was nothing but a tangled mass of sensation. She was riding this wave of
euphoria, desperate to reach that pinnacle of carnal liberation that she had
denied herself for so long. Gage released her left nipple, and she cried out in
dismay. “Gage!”

“
Shhh
baby.” He licked over the skin bared just about her shirt’s neckline before
dropping his mouth to linger just above her right breast. “Jesus nothing has
ever tasted as sweet as you.” He lightly nipped her tightly beaded nipple. “I’m
going to lick you all over soon and you’re going to beg me for it.”

Elena would have protested his
statement, but Gage gently tugged on her quivering peak before suckling it into
his mouth. After that, she forgot how to think. All she could do was feel. With
every thrust of his hips against hers, every tug on her nipple, she felt that
tide of sensation growing. Seizing her body until every muscle was locked tight
in anticipation. Her mouth dropped open in a silent scream, and then she was
consumed. Cresting on that giant wave of ecstasy that had her screaming out in
bliss as bursts of lights went off behind her eyes. Her inner walls were
fluttering, wishing Gage had been filling her to overflowing instead of
achingly empty.

Toes curled, panting through the
remaining spasms of pleasure, Elena lay trembling in the aftermath of her long overdue
orgasm. Lethargic after being overwhelmed both physically and emotionally.
She’d only meant to keep her eyes closed for a few more seconds, but as she
felt Gage’s body scoot back down her own and settle into her again as he had
the night before, she fell asleep. Completely missing those internal alarms of
her that were screaming she was in jeopardy of emotional danger since she was
basking in the one thing she hadn’t felt in two long years.

Gage’s loving comfort.