Page 59 of Hushed

She stared up at him and smiled. “Don’t worry about me. I know you say you won’t be in danger, but I’m still scared. So just focus on coming home and worry about me then.”

He laughed and bent to kiss her. “Not the way it works, little imp. You’re my responsibility, and that means I’ll worry about you whenever I please.”

She watched him walk down the steps, feeling like he was taking a little piece of her heart with him.

“Wait!”

He turned and looked at her, starting back up the steps.

“What about the app for the toy?”

He laughed. “I’ll text you the link and the instructions. Were you worried I’d forgotten?”

She shrugged. “Maybe?”

“I’ll never forget anything involving that hot little cunt of yours, Kenz. Now get back inside, you’re making it impossible for me to leave.”

Chapter 11

Gage

Leaving Kenzie and getting on that plane was harder than Gage could have imagined. In such a brief time, he’d grown attached. She remained constantly on his mind, even when they weren’t in the same room. And even now, as he sat on the first-class flight back to Washington D.C., he could smell her body wash and see her face whenever he closed his eyes. His fingertips tingled at the memory of touching her perfect skin, and he shifted in his seat, grateful not to have anyone next to him to witness the hard on he was currently sporting.

The phone call that landed him on a last-minute flight came from his former boss, Henry Rickshaw. Gage was technically retired from government work, but he occasionally took on a project at the behest of some of the higher ups in the U.S. Government. When the President of the United States, or theSecretary of Defense, asked for you personally, saying no didn’t seem like an option. And before Kenzie, he never wanted to. He didn’t have a family, other than the one he’d built through the BDSM community, and most of them were former colleagues, or were familiar with the secrecy, so he never felt the need to explain his random absences.

Kenzie changed things. He hesitated before saying yes to the job, and that surprised him, but it didn’t scare him. He liked the idea of having a woman he wanted to stay home for. At least this call wasn’t taking him out of the country and would largely be meetings at the White House.

He hooked into the plane’s Wi-Fi and messaged Kenzie the link to the app for her toy.

Memories of slipping it inside her sweet cunt made him stiff again, and he closed his eyes. The flight would be long, but that wouldn’t keep Gage from having a little fun with his girl.

With a grin, he sent her another message.

GAGE:You have ten minutes to get set up and give me access, or you don’t get to come tonight.

She didn’t respond, but he could tell she’d seen his message. It shouldn’t take her any more than two or three minutes, but he wanted to give her plenty of wiggle room, because he planned to have her explode for him on the phone later. Or maybe on a video call if she didn’t object.

He’d nearly kicked himself when he spontaneously brought up his habit of spending money on cam girls. Probably not something you were supposed to tell your brand-new girlfriend. But she didn’t seem turned off by the idea.

Four minutes later, his phone buzzed, with an invitation to control her vibrator. He accepted but didn’t do anything with it right away.

Instead, he called Henry Rickshaw.

“Gage, please tell me you got a flight out.”

“I’m on a plane right now and thought I’d call before takeoff.”

The older man blew out a long breath. “Thank fuck. This is a shit show of a security breach, and you’re the best at that sort of thing.”

Gage snorted. “That’s horse shit. We all know Cannon Ripley is your guy for a security breach. Why not bring him in?”

Rickshaw grumbled. “We tried. He’s not picking up.”

That probably meant the man was balls deep in his wife, Olivia. He should have taken a page out of Ripley’s book and ignored the call earlier. But ignoring a call for help wasn’t in his DNA.

“I’ll contact him when I land. If it’s as bad as you think it is, we’re going to need him.”

Rickshaw cleared his throat. “We don’t want to bring more people in than we have to. Once you’re read in, it’s better if you keep the circle tight.”

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