Page 98 of After All The Wreckage
Making him mine in the way I’d always been his. Since I’d climbed the stairs to the apartment above the bar and heard The Guess Who drifting from the open doorway.
I thought I’d be able to keep control as I set the pace. I thought I’d be able to slowly lead us to the summit, but the more we moved, the harder the thrusts became and the more the world around me blurred until it completely disappeared. Until all I could do was race with him toward the finish line.
Gage flipped us over, and I grabbed the headboard as he moved faster and harder, and it still didn’t feel like it wouldever be enough. He dragged his hand down between us, swiping a single finger along my core, and I exploded, crying out, trembling as my entire body seemed to leave the earth. He thrust inside me one last time, going over the edge himself with a deep groan that would forever enchant my dreams.
He collapsed on top of me. If it had been another guy, I would have felt suffocated. Instead, he comforted me like a weighted blanket and my entire body relaxed. My eyelids closed, and I found it impossible to lift them. For the first time in months, I felt nothing but peace.
? ? ?
The notification sound I’d set up for the cameras in Walden’s room jerked me awake. I was tucked up against Gage, his arms wrapped around my waist.
I’d slept with Gage.
The thought didn’t fill me with the panic it should have.
Instead, it felt right. Like we were home and not in a hotel room in D.C. on what was essentially a stakeout.
The notification pinged again, and I pulled away from him with reluctance, searching for my phone in the pile of clothes we’d shed from the door to the bed.
Picking up my jacket, I looked back and found him watching me with a somber look on his face. The smile and heat were gone.
Did he regret it? Was he going to give me a line about our ages, our lives, or the impossible situation we were in and why we shouldn’t have done what we had? No… he couldn’t. Not after talking about this being epic.
My heart pounded fiercely.
I hated looking away in order to swipe the camera app open.
We’d missed Walden going into his room, but he was there now. I rewound the video. He’d shed his suit jacket the moment he’d entered the room and headed for the bathroom where the shower was now running.
The perfect time to go in.
I started pulling on my clothes, and Gage moved to do the same.
“What’s the plan?” he asked.
“Surprise him when he comes out of the bathroom, demand answers.”
His lips quirked. “Just like that.”
“Just like that.”
I made sure I had my stun gun, backup pen stun gun, pocketknife, and pepper spray on my body before pulling a set of zip ties from my bag and sliding them into a pocket as well. I handed him a pair of gloves while I slipped into my own. He eyed them like they were going to sting him, but reluctantly put them on.
The two key cards were on the floor where they’d fallen after Gage had swept me off my feet. My veins hummed at the thought of how he’d dragged my clothes from my body and branded me with his touch. His smell lingered on me.
For the first time, maybe in my entire life, I didn’t want to do the job or be Veronica interrogating a villain or a witness. I just wanted to pull the covers back and drag Gage underneath, losing ourselves in each other’s skin for at least a month.
I swallowed back those thoughts and headed for the door with Gage on my heels. I checked the cameras one more time. Walden was still in the bathroom. We stepped across the hall, I swiped the key card across the reader, and the lock clicked open. I pushed the handle down as quietly as possible, slipping into the room.
The door had barely shut as the shower turned off.
I motioned for Gage to stand on the other side of the open bathroom door. It meant Walden would see me first. Gage didn’t seem to like that, but I was the one with the stun gun. I pulled it from my waistband, waiting for Walden to appear.
Walden was naked, towel wrapped around his waist, and he barely registered my being there before I’d pressed the nodes of the gun to his neck.
“Don’t move. Don’t scream. Don’t twitch a damn muscle,” I warned.
His eyes narrowed briefly, anger and a hint of fear washing over his face. “Who the hell do you think you are?”
