Chapter 17
Tony a watched Gage set her bags on the floor next to the closet in the bedroom across the hall from his. The security team had conducted an extensive sweep of the entire property, including the gardens, and found no evidence of an intrusion. Mark told Gage he planned to call St. John to inform him that he would have a two-man team remain on the property until the work crew arrived the following morning.
When she’d sat in Hannah’s sunroom what now seemed eons ago, Tonya could not have predicted that hours later she would sleep in a bedroom under the roof of the man with whom she found herself falling in love.
“Have you had dinner?” he asked her.
She turned to look at him. “No, but I don’t want to eat anything that’s too heavy.”
“I can offer you a choice of an asparagus, artichoke, and lobster salad or salmon salade Niçoise.”
“I’ll have the salmon.”
He smiled. “I was hoping you’d say that.”
Tonya returned his smile. “Do you need a sous chef? I could make the vinaigrette,” she said when he hesitated.
“Sure. Give me a few minutes to change into something more comfortable, and I’ll join you in the kitchen.”
She nodded. “While you’re changing, I’ll unpack my bags and put my stuff away.”
* * *
Tonya, standing next to Gage and cutting red and green peppers into julienne strips, felt that being with him was as natural as breathing. Even if they hadn’t agreed on the pace or the direction their relationship would take, there was no doubt they were completely in sync when it came to cooking together.
Gage had put on a playlist featuring blues and jazz songs by Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughn, and Etta James. “You’re really feeling the girls tonight.”
“I’m trying to determine which songs I’m going to use for the school’s spring concert.”
“What about Roberta Flack? I remember my mother telling me that she and my dad drove to Hampton University just to see her in concert. Daddy played her ‘Compared to What’ so much that I was tempted to scratch the record. But I knew how much he coveted his record collection, so I decided earplugs were a better solution. It was only when I grew older that I came to love her voice.”
Lowering his head, Gage kissed her hair. “Thank you for reminding me about Roberta.”
“Tell me about your concert.” Gage revealed the concert committee’s plans for a journey of music and dance beginning with the human voice on the continent of Africa and ending with emergence of music’s latest genres: rap and hip-hop.
“We plan to showcase dances from all over the world.”
“That sounds daunting.”
“Not really. We’re planning acts lasting three minutes, which translates into twenty acts per hour. The concert usually runs for two hours, but this year the committee decided to extend it by a half hour. There will be a brief intermission after ninety minutes to give the audience a chance to catch their breath.”
Tonya was totally transfixed as Gage outlined the dances from the different countries that would showcase their culture. He talked about the relationship between Irish step dancing and American tap, scatting and rap, and Negro spirituals and blues.
She pointed to the tattooed notes on his right arm. “What are those notes?”
“They’re from Handel’s ‘Messiah,’ which I personally believe is the most magnificent piece of music ever written.”
The conversation segued from music to dance, and Tonya was amazed as to his breadth of musical knowledge until he boasted proudly that he had graduated from one of the world’s preeminent performing arts conservatories.
“Bragging, darling?”
“Hell, yeah, babe.”
“Do you have any students that stand out from the others?”
“That’s a difficult question to answer, because most are extremely talented. And if any of them want to audition for Julliard, I wouldn’t hesitate to write a letter of recommendation. What’s so amazing is that many of my students didn’t begin playing an instrument until middle school, and what I’m trying to do is boost their confidence. Since substituting for the orchestra teacher, I’ve established a practice where I arbitrarily call on a student to come up and play a solo in front of the class.”
Tonya halted slicing shallots. “Isn’t that intimidating?”
“It’s no more intimidating than if they had to audition to get into a college for the performing arts. And if they were taking private lessons at a music school, they would have to play for recitals.”
“Is that what you had to do?”
“Yes. The aunt who taught St. John piano also taught me. Our recitals were any time the family got together for a holiday or big event. One Sunday, my aunt put on a musical program at our house, and I was on program to play several hymns. The devil must have gotten into me when I rocked out Little Richard’s ‘Long Tall Sally,’ and Jerry Lee Lewis’s ‘Great Balls of Fire.’ It was so quiet in the place you could hear a rat piss on cotton. I took a bow, threw kisses to the ladies, and then walked out.”
Tonya laughed so hard her sides hurt. “How old were you?”
“Thirteen. My aunt said I must have gone temporarily insane and lost my mind, while my parents said if I was on something, that would explain what I did, but if I wasn’t, then they were going to help me find it.”
“What did they do?”
“I was grounded for the entire summer. When other kids were playing ball or going swimming, I had to get up early and work in the restaurant with Pop.”
“I bet that learned you,” Tonya joked.
“It did. And the days when the restaurant was closed, I wasn’t allowed to leave my room except to eat.”
“How did you pass the time?”
“I read every book in my mother’s bookcase. She didn’t like going to the movies, so she’d read books that were turned into films. Her favorite was Ian Fleming’s James Bond. Even now she devours anything written by James Patterson, Nicholas Sparks, and Dan Brown. I noticed you have a lot of books and magazines when I slept over your place.”
“I read while listening to music.” She sat on a stool and watched Gage almost simultaneously drain a pot of boiled potatoes and plunge them into a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process. He repeated the motion with a saucepan of green beans, followed by rinsing two hard-boiled eggs under cold water.
“I can drop you off in the morning and pick you up in the afternoon, so you don’t have to move your car.”
“I have to use my car,” Tonya insisted, “because I leave earlier than you do.” She’d followed Gage back to his house and parked her SUV alongside his in an indoor lot that offered discount prices for those living in the Lower French Quarter.
“What time do you have to get up in the morning?”
“Five fifteen.”
He gave her a questioning look. “Why so early?”
“I have to get ready to be at the restaurant by six.”
“You go in at six every day?” She nodded. “Did Eustace tell you to come in at that time?”
“No. I have to be there early on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday when he’s at the gym, so coming in the same time on Tuesday and Thursday doesn’t present a problem for me.”
Reaching into the back pocket of his jeans, Gage removed his cell phone and entered his passcode. “Well, it’s a problem for me, because you’re putting in too many hours.”
Tonya bristled at his tone. How many hours she worked was not his concern or his business. “Don’t interfere,” she warned.
“What’s up, bro?” He’d ignored her; she heard Eustace’s voice through the speaker.
“Do you need Tonya to come in early on Tuesdays and Thursdays?”
“No. Why are you asking?”
“She’s staying with me until the gates at DuPont House are working again. Hannah doesn’t want her to stay there with the property unprotected. I’m asking about those days because I can drop her off and pick her up. That is if you don’t mind her coming in at seven-thirty rather than six.”
“That’s not a problem, Gage. I keep telling Tonya that she’s doing too much but she, like every other woman I deal with, ignores the hell out of me.”
“I can hear you,” Tonya shouted.
“Damn, bro. Why didn’t you tell me you had me on speaker?”
Gage winked at Tonya. “Because we’re very candid with each other, I didn’t want her to think I was snitching on her.”
“I hear you, Gage. You know what they say about snitches?”
“They get stitches. And we’ve both seen her handle a knife.”
Tonya struggled not to laugh. “Keep talking about me like I’m not here and somebody will get cut.”
“Enough talk about knives and stitches,” Eustace said. “What’s wrong with the gates at DuPont House, Tonya?”
“They won’t close.”
“Hannah’s right about not wanting you to stay there alone. There’s no such thing as a crime-free neighborhood. It can happen to you. Where you have people you’ll find crazies. You better take good care of my apprentice or you’ll hear it from me.”
Gage smiled. “Not to worry, big brother. She’s safe with me.”
Tonya stared at Gage and slowly counted to ten before going off on him. She didn’t need him to monitor her hours or intercede where it concerned her and Eustace. He was doing exactly what she’d talked to Hannah about—a man attempting to control her life.
He ended the call, set the phone on the countertop, and eased her off the stool and cradled her to his chest. “I worry about you, Tonya. You were so exhausted yesterday that you couldn’t stay to watch the entire game. You can’t keep up the same pace and then hit the ground running when it’s time for you to open your place. And please don’t tell me that you’ll have other people in the kitchen helping you. I don’t care if you have fifty or a hundred working, all of the responsibility for the restaurant’s success or failure is still on your shoulders.” He tightened his hold on her waist. “I don’t want you to think I’m trying to run your life, because that’s the last thing I want to do. Not only do I care about you, but I also care what happens to you.”
A knot rose in Tonya’s throat when she realized she had been wrong to compare Gage to her ex. At every turn Samuel attempted to tell her what to do and how to do it. He’d claimed it was concern when she knew it was control.
Her hands came up and she cradled his face. “What is it you want from me?” Her voice was barely a whisper.
Gage closed his eyes. “All I ask is for you to let me take care of you.” He opened his eyes; the intensity in the luminous orbs frightened her.
“That’s it?”
“That’s enough for me.”
Going on tiptoe, Tonya brushed her mouth over his. “If that’s all you’re asking, then I’m more than honored to let you take care of me.” She could feel his heart thudding against hers when she moved even closer. “Now it’s my turn. What do you want me to give you?”
Gage trailed light kisses along the column of her neck. “I don’t think you’re ready to give me what I want.”
“Try me. I’ve been known to be a genie on occasion and grant a few wishes.”
“Are you sure you want to hear it?”
She nodded. “I’m very sure.”
“Don’t leave.”
Tonya blinked once. “Don’t leave?”
“Yes. I want you to stay; move in with me.”
Now she was certain he could feel the runaway pumping of her heart against his chest. It was as if everything around them faded, leaving only the tall, incredibly masculine man whose nearness electrified all of her senses.
“Why, Gage?”
“Because it’s been a long time since I’ve felt this connected to a woman.”
There was a longing in his voice that told Tonya that Gage was lonely, and she remembered him stating that he didn’t like strangers in his house. He was multitalented and owned a beautiful condo; yet when he came home and locked the door there was no one there to talk to, to sleep or wake up with.
She also wasn’t a stranger to loneliness, but she wasn’t looking for someone to share her life. She loved her career and now looked forward to controlling her own destiny. Right now Tonya likened her life to a beautifully decorated cake with different layers of delicious fillings. And if she took Gage up on his offer to live with him, then he would become the topper on the cake.
She boldly met his eyes. “Do you want a friend or do you want a lover?”
“Right now I’d like a roommate. After that I’m willing to accept whatever you’re offering.”
Tonya was momentarily surprised by his response. Moving in with Gage definitely had its advantages. She wouldn’t have to concern herself with living alone on an estate behind massive iron gates that protected the property from intruders. And more important, she would have a man’s protection.
“Okay, Gage. I’ll stay.”
He picked her up and joined their mouths in a searing kiss that sucked the breath from her lungs. Tonya held onto his neck, her lips parting as she felt the need to get even closer. Her breathing deepened in a slow, measured rhythm, betraying the rush of desire racing throughout her body as the realization washed over her that she wanted Gage to make love to her.
“You can’t kiss me like this and then expect me not to be your lover.”
“Is that what you want?”
“Yes,” she whispered.
“Yes what?” he asked in her ear.
“I want to be your lover.”
* * *
Gage knew he was lost. The desire he had fought from the instant he saw Tonya exploded uncontrollably until he was shaking from the passion struggling to erupt and embarrass him. Their incomplete dinner forgotten, he swept Tonya up in his arms. Taking long strides, he took the stairs two at a time. Fate had intervened when the gates to the mansion malfunctioned, and now the woman who seemingly understood him better than any other would not only share his bed but also his life.
Tonya had no idea how long he had waited for someone like her—a mature, confident woman not afraid to speak her mind. A woman so unaware of her sensuality he found it enthralling and refreshing.
Gage walked into his bedroom and placed Tonya on the bed, his body following hers down onto the mattress. Table lamps turned to the lowest settings cloaked the room in soft gold light. “Do you want me to use protection?” He didn’t have an STD, and even though she couldn’t have any more children, he wanted her to feel comfortable making love with him.
“Yes.”
He kissed her again and then left the bed. Gage kicked off his running shoes and slowly removed his t-shirt, jeans, and briefs. He managed to dampen his passions so that he was back in control and his penis semi-erect. Opening a drawer in the bedside table, he removed a condom and slipped it under the pillow where he could reach it.
Tonya closed her eyes when Gage returned to the bed, the heat of his muscled physique enveloping her when he relieved her of blouse and jeans. Her bra was next, then the delicate scrap of silk of her panties, leaving her naked and vulnerable. She hadn’t realized she had been holding her breath until he pulled her into a tender embrace where her nakedness touched his, making her aware of how different their bodies were.
“I love the way you smell.” He ran his fingertips over her throat, shoulders, and along the length of her arm. “Your skin feels like spun silk.”
Tonya bared her neck as the heat from his mouth swept from her own to her core. Waves of passion rolled over her until she could not stop her legs from shaking. Gage suckled her breasts, worshipping them, and the moans she sought to suppress escaped her parted lips.
His tongue circled the nipples, leaving them hard, erect, and throbbing. His teeth tightened on the turgid tips, and she felt a violent spasm grip her womb. Her fingers were entwined in the cotton sheets, tightening and ripping them from their fastenings at the same time she arched up off the mattress.
“Gage!” His name exploded from her as he inched down her body, holding her hips to still their thrashing. “Stop! Please!”
But he did not stop. His hot breath seared the tangled curls between her thighs, and Tonya went limp, unable to protest or think of anything except the pleasure her lover offered her. She registered a series of breathless sighs, not realizing they were her own moans of physical satisfaction. Eyes closed, head thrown back, lips parted, back arched, she reveled in the sensations that took her beyond herself, unable to believe she had had to wait until she was fifty to experience the exquisite pleasure Gage wrung from her. Then it began, rippling little tremors increasing and shaking her uncontrollably, which became more volatile when they sought a route of escape.
* * *
Gage heard Tonya’s breathing come in long, surrendering moans, and he quickly moved up her trembling limbs and reached for the condom. His hand was steady when he tore open the packet and rolled the latex sheath down the length of his erection and eased his sex into her body. He was met with a slight resistance he hadn’t expected, and drew back, and with a strong, sure thrust of his hips buried his hardness in the hot, moist, tight flesh pulsing around his own. Her legs circled his waist at the same time he cupped her hips, lifting her higher and permitting him deeper penetration.
Her lover’s heat, hardness, and carnal sensuality had awakened the dormant sexuality of her body, and Tonya responded to his passion as hers rose high and higher until it exploded in an awesome, vibrating liquid fire that scorched her mind and left her convulsing in ecstasy. She hadn’t quite returned from her own free-fall flight when she heard Gage’s groan of satisfaction as he quickened his movements and then collapsed heavily on her sated form. There was only the sound of their labored breathing in the stillness of the bedroom as they lay motionless, enjoying the aftermath of a shared, sweet fulfillment.
Gage reversed their positions, bringing her with him until she lay sprawled over his body, her legs resting between his. “Did I hurt you, babe?”
“No,” she drawled, placing tiny kisses on his throat and over his shoulder. “I’m all right.”
“Are you sure?”
She laughed softly. “Very sure.”
Gage’s right hand moved over her bare hip, caressing the silken flesh. Tonya had no idea how sensuous her voice sounded in the dimly lit room. He drew in a deep breath, luxuriating in the intoxicating fragrance of her perfume. He could not believe the passion she had aroused in him; if possible, he had wanted to make love to her all through the night. Inhaling her scent, tasting her flesh, caressing her silken body had tested the limits of his control. He smiled, knowing there would be many more nights that he would make love to Tonya.
“I thought we were making dinner.”
“We were until you compromised me.”
“I compromised you?” Gage asked. “You were the one who seduced me.”
Tonya ran the tip of her tongue around his ear. “When I decide to seduce you, you’ll know that you’ve been seduced.”
“I can’t wait.”
“Be careful what you ask for, darling.”
“I’ll want more, more and more until I’m gorged.” He inhaled an audible breath. “I don’t believe I’ll ever tire of you.”
“Not even when I’m old and wrinkled and unable to open my legs for you.”
“I’ll be old, wrinkled, and unable to get it up, right along with you. Even now I’m grayer than you are.”
“Your gray hair makes you even more attractive,” she countered.
Gage sensed the change in her mood when she grew tense. It was funny how he was able to gauge her moods now that they were intimate. “What’s wrong?”
“What makes you think something’s wrong?”
“You’re tense, Tonya.”
“I was trying to imagine what people will say when they find out we’re living together.”
An angry frown marred Gage’s handsome features. “Whatever they say will not change how I feel about you. I’m too old, had to put up with too much shit to concern myself with what people say about me.”
“What about your mother, Gage?”
“What about her?”
“Do you think if I ever meet her she will welcome me with open arms once she discovers I moved in with her son after knowing him exactly one month?”
“That’s where you’re wrong. I met you for the first time right after St. John and Hannah’s wedding. And that makes four months instead of one. My mother stopped meddling in my life a long time ago. The only thing she asks is if I’ve found someone to make me happy.”
“What did you tell her?”
“I told her I’d met someone who makes me very, very happy.”
Gage wasn’t certain what he expected Tonya to say, but it wasn’t the silence that followed his pronouncement that she made him happy. Happy and fulfilled.
“Please let me get up, Gage.”
“Why?”
“I need to take a shower.” Leaning over, Tonya reached for Gage’s t-shirt at the foot of the bed and slipped it over her head. She smiled at him over her shoulder. “I’m going to my bedroom. I’ll be down as soon as I’m washed and dressed.”
Sitting up and resting his back against a mound of pillows, Gage stared at the door through which Tonya had disappeared. He knew she was concerned about how quickly their relationship had progressed, and he had shocked himself when in a moment of madness he had asked her to live with him. And what surprised him more than his own impulsiveness was her acceptance.
Gage had to acknowledge at forty-six and fifty, respectively, he and Tonya did not have to answer to anyone for their actions or lifestyle, yet she had voiced her concern about how their friends and acquaintances would think of them living together. Hannah, St. John, and now Eustace knew she was living under his roof, and he knew it was only a matter of time before those in New Orleans also became aware of their living arrangements.
Gage swung his legs over the side of the bed and made his way to the en suite bath. Gage discarded the condom, turned on the water in the shower, and stepped under the lukewarm spray, loathing having to wash away the scent of Tonya’s perfume. He showered and dressed in record time, and when he reentered the kitchen he found Tonya making the vinaigrette.
He rested his hand at the small of her back as she whisked balsamic vinegar and olive oil in a small bowl. Dipping his head, he pressed a kiss to her bare shoulder. “Love you.”
Tonya nodded. “Thank you.”
Gage’s heart felt like a rock in his chest. He’d just admitted to Tonya that he loved her, and she thanked him as if he had just handed her a cup of coffee and the morning paper. Act in haste and repent in leisure. His mother’s prophetic warning nagged at him. It was what she had said to him when he told her he had to marry because he had gotten a woman pregnant.
Marriage and living together were life-changing events, and he wondered if perhaps he was doomed to be unlucky in love. His volatile relationship with his ex-wife had been one-sided; he had done all of the compromising while she refused to accept the consequences for her actions.
Gage felt in his heart of hearts that Tonya was the woman he wanted in his life, but he had to make certain to allow her to make her own decisions, or what they would have was a rerun of her marriage.
“I mentioned before I’m not working this weekend. Let me know what you’d like to do or see, and we can plan it together.”
She flashed her dimpled smile. “I’ll try and come up with something we both like.”
“That sounds good.”