Gage was silent as he watched her, and for once?

The silence didn’t bother her.

There was no tension, no anxiety that the silence would explode into a battle match. There was no fear of her having to keep her distance from him in the event that he flipped his lid.

There was none of that as she watched the conflicted emotions run through his face. And, as try as she might, there was no guilt, either.

The second Justin laid a hand on her, he had shattered their marriage. Finding out that he had kept another woman a secret? That their sex life had suffered so detrimentally that he had felt the need to find it somewhere else?

It hurt.

It hurt like a bitch.

But…that was over with. Done with. When she thought of Justin, she didn’t feel anger, she didn’t feel fear. She didn’t feel anything. Now that she was away from him and she had an out, all of that fear where he was concerned was just…gone.

The space in her heart that had been so shattered before was just a void now. A dark abyss, bereft of emotions that should have rendered her terrified of Gage.

As her hand slowly lifted to touch his cheek, all she could think of was the fact that this was her choice. She was in control. Finally, after so long of living in fear of arguments and Justin himself, she was able to say, “I want this, so I’m taking it.”

The thing that made this all better?

Gage wanted it, too. Even if he was trying to play the Good Guy role and remind her she was legally married to another man—he still wanted it. Still wanted her. And that’s all she cared about right now.

“So you…just want the control,” he said, his voice so deep it sent a shiver down her back.

“I want more than the control.” She trailed her fingers up the nape of his neck, to the back of his head. Unlike Justin, his hair was trimmed to his skull. A jarhead cut, she thought.

It worked for him.

“And you,” she admitted, the truth not a surprise at all. Was it mentally sane of her to want someone so soon after deciding to leave Justin?

Probably not.

But he had helped her when no one she knew would have. He had helped her purely on his own accord. He had helped her, a stranger, without even knowing who she was besides a battered woman.

That right there was enough to tell her he was worth this, even if “this” was only for a night.

She wanted to make this worth it.

“Shit, Kate.” His voice was nothing more than a growl and that was all it took to send her over the edge.

Tightening her grip on the back of his neck, she simultaneously pulled him in and leaned down, and he gladly met her halfway. Their kiss was heated and awakening. Like just the soft stroke of his tongue urging her lips open was enough to build a raging fire inside of her, he brought her to life.

She wanted to enjoy this, to enjoy her freedom, but the rush of lust and forbidden desire threw all of that out the window. She might want to take it slow, but she also wanted him now.

The latter won out.

With a soft moan, she pulled back from the kiss to reach for the hem of his shirt. Pulling, pushing it up frantically. He was right there with her, taking her shirt from the bottom and quickly pulling it above her head, leaving her in nothing but her bra and jeans.

“Not fair,” she said. “I can’t be the only one without a shirt.”

He gave her a quick grin and then reached between them to lift his own shirt off.

The sight that met her eyes was enough to have her mouth watering.

“Holy…shit.”

“Eleven years in the military,” he said, the pride in his voice making her smile.

“It did you well.”

He shrugged, then slid his hands under her ass. Gasping, she wrapped her arms around his neck and held on as he pushed away from the couch.

“If we’re going to do this, it’s not going to be on the couch.”

Halfway up the stairs is as far as they made it before she started kissing his neck.

“Kate,” he grunted, his steps slowing as he walked up the stairs with her wrapped around him like a snake. “Kate, stop. Just let us get to my bed and…”

The words fell away with a muffled moan and their steps stopped completely. She slid her hand between them, reaching for the zipper of his jeans.

“Shit—No, wait—“ She pushed it down and worked on the button, keeping her laugh to herself. She loved his struggle to control himself, loved that she was doing this to him. Loved that there was nothing but pure, untamed lust between them.

“Don’t you dare stick your hands in my—oh, fuck me—“

His grip on her ass became so rough that she knew there’d be marks in the morning, but as her hand wrapped around his cock and gently squeezed, she knew she wouldn’t care. At least those bruises would be worth it.

“Kate, I swear to God. If you don’t stop, I’m going to fuck you on the stairs.”

She pulled back from his neck, moving her wrist in a way that would help create more room for her hand to pump around him. He was large in her hand. Hard. Hot.

“You won’t,” she said, goading him. At this point, she didn’t care where they did it. She was being swept up in a haze of need, intrigue, and excitement. She wanted him—and she wanted him now.

“I will,” he said, his tone more promising than threatening.

She gave him a gentle tug, nipping his neck.

“Then do it.”

That’s all it took. Those three words, and he was lowering himself onto his knees, setting her ass on the stair, and then gripped her jeans and panties, yanking them off her waist. Once those were off, he made quick work of her bra while steeling a heated kiss from her lips.

With the bra tossed down the stairs, she was completely naked. Completely barred to him. And oddly…she didn’t feel the need to hide. She didn’t feel anything except her overwhelming desire for him.

And once her eyes dipped down to the cock that sprung past the open clasp of his jeans, that desire turned into a rampant need that left her breathless.

He shucked off the jeans without a problem, then climbed above her. Her ass burned from the rub of the carpet on the stairs, but it didn’t compare to how badly she wanted him. This was something she had never done, never felt the security to do with Justin. He hadn’t been adventurous, not in terms of sex.

“I’m going to fuck you, Kate. Right here. Right on the stairs. Do you want me to stop?”

You’re still technically married, a voice in the back of her head whispered. It was the voice that Gage wanted her to hear, the voice he had planted there by asking that question and giving her an out.

She narrowed her eyes on him, reached between them, grabbed his cock, and then guided it to her core. The first brush of contact had the both of them moaning.

With the intense expectation of sex hanging over her head, the whisper of thoughts started to float through her head, thoughts she wished she never would have let come through.

This would be her first time having sex with a man in three years who she wasn’t married to. This would be her first time thinking of another man, touching another man, kissing another man… Her first time taking another man into her body.

Her eyes fluttered to look at him.

Gage was braced above her. His knees were between hers, two stairs lower than the one her ass rested on, and his arms were braced above her head. While she was the one holding his cock and rubbing it against her clit, he was strained, obviously fighting the need to take over and slam home.

He was letting her figure out the pace and determine it.

If that wasn’t encouragement, she didn’t know what was.

The thoughts, the underlying doubt, all fled, and she adjusted her grip on him so that she could angle him at her entrance, giving him a clear shot.

He took it.

Took her.

Everything went quick from here. He slid right in, her body more than ready and welcoming, and then pulled back—just to slam himself inside of her. His cock pushed past her lips, plunging inside of her with an ease that left her dying for more.

“Gage,” she whimpered, trying to brace her arms on the step while still managing to grab his arm. “Gage, this—“

He didn’t let her speak. Instead, he leaned down, still pumping hard inside of her, and kissed the words out of her mouth.

She was more than fine with that.

Kate tried her best to match him thrust for thrust, her body craving completion, but the steps were leaving rug burn on her cheeks.

“Gage,” she said between kisses. “Take me—take me to your room.”

He grunted, but listened. With one hand sliding under her ass, he deftly lifted her from the stairs while her arms and legs twined around them, keeping them close together, his cock still buried inside of her. Every movement with him inside of her was one more push to the orgasm.

When he kicked open a door, he made a beeline to the bed. Just as soon as he had her laying back on the bed, he was thrusting inside of her, finally in a position to where he could get to her breasts.

One hand held her hip still, and the other reached for her breast. He only gave her nipple a brief tug before he leaned down and laved it with his tongue, taking it between his teeth and gently nipping.

That, coupled with the steady rhythm of his large body against hers, brought on the first swell of the climax. The excitement and disbelief that this was truly happening, that she was actually enjoying sex with another man like Gage, intensified everything.

Kate lifted her legs, wrapping them around his waist. When her hands came up to hold his head to her breast and the moans became louder to the point of being near cries of desperation, Gage growled against her skin and then pulled back. Both hands grabbed her hips, holding her steady, as he started to move quicker, harder.

His cock pounded inside of her and seconds later, that swell turned into a raging hurricane with a crest that seemed to never end. When she cried out, it was his name on her lips, his groans of completion mixing with her soft sobs of relief.

“Gage,” she whimpered as he pulled out of her. “Gage… Thank you.”

“That’s an odd thing to say.” His voice sounded as exhausted as she was, but he still managed to help her slid up the bed and under the covers. He followed soon after, even going as far to take her into his arms so that she was forced to sprawl across his chest.

Not that she minded.

It was perfect.

“You’ve done more for me than you know,” she said, letting her cheek rest against his chest. “Way more. More than anything. Like, so much more—“

“I get it,” he said with a soft laugh. His hand slid up her back, fingers trailing down the path they’d just come, and she shuddered. “Just go to sleep. We’ll figure everything out in the morning, yeah?”

“Yeah,” she said, already dozing off.

Her last thought before dozing off was hopeful in its simplicity.

Everything would be fine.

She wasn’t going to have no resourced once she left her husband for good, and after the night they’d just had together…even if it was a one-time thing…there was something good happening in her life, at least.