Two hours later, Gage had to force himself to take his foot off the gas. Finally, they were on their way to Felicia’s place, but after having his balls primed and ready for so long, he felt ready to explode. He could have taken care of himself in the shower, but that seemed like cheating Felicia. She’d caused his erection. She should get the benefits of it in the form of mutual orgasms. He planned for a lot of them.

But that wouldn’t happen as fast as he wanted it to if he got pulled over for going forty miles per hour over the speed limit through Terravista.

It had been a long time since he’d felt this on edge, not since they’d first dated and he’d driven long-distance to get to her. Back then, he’d barely be inside her door before he’d be inside her. He liked to think he had a bit more control now, but this morning was proving the lie of that. Around her, he lost all control.

He wanted her. Every way he could get her.

“Hey,” Felicia said as she laid her palm high on his thigh.

He hissed, already so primed that the simple touch was both too much and nowhere near enough.

She chuckled softly. “Are you okay? You seem a little tense.”

He glanced over. Her eyes were filled with mischief and humor. Yeah, she knew what his problem was.

As she rubbed higher up his thigh, he groaned. “You are cruel.” He desperately looked out the window to see how much farther they had to go. “Damn, when did this town get so big?”

This time, her laugh sounded full of joy.

A little later, his Jeep slid into a parking spot between her clinic and her house. He turned off the Jeep, jumped out, and jogged around to hers, flinging it open in a rush.

She leapt into his arms, wrapping her arms and legs around him, as she began to kiss him. She bit and licked and her hands ran frantically over him. She’d been laughing in the car, but it was obvious that she was just as desperate as him.

He sank into the kiss, kneading her ass as he held her, which just pushed her pussy harder against his cock. She felt so perfect in his arms.

His hips ground against her, so much blissful pressure. He needed her closer to him. He wanted in her.

“Keys. House. Now.” The lack of blood in his brain had reduced him to a monosyllabic vocabulary.

She reached back into her seat and grabbed her purse, fumbling for her keys in her haste, not even breaking their kiss while she did it.

He slammed the Jeep door shut behind them and carried her to her front door, so much desire flowing through his system that he felt super-human and didn’t even notice the exertion.

She twisted around, unlocking the door, and then finally they were inside. He gently shoved her up against the wall and tried to make a feast of her lips, their groins thrusting and twisting against each other.

Felicia wrenched her mouth away from his. “Security system. Need to”—she gasped on a moan as he latched onto her neck—“disarm...it.”

He glanced up and spotted the panel, moving her to the side so that she could key in her codes.

While she did that, he yanked her T-shirt up, exposing a purple lace bra that left nothing to the imagination. “Hmm, purple is my new favorite color.” He dipped his head and took her puckered nipple into his mouth, biting and sucking it over the lace.

Her laugh turned to a moan, and she forgot what she was doing as she dropped her hand to the back of his head.

The security system beeped in warning.

“Oh, shit.” She reached over and punched in the code.

After she cleared the warning beeping, she arched her back to give him more of her breast to work with. His pulse pounded in his balls, tightening them as her denim-covered pussy rubbed over his erection with a heat and pressure that felt amazing.

“More, Gage!” Her thighs tightened around his hips. “I need more. Inside me.”

He wanted that, too, but he’d already fucked her up against a tree. He wasn’t going to do her against the wall, barely inside the door, no matter how much his inner animal demanded it.

No matter how hot that kind of sex could be, she had been in a major car wreck yesterday and needed to be handled a little more gently this time.

“We need your bed. Where?”

She waved a hand toward a hall. “Down there, second door on the left.”

Carrying her, he strode down the hall, trying not to fall over his feet when she found a particularly sensitive area on his neck below his ear. His dick pulsed against the tight placket of his jeans.

After laying her gently on the bed, he stepped back and admired at her despite the urgency pulsing just under his skin.

Her red lips were swollen and wet from their kisses, her auburn hair swept across her pillow, and her eyes were darkened with desire. She crooked a finger at him. “You’re too far away,” she whispered seductively.

“Hmm, just pausing so this lasts more than a moment.” Although, he wanted a lifetime of moments ahead of them.

She shook her head with a small, secret smile. “It doesn’t matter.”

His heart soared, hoping she was thinking the same as him.

“You can make sure to give me more orgasms later,” she said with a wink. “Just make sure to note, I want at least three if you think you can manage that.”

And just like that, his heart crashed. Not that he wasn’t going to enjoy giving her as many orgasms as possible, because he totally was.

But for him, this was it. She was his forever.

And for her this was just right now.

For him, this meant no more first dates, no more awkward fumbling through saying goodnight at the door, no more dating other people...period. From here on out, it would be the two of them...forever.

That was what he wanted. He just had to get her on the same page, and that would start by seducing both her body and mind.

He wasn’t sure if he was going to have an orgasm or a heart attack, but all of a sudden, the enormity of it all hit him square in the gut, the heart.

“I love you,” he said.

Her eyes widened with shock.

It was probably way too early in their reconciliation, but he’d never stopped loving her. “It’s been twenty years, and that’s the one truth in my life. I love you. There’s never been anyone like you. Never. And there never will be again. I hope you mean this, Doc, because I am all in with you.”

“Gage...”

His name spoken in such a soft, awe-struck tone almost took him to his knees. Overwhelmed, he crouched by the bed and reached for the buttons on her tiny jean shorts. Unbuttoning them, he lowered his mouth to the exposed skin between her purple lace panties and the fabric of her T-shirt. She tasted of mint and smelled like the honeysuckle he’d remembered and fantasized about. He ripped her shorts down her legs and tossed them to the side.

“You look like a photo out of a magazine for men’s dreams.” Her long tanned, toned legs were spread to accommodate him, one bent at the knee. Her panties matched her bra, a light purple lace that just emphasized her healthy, summer tan. Her white, thin T-shirt had been shoved far enough up her stomach that he could see the shift of her abs as she reached for him.

He held her off. He wasn’t through exploring the vision in front of him yet. He crawled between her legs.

His fingers dipped under the lace edge of her panties. She spread her legs wider in a not-so-subtle effort at urging him on. He ran the pads of his fingers through her trimmed pubes, dipping lower to the heat that already grazed his fingertips. He slipped his fingers inside.

Soaked, pulsing, tight muscles gripped his fingertips, drawing him in as he stroked her. She arched her hips on a desperate moan.

As his fingers probed, he used his chin and free hand to work his way under her T-shirt.

Impatient, she lifted her shoulders and ripped it off. Then she surprised him by taking off her bra, too. Her luscious boobs bounced. She’d always had the best tits, a little bit more than a handful with dusky pink, taut nipples. Perfect.

“Beautiful,” he muttered against her soft skin.

“Impatient.” She gasped as he closed his mouth over her nipple. She threaded her fingers through his hair, pulling him closer as she wrapped her legs around his torso.

His fingers continued to plunge in and out of her wet core. The shuddering of her internal muscles warned him that she was getting close. She moaned nonsensical words interspersed with gasps of his name.

“Please,” she whispered. “Need you. Inside me.”

He shook his head, his legs shaking with the need to do exactly that. But first he had something else in mind. “Not yet. I need to taste you first.”

Her core clamped down hard on his fingers, making him feel like he could climb the highest mountain. But nothing would pull him away from loving Felicia’s body.

He slid down the bed, pulled her panties down and ran his palms up the insides of her silky thighs. The folds of her pussy glistened with her desire, and his mouth watered. He dove between her thighs, running his tongue the entire length of her folds. Her thighs tightened as a sound of pure pleasure ripped from her throat. He did it again, stroking the lips of her pussy, but this time, he ended at her clit, gently pulling the hood away from the engorged bud.

Gently, he ran his tongue over the bundle of nerves as he delved two fingers inside of her heated, wet core. Her hips shot off the bed as she yelled his name, a broken sound coming from her throat.

He continued to stroke and lick as she clamped down on him tighter and tighter. Finally, she broke on a sob as her climax overwhelmed her. Moisture coated his tongue, the most decadent nectar he’d ever tasted.

His cock flexed in his jeans, and he had to tighten every muscle in his groin to keep from coming just from the taste of her, the proof he’d driven her to this passion. It was a heady thing.

When she started to come down from her orgasm, he gently removed his fingers from her pussy and kissed a line from her clit down the inside of her thigh and calf to the arch of her foot. Then he slid off the bed and shed his clothes, donning a condom in almost a single motion. His hands shook. He was so turned on; he worried for a moment that he’d blow his load just trying to slide the condom on.

But soon enough, he was suited up and ready to go. He slid his big body back between her thighs.

She had watched him with languorous, satisfied eyes as he stripped. Now she reached for him, guiding him straight to her core, but he stilled before entering. He kissed her slowly, softly, putting all his emotion into the kiss as he entered her inch by slow inch.

Already so wet, he sank completely inside of her in a single, slow move that had them both groaning from the exquisite sensations. She tightened around him, her hips flexing to take all of him as her fingernails scored his back.

This moment in time was perfection. Everything he’d ever wanted was right here, right now, and they weren’t even done.

If he died right now, though, he could have said that this was the most perfect moment of his life, inside her, his everything.

But then he started to thrust, and his world exploded like a supernova. He drove forward, and Felicia raised her hips to meet his movements. So deep. So good. Her heat enveloped him, caressed him, but then she flexed her internal muscles, and his rhythm stuttered.

His balls tightened. Sweat dripped down his spine. He was already so close, too close. He didn’t want this to end. Felicia reached up and cupped his cheek, drawing his gaze to her face. Emotion shone from her expression... devotion, passion, lust, desire. Everything.

Her core rippled over him and began to convulse, milking his dick in the most perfect way possible. He lost control as her orgasm shook both her and him.

His dick jerked as her core clamped down on him even harder. Pure electricity arced up through his balls as his cock sunk in as deep as he could go. He let go of his control, yelling her name as he flooded the condom deep, deep inside her still-pulsing heat.

Their mutual orgasms seemed to go on forever as aftershocks overwhelmed them both. His thighs and arms shook, his muscle control gone. He sank onto her, lowering his chest to hers, letting his face fall into the hollow of her neck. Breaths heaved, and Felicia ran her hands slowly up and down his back.

Every time he thought about withdrawing from her body, she tightened around him, sending another burst of pleasure buzzing through him.

“I need to get off you,” he murmured more to himself than her, trying to convince his limp muscles to work again. She’d wrung everything out of him.

“I’d rather you not,” she whispered in his ear as she gently bit him, sending another pulse through his balls and cock.

He moaned at the pleasure that was starting to hurt more than feel good because he was so sensitive.

But he knew if he stayed here much longer, they were going to have an issue with the condom as he softened, so he reached down to grab the condom and pulled out despite her moan of protest.

Damn, sliding out had almost felt as good a sliding in. He stilled at her entrance, running the tip of his dick across her swollen, exposed clit. She gasped in pleasure.

The sound had his cock twitching and trying to revive, but at this point in his life, that kind of recovery time wasn’t even a possibility anymore. He reluctantly pulled away. He quickly kissed her on the forehead before climbing out of bed to go take care of the condom.

When he reentered her bedroom, Felicia looked thoroughly, fucked, sated, and relaxed. Her eyes were closed. Even the bruise on her forehead looked less angry in this moment of stillness.

He crawled into the bed beside her.

She cracked her eyes open and rolled over to embrace him. “Is it okay if we stay here for a bit?” she asked sleepily.

“Yes,” he said on a yawn, a testament to how crappy he slept on that way-too-short bunk bed. Wrapping an arm protectively around her back, he relaxed into the scent of Felicia and her warmth on his chest. He, too, fell asleep.

***

EVENTUALLY, THEY HAD to wake up and go back to his house on the base. He had two grounded twins that needed at least a bit of supervision.

When they arrived at his house, all was quiet in the neighborhood, although more than one of his neighbors was outside, mowing their lawn. As the wing commander, he was lucky his yard work was contracted out. He waved at a couple of his neighbors and noticed the group commanders continued to watch Felicia curiously. He could just imagine the gossip on base, which was much worse than a small town a lot of the time.

Neither of the twins was in the living room when they arrived home. “I’m going to go check on them,” he said.

“Do you mind if I go take a shower?” Felicia asked.

“No, that’s fine. I’ll probably do the same thing after you’re done.”

Felicia stepped over to him so that her breasts pressed against his chest.

He swallowed the moan, realizing that he should have made love to her again after they had woken from their nap, but he’d been way too aware of how long the twins had been home alone and unsupervised.

He didn’t think the kids would break the rules, but the three of them were still feeling their way with one another, and he didn’t feel right assuming that they’d be fine. Not yet.

“Maybe if they’re occupied,” Felicia said, her voice low and sultry, “you could come join me. You know, to conserve water and such. Terravista is in a desert, you know.”

“Hmm, and isn’t that lucky for us,” he murmured as he brushed a kiss across the top of her head while subtly caressing the side of her breast. “Let me go assess the situation, and then I’ll be there.”

As quiet as it was, he just hoped the twins were fully occupied with...something. He went to Austin’s room first. Austin glanced up from his video game and muttered a distracted, “Hey, Dad.”

“Everything okay here?”

“Yeah, fine. Beating level seven right now.”

“Awesome. I’m going to go check on London.”

“’kay.”

The scene looked similar in London’s room, except she appeared to be both watching something on her iPad while also reading a book. How did that even work?

“Hey, London,” he called since she had ear buds in and didn’t hear her bedroom door open.

She glanced up in surprise and gave him a slow, knowing smile. “Did you have fun at Felicia’s?”

“No comment. I just wanted to let you know we’re back. She’s still worn out and sore from the crash yesterday, so we may lay down and take a nap for a while.”

“Whatever you want to call it is fine, Dad. We’ll stay out of your hair.”

He almost said something to contradict her, but he wouldn’t lie to his kids if he could help it. Felicia was going to be around for a good long while, so the reality of them having sex would become obvious soon, if not today.

“Thanks, London.”

He pulled her door shut, laughing to himself at her stunned expression as the door closed. She must have expected him to lie to her, too. But that’s not how he would ever treat his kids. Respect needed to go both ways.

But right now, he had something else to focus on...a sexy woman, naked in his shower.

***

HE DIDN’T KNOW HOW much later it was when London gingerly shook his shoulder, waking him up. He hadn’t meant to fall asleep, but from the look of the darkened room, he’d been asleep for a few hours.

Luckily, Felicia still appeared sound asleep. He was glad that they’d both dressed before napping.

London started to speak, but he lifted his finger to his lips and carefully slipped out of the bed. He followed her out of the bedroom, but stumbled to a halt in the hall before the glaring countenance of his AMXS commander, Steven.

“Is she in there?” Steven asked, his furious voice barely more than a harsh whisper.

“Yes,” Gage said as he pulled Steven away from the door. He didn’t want them to wake her up. When they were a safe distance away, he asked, “How did you know she was here?”

Steven rolled his eyes. “We both live on base. Hell, I only live a block over. How long did you think you could keep her presence here a secret?”

“It wasn’t meant to be a secret.”

“Is she okay? Someone said she looked bruised.”

Gage ran a hand over his face, trying to get awake enough to have this conversation with Felicia’s ex-boyfriend.

He glanced over Steven’s shoulder to London. He sure didn’t need to have this conversation with his daughter looking on. “Come on,” he said. “Let’s go out back. I don’t want to wake up Felicia, and no one else needs to hear this.”

Steven gave him a curt, unhappy nod but followed him as they walked to the screen door.

As soon as they were outside and the screen door safely shut, Steven turned on him with a harsh glare. “It didn’t take you long to get her into your bed.”

Gage wanted to say it wasn’t what Steven thought, but it was exactly that. While he felt bad for the other man, he wouldn’t pretend that Felicia didn’t mean everything to him even if it hurt Steven.

He ran his hand through his hair. “Steven, I’m sorry that this hurts you, and so is Felicia, but you have to know I love her. I never stopped.”

Steven’s hands balled up into fists, and the huge guy looked intimidating as hell, but Gage didn’t think he’d lose control here, no matter how upset he felt.

“And does she feel the same?”

Gage nodded. “I hope so.”

A bleak, haunted expression flitted across Steven’s expression before he masked it.

Gage hated this, hurting this man who he truly respected. He’d just never liked Steven on principle because he was his competition for Felicia. “I know that isn’t what you want to hear. I’m sorry for that,” Gage said in a quiet voice. He would never celebrate hurting someone like this.

It took a moment for Steven to gain control, and then he squared his shoulders, all business again. “What about the bruises?”

“Whoever’s been attacking her upped his game yesterday.”

Every muscle in Steven’s body tightened like a panther getting ready to pounce on its prey.

“She was in a car accident. He hit her in an intersection, and her truck flipped three times. She’s okay, considering the severity of the crash. She just has a minor concussion and a lot of sore, bruised muscles. I plan for her to stay here where I can keep her safe until this guy is caught.”

Steven’s lips compressed into an unhappy line. “They still don’t know who he is?”

“No. The Bronco he hit her with was found a couple of hours later, abandoned. It had been stolen from a junkyard down in Las Cruces. They’re looking for some sort of DNA evidence that might give them a clue, but we don’t expect much since the vehicle was wiped clean of fingerprints.” The detective had called with the information early this morning.

“Fuck,” Steven muttered.

“Exactly.”

“But I think she’ll be safe here. As you know, my neighbors keep an eye on things. They’ll notice if someone is lurking around. The good news is...she doesn’t have her truck anymore, so she can’t argue with me taking her and picking her up from work.”

Steven snorted. “Yeah, good luck with that. She’s stubborn.”

“I’m well aware,” Gage said, trying to keep the unhappy growl from his voice. He didn’t want any reminders that Steven probably knew this more mature version of Felicia better than him.

Steven started to say something, but he stopped. He rolled his shoulders before turning back to Gage. “I know it’s awkward, but can you let her know that she can call me anytime. I don’t want her to get hurt any more than you do, and I would protect her with my life. Hell, I would have spent my life protecting her if she would have let me.” His throat worked as if trying to control his emotions. “Just let her know.” Steven’s voice cracked, and he turned and rushed off, leaving through the side fence rather than through the house.

Gage sank onto the chair on the deck. Watching Steven struggle had been hard. He knew how tough it was to lose Felicia, so he understood that pain all too well.

He would also do anything to keep from experiencing it again, so that meant he needed to go in and feed his girl. Then he needed to call the police to see if they had any new leads. Their future was endangered as long as her life was in jeopardy, and that was unacceptable.