Chapter Eight

Black

Phoenix

I look out the window in Mags’ kitchen, knowing she’s not coming back for a while. She broke her hip, had surgery, and at her age, things don’t heal fast or easy.

I followed them to the hospital and waited in the waiting room to give Gage a ride back home. It was six hours before he came out. Well, six hours before I was awakened by a big hand clamping my knee and startling me.

He asked what I was doing, and I told him. He looked shocked that I had come, and I told him that I adored that woman, too. He took me to her.

In her drugged-up state, she told me to take her boy home and put him to bed. Gage laughed at her words, and then told her he wasn’t going to leave her because she needed surgery, and if they threw her in jail, she wouldn’t get it. She fell asleep shortly after that, and he sent me home.

I came back the next day and waited with him for her to come out. I actually held his hand. It was awkward at first, though he didn’t seem to think so, and it became less so to me very quickly.

She came out of recovery, miserable and ornery, which made him a lot less anxious than he had been while she was under the knife.

I convinced him to go home, shower, and get some sleep. When he came back three hours later, I knew he hadn’t slept at all.

It’s been a week, and Gage has been with her every night. I go down into the city during the day to sit with her so he can leave and work on the property—that damn fence he’s hell-bent on building alone—and also because I miss her like crazy.

She’s miserable to most of them, but not to me. By the smile she gives him when he comes in, she’s not to Gage, either.

He messages me about an hour after I leave and at least a couple times throughout the night.

- You good?

I reply, Yep. You good?

His reply: Yep.

Other than that, we don’t talk much. In a sense, it’s good. I mean, I don’t feel pressured to give in to what he wants. What I know I want more and more every time I look at him, see him with Mags, or breath in his scent.

I step away from the window and grab my cup of coffee off the counter and finish it before heading into the shower so I can head to the hospital. They may be transporting Mags to a rehab center today.

Pulling down the dirt road, I see Gage pulling in. I move from the middle of the road so he can pass by.

He stops when he gets beside me, and I roll down the window.

His aviators are covering his eyes that I assume are red from lack of sleep, his beard needs a trim, and although his hair is totally gorgeous, it’s a mess.

“She’s full of piss and vinegar today,” he tells me.

“Are they moving her?”

“They say so. She told them to go to hell. She’s getting crankier and crankier. I offered to have a nurse and physical therapist come to my place, but she told me she wouldn’t be my problem. Then she told me she was sick of me sitting there, staring at her, knowing I had shit to do. Told me to get out.”

“She did not!” I gasp.

He shakes his head. “Yeah, she did. Told me I should make sure you don’t stop in today, either.”

“Ouch.”

He nods. “Got a bunch of boards in the back of the truck. Gonna build a ramp today. She gets thrown out on her ass, she’ll need it.”

“You need help?”

“Nah, you probably have shit to do.”

“No. My afternoon schedule just cleared itself up.”

“You know how to use a hammer?”

“No, but I’m sure you can teach me.”

A shit-ass grin creeps up on his face, and all the feelings he evoked in me that had been asleep for a week wake up.

“Get your ass turned around then and follow me down.”

The entire trip down to his house, I am tension and tingles. I’m going to be alone with Gage for the first time in a week. In the times I have been away from the bar, away from Mags, away from him, he is all I have thought about.

Stepping out of the Jeep, I watch as he opens the tailgate to his truck and pulls out a large piece of wood. A two-by-four? I have no idea, but watching him lift and pull it out does nothing to calm the fire igniting inside of me.

I wipe the moisture off my forehead, embarrassed that I seem to be sweating.

He looks up and sighs. “Rain.”

Thank God. I almost laugh at myself.

He turns and looks at me. “Gonna have to do this in the barn.”

For an hour, he saws and measures, and I write down numbers as he spits them out to me. I love watching him concentrate and the way his eyes squint when he’s trying to figure something out, the way he gives a little nod when he’s mastered it, and the way he looks back at me when giving me a number or measurement and looks pleased that I’m there.

The rain starts coming down harder, and the sound of it against the tin roof is almost mesmerizing.

When the lights flicker, he sets down the round saw and steps toward the door.

“Looks pretty bad out there.” I walk over and stand beside him.

The clouds are moving fast, nearly black ones replacing the light gray. The wind is howling, and the rain is coming down harder.

“Probably gonna lose power.” He turns around and looks up. “Should get the extension cords to hook up the generators.” He looks back at me. “I’m gonna lift you up, and you grab them.”

He points up and I look.

“Don’t you think a ladder would work?”

“They’re in the other barn. Not sure we have time.”

“I have a skirt on.”

He holds back a smirk. “I won’t look.”

I stand in front of him and lift my arms. “I feel like a two-year-old.”

He chuckles as he bends down, gripping me below the knees, and hoists me up toward the orange extension cords hanging on a huge nail on the beam.

I try to pull the first down, but it’s stuck.

I look down and tell him, “It won’t come down.”

“Gotta stand up. It’s probably looped around the spike.”

“I don’t know if I can.”

He grips my ass that’s on his shoulder and lifts me. “Grab it and pull, Phoenix.”

“Oh, my God, you’re crazy,” I squeal.

Just then, the lights go out.

“Gage!”

“Squirt, I got a hold of you; why you yelling like I’ve disappeared?”

“It’s dark!” I yell, and he laughs.

“Grab the cords, and we’ll fix that issue.”

“I can’t feel wherever it’s stuck...Oh shit!” I start to fall, and he catches me.

“Phoenix, you’ve got to relax.”

We end up nose to nose, and I can feel his hot breath against me.

“Gonna lift you one more time,” he says, breath labored.

“Okay,” I whisper as my stomach knots.

As he lifts me, I feel his nose slide down my chin. Then soft skin is against my neck. His callused hands move under the fabric of my shirt, and I hear myself let out a whimper.

He pauses. “You good?” His voice is rough and strained.

“Um, yep. Yes, I’m good.”

“You reach up there and grab it, okay?”

I do and pull myself up to reach where I think it’s stuck. The cord gives, and I slip.

Legs and arms flailing, I spin to grab him so I don’t fall and end up wrapped around him.

He grips my ass tight. “Christ, Phoenix.”

His muffled moan is against my bare thigh, and I realize just what position we have ended up in, in the dark.

I hear him groan and inhale deeply. Then I feel something, his nose, rub against my upper thigh.

I grab his hair as my body tenses.

He lifts my other leg to his shoulder.

“You smell like heaven,” he groans.

“Oh, God.”

“Can you reach the cord?”

I lift one arm up and blindly reach for what I know is there.

“Got it.”

“Good. Now hang on tight.”

Half a second later, I hear a rip and feel his tongue.

“Oh, hell.”

“Mmm,” he groans as he licks me.

“I’m gonna fall,” I cry.

“Don’t you let go,” he demands as he pushes his tongue inside of me.

“Oh, oh, God.”

He grips my ass so tight I know it will bruise, but I don’t care.

One hand on the cord, the other tangled in his hair, I whimper as he licks me deeper, sucks hard, and pulls me tighter against his face.

Thunder rolls around us as he continues eating me, licking me, sucking me, causing my body to catch fire.

His groans, and the vibration causes more sensation.

I let go of the cord and fist his hair with both hands.

He keeps licking as he walks. Well, I think we’re moving. Oh, God, I don’t know. It’s slower now, and not inside of me. It’s everywhere. Every crevice, every hypersensitive inch of me, and then he nudges my clit, and I start to fall backward.

He catches the back of my head as my back hits cold metal. Lightning flashes, and I look up at him. His hair is wild, his jaw tight, his eyes dark.

Desire.

Dark.

Lightning flashes again, and I see him as he pulls his shirt off with one hand. He is beautiful and dark. All man.

Thunder rumbles loudly all around as he grips the back of my neck gently. He pulls me up, and then quickly I am down. Not on cold metal anymore, but on his shirt.

Hands grip me behind my knees, and then I am pulled lower and spread completely.

“I’m gonna eat you.” His tone is raw need.

A million worries flood my mind. Is this really happening? Do I look okay down there? Did I shave this morning? Am I fresh? I have never had a man between my legs like this. Oh, God, what if I’m gross?

Lightning strikes as he buries his face between my legs, and I look down, trying not to cry out my pleasure.

He is engulfing every part of me, consuming me, kissing, licking, nibbling on me. The sounds he makes erase all worry.

Worry gone.

Heaven.

I grind against his face as he pulls me even closer, digging his fingers almost painfully into my flesh. The feeling is euphoric, exhilarating. I want more. I want everything. I want it all.

His tongue lays against my clit for the first time, and electricity surrounds me.

“Oh, yes. Oh, God, yes,” I cry out as lightning strikes, and he stops.

Shit.

I look down to see his jaw is tense as he pushes a finger inside me.

“Oh, God,” I cry as he pushes in and pulls out slowly at first, then fast. “Oh, yes!”

“Fucking need you,” he says as his mouth touches me again. He sucks my clit as he fucks me with his big, long fingers.

“Yes, yes. Oh, yes!”

Lightning strikes again, and I see him. I see hunger, need, desire, sex. I see sex and Gage, and want. And God help me, I want him inside me now.

“Fuck me,” I pant. “Now, dammit. Fuck me.”

He doesn’t stop.

Another finger pushes inside me, and I cry out.

He licks, then sucks, and I fall apart.

Minutes? Hours? Days? I don’t know how long he continues, but he does as promised. He eats me until I can’t move if I wanted to.

I hear his panting breath, his fingers working me slower now.

My shirt rises, and he squeezes my breast then pulls it out of the bra cup and sucks. He sucks so hard that it hurts, but it hurts so damn deliciously, like the rest of my body.

He moves to the next and does the same.

When he stops, I open my eyes and see the lights flickering.

He stands up and looks down at me, eyes cascading slowly down my body, watching as he pulls his fingers out of my sore pussy.

“You look amazing,” he sneers.

I lie still, waiting for him to take me like I begged him to. The lights are now fully on, and he hasn’t made a move.

Feeling vulnerable, I start to close my legs.

He turns around, putting his back to me.

“Gage?”

He looks over his shoulder.

“Um?”

He smiles a slow, sexy as sin smile. “Lights are back on. I need to get this job done, and you need to go get cleaned up for work. You’re covered in sawdust, saliva, and the sweetest cum I’ve ever tasted.”

“Are you for real right now?”

He looks at his watch. “You got an hour before you need to be behind that bar. When I fuck that tight, little pussy, it’s gonna take me that long to get all the way in, and then another hour to make sure you like it enough that you’ll be begging for more. I’ve tasted you, squirt. That pussy is mine while I’m here. You good?” He turns around now. I assume to see my reaction.

I look down at my sore tits and gasp.

“When that fucker, who may or may not have some sort of x-ray vision, is staring at your tits tonight, he’ll see they’re taken.”

“Oh, my God,” I say, not sure if I should laugh, tell him he’s a freaking Neanderthal, or feel excited about the possibilities.

“Phoenix, I’m not fucking around.”

I have no words, not one.

“Get going before I make you call in.”

I walk out of the barn, pause in shock, and yell, “NO!”

I hear footsteps and his groan, “Fuck.”

I want to cry. I want to cry because I worked my ass off to buy my dream vehicle, my red Jeep Wrangler, and it has a tree laying across it.

I look back at Gage, knowing I am on the verge of tears.

“It’ll be okay, squirt.” He wraps his arm around my shoulder. “We have insurance.”

“But...But it’s my baby,” I say, which makes him laugh. “It’s not funny.”

“No, I guess not. But it’s something that can be fixed.”

“But I have to go to work.” I step away from his warm comfort and toward my baby.

He walks around it with me. “Easy fix. Looks like it’s just the soft top.”

“And a freaking tree, Gage!” I look up at him. “A freaking tree is in my Jeep.”

“That’s a freakin’ problem,” he says with a laugh.

“It is.” I try to be pissed at him, but fail miserably. His laugh, his smile are both are contagious.

“We’ll figure it out.” He looks back at the wood, then me. “Come on.”

“Where are we going?”

“Gonna get you some working wheels.”

I follow him to yet another barn, one I haven’t ventured into since being here.

“You drive stick?”

I have a smart-ass remark on the tip of my tongue when he looks back.

“I’ll teach you.”

“I hope so.”

He stops dead in his tracks and turns around. He has that look again. So damn sexy.

“When are you off again?”

“Two days,” I tell him, my stomach doing that thing again.

“Good. I’m gonna get shit done around here, and then I’m going to tear you apart.”

“You’re trying to scare me,” I say quietly.

“No, Phoenix. I’m just telling you like it is.”