Sugar Daddy(232)

Trying to keep my voice steady, I told him about Hardy, that I had known him since I was fourteen.. .that aside from my mother and sister, he'd been the most important person in

the world to me. That I'd loved him.

It was so strange, talking to Gage about Hardy. My past and my present colliding. And it made me realize how different the Liberty Jones from the trailer park was from the woman I'd become. I needed to think about that. I needed to think about a lot of things.

"Did you sleep with him?" Gage asked.

"I wanted to," I admitted. "I would have. But he wouldn't. He said it would make it impossible for him to leave me. He had ambitions."

"Ambitions that didn't include you."

"We were both too young. Neither of us had anything. As things turned out, it was for the best. Hardy couldn't have pursued his goals with me hanging like a millstone around his neck. And I could never have left Carrington."

I had no idea how much Gage had read in my expressions, gestures, the razor-thin spaces between my words. All I knew was that as I talked, I felt something cracking, an inflexible mettle breaking like ice over moving water, and Gage trampled through it ruthlessly.

"So you loved him, he left you. and now he wants another shot."

"He didn't say that."

"He didn't have to," Gage said flatly. "Because it's obvious you want another shot."

I felt drained and irritable. My head was a merry-go-round. "I don't know if that's what I want."

Thin shards of light from the minibar broke his face into harsh slats. "You think you're still in love with him."

"I don't know." My eyes watered.

"Don't," Gage said, his calmness vanishing. "I'd do almost anything for you. I think I'd kill for you. But I'm not going to comfort you while you cry in my arms over another man."

I pinched the corners of my eyes with my fingers, swallowing back tears that burned like acid in my throat.

"You're going to see him again." Gage said after a while.

I nodded. "We.. .1.. .need to get things straight."

"Are you going to fuck him?"

The crude word, used to deliberate effect, was like a slap in the face. "I'm not planning to, no," I said stiffly.

"I wasn't asking if you're planning to. I'm asking if you're going to."

Now I was getting mad too. 'Wo. I don't fall into bed that easily. You know that."

"Yeah, I know that. I also know you're not the kind who goes to a party with one guy and ends up making out with another one. But you did."

I colored with shame. "I didn't mean to. It was a shock to see him. It just.. .happened."

Gage snorted. "As far as excuses go, sweetheart, that bites the big one."

"I know. I'm sorry. I don't know what else to say. It's just that I loved Hardy a long

time before I ever met you. And you and I.. .we've only just started a relationship. I want to be fair to you, but at the same time...I have to find out if what I felt for Hardy is still there. Which means.. .1 need to put things between you and me on hold until I can figure this out."

Gage was not accustomed to being put on hold. It didn't sit well with him. In fact, it sent him over the edge. I jumped a little as he reached out and hauled me close.

"We slept together, Liberty. There's no backtracking from that. He doesn't get to come in and derail us that easily."

"We only slept together one time," I dared to protest.

He lifted a dark brow, looking sardonic.

"All right, several times," I said. "But it was only one night."

"It was enough. You're mine now. And I want you more than he ever did or ever will. You remember that while you're getting your head straight. While he's telling you whatever the hell it is you want to hear from him, you remember—" Gage stopped abruptly. He wasn't breathing well. His eyes were so hot you could have lit kindling off them. "Remember this," he said in a guttural voice, and reached for me.

His arms were too tight, his mouth punishing. He had never kissed me like that before, with hunger scalded by jealousy. Gage had been driven beyond his limits. His breath came hard as he bore me down to the soft leather upholstery, our bodies stretched full-out, his lips never breaking from mine.

I bucked beneath him. not knowine if I wanted to throw him off or feel more of him.

With every movement I made. Gage sank more heavily between my thighs, demanding that I take him, feel him. The hard imprint of his body reminded me of things he had done to me before, the gut-wrenching pleasure, and every thought and emotion was swamped in a rush of desire. I wanted him so badly, I went blind with it, I began to shake from head to toe. I writhed against the pressure of his flesh burgeoning hard and thick beneath the thin black wool. With a low moan, I slid my hands to his hips.