“You’re here now,” she offered.

“Yes, and this is where I want to be.”

That was all she needed to hear. Gage wanted to be here. With her. That was something, right?

Chloe nodded and found his mouth with hers once more. She wasted no time unfastening his pants. Keeping his hot kiss on her, he reached between their bodies, grabbed a condom from his pocket, and slid it on. She couldn’t wait any longer. She was starved for him, and he wanted her, too. Wanted her to stay.

“Gage,” she whispered. She moved her panties aside and surged down on him, hard and fast and dirty.

So dirty, and she loved every single second.

“Fuck, baby, yes,” he groaned. With one arm wrapped around her middle and fusing her to his body, the other reached up and yanked down the top of her dress. Cool rain pelted her sensitive breasts, hitting her nipples and beading them so hard she moaned.

“Don’t you dare stop.” He pulled her down even further on top of him until her breasts bobbed above his face. He latched on, sucking the entire peak into his mouth. She gripped the grass on either side of his head and bore down. Rocking back and forth in hard, distinct thrusts, keeping him deep while hitting every internal nerve.

“Stop?” She whipped her hips again. “I’m just getting started.”

He grinned and bit her nipple gently. She gasped—the sting of his teeth and the rain pelting her skin lit her up like a bolt of lightning hitting the ocean.

Her knees dug into the soft wet ground as she moved over him. She shifted her hips to take him deeper. Everything fell away when she ground down so hard the tiny bundle of nerves pressed against his pelvis and his cock rubbed that perfect spot inside.

“Oh God.” She whipped her hips again. “Oh yes, right there.”

“Making yourself come on me already, sweetheart?” He gave a final kiss to her breasts, then threaded his hand in the back of her hair, bringing her face to face until the tips of their noses touched. “Do it. Use me to make yourself come. Let me feel it.”

She was helpless not to. He was giving her power to take him. Use him. Feel him. And she would. Because reality or fantasy, she had him right now. All his strength and power was under her, and she was clinging to it. To him.

Her inner walls tightened, her stomach fluttered and tensed as thick lava climbed her spine…

“Thatta girl. I feel you. You’re right there. So fuckin’ sexy, sweetheart.”

His dark rasp was all it took to kick her release over the edge. Her body cracked and popped with an orgasm so intense it felt like she’d been shot from a cannon. Over and over she gripped him, seeking more but on the brink of too much.

This right here, as he looked into her eyes and they moved in sync, this was more real than ever before. This was the connection she’d been running from for so long—and now that she’d had a taste, would anything less be enough?

He growled her name and lifted her up, spinning her and pushing her back against the ground. Blades of grass scratched her skin while Gage’s hot flesh pressed against her front. His massive body mostly shielded her from the downpour, and his dark eyes practically glowed in the night, like a predator. Like a man on the brink of devouring her.

“Don’t you dare stop,” she said, repeating his command to her. She bit his ear as she threw her hips up to take his length in and out of her. “This is what I’ve wanted.” She grabbed his ass, digging her nails in, and he groaned to the sky.

“You make it hurt,” he said, so much pleasure lining his voice.

“So do you.”

“Do you like it as much as I do?” He thrust hard back inside her.

“Yes…maybe more.”

“Impossible,” he whispered into her hair, then kissed her. His wet chin scraped against hers and the prickle of him taking up every inch of her body was consuming.

In and out he took her, each surge inside more powerful than the last. He drove his arms beneath her shoulders and wrapped her in a hug, clutching tight as he worked faster and faster.

She gasped his name as another release spired through her body like pop rocks in soda. He held her so tight that she thought he might never let her go.

“Chloe…there’s got to be a way.” He groaned as his body stiffened, and he gripped her even tighter as his release flooded him. He shuddered against her.

There’s got to be a way?

What was he getting at? Was he saying there must be a way for them to be together? To make this work? To date?

She wasn’t sure, but as his strong chest rose over her, she knew no matter what was possible, reality always won out.

As they caught their breath, she opened her eyes to rain crashing down on them. This wasn’t a fantasy. This was real. And she had no idea how to get out.

Gage unlocked his front door and ushered Chloe inside. They were both caked with mud. He’d never felt more alive than when he was inside her, surrounded by nothing but nature and her skin. His back still hummed from where the rain had hit him as he drove in and out of her.

Elemental, primal, wild.

Everything he experienced with her tapped into the next level of need. Any time, any place, he wanted her—and he didn’t want to give her up.

His plan was becoming heavier by the second. His team was out there without him when he ought to be out there helping them find those people—how was he supposed to give that up?

Gage shook his head—he’d deal with it later. Every moment spent with Chloe pulled him deeper and deeper into a situation he wasn’t sure how to tackle—but he couldn’t stop. Not now. Not when he’d already come this far.

He needed to show her they could work while he was here. That even when he left, they could still have a relationship of sorts when he was away. He’d visit more often, stay for longer periods of time. Surely he could make that good enough and have it both ways…

“Come here.” He walked her into the bathroom, turned on the shower, and faced Chloe. “I really want to say something about you being such a dirty girl…” He smiled and tugged on her sodden dress. Mud streaked all over her legs and in her hair. She looked like a wild Amazonian goddess.

“If you did, I’d counter with you’re the one who makes me dirty,” she said lowly.

“Is it bad that I like that?”

She shook her head. “No, I like it, too.”

He took off his shirt, then his jeans, and when they were both naked, he led her under the spray of the water. He lathered up soap in his hands and washed her neck. His thumbs slid along her jaw, massaging and cleaning away the mud.

It was incredible how she responded to him. They were naked, yet this wasn’t sexual. It was almost…nurturing. He was happy to just touch her. Revel in her beauty and wash her. Keep her close.

“So, we both want to be dirty together,” he started. “Why don’t we?”

She peeked open an eye. “What?”

“Give in to me,” he whispered.

“I gave you your date. And romance.”

“I know. But I want more.” His hands roamed from her chest to her arms, spreading the bubbles. “I don’t know when I’ll be called out on the next mission, but I want you to spend however long I have left here with me. We can—”

“Pretend there’s more between us than there actually is?” she snapped.

“That’s where you and I differ. I know there’s more between us.”

“There can’t be,” she said. “You know how bad that’d be.”

“So you want to keep doing what we’re doing without ever exploring more?”

Her wide eyes searched his face. She wanted to say something—it was on those pretty lips, but she held it back and glanced away. He grabbed the soap and placed his lathered hands on her chest.

“Tell me the truth,” he said. “What is it you want? Beyond the sex, beyond a casual and temporary relationship. What do you honestly want?”

Her hands stilled. “I want to be the fantasy…not the reality.”