This was what she wanted. The kind of fix only he could give. He took away her need for control and gave her the freedom to simply feel. Let her experience nothing but pleasure. All of her stress and sadness vanished for a night at a time whenever Gage was around. She got out her aggression—and he got her off in a way she’d never experienced with another.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you liked getting tossed around a bit.” He gently squeezed her neck. Not enough to hurt, but the calluses on his palms scratched the sensitive column of her throat when she swallowed.

“You know I do,” she said. “And you like giving it rough as much as I like taking it.” She lifted her chin, looking deeply into the dark pools of his eyes. “Good line in there by the way,” she said and crushed her mouth against his. He plunged his tongue inside and kissed her like he hadn’t seen her in four months—which he hadn’t. She loved the urgency and lust behind his every move.

“I meant every word,” he said between heavy breaths. “You bit your lip and I thought I’d toss you on the counter and fuck you right there.”

She moaned—God, how she wanted him to have her right now.

“You know what that does to me.” He yanked down her tank top and latched onto a nipple. “I’ll play your little games, but you took it too far. I could barely stay in my seat.”

With both her hands free now, she grabbed his lower back and yanked him closer. His hips pushed against her thighs until the dull pain of forming bruises stung her skin. She wanted more. She loved the ache—the promise of wild still to come.

He held her tightly, but she moved however she could. Rocking against his hard-on, brushing her face against his stubble, running her hands through his hair, anything to get that zing of contact. It’d been so long since she felt him—she was about to explode. In a few seconds, she’d get off with little more than a skillfully placed grind.

“You show up, no panties, no bra, and you know what happens?” He sucked on her sensitive peak.

“I hope you fucking me happens, because I can’t wait.”

She spurred her heel against his ass again, begging for more. Calling out the dominant side she loved so much. And he rose to the request.

“No waiting for you, sweetheart,” he rasped. He yanked her off the wall and pressed her stomach-first onto the ground, facing the balcony ledge. Gage gathered her wrists and held them firmly against the small of her back.

She wiggled to test his strength—he was unbendable. Her tank top was pulled up to her neck, and the cold wood floor pressing against her bare breasts sent shivers down her spine. A cool draft hit the exposed cleft of her ass.

He had her pinned. Laid out flat and pinned.

“You see them all down there? How many of those people do you know?” he whispered in her ear.

She lifted the side of her face off the floor enough to glance down over the ledge. It was impossible to move much, but she wiggled anyway, daring him to tighten his hold. Like a boa constrictor delivering little pulses of strength as he slowly stole her struggle. Wetness flashed between her legs and sensitized her skin another degree.

Though she was mostly in the shadows, her head was in a strip of light. If someone were to look up, they’d see her face as she looked down at them. Would they see Gage’s glowing dark eyes behind her? She could imagine the sight. Only her face hinted at what was being done to her body in the dark.

“Everyone,” she whispered. “I know everyone in the bar.”

And she did. Beaufort was a small town, and she’d grown up there. Her own mother had lived in this very house before she’d transformed it into a restaurant and bar. It was the only home Chloe had ever known. Where she and her mom had waited all those years for her dad to come back.

Chloe struggled harder, pushing the memories out of her mind. She just wanted to forget and feel.

“Little fiery tonight.” He hiked her skirt up and held her firmly against the floor with her legs spread. “If one of those friends of yours looked up here, what do you think they’d see?”

With one hand still grabbing her wrists, the other palmed her ass hard. She gasped and smiled. Gage liked her mouth and spirit in more ways than one. It was time to test him. Challenge him.

“They’d probably see you taking your sweet-ass time fondling me instead of fucking me hard like you should—”

Slap—his hand came across her bare ass, and she moaned. This was what she wanted. The intense, rough man she got to scratch and claw at while he spanked back.

Gage chuckled. “You really want to push me tonight?”

“I’m starting to wonder if you’ve lost your touch, city boy.”

He growled. She smiled at the clink of his belt loosening and the crackle of a ripping condom wrapper.

“Why don’t you tell me if I’ve lost my touch?” He rubbed the head of his cock against her wet folds, teasing her, tempting her—and then he thrust deep inside.

She gasped and rocked forward. Her body flush against the ground and spread wide, he withdrew and then slammed back inside her.

“I don’t hear you saying anything now, sweetheart. Lost your nerve? Or are you trying to be quiet so no one hears you moan for me and sees you getting fucked hard”—he pulled out and thrust again—“the way you like it.”

“I do. So much,” she whispered. She was completely immobile. Gage still had her wrists trapped with one hand, and he wrapped his free hand around her middle and lay completely on top of her. She was at his mercy and surrounded by his strength. And she loved it.

“I know.” He pumped again, deeper, and she stifled a scream. He hit her perfectly, every damn time. “You’re wet and I didn’t even get my hands or tongue on this tight pussy.” He pistoned in and out, snaked his arm around her further, and locked his leg around hers.

She tilted her head back and leaned into him so she could run her teeth along his jaw. When he slammed into her again, she bit down.

“Fuck, baby,” he moaned. His breath washed over her lips. “Do you know how many times I’ve thought of you?” He thrust harder. “Thought of being right here?” Faster.

If it was half the amount of times she’d thought of him, it was daily. Which was why she’d lured him out here instead of drawing the night out. She wanted him to take her like this, and she’d take advantage of every second she had with him for the twenty-four to forty-eight hours she was given.

“Tell me, Chloe, what have you thought of?” He wrapped her tighter in his arms, and she relaxed. Let him have her. She didn’t have to do anything but lie there and take it. The fight would come and go. For now, she reveled in him taking her over.

She panted. “I’ve thought of you. Doing exactly this to me.”

“Like this?” He surged inside again. Each ridge and curve of his cock stretched and slid so perfectly that every last nerve ending sparked like a flickering lightbulb.

“Yes,” she moaned. Her sheath was tightening, so close to ecstasy. Her eyes fluttered open to see the bar patrons carrying on their conversations downstairs. They had no idea she was ready to come around the man who stole her thoughts every time he came into town.

“Do you touch yourself and think of me?”

“Yes…but it’s never good enough. Deep enough…hard enough.”

Gage groaned, like she’d said the exact right thing. He picked up the pace even more. She couldn’t breathe around the pleasure.

“So you don’t drench your own fingers like this?” He buried himself deep and stirred. “Because you’re weeping for me, sweetheart.”

“Only with you.” He shifted his hips, hitting deeper than ever before—she gasped. “Gage…yes…right there.”

A flash of white stole her vision, and red heat burst through her veins like a gunshot. It sparked and burned as it rushed from her core to her scalp, pricking and sizzling everything in between.