Lights would be good here. Gage and the dark mixed like oil and water.
Except she didn’t have any lights to turn on. The dark blanketed them both as they walked to the gate, wrapping them in a secluded bubble that felt entirely too intimate.
As she punched in the key code, Gage’s presence swept along her back, igniting her nerve endings with sensuous heat. He wasn’t physically touching her, but she could feel him, hear his breath. Maybe even sense the beat of his heart.
The urge to move backward, flush against his body, almost overtook her and she bit her lip. He’d be warm, solid. Her core flooded with sharp desire and she covered her gasp with a cough.
The key panel flashed red. Wrong code. Dang it.
“Problem?” Gage murmured and leaned forward, decimating the space between their bodies.
Who was she kidding? Gage and darkness went together like chocolate and peanut butter. The dark was where he did his best work, wove his best spells. Wreaked the most destruction.
“I...fat fingered it,” she muttered back. “Give me a sec.”
She got it right the second time. How, she’d never know.
The gate swung open on well-oiled hinges and that’s when the moon blessed her with an appearance, washing the path and the lake below with a silver sheen. Perfect timing. Her nerves couldn’t take much more and the dark would only tempt the devil to perform his black magic.
“There’s a gazebo a few hundred yards up the path,” she murmured. “We can talk.”
Yes, talking. She grasped on to the concept like a lifeline, hoping the short walk would allow her to get her brain in working order again. If everything went according to plan, she’d have the solid proof she needed to implicate Gage in the leak and then she could drop him like a hot potato.
Gage, to his credit, strolled to the moonlit gazebo as instructed. The heady scent of man and sage wound through the stillness, distracting her. She never would have identified the faint herbal notes of Gage’s aftershave without Laurie’s comments in front of the restaurant and now it was all she could do to keep from sticking her nose in the hollow of his shoulder bone.
“So,” she said as she glided up the gazebo stairs and leaned on the railing to peer out over the silvery lake. “You must have some great ears to the ground to have such detailed information about my formula.”
He leaned against a post, arms crossed, and watched her as if the gorgeous panorama beyond the gazebo didn’t exist. “Pardon me if I have very little interest in that subject right this minute.”
She glanced at him and he wasn’t even bothering to conceal his thoughts. Which must be very naughty indeed judging by the lascivious once-over he gave her. Answering heat gathered in her core, totally against her will.
All at once, she wished for a bunch of clouds to cover the moon. At least in the dark, she could pretend she didn’t notice how he had such a beautiful body and gorgeous face, both of which had become more interesting with age. She shuddered as she recalled the way he’d kissed her. More heat flashed across her skin.
Why did he do that to her?
“It’s a great subject,” she corrected, ignoring the corkscrewing pulls inside her abdomen. “Very important. I’m just curious where you heard about it. If we’re going to stop the leak, it might help to work our way backward.”
“You think?” he murmured as he unwound from his casual pose against the post to advance on her. “What if I want to talk about something else?”
She held her ground as he drew up within a hairsbreadth of touching her. “Like what?”
Without hesitation, he grabbed her hand, pulling her flush against him. Her body fell into alignment with his, nestling into the grooves like a mascara wand meeting eyelashes. His arms settled around her and somehow her head tipped back, exposing her throat to his hot perusal.
“Like how it would feel to kiss you when there’s no danger of anyone interrupting us.”
“Gage,” she said and cursed the breathless delivery. She might as well announce how her core had gone liquid the moment his hard muscles came in contact with her curves. “Let go.”
“Are you sure that’s wise?” he murmured, holding her closer, which she would have sworn was impossible. “You sound a little faint. I wouldn’t want you to collapse.”
God, he felt good.
She needed to go on a real date, obviously, with a nice man who would treat her well and drink the wine she’d ordered. They’d have a pleasant evening ending with a romantic nightcap at her place and then he’d gently and attentively make love to her.