Page 19 of Losing Hope

Chapter Seven

Two hours later,Gage woke to his grumbling stomach. He could feel Hope’s long hair splayed across his chest and moved to stroke it blindly, his lips curving upward at the memory of their afternoon. Her hand, which was resting on his chest, began to stroke back and forth lightly as her low humming vibrated over his heart.

“I can’t believe you’re hungry again.” It came out slurred, followed by a little giggle as his stomach responded inkind.

“It’s your fault.”

“My fault?” She lifted her head and looked up at him under sleepy lashes.

“Yeah, your fault.” He twisted and quickly flipped her so she was lying underneath him, looking up at him. “All this extra-curricular activity.”

He gave her a cocky grin before grabbing her lip in a bite, his eyebrows rising seductively as he let go and slid his tongue over the small indentation his teeth left. “Luckily, you look delicious enough toeat.”

Her tongue darted out to meet his, coaxing it to come out and play. He swooped his tongue out further, exploring her open mouth before fusing his lips around hers. She reached her arms up to grasp his nape, her awakened body surging against his. He imprisoned her, his arms locking tightly around her, his stomach grumbling loudly in protest betweenthem.

Hope giggled through their kiss until she finally had to break away as they both laughed loudly. “Good lord, man. I better feed you before you starve to death!”

He looked down at his stomach, feigning anger. “Yep, I guess he’s not going towait.”

She moved to climb out of the bed, pulling a blanket off the bottom of the bed to wrap around her body. “We can have dessert later.” A sexy smile spread over her glowing face as she raised her eyebrows suggestively.

“Sounds good to me.” He rose from the bed and, after finding his jeans, slid them on, sans boxers, leaving them unbuttoned as he moved toward her. He tugged her into his arms, engulfing her in a tight hug, and placed a kiss on her head before releasing her and stepping back. “Do you want to shower? I can go down and cook something forus.”

She beamed up at him. “Do you know how much I love that you can cook? Because I hateit.”

He couldn’t resist pecking a kiss on her nose, enamored at how adorable she looked wrapped up in the soft yellow blanket, cheeks flushed, lips kiss-swollen and red. “It’s the least I cando.”

Stepping out of his arms,Hope asked, “Do you want to shower? I can get you some more clothes from Tommy’s room if you want.” He looked at her curiously, and she realized she had never actually told him her brother’s name. “Tommy, my brother?”

He nodded, a look of relief washing over his face. Had he actually just gotten a little jealous at the mention of another man? “I’m good. I like having your smell on me.” He grinned wickedly as her skin heated. “Are you in the mood for anything in particular?”

She shook her head. “Surprise me,” she told him, padding toward the door leading to the bathroom.

Thirty minutes later, dressed in a pair of black leggings and a light blue flowy shirt, she swept down the stairs to find Gage in the kitchen stirring a frying pan full of vegetables and chicken, with a pot of rice boiling on another burner. “That smells scrumptious!”

The food did smell delicious, but what she really noticed was that he was still only wearing jeans. At least he had buttoned them up, but it didn’t stop her eyes from sneaking another look at the trail of short, curly hair that ran right down the middle of that beautiful V between his hips. That damn V was going to do her in. She literally had to stop herself from walking over to him to trail her hands down his chiseled abs and over the grooves again.

She looked up to find him watching her, her face heating as a cocky grin spread across his face. “See something you like, Angel?”

“Sorry! I know I keep staring!” This time she didn’t stop herself and walked up to him, placing her hands on his chest and running them down over his washboard stomach. When she reached the grooves, she stopped and took a quick step back, sucking a breath in. “You’re just so damn perfect.”

She looked up to see him looking at her with a surprised expression on his face. “Seriously. I mean, I know I haven’t had many visitors, but still, this isn’t something you get to see everyday.”

He laughed out loud at her confession. “Guess I’ll keep you away from my Marine brothers then cause we all pretty much look like this. It’s what happens when they make you run ten miles a day and feed you shit during deployment.”

“I don’t need any other Marine. I’m quite happy with you fornow.”

He put the wooden spoon down beside the stove and reached out to pull her back to him. She happily let herself be wrapped up in his strong arms. “Good, because I’m quite happy with you for now, too.”

He stroked a thumb across her mouth before brushing his lips against hers in a chaste kiss and leaned toward her ear, brushing her damp hair over her shoulder, whispering, “You’re pretty damn near perfect, too.”

Her blue eyes rose up to look into his green ones, and they stared at each other in silence for a moment before he steps away reluctantly, stating huskily, “The stir-fry is going toburn.”

“Yes!” She scurried around him and stood on the other side of the island. “What can I do tohelp?”

“I just need a couple of plates. I’ll serve it right from here if that’s okay with you?” He shut the burners off and grabbed a fork to fluff the rice. “Everything’s ready.”

She glided gracefully through the kitchen she’d grown up in to a cabinet and reached up to pull down a plate for each of them. As she turned to hand him the plates, she noticed him watching, her cheeks flushing a lightpink.

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