Page 203
Sage rose through the water, strong little hands guiding his massive frame until she was settled back in his lap, warm and soft and real. Her curvy weight pressed against his chest, her full heavy breasts soft against him, her arms wrapped around his neck like she’d never let go.
This must be what heaven feels like.
“Sage…” he rasped, voice wrecked and wondering. He couldn’t seem to say anything else.
“Mmm, yeah Cal… I’ve got you,” she murmured, brushing damp strands of hair from his forehead with such gentle care it made his throat tighten.
He held her tighter, huge hands splayed across her back, feeling the steady beat of her heart against his. Safe. The word kept echoing in his head. This battle-scarred, seven-foot-four wall of a man — ex-Navy, ex-CIA, survivor of things he still couldn’t say out loud — felt safe. Protected. Cherished in a way no one had ever given him. Not his mother. Not Mary Sue. No one.
She did this for me. First time in forty-six years… and she made it perfect. Made me feel perfect.
“You okay, Daddy?” she asked softly.
Cal nodded, swallowing hard knowing he had to tell her and somehow knowing she would understand.
He brought his hand up to her face as he touched her cheek.
Come on tough guy…Tell her…tell her that you’ve never felt safe till her.
“Sage…I…I feel… safe. With you. Like I’ve never…” His voice cracked. Shame tried to creep in — an old voice whispering he was too broken, too late, too dark — but Sage’s warmth burned it away. She looked at him, her face hidden in the shadows of the night. “I know it seems silly sweetheart, but my life has been—.”
She kissed him then gripping him both gently and fiercely — her kiss slow, deep, pouring love into every slide of her tongue— as if to say “don’t you dare…don’t you dare make light of what you’ve been through” — and for a moment the whole world narrowed to just her.
Sage. His woman...
His eyes felt wet and he was glad for the steam and darkness.
When she pulled back, that familiar playful smirk tugged at her lips.
“Well,” she said, completely deadpan, “I did promise not to drag you into the hayloft. Technically, daddy, I did keep my word.”
Cal blinked once… twice… then a surprised bark of laughter burst out of him, loud and helpless. It shook his shoulders and lit something bright and young inside his chest.
For a heartbeat he felt twenty years younger — boyish, open, weightless — and the look in Sage’s eyes as she watched him laugh nearly undid him all over again. Like she was seeing every hidden piece of him and loving them anyway.
“Oh Cal…there you are” she sighed as she smiled and kissed him again.
God, this woman. His heart cracked wide open, the kind of break that healed everything it touched.
Their kisses faded into soft, shared breaths, foreheads pressed together. He shifted beneath her, one hand sliding down the generous curve of her ass. “Let me take care of you now, Baby girl. I want to—”
“No, Daddy.” She cupped his face in both hands, thumbs stroking his stubbled cheeks with infinite tenderness. “Tonight was for you. I needed to give you this. I needed to show you how much I love you.” She kissed the corner of his mouth, his jaw, that spot beneath his ear that always made him shiver. “I love you more than words, Cal Meridian. Let me just hold you a little longer.”
Cal exhaled shakily, arms tightening around her until there was no space left between them.
She’s protecting me… even now.
The realization settled deep in his bones, warm and permanent.
“I love you too, Sage,” he whispered into her wet hair, voice thick with everything he didn’t have words for yet. “God… I love you so much it scares me sometimes.”
They stayed like that — naked, wrapped in each other, moonlight, and steam — until the stars felt like old friends leaning in close. For the first time in his life, Cal Meridian felt complete.
After a while, as they reluctantly prepared to head back to the house, Cal smiled against her temple. “I really do feel bad… knowing you’re gonna be a little antsy until you find some release.”
Sage paused as she climbed out of the hot spring, water streaming down her curvy body in glistening rivulets. The moonlight caught every lush line — heavy breasts, soft belly, wide hips, and that perfect, heart-shaped ass — and Cal couldn’t look away.
“Who said anything,” she murmured, voice sultry and low, “about me not finding release?” Her eyebrow arched playfully as she bit back a smile.
