The Current Between Us (21 page)

Trent gripped the duvet in his fisted hand seconds before he arched his back and thrust his hips against Gage. Burst after burst of creamy white pumped out onto his chest. Gage released Trent
’s cock and grabbed the headboard, gripping it with all his strength, but nothing held off the release building inside him. Trent was just too hot to watch and it felt too good. Gage bucked his hips forward and came with a force he’d never experienced before. His release continued, wave after wave, until there was nothing left.

With an effort, he managed to fall and push himself to the side, just missing Trent
’s chest as Gage’s face buried in the pillow. He panted, his heart raced, and Trent’s legs stayed wrapped around his hips, holding him inside. His ankles must have been crossed because the hold was still tight, even in this awkward position they laid in. Gage tried in vain to get a hold of himself to move, but Trent took care of that for him. He anchored his big beefy arm around Gage’s body and pulled Gage on top of him, wrapping him tightly in his arms.

“
We’ll clean it up in a little while,” Trent whispered, Gage securely tucked in his arms. He slid his legs down, keeping them wrapped around Gage until their feet tangled together. Gage had never touched anyone after sex, let alone held them, but he wrapped his arms around Trent, laid his head on his shoulder, and listened as Trent fell asleep in his arms as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

“
You were perfect tonight,” Gage whispered. Trent didn’t stir, and he smiled, lifting his head to place a small kiss on Trent’s shoulder.
I want this… I want you, like this…
He watched Trent sleeping. His own heart finally slowed, and his breath became normal, but he still just stared down at this beauty in his arms. Trent was at his most vulnerable, his features softened and his short hair spilling across his forehead. Trent Cooper was the most handsome man he’d ever seen. Gage wanted this moment, every single day. He wanted to fall asleep in Trent’s arms and wake to him every morning. He wanted their nights filled with moments of love making, very much like tonight. “I want you to be my date at the gallery grand opening and I want you to say yes to me.”

His heart felt complete and connected to Trent
’s like it never connected to anything before. No question in his mind, they’d made love tonight. Gage couldn’t believe it had happened to him. He made love for the first time in his life, and it was to the man he loved, the perfect Trent Cooper. Resting his head back on Trent’s chest, he laid there listening to him breathe and spoke quietly, telling him everything in his heart.

“
These feeling I have for you are so strong. I’ve never had them for anyone before you. It’s a little scary… But I simply don’t run from fear, Trent. It’s not who I am. I run toward it and I know now without question you’re the end of this road. I want you. I want to be with you. I don’t want you to keep me at bay… but I also do understand how lonely your life is… Trent, I get the reason for your compartments, … I get it’s a safety mechanism for you. I also get how let down you’ve been. Okay, for you, I’ll try to take it slow, but it’s not who I am. Just don’t push me too far away. Let’s do this… Me and you…” Gage whispered it all, so quietly Trent’s breathing never changed. He laid there sleeping, and Gage lay with him, praying it would all work out for them.

Chapter 13

Startled awake, Trent jerked open his eyes to see Gage propped up on one elbow lightly placing kisses on his lips. He still held Gage tight against him. Even in sleep, his arms were securely wrapped around the man, not letting him get too far away, and Gage seemed perfectly content in his embrace. Bonus for him!

“
Hi,” Trent said sleepily, giving Gage a soft kiss back, then let go with a deep, satisfying yawn.

“
Hi, handsome, you snore. Not terribly, kind of softly, but it’s still a snore,” Gage said, resting his head on his hand his eyes scanning Trent’s face.

“
I like the little names you call me,” Trent mumbled, still half asleep. Gage smiled and leaned in for a light kiss.

“
Good, I seem to like to use them on you. You know, you’re a perfectly made man. Everything about you is captivatingly sexy to me. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed you being here in my bed. I could get use to you here with me. Please know in no way is this a blow off, buts it’s a little past four in the morning. I’m not sure what time the children wake up, but do you need to be there when they do?”

“
Shit, it’s four already?” Trent pushed up quickly, looking around for a clock, shocked to see it read a quarter past four in the morning. “I have to go. Shit! I don’t even know where my phone is… What if they tried to call me?”

Trent untangled himself from Gage
’s hold and rose from the bed. Gage stayed in the same position, his head in his hand, his body bare, gazing at Trent as he moved about the room searching for his clothing. As an afterthought, he glanced down at his chest, rubbing a hand absently across his heart, realizing at some point Gage must have cleaned them. His heart gave a tug at the simple gesture of having someone take care of him. Trent ignored the need coursing through him, pushing him back in bed with the hottest man he’d ever seen laying there so seductively, just staring at him.

Instead, he let responsibility lead his actions. With an effort, Trent forced his head away from the super sexy Gage Synclair and followed the trail of his discarded clothes into the living room. His slacks lay where they were dropped on the floor right off the entryway. He dug in the pants pocket, palming his phone, and checked for messages. Only one text from Rhonny showed on the screen from about midnight. It cost him time off his life waiting the two seconds for the message to come up on his phone. It simply read,
Everything is good here. You stay out as long as you want. I’ll call you if we need you.

“
Is everything okay? I should have thought to bring your phone to bed with us,” Gage said from behind him. Gage slid his body along the back of Trent’s, wrapping his arms around his waist, kissing his neck before placing his chin on his shoulder.

“
Yeah, it’s fine, Rhonny’s got everything under control. I should have thought to bring the phone to bed. I never forget things like that,” Trent said, keeping his phone and pants in one hand, while sliding his other arm up, tangling his fingers in Gage’s hair.

“
I want to think it was because you were so taken with me you couldn’t think straight. Don’t tell me any different. Let me have this moment,” Gage said, bringing his hand up to Trent’s chin, pushing his face back toward Gage. He thrust his tongue forward as their lips met. The kiss lasted several minutes with his body stirring to life, before Trent developed a conscience and pulled away.

“
I need to go, it’s late. The kids will be up in about an hour or so,” Trent said, turning in Gage’s arms to hold him tighter. They stood bare chest to bare chest now.

“
I was asking you a question when you fell asleep. Do you remember it, or do I need to ask it again?” Gage asked. Trent stayed silent, trying to remember anything they might have discussed. Nothing came to him. He didn’t remember anything after tugging Gage closer to him.

“
Ahh, well, I can see I need to ask again, and I’ll have to work on my after love making repertoire. I don’t want to bore you to sleep again.”

“
You didn’t at all, I’m always—” Gage stopped him in mid-sentence.

“
I was teasing, you were perfect, and I loved you falling asleep in my arms. This has been a night of so many firsts, this being another one. Now, Trent, pay attention, here I go again. I would like you to be my date to the gallery grand opening. Now before you say no, spouting all the separate parts of your life, I have to tell you I didn’t invite any of the contractors involved in the rebuild and I would love for the children, as well as Rhonny and even Auntie Crazy to attend with us for a little while. I know Thursday’s a work and school day, but we can have the children come for a little while and leave. I’ll take you home when we’re done. I have to leave Friday for a few days and I would like to see you again before I go. What do you say?”

Well, that was unexpected
… Gage’s date for the gallery grand opening… As in, see him again three days from now? Gage confused him completely. He narrowed his eyes and lowered his brow, trying to make sense of it all. Gage wanted him to be his date for the gallery opening? None of this made sense. “I’m not sure what to say… Honestly, I really thought this would be a one night stand.”

“
Well, did you not hear what I told you in bed?” Gage asked.

“
Apparently not,” Trent shot back quickly, as confused as before. They were still standing in each other’s arms, nude in the living room, as though it was the most natural thing in the world to do.

“
Hmmm… Well, it’s your loss, but I meant every word I said. Now, what do you say about Thursday?” Gage asked.

“
I think…” Trent started and chuckled. Gage stood before him nodding his head yes as Trent spoke. The kids would love it, so would Rhonny, and they never got to get out of the house together like this. Having them exposed to art and the artistic culture couldn’t be a bad thing… Slowly Trent responded, thinking through it all as he spoke.

“
I think it sounds good, very good. I think the kids and Rhonny would love it. She might even ditch class for the chance. Sophia’s at month end with her job, I’m not sure she can break away from work to go, but I’ll ask her if you’re sure,” Trent said, and a clock chimed in the room, reminding him of the time.

“
I have to go. I’ll need to call a cab,” he said, stepping out of the circle of Gage’s arms, pulling his slacks on, buttoning them up.

“
Absolutely not, I’ll drive you,” Gage said, and padded back across the floor to his bedroom.

“
I don’t want to put you out. I should have met you in town,” Trent called after him and put on his shirt where he stood.

“
No, this is the way we’re doing things. Besides I’m finding I like this old fashioned way of dating. And we agreed, we’re dating, we said it in bed, and I made you nod your head in agreement, so you’re stuck with me. I’ll be picking you up from here on out,” Gage called back to him.

“
I like the sound of all that. I can’t imagine I would have argued much, had I heard it,” Trent said, smiling as Gage came back in the room wearing a pair of blue jeans, a T-shirt, and holding sandals in his hand. Trent slid his shoes, then his suit jacket, back on.

“
I like the sound of it, too. I didn’t want to risk it, so I asked while you were sleeping and helped you nod in agreement. It was a tough move to do. I didn’t want to wake you. You’ve had me on a big, merry chase this last week. I won’t be risking much where you’re concerned,” Gage said as he dropped his sandals on the floor and toed each one on. Trent placed his socks and underwear in his jacket pocket and looked around the room as Gage spoke. His newfound confidence slipped a notch or two with the sudden memory that this down-to-earth Gage was beyond wealthy. To think this could be any sort of meaningful relationship, which might actually work for long term, would be an error in his thinking. He’d be wise to remember it before his heart got too far out of control.

****

The clock blinked two in the afternoon and Gage reached over to flip the Keurig on. The lack of sleep last night finally made its presence known. Up until now, the silly smile he wore and the happiness in his heart overrode the fact he didn’t sleep at all the night before.

After he dropped Trent off, he returned to the gallery, where the work crews were in the midst of a shift change. He got the latest update on their overnight progress. Gage went into his office, caught up on all the surveillance videos and several photo logs sent overnight,
and then watched the live feed for several hours. Abdulla wasn’t doing much more than sleeping, eating, and meditating all day and all night long. Gage found it all incredibly interesting, though somewhat boring to watch. Abdulla must be the most wanted, unknown man on the planet, and he currently sat in a mission on his hands and knees praying… Praying for what? For the hundreds, maybe thousands, of lives he tortured and sacrificed over the years? Or the women, who at his hand were stolen, kidnapped, sold, and repeatedly raped for nothing more than money in his pocket? Probably not those things… His evil deeds ran too deep, and he liked himself too much to just give it all up on a prayer.

Nothing in Abdulla
’s recent background indicated he’d found God in any way. Him being there had to have meaning. But what? The background reports on the priests, bishops, and other clergy in the mission were coming back indicating none had any sort of documented past. Gage spent hours thinking over the possibilities, but nothing made any sense at all. After becoming frustrated with piecing together the meaning of Abdulla’s presence, he switched to planning for his upcoming trip. His flights were booked, his equipment being prepared, and his on-ground transportation ready. He scheduled Tuesday and Wednesday the following week as tentative reporting days, and notified Sid under the condition of extreme confidence to find him time for a breaking news special report. It gave him five full days on location before he began the report. He could check out the surrounding cities, hit some local bars, and see if he could find anything out on why Abdulla chose this path before he broke the story.