It wasn’t until they were behind the closed door of his suite that he finally spoke.
“Okay, Kate. What is it? You cut me off on the phone, you’re obviously upset. What’s going on?” Gage sat on the arm of a chair, his face etched with concern.
“Is there something you want to tell me, Gage? About your future plans? Not ‘our’ future, but yours?”
Gage closed his eyes, running his hand through his hair. He was silent for a long moment. Then he looked up at Kate.
“Yeah, I heard about the European tour from my manager today. I swear, when you were here, I had no idea this was being set up.”
“Gage, really? You expect me to believe that a multi-nation tour came together since the US tour ended? In just a few days? Even I know things don’t move that fast.”
Kate was breathing hard, anger suddenly flooding through her. “You knew this but you didn’t tell me. You’re just playing me to get what you want, to have it both ways. You want me but you want things to just keep going the way they have for you.”
Gage stood. “That’s unfair, Kate. It’s not what I want. But I told you yesterday that there were things I could not control about my life. And this is one of them. I heard about this after you left. I swear.”
Rooting in her bag, Kate pulled out the cheap paper, tossing it on the coffee table. Gage leaned down, picking up the paper. Kate saw the paper tremble in his hands as he sat down, as he looked at the photo and read the brief article. He finally looked up at her, anguish written across his face.
“Like I said, Kate, I didn’t know about this. The quote…” he shook the paper “…was something my manager made up. I’m sure at some point in the past I said I’d like to see my European fans, but never in the context of going there next month.” He sighed, tossing the paper back on the table. He rose, standing in front of Kate.
“Look, I know you’re upset, but what do you want me to do? This is beyond my control now. We’re going to have to make the best of it, to work through this. It’s what I was talking about, how there are things I can’t control. I can only control how I react to them.”
“So, if you’ve known this since this morning, when were you planning on telling me?”
“Kate, as soon as I could. I’d just hung up from talking with my manager when you called. I hadn’t even seen that tabloid, until you brought it here.”
Gage reached for her but Kate moved away, walking to the floor to ceiling windows. She looked down, watching the traffic on Lexington Avenue far below. There was something nagging in the back of her mind, something that kept her from believing Gage completely.
She felt Gage’s hands on her shoulders, the warmth of his body pressing against her. As angry as she was, she closed her eyes, leaning back against him. His lips brushed against the soft skin of her neck, sending an involuntary shiver through her body.
“Stop, Gage. Don’t do this now.” Her voice was husky, breathless. She didn’t even believe her own words.
Gage’s hands moved down her arms, his breath hot against her ear. She felt him gently pull her away from the window and she turned to face him. The look on his face said it all; he planned to seduce her, take her to bed and use their chemistry together to make her forget her anger. Well, not this time.
She pulled against his hands, jerking her arms away. “No, Gage. You’re not going to f**k me out of this, this time. I’m serious.”
Gage frowned, his eyes dark. She saw rising anger in his face, knew she’d hit a nerve.
“Is that what you think I’m doing? That’s what I do when we make love? That I use sex to get my way?” He shook his head angrily. Kate turned away.
“Do you think that’s all I want out of this relationship? You in my bed, f**king me, or sucking my cock?” He reached for her again, spinning her around to face him, his fingers digging into her arm.
“Don’t walk away from me, Kate. Not now. You know there’s more to this than you’re willing to admit. Something else is bothering you besides the new tour. I know you’re upset, but you need to talk to me.”
“Let go of my arm, Gage.” Kate’s voice was low. Gage let go reluctantly, taking a step back. “You’re not going to control this situation. And yes, there are a lot of things bothering me. The tour, you’re flirting with girls in the hotel, your façade of pretending to listen to me so that I’ll be lulled into thinking you’ve actually changed.”
Kate’s words came out in a rush. “Nothing’s changed, Gage. You only tolerated sitting through lunch with me at Sarabeth’s. I was so caught up in being with you I forgot to pay attention to who you really are. You fidgeted the whole time. You weren’t really interested in what I had to say. You were just biding your time until I stopped talking so you could make your move.” She made a sound of disgust.
“But I fell right into that. I made all the moves and you just sat back and lapped it all up.”
“Kate, you can’t really believe that, can you?” He moved to take her in his arms but in a flash, Kate slapped Gage’s face.
Her hand flew to her mouth. “Don’t touch me!” Kate backed up, bumping against the arm of the couch. She could feel heat rising in her face, her heart pounding in her chest. Her mind was screaming she should leave; this wasn’t doing either of them any good. But her body was screaming for Gage, and before she could stop herself, she flung herself against him, her arms around his neck, pulling his face to hers, her mouth pressed against his. She felt him resist, but only briefly before he wrapped his arms around her, his hands spread across her back.
He broke away from their fiery kiss, his breath ragged in his throat. “Kate, what is this? You’re all over the place. I love you. What more do you want?”
Kate was breathing hard, emotions and sensations and arousal spiraling through her body. “Gage, I know. I love you too, but is that enough?” She looked up at him, searching his face. Rather than answer, he claimed her mouth again, his hands cupping her ass.
She felt his fingers clutching at her, his tongue probing her mouth. A brief flash of anger flared through Kate at his silence, and she bit Gage’s lip. He jerked back, his eyes dark, not with anger, but with pure primal lust.
In one swift motion, he pushed Kate back onto the couch, falling on top of her. She pushed at him, pummeling his chest with her fists, but he pinned her down easily with his weight. But then her fists unclenched and her impatient fingers were working the buttons of his shirt, pulling at it, finally yanking the fabric with both hands, several buttons popping off.
He bent his head to her mouth, hesitating briefly. “No more biting,” he growled, before bruising her lips against his, forcing his tongue into her mouth, greedily plundering every soft recess.
Gage was grinding his h*ps hard against hers, the tight material of her jeans rubbing between her legs, setting her afire. She could feel the bulge of his erection, the heat of him through his jeans. Her hands moved to the snap and zipper, finally getting them undone. Gage pushed his jeans down his hips, his erection brushing against Kate’s fingers.
His hands seemed to be everywhere on her, pulling her shirt open, clutching her br**sts, raising her h*ps so she could slide her pants off. As soon as she was free of her jeans, she wrapped her legs around Gage’s waist, twisting her h*ps against his cock.
Instantly he was inside her, pushing hard, his h*ps thrusting quickly in short strokes. Kate gasped, rocking her h*ps up to meet him. He slammed into her, his head buried on her shoulder, breathing heavily, grunting with each thrust.
The force of his thrusts was knocking the breath out of Kate, but the intensity and pure animal lust was doing mad things to her body. She raked her fingers across Gage’s back, digging them in as he thrust into her, hearing him cry out in pain. But it only seemed to fuel the fire between them.
Their bodies were slick with sweat, their hearts pounding, as Gage drove them on with his relentless pace. Kate lost all sense of time and place, the only thing in her focus the intense arousal building in her body, the point of contact with Gage, his body against hers, thrusting into her over and over.
And then she screamed, her body arching up beneath Gage as her orgasm broke. She thrashed her head from side to side, curling against Gage, biting down on his shoulder as wave after wave washed over her body.
Suddenly Gage thrust himself deep inside Kate, holding himself taut and tense above her. She looked up, watching his face as he came, the look indescribable, pain and pleasure mixed. He cried out, loudly, his body shuddering in release as he pumped his hot liquid into her. She felt the delicious wet heat of him as he filled her. It made her cry out, a second small orgasm passing through her.
They lay in a tangled heap on the couch for a long time, hearts pounding, breathing hard, Gage’s head buried in her shoulder, her hands roaming idly over his back. After a time he propped himself up on one elbow.
“What you do to me, Kate. What we do to each other.” He kissed her softly.
Suddenly he stood up, climbing off the couch. Kate watched him walk out of the room, reappearing with his cell phone.
“What are you doing?” She struggled to sit up as he sat next to her.
“What I should have done earlier, before this all happened.” He waved his hand absently around the suite.
“I’m calling my manager. I’m cancelling the European tour.”
***
Gage’s heart was pounding as he waited for the call to go through. Kate was sitting next to him, a bewildered look on her face. Finally his manager answered.
The conversation went pretty much the way Gage expected. His manager yelled, screamed, threatened that turning down the tour would destroy Gage’s career…the tirade Gage had anticipated. He listened to the man explain all that was at stake, the expenses involved, tickets would have to be refunded, legal issues would arise.
“Yeah, I know all that. And that’s why I pay you, to handle this stuff. Look, artists cancel tours all the time; they get sick, they go to rehab, they flake out for some reason.” Kate took his hand. He turned to her, a look of amazement on her beautiful face.
“My reason? My reason is my future and what really matters to me in the end.”
He flipped the phone shut, tossing it on the table. Leaning back against the cushions, he ran his hands through his hair, tugging the long strands. Kate moved closer, curling up next to him, her head on his shoulder.
“Gage, I don’t know what to say. It’s a really big decision and well, you’re sacrificing so much. I’m just not sure it’s the best thing for you.”
Reaching down, he tipped Kate’s face to his. “It is. It’s the right decision, and right now I feel better than I’ve felt in ages.” Gage shifted on the couch.
“You do believe me, that I didn’t know about this tour till today though, right?” Gage looked at Kate.
“Yes, I do. I’m sorry I doubted you. This whole thing has been so overwhelming, all the way back to the first interview. I’d never thought I’d see you again and then there you were, the rockstar Gage Stevens. And then the tour, and everything that happened.” She took a breath.