Spray Paint Kisses Read online

  “Why are you here, Summer?”

  She flitted her gaze away from his, frowning. “Can we go inside? I’ve been sitting here for a while.”

  Gage didn’t say anything, simply walked past and unlocked the front entrance with his building key. Summer followed behind silently, up to the second floor of the apartment building, half way down the hall to his apartment, where they slipped inside the two-bedroom space without words.

  Tossing his backpack to the corner, Gage noticed Jordy’s shoes weren’t in their usual spot. At least he wasn’t home to witness the shit show about to go down. Gage was thankful for that bit of relief.

  “Listen,” Summer began to say.

  “No, you listen. I don’t know why you’re here, but you left once without even bothering to tell me goodbye, or at least give me the decency of explaining why. If you’re going to up and go again, just do it before I get myself attached to you all over again.”

  Summer took a deep breath, leaning back to the door. “I kind of screwed that up, didn’t I?”

  Gage snorted derisively. “You think? Broke my fucking heart, Summer.”

  “Mine, too,” she admitted softly. “But you didn’t ask me to stay, so I didn’t think you wanted me to.”

  “You didn’t give me the chance! You just left me hanging in the fucking wind!”

  “I know,” Summer said quickly. “That was my mistake. The first thing I did when I figured it out was get in my car and come back so you could ask me, Gage.”

  “I don’t know if I want to now,” he told her frankly. “I understood it was in your nature to go when you want to, and leave if it suits you. That doesn’t work for me. It just won’t. I want a woman who wants me to love her the same in the morning as I would at night, and I want her to be here for it. I don’t want to worry that when I come home, she’s not going to be here, or some other fucking nonsense like that. Tell me you can give me that and mean it.”

  “Okay,” Summer replied, nodding.

  “That’s it? Just okay?”

  “Yeah, just okay. Because I want that, too.”

  Gage couldn’t help but stare at her like she’d grown a second head. “We are fucking crazy.”

  “Maybe,” Summer agreed. “Love has that kind of effect of people, though.”

  Again, his heart felt as if it was beating out of his chest. “Are you saying you love me?”

  “I wouldn’t have come all the way back here if I didn’t.” Gage exhaled a shaky breath, tossing his shaking fists into the pockets of his jeans. Summer seemed to pick up on his nerves immediately. “Listen, I can go and come back tomorrow if you don’t want to—”

  “I want you to stay,” Gage interjected instantly. “With me. Don’t go again.”

  Summer met his gaze. “Here?”

  “Where else? Yes, with me. I want you.”

  “Okay,” she whispered.

  It took Gage all of two steps before he was standing toe to toe with Summer. Pressing her back to the door, he caged her in and crashed his mouth to hers. He could taste the cherry balm on her lips, feel the heat of her tongue slipping in to meet his, and the sweetness of her consuming him. The kiss quickly turned from heated to hot, her heady moan and body pressing to his waking him up all over again.

  What happened then was fast. Gage was yanking up the skirt of her dress at the same time Summer was pulling at his jeans to bring him closer. He took her into his arms, lifting her up from the floor like she didn’t weigh a thing, allowing her legs to wrap around his waist.

  “Take me to bed,” Summer demanded low. “Right now, Gage.”

  Gage wasted no time getting her behind a locked door, pulling her dress, bra, and panties off her body, or laying her back to the bed. Summer helped him out of his own clothes with whispers of what she wanted him to do to her, how badly she’d missed him, and all the things she needed. Gage only faltered from his mouth’s exploration of her body long enough to fumble for a condom.

  Then, he was back between her thighs, sliding home with a groan that echoed in the quiet room. With only one stroke of his body to hers, he was seated to the hilt. Summer took him so easily, her sensitive tissues flexing around his cock like a fist-tight, fire-hot glove that only tightened with every thrust.

  Just being inside of her had his cock thundering like his pulse. They’d fucked a half a dozen times, but it still gave him that some strange reaction every damned time.

  “Oh, God,” Summer whimpered.

  “Don’t you feel that?” Gage asked her, unable to think beyond the words tumbling from his mouth.

  “Always, Gage. Please … I need this.”

  “Mine. You’re mine, Summer.”

  “Yours,” she echoed near soundlessly.

  Her fingernails bit into his shoulder blades, scoring lines he was sure he’d feel for days. Those breathy gasps of air panting into his neck urged him on as he took her deeper, harder. The slap of skin on skin drove Gage insane right along with the scent of their sex filling the air. Summer shuddered, her nails digging in harder as her muscles locked up and the orgasm she didn’t take long to get to was sweeping over her frame.

  She was so fucking beautiful when she came.

  With the way her pussy took him in further and clenched around him to milk the release he could feel burning at the base of his spine, Gage followed her orgasm not six thrusts later. Over and over, he kissed her sweat slicked skin, skimming his hands up and down her waist.

  Like he needed to make sure she was there.

  “You shouldn’t have gone,” Gage said brokenly when she laid her forehead to his cheek. “You could have waited for me to explain … I did that mural for you, for what you did to me.” Summer nodded, the streaks of her silently falling tears smearing to his cheek. “Don’t cry, Summer, please.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t apologize, either.”

  Summer laughed bleakly. “What do you want from me, then?”

  “Just stay. That’s it.”

  “That was my plan, Gage.”

  “Good,” he said in a breath. “Because I kind of figured out I was fucked without you.”

  “I’m not going anywhere unless you tell me to this time.” Summer smiled, her hands lying flat to his stomach. “You’ve got me now, promise.”

  “I’m going to hold you to that.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Something warm smelling and delicious made Summer’s eyes pop open. Despite the thin shades being drawn in the room, it was still lit up with morning brightness. Instantly her gaze was drawn to the colorful piece of spray paint art hanging above the headboard of the bed depicting the skyline of a city with the black backdrop of a sky and a giant moon.

  “She’s alive,” Gage murmured, sitting on the side of the bed. “Morning.”

  “Good morning.” Summer yawned, eyeing the cup in his hand and recognizing the smell. “I thought you said you didn’t like tea.”

  “No, but you do. I picked a box up last week when I went grocery shopping. I don’t know why, just did.”

  Summer’s heart warmed. “You hoped I would come back.”

  Gage grinned, a wicked sight. “Maybe. Or maybe I was torturing myself.”

  Rolling onto her stomach, Summer stared at the piece of spray paint art hanging on the wall again. The canvas was maybe four by five. Every little detail was perfect and amazing. Summer found it hard to believe spray paint could make something so meticulous, but the after spray and occasional dotting proved the medium.

  “Yours?” Summer asked.

  Gage set the tea next to the bed stand and crawled under the sheets with Summer. “It is. Not all my work is graffiti pieces. Sometimes I like a challenge.”

  “Do you have more hanging around here?”

  “A couple in the living room. One in the hallway. Another big one in the other bedroom.”

  Summer’s brow furrowed. They went through the hallway to get to his bedroom. “I don’t remember seeing one last night.”<
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  Gage’s chuckles rocked the bed. “You were very distracted. I’m not offended.”

  “Typical,” she teased.

  Hell, she wasn’t just distracted last night. Summer vaguely remembered being woken up by Gage at some time in the early morning hours, too.

  Under the sheets, Gage’s hand snaked across the bed to grasp tightly to her naked side, pulling her body to meet his in the middle of the bed. The softest kiss pressed to Summer’s forehead as she nuzzled into his warm chest, their legs intertwining, holding each of them together.

  “Missed you,” Summer whispered.

  She felt Gage’s lips curve with a smile. “Me, too.”

  Summer let her hands wander over Gage’s body, feeling his muscles jump under her innocent touch. “Working today?”

  “No, it’s Sunday. Unless I want to go out somewhere and paint something, but I don’t consider that work, really.”

  “Was that your plan before I showed up?” Summer asked.

  “No. I was just going to chill. I needed to relax.”

  Summer sighed as Gage’s hand travelled up her waist. “So you’re fine with me being here?”

  “And staying,” Gage added. “Every day, Summer.”

  “Good.”

  “What were your plans?” Gage asked her.

  Sumer shrugged. “I think I finally found somewhere I liked, or rather, someone. I’d like to see a bit of the city, look for a job, too. Bring my bag up from the car. Take it one day at a time. Normal stuff.”

  Gage’s laughter was deep. “Normal for you.”

  “You’re the one who wants me.”

  “Damn right.”

  Gage ticked two fingers under her chin, drawing her face up to meet his. Summer kept her eyes wide open as he kissed her soft and slow, heating her body up and sending sparks flying. A low hum built in the back of her throat as he pulled her closer, the length of his erection digging into her stomach, making his morning desire known.

  “God, you’re insatiable,” Summer said, laughing into his cheek.

  “Just with you, sweetheart. Wake up for me and I’ll show you just how much.”

  Summer rolled her eyes, pushing Gage away. “I need a shower, if you wouldn’t mind. And a pee.”

  Yeah, her bladder was too full.

  “Now,” Summer said pointedly when Gage made a move to grab her again.

  “Fine, leave me.”

  Summer rolled off the bed, grabbing one of Gage’s T-shirts hanging off the footboard of the bed and slipping it on. Gage groaned low, eyeing her with his clothes on and clearly enjoying the view. She winked over her shoulder before picking up the discarded panties from the night before, pulling them on as well.

  All the while, Gage hadn’t taken his heated gaze off of her once. The shuffling under the sheets, before the boxer-briefs he’d been wearing were dropped out to the floor, let Summer know he wasn’t kidding around about getting her back in the bed. Then, his hand was back under the sheet, stroking his cock. Damn, he looked like sin with his hair stuck up like he’d just been fucked, his chest bare, and that hand of his doing exactly what Summer wanted to be doing to him herself.

  “Gage,” Summer warned.

  “Oh, come on, Summer. Get back in this bed with me.”

  “Pee first.”

  She disappeared from the bedroom before he could convince her otherwise, slamming the door behind her to make a point. It didn’t take her long to find the bathroom, given it was almost right across the hall and the door was wide open. Summer didn’t bother to close it, though, thinking only she and Gage were in the small apartment.

  Summer hadn’t sat down on the toilet for more than a few seconds before a young teenage boy stumbled through the bathroom doorway with a hand in his hair and bleary eyes. He blinked, looking around, then straight at Summer, confusion furrowing his brow. Pink rose in his cheeks. The boy wasn’t wearing much but for knee length cargo shorts. One of his hands was half stuck down his pants, the other one was running through his hair.

  All at the same time, Summer attempted to shield her lower half with Gage’s T-shirt. It didn’t much help. She still had to pee, too.

  “Um …” the boy stuttered, obviously still confused and tired. “I have to take a leak?”

  It came out more like a question than a statement.

  Summer shrieked. “Gage!”

  The teenager stumbled back out of the bathroom like he’d been shot.

  Summer scrambled off the toilet, across the bathroom, and slammed the door just as Gage came out of the bedroom asking, “What the hell?”

  “Sorry,” she heard the boy mutter. “Didn’t know she was in there. The door was open.”

  “You missed curfew last night,” Gage said. His tone wasn’t angry, but more disappointed. “I can’t be letting you get away with that shit.”

  Summer pressed her back to the closed door and listened to the odd conversation going on out in the hallway, ignoring her full bladder.

  “Did not,” the boy argued. “I was fifteen minutes early, actually. Ask Denny, I came home with him. His mother would kick his ass if he was late.”

  “But—”

  “You were … busy, you know. I didn’t want to bother you.”

  “Oh. Oh!” Gage laughed a bleak sound, embarrassment coloring up his tone. “Sorry, kid.”

  “It’s all right,” the boy mumbled. “Never thought you were a fucking monk or something. Just didn’t expect to walk in on her in the morning. Thought she’d be gone.”

  “Uh, probably not.” Gage sighed heavily.

  “I didn’t know you had a girlfriend.”

  “I didn’t. I met her when I was back home working on the mural,” Gage explained quietly. “She’s going to stay for a while. If that’s all right with you? I don’t want you to be uncomfortable or anything.”

  “I don’t care. Whatever. She’s kind of hot.”

  “Jordy, don’t be a teenage boy for five minutes. Think with the head that actually has a brain.”

  “What? She is. Just tell her to close the bathroom door or something. And I need to take a piss, so …”

  “Let me see your hands,” Gage ordered, ignoring the kid’s statement.

  “Why?”

  “You know why, Jordy. Nails up, come on.”

  A frustrated huff sounded before silence followed.

  Then, Gage said, “Good. You do realize I’d smell the fucking turpentine for days after even if you washed your hands a million times, right?”

  “Yes, Dad.”

  “Don’t be a smartass. I’m the only one trying to look out for you right now. If you get yourself in trouble again, I won’t be able to get you out of it, Jordy.”

  “I know, Gage.”

  “All right. Go back to your room. Give me five minutes and you can have the bathroom to yourself,” Gage said.

  The sounds of the boy’s feet padding down the hallway sounded. Summer finally took a breath. The only thing Summer could feel was humiliation. Had this Jordy heard them last night? Who was he again? She didn’t remember Gage saying anything about a younger brother who lived with him.

  Summer thumped the back of her head to the door repeatedly. “I am an idiot.”

  “You are not,” Gage replied softly from behind the door. “Open up for me.”

  She did, but not without glaring at him through the crack first. Summer closed the bathroom door just as fast once he was safely inside. “You could have told me your little brother—”

  Gage held up a hand to stop her. “First of all, Jordy is not my brother. I’m an only child, which I told you that. He’s just … a kid I mentored at the center. He’s in some trouble for tagging, and instead of putting him into foster care, I offered for him to stay with me, and to take full responsibility of keeping him on track, out of trouble, and at his court dates on time.”

  “Court?” Summer asked.

  “It’ll probably be nothing but a bit of probation and some fines. It was nothing like
I was caught doing. I’ll handle it with him.”

  Summer bit her lip. “How old is he?”

  “Seventeen next week. He’s a year behind in school, but he’s got the chance to catch up these next couple of months in summer school. The kid’s mother doesn’t give a crap about him and they haven’t heard from his father since he was four. Jordy doesn’t have many people he can count on. I want to be one of the few he always can.”

  She appreciated his honesty. “That was a little embarrassing.”

  Gage laughed darkly. “Sorry. We stumble through the morning routine.”

  “We?”

  “Guys. Are you okay with this? I know you probably came here expecting to only see me, so I can understand why this would change—”

  “No,” Summer interrupted. “It’s fine. He’s fine. It just shocked me.”

  In fact, it was more than fine. Summer couldn’t help but see the affection and concerned compassion in Gage’s eyes. Especially when he talked about Jordy.

  Gage shifted on his feet, looking uncomfortable. “It’s probably not going to be fun a lot of the time. Some days he’s angry, or if he’s bored, he gets an attitude. There’s the little issue of keeping a close eye on him, too. Even I have an attitude, especially when I’m in the mood to paint, or rather, I can’t. Jordy is a guy, and so am I, so we’re messy as hell sometimes. Jordy can’t cook unless it comes out of a can or a box premade, he likes to doodle on anything and everything with Sharpies, so you might end up finding something of yours all marked up. It’s a compulsion, I think. I get up ridiculously early, my mind never shuts down, and I’m crazy in love with a girl I barely know.

  “Just want you to know what you’re getting yourself into,” Gage finished.

  Summer nodded, unbothered. “That’s fine.”

  “Just fine?”

  “Sure, Gage. We’ll work it out. But if he doodles on my chucks, I’ll throw his markers out.”

  Gage snickered, pulling her close to seal their silent and verbal agreement with an intense kiss that had her wanting to climb back into bed.

  “I’m not kidding about my chucks,” Summer said fiercely.

  “I’ll let him know.”

  “Goes for you, too.”