Page 28 of Sunflower Persona (Classic City Romance #2)

Kori

“ W hat room are you in?”

The deep, desperate rasp in Gage’s voice sends a shiver racing down my spine, straight into my core, knocking away my sleepy haze with a lightning bolt of need.

My stupid vagina hasn’t gotten the memo that we are done with him. She really needs to get with the program—we aren’t about to melt into a submissive puddle because he calls sounding all hot and demanding.

“What the hell are you talking about?” I snap.

“What. Room,” he growls.

“Gage. It’s the middle of the night. Can we please not do this now?”

I don’t think I can handle any more of his hot and cold attitude today—hell, I think I’ve had enough of it to last me a lifetime.

“Three seconds, Low, or I’m pulling the fire alarm and bringing you to me.”

There isn’t a hint of teasing in his tone.

Not that he’s normally the most expressive, but there is no doubt in my mind he is being serious right now.

He’s willing to risk a misdemeanor to get what he wants, and right now, what he wants is me.

I’m not sure if that’s romantic or a red flag. Either way, the threat works.

“I’m in 324, asshole,” I say through clenched teeth.

“See you in a few,” he says, and the line goes dead.

It takes several seconds for my sleepy brain to register what exactly is happening. Gage is coming. No, Gage is here.

Why is he here?

“Daisy, help. What do I do?”

I’ve got minutes, no, seconds until he’ll be at my door. I don’t have time to do anything to prepare. My fuzzy Big Bird pajamas are the exact opposite of sexy. If I try to change, I’ll risk him showing up when I’m half dressed, and that will only make things worse.

Or maybe then he’ll realize what he’s missing out on.

No—I refuse to pine after him. He made his position crystal clear in front of everyone at Cutter’s.

“Do you think he’ll go away if I play dead?” I ask my duck.

“No,” Gage’s muffled voice answers from the other side of my door.

Shit.

I pull the silk bonnet off my head and toss it away.

I’ll deal with it later. My room is a disaster reaching post–kaiju attack levels of destruction.

God, he can’t see it like this. Without a real plan, I kick the pile of clothes I meant to fold last week under my bed so there’s at least some semblance of order.

My desk is a mess too. Maybe I can shove that in my closet—

“Open the door, Kori.” He interrupts my Big Comfy Couch cleanup extravaganza with a gentle knock, but the command in his voice is clear.

“Yes, coming,” I squeak.

My hands shake as I answer the door. Despite the buzzing of nerves, I glare as I take in his hulking form leaning against the doorframe with a causal posture that doesn’t match the storm raging in his eyes.

With agonizing slowness, his gaze roams over my body, and he makes no effort to hide the hunger there.

A wave of molten heat floods my traitorous pussy, and my nipples harden into stiff peaks.

The asshole fucking smirks as I cross my arms to hide the evidence of my body’s betrayal.

I should have left him waiting, misdemeanor be damned.

“What are you doing here?” I snap at the infuriating man.

“What I should have done the first time you kissed me,” he rasps.

His lips are on mine before the words have time to process, and the whole world is lost in an explosion of white-hot fireworks.

There’s no trace of the gentle way he kissed me before.

No, it is pure passion as the man devours me.

His hand cups my face as his tongue and teeth work in tandem to tease my lips, coaxing them open, and I moan when his tongue brushes against mine.

I’m vaguely aware of the door closing as his arm snakes around my waist before he pulls me closer to him, slotting his thick thigh between mine.

The added friction pulls another needy sound from my throat.

“Fuck, Kor,” he groans, then deepens the kiss even further.

Both of his hands fall to my ass, and then I’m in the air. On instinct, I grip his shoulders and wrap my legs around his waist so I don’t fall. He chuckles and drops his lips to my neck while he carries me to my bed.

Panic grips my lungs. Kissing is okay—it’s more than okay—but anything beyond is moving way faster than I want to. My fears ease as he turns to sit on the edge with me straddling his lap instead of laying me out like I expect, and they disappear as his lips find mine again.

The thick denim of his jeans does nothing to hide his arousal.

It burns against my aching core through the many layers of fabric between us.

I grind down against him, desperate for some relief from the pulsing need.

He groans against my mouth and nips my lip as his hands travel up along my sides to my clothed breasts.

His fingers twist and pull my covered nipples, sending a sharp wave of ecstasy through me.

I arch my back, dying to get closer, and he takes advantage of the new position to trail kisses across my jaw to my neck.

Without his intoxicating taste on my tongue clouding my mind, I remember that I’m pissed at him. With a pathetic shove, I push him back, but he reacts as if it had the force of a man twice his size behind it, recoiling and taking both his hands and lips with him.

“Fuck. I’m sorry, Kori. I shouldn’t have—”

I slap my palm over his mouth, shutting him up before he puts his foot in his mouth again and says something stupid that makes me even madder.

“If you say this was a mistake, I’m going to smother you with a pillow. Got it?”

His eyes dance with a playful light as he nods under my hand.

“Good. Now what the absolute fuck was this.”

I release him and cover myself with my arms. My pajamas feel as revealing as lingerie after what we just did.

“This was me claiming my woman.”

“Your woman?” I challenge.

“Yes. Mine.” For the first time, doubt flickers over his bullish features. “If you’ll still have me…”

Exhaustion overtakes me. This constant push and pull is too much for me to handle right now, especially with his impressive bulge still pressing against my aching center.

I climb off his lap and crawl farther into my bed, wrapping myself up in my favorite soft blanket like a Russian babushka.

The thick fleece is a shield against the onslaught of emotions I’m too tired to process.

Part of the reason I liked him in the first place was he didn’t bullshit me, but now it feels like he’s playing games like everyone else. He promised me no bullshit, and here he is, doing the epitome of bullshit.

“I…I’m really confused,” I admit in a small voice, gazing up at him from under my bright hood.

I can’t focus on anything while I’m trying to decode his intentions and untangle my own feelings. Before today, I would have trusted him at his word, but now I’m not sure, and that makes everything harder.

This is the part where people realize I’m not exactly normal. Normal girls don’t shut down when they get overstimulated. Normal girls don’t have to actively think to see beyond the surface of the words they’re being told.

I’m expecting Gage to realize that too and take off, but he doesn’t. He only watches me without a trace of judgment.

“What’s got you confused?”

The tenderness in his voice melts some of my icy armor.

“It’s barely been six hours since you made it clear at Cutter’s that you would never be with me, and it felt like you meant it.

Now you’re here kissing me and telling me I’m yours, and you sound like you mean that too.

So I’m not sure what to believe, or if I can even trust my read on you at all. What happened to no bullshit?”

His face twists as his whole body slumps in defeat.

“I fucked up. At the gym. At Cutter’s. Hell, probably even now.

When you kissed me, all I could think about was how perfect you are, and how I’d ruin that if I let you get close to me.

So I pushed you away, and I kept pushing.

But then I saw that piece of shit flirting with you today and damn near lost my mind. ”

I scoff and roll my eyes. “You did more than ‘nearly’ lose it.”

“Fair enough. I saw you with him and lost any rational sense. But even then, I wasn’t man enough to claim you.

But that isn’t because I don’t have feelings for you.

I like you, Kori. I’ve liked you for a while.

It just took me a while to get my head out of my ass about it, and this is me trying to fix my mistakes before they become permanent.

I don’t want to miss out on the chance to get to know you for real. If I’m already too late, I’ll go.”

My stomach drops as he starts to stand. I scramble out from under my protective cocoon and grab his hand before he can go anywhere.

“No. It’s not too late,” I tell him.

His lashes fall shut for a moment, and he takes a deep breath before threading his fingers through mine. Silence settles between us. It’s not necessarily uncomfortable, but awkward energy taints the air.

“So what happens now?” I ask.

“Now I ask you out.” The look in his eye is no less intense than it was when I opened my door. “Would you like to get dinner with me this Sunday?”

“I’d love to,” I tell him, and he gives me a glimpse of one of his rare full smiles.

“Good.” He runs his thumb over the back of my hand while he speaks. “As much as I would love to stay, you need sleep.”

A surge of panic washes through me. What if he leaves and decides this was a mistake too?

“Hey, what’s that face for?” He catches my chin in his hand and stares into my eyes.

“I’m scared,” I admit.

“Me too. I’ve never actually done this whole girlfriend thing before.”

Girlfriend?

That one word eases some of the anxiety, and I relax into his touch.

He kisses me again, more languid than before—quicker too. It’s over before things get a chance to heat back up again.

“You need sleep.” He runs his thumb over my petulant pout before he stands for real. “I’ll text you in the morning. Lock the door behind me.”

He strides out of the room as if he didn’t blow in here like a tornado and destroy everything I thought I knew about us. I’m in a daze as I get up and follow his command, and the high doesn’t lessen after I climb back into bed with my heart no more than a pile of love-sick goo in my chest.

Gage’s woman.

Yeah, I think I like the sound of that.