“Nope.” He hops up beside me, and the lights blink on. “It’s your new butterflyroom.”
A breath gets locked in my throat. A brilliant cobalt glow permeates the expansive space, and covering every last square inch of the walls are enormous bright bluebutterflies.
“Oh my God.” I make my way to my feet and spin in a slow circle as I take in the ethereal scene. Butterflies as big as my hands flap their wings against the wall as they ever so slowly wake to life. One by one they pick up that strange glowing hue that I have only ever seen in Gage Oliver’s eyes. “They’re sobeautiful.”
Gage appears beside me, his arms around my waist as we melt into a slow soft dance. “You are beautiful. Happy birthday, Skyla. To the first of many in our newhome.”
My arms lock around his neck, and I can’t take my eyes off this gorgeous man that God saw fit to gift me. No, it wasn’t my mother. It wasn’t Demetri. Gage Oliver is truly a gift from the MasterHimself.
Gage looks silently into my eyes, a heavy sigh escaping his chest, and in a burst of light the room explodes with hundreds of butterflies fluttering freely all around us. Sweet music plays in the background as Gage orchestrates a night to remember for theages.
He blinks us back to our bedroom, the butterflies right along with us as they offer their glowing splendor in lieu oflight.
“I think we’ve died and gone to heaven,” I whisper, pulling him onto the bed by his shirt and forcibly making him lie on top ofme.
Gage hikes up on his elbows, those eyes of his brightening the room all on theirown.
“We made it, Skyla.” His lips collapse to mine, and we share a heated kiss filled with promise that tastes likeforever.
“The best part?” I say, stripping him clean of his clothes, and he struggles to do the same for me. “You and I get to do this night after gloriousnight.”
“That is the best part.” He steals a string of kisses down my neck. “You know what’s a close second? Not one sign of Tad Landon roaming the halls in hisunderwear.”
“Whatever you say,Greg.” I give a little wink, and we share a quiet laugh while getting down to the very serious business ofus.
Those magical butterflies fill the room with a soft cobalt glow, enough to highlight the best parts of Gage Oliver’s body, which just so happens to be every single detail. And I make sure to lash every square inch of him with my tongue just as I promised myself I would—a birthday gift to myself. My lips make love to Gage thoroughly before my body ever has the chance. Gage and I bathe one another with our mouths, stroking, licking, memorizing our bodies as if this were the very first time. Our limbs entwine over one another as we indulge in the feast of the ages. Gage and I set fire to the sheets, and the walls erupt in flames as we pay homage to our love, as we partake in primal necessary worship. Gage pins my wrists to the bed, his body landing over mine with his chest bucking in and out in a fit oflust.
“You know how I feel right now?” His breath sears over my face like a scorchingwind.
“Like you want to fuck me?” It takes all I have not to break out into a smile, but my stomach quivers with the laughanyway.
He winces. Gage Oliver looks so damn gorgeous with every expression he makes, but that humble maneuver always manages to make my insides squeezetight.
“That, too.” He dots my lips with a wet one. “I feel like my whole life,ourlives have built up to this moment. I feel like a man, Skyla. Like I can take care of my wife and children the way I wish I could have from thebeginning.”
“A man, huh?” I bite down over my lip as I reach down and give that rock-hard ass of his a squeeze. “Proveit.”
Gage growls as those dimples ignite over me. “I’m about to prove it to you all night long. Happy birthday,Skyla.”
“It’s midnight.” I pull his lips over mine and whisper, “Happy birthday, Gage Oliver. I love you so much. Here’s toforever.”
“Forever.” Gage plunges into my body as I wrap my legs around his back, and we get lost in making one another’s wishes cometrue.
And we make them come true more than once, just the way hepromised.
I’ve made concessions before—hell,I’ve made more than my fair share of outright blunders. I’ve made big ones, too, but a part of me wonders if agreeing to let Demetri host part deux of the boys’ special day is the biggest mistake of them all. That unnatural disaster at his estate last December still haunts me. Although, given the fact Gage has since crossed over to the dark side—really, what else is there tolose?
Gage and I stare long and hard at the package my mother dropped off this afternoon. The only thing we were told was that the event would beformal. Gage is wearing his best suit, complete with a black bow tie. Marshall brought me a gown, which might as well be made of chainmail. It’s that heavy. It’s reminiscent of that haunted couture he loved to robe me in all those years ago, and here he’s brought me another. Of course, I had to ask what special properties this haunted couture would provide, and he assured me the only superpower it held was to showcase my beauty. This gown is strapless, easily accessible as he so cavalierly pointed out while ogling my boobs. But the dress is gorgeous, a full-length deep blue brocade with pewter undertones. It’s a sacred hue and sets off my husband’s eyes like a blueflame.
The boys look dapper, and a bit silly, in their matching miniature tuxedos. My mother said she looked high and low for these dashing little monkey suits and had to have them altered twice. And even though I smell Demetri’s credit card at the end of this gilded rainbow, I realize it was all done in love to please my mother first, then the boys. This entire extravagant night is an ode to Nathan and Barron, and that is something I can definitely getbehind.
Gage pulls the lid off the gold box my mother instructed that we not open until we hit Demetri’s driveway. Nestled inside sit two gorgeous masks, a black satin covering for Gage, no larger than the circumference around his eyes, and an ornate rhinestone beauty for me that affords me a heavy almond shape, like a pair of sexy cat’seyes.
“Masquerade!” I gasp as I dig in and pull the mask on. “What do youthink?”
Gage moans as if he were ready to take a bite out of me and my thighs quiver, because last night, and well into this morning, Gage Oliver took bite after scrumptious bite of every last inch of me. “I don’t know who you are, but why don’t we hook up before my wife comesback?”
“Ha-ha”—I pull the mask down an inch—“I’m notlaughing.”
