“What’s wrong, Virgo?” Quaid asked.
He nodded his head in the direction of the guy Sage had been speaking to.
“Who’s that guy over there in the white dress shirt?”
Only Quaid looked, and when he turned back, Matt and then Dale took a peek.
“That’s Brent Pierson. Some entrepreneur who’s been coming to town for years. He keeps to himself. Brought a girlfriend one time but never again.”
“Well, he hasn’t taken his eyes off Sage.”
Quaid smiled.
“You jealous?”
Virgo looked at him and gave him an annoyed expression. “Listen, we dealt with enough problems back in Delite when the Dixie Chix got themselves into one situation after the next. Believe me when I tell you that the guy over there is interested in Sage.”
Quaid scrunched his nose and eyes then looked at Matt.
“She hasn’t acted like she likes him, Quaid. I doubt she would go for such an older guy,” Matt added.
“As young and beautiful as she is, she must have a trail of young guys trying to get a date with her,” Virgo added, as they saw Sage making her way toward them with a new round of drinks on a tray.
“She doesn’t date,” Quaid added quickly, and Virgo wondered why the hell not. Instantly he felt a bit concerned.
“Well, here we go. I’m going to set these down quickly and then head on back to the kitchen to grab your entrees.”
She placed them down and when she went to take the empties, Dale reached for the same glass. She froze and stared at him. Their hands touched, and something was up. The two of them held one another’s gazes and then she slowly pulled the glass from his hand and placed it onto the tray. When she looked to the right, she locked gazes with Virgo, and instantly he felt his chest tighten.
“We’ll be right here waiting on you, darling.”
Sage walked away and Virgo looked at Dale.
“What happened?”
“I’m fucking shocked.” Dale leaned back in his chair and took a drink of his Jack and coke.
Quaid chuckled then raised his glass and whispered.
“To finding the perfect woman for the four of us, although, I think we already have.” They clinked their glasses together, and Virgo looked toward the kitchen door waiting on Sage. She was young, she was very attractive, but he couldn’t help but wonder if like women before her, she would choose others instead of him or Dale.
Chapter 2
“So how are our prospects? Anything worthwhile in Pearl, or do you want to stick to Croton and Turbank, maybe even Keanter?” Rye Salters asked his partner. The man was so extreme, although no one would suspect it.
“I need some more time. However, I have a list of seven young women all between the ages our clients are after. They’re accessible, and naive, so nabbing them won’t be a problem. I’m sending it along now, and it’s encrypted so use the decoder after you print it out.”
“Being a bit overcautious, aren’t you?”
“We can never be too overcautious. This is not exactly legal, even if they do want to play along. Let me know when the jobs are done, and remember to tell those goons to be gentle and not draw attention to themselves. That situation in Boston nearly cost us a pretty two million.”
“Got it. I’ll text you later.”
Rye Salters sat at his desk in Dallas. He was setting up the decoder so he could see the potential prospects. He couldn’t help but feel excited. Hell, his dick was already getting hard. If he had his way, he’d nab one for himself from every batch. His partner sure as shit knew how to pick them. As the first picture came up, his eyes widened. “What a cute little redhead. Damn she is something else. A degree in accounting and financing. Shit, I’d do her.”
He scanned down lower after reading more about the redhead and moved on through the packet. “Who is this?” He smiled as he moved closer trying to get a better look. “Hot damn, looks like my buddy hooked me up again. How does he know me so well?” He trailed a finger along the screen and against her profile. “Little Miss Amanda, you and I are going to become very close, very quickly.”
* * * *
Sage picked up four-year old Laya after she tripped and fell. Her brothers, Frankie and William, were running toward their fathers, Kenny, Blake, Bryant, and Quinn.
“Come here, big guy, did you trip your sister?” Kenny asked very seriously and of course Frankie shook his head.
William made a comment. “She couldn’t keep up in those girly shoes Mommy made her wear.” The guys chuckled as Sage continued carrying Laya closer.
“I could catch up if I wanted to. Mommy would be mad at me if I got dirty already and we’ve only been here ten minutes.” Laya huffed as she gave her brothers dirty looks. Sage chuckled.
“You tell them, Laya.”
“How about we go find Mommy and see what Aunt Anna and the boys are doing?” Quinn asked as he reached his arms out. Sweet little Laya nearly leaped from Sage’s arms, and they all chuckled.
Sage watched them walk away, and smiled as she smoothed her hands down her skirt. She adjusted her camisole as she placed her hands on her hips.
“There sure are a lot of people here. I wasn’t expecting this,” Sage stated.
“Well, you know how Wyatt and the guys get. They don’t want to not include anyone so they practically invite the town of Pearl,” Bryant stated as he reached over and moved a strand of hair from Sage’s cheek.
“Lenny and Davie Mathews are here, so are Billy and Corey Jacobs.”
He winked at her and then she looked toward Blake.
“I’m sure I’ll catch up with them eventually. We’re going to hang out tonight.”
“Where are you going?” Bryant asked with his arms crossed in front of his chest.
“None of your business, thank you very much,” she said and then began to turn on her cowgirl boots when a strong arm wrapped around her from behind. The person lifted her backward. She twisted out, threw a right hook, and then shoved upward with her knee nearly making contact with her attacker. “Shit, Sage, you’re going to make contact with me one of these days and then I’m going to get mad,” Dalton reprimanded and he looked a little shocked at her quickness. With her hands on her hips she looked him over. “Well then, you should stop trying to sneak up on me before you get hurt.”
The hollers and oohs and ahhs went through the small crowd around them before Dalton pulled her into a hug.
“I just want to make sure you can handle yourself.”
“She looked like she handled things just fine.”
She turned around and was pleasantly shocked to see Matt London. His brother Quaid was already conversing with Kenny.
“Hey, so glad you and your cousins made it,” Dalton said, as Sage looked around for Virgo and Dale. Sure enough they were there, right by the big tree, and both watching her.
The men shook hands as Wyatt came over.
“Food is almost ready. We got tables set up all over the place.”
The men started to walk away, but she and Dalton stood there when Matt moved closer.
“You’re still training with Dalton and Hank at the dojo?” Matt asked.
“Can’t you tell? I want her to be prepared when she takes one of those fancy jobs in the city. A beautiful woman like Sage needs to be able to defend herself.”
“If I decide to take a job in the city. Remember, I haven’t made up my mind as of yet.”
Dalton smiled. “No pressure here, Sage. I know for sure that there are at least five women who are hoping that you’ll stay close to Pearl.”
She chuckled and looked away as she spoke, her gaze landing on Quaid as he approached. “A woman’s got to have her options.”
Dalton waved as Marco called him over.
“Excuse me a minute.” He walked toward the others. Sage was stuck standing there with Matt and Quaid who immediately blocked her view of anyone but the two of them. These men were so big and tall, her head was nearly to her shoulder
s as she looked up. Matt was standing awfully close.
“You look beautiful as always, Sage,” Matt told her.
“Thank you, Matt. You look good, too. But I’m sure you already know that.”
He stepped closer, and placed his hand on her hip. She automatically placed her hand over his wrist, ready to remove it if necessary. She was always on guard and she didn’t like people touching her, especially men.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Matt asked as Quaid gave her body the once-over with his gorgeous blue eyes. Both men were to die for and those damn dimples were so appealing.
She went to speak but it came out as a gasp. Matt smirked, and it hit a nerve inside of her.
“Well, what did you mean, Sage?” he asked again, and she felt his thumb rub gently against her skin on her hip bone beneath her camisole.
She held her ground as she took a breath and stared up into his handsome face. “You know you look good, Matt. You always look on the prowl, yet you leave empty-handed.”
He squeezed her a little tighter, pulling her up against his rock-solid chest. She pressed her hands against his stone-hard chest and gasped.
“I’m not empty-handed now, Sage. Maybe I’ve just been searching for the right woman.”
They heard a roar of laughter and she squeezed from his hold and straightened out her blouse. She looked from Matt to Quaid, and damn, did he look just as hungry as Matt did. She needed to set them straight. She just couldn’t play any games.
“Listen, save it for the bimbos. I don’t play games.”
She started to walk away but Quaid stepped into her path. He reached for her shoulder and placed his huge hand on it. She instantly felt protected but also fearful. He was so big, his reputation mysterious and unnerving, and she wasn’t stupid. Both men worked for the government besides for the sheriff’s department. They made capable seem too weak of a word.
“Slow down. You have got a hell of a temper on you. Don’t you get rid of most of the hostility on the mats at the dojo?” he asked, and gave her a wink. She took a deep breath and stared at Matt, who now had one hand on his hip revealing his designer watch, and very defined forearms.
“I keep some on reserve for times like this.”
He slowly shook his head. Then Quaid moved his hand to her shoulder and neck. She tightened up.
“Quaid, don’t. Please let me go.” She stuttered her words. Although she knew in her gut that he wouldn’t hurt her, she just couldn’t let a man touch her. She was too fearful, even after all these years.
His other hand moved to her waist to stop her.
“I would never hurt you, Sage. We would never hurt you,” he added as Matt reiterated Quaid’s statement by moving closer and nodding his head.
“I believe you. But I like my space.” She stepped out of his hold. She reached up and rubbed her hand over the spot on her shoulder where Quaid had held her. She could practically still feel his warmth.
“Hey, gorgeous!” Sage turned around to find Mary and Amanda approaching, waving their hands and of course strutting their stuff.
“Hi,” Sage greeted them.
“Hello, Quaid, Matt,” Amanda said as she ran her hand down Matt’s arm and winked at him. Sage’s chest tightened unexpectedly, as she watched the scene and saw Matt looking none the happier to have been interrupted. Well, Sage was relieved.
“Are you ready to ditch this barbecue yet? The guys are heading up to the lake to have a few beers and I think go into Turbank,” Mary told Sage.
“I just got here a little while ago. I can meet you guys,” Sage replied and then glanced at Matt and Quaid who for some reason looked angry.
“Are you going to duff out on us and go to the library? Come on, Sage, a bunch of the guys who used to go to the university are going to be there. I’m sure what’s his face won’t come. He pretty much got your message of ‘not interested’ after all those phone calls you denied,” Amanda stated.
“Well, she did have to get a bit physical with him,” Mary added.
“It doesn’t matter. Listen, I need to stick around for a while, but I’ll call you in a bit.”
“Was some guy bothering you, Sage?” Quaid asked.
“What guy was bothering her?” Dale showed up, obviously hearing part of the conversation. Behind him came Virgo and he looked angry, but that just seemed to be a normal facial expression for him.
He was well built, too. He and Dale were as big as football players. They could put the majority of her university’s football players to shame.
“Everything is fine. In fact, Amanda and Mary were just leaving,” Sage began to say, but Matt and Quaid were insistent.
“Tell us about this guy, Amanda, and what he did.”
Amanda looked at Sage and shrugged her shoulders, but Sage knew exactly what she was doing.
“They don’t want to hear about some dumb story when we were in college last year. I’m certain that Quaid, Matt, Virgo, and Dale have better things to do,” Sage stated.
“It’s not like Sage did anything silly or immature. On the contrary, she was always so mature, sophisticated, and tried, mostly with success, to keep the rest of us in line,” Mary added.
“Oh God, that reminds me of that time we snuck out of the dorm to meet those guys from the University of Texas. Oh man, they were mighty fine,” Amanda said with such enthusiasm as Mary grabbed onto her arm and laughed.
“You almost got us arrested,” Mary stated firmly.
“Oh God, please help me,” Sage said as she threw her arms up in the air and then looked at Virgo. He raised one eyebrow at her, and she crossed her arms in front of her chest. He intensified his hard stare, and she lowered her eyes and nibbled her lip until she felt Matt touch her hand and pull her closer to him.
“I’ve got to hear about this one. Go on, Amanda, I’ll keep Sage from running off,” he teased, and she shook her head as she leaned against the picnic table right next to Matt.
A moment later, Dale was handing out beers and Mary and Amanda were going on into another story.
“Wait, let me get this straight. Sage got the police officer to let you ladies go even after you tried breaking back into the dorms?” Quaid asked and then glared at Sage who pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and turned away from him and Matt even though she was about to burst out laughing.
“Oh, her and the twins can be quite persuasive,” Amanda added.
“Amanda!” Sage yelled.
“Twins?” Dale asked. Amanda pushed her breasts together and started striking a sexy pose.
“Well, officer, you see, we weren’t supposed to sneak out of our dorm, but we just had to go see this really cool band. We were having fun, but then these guys started bothering us, we got scared and ran out of there and headed straight back to the dorms. We would never do anything so stupid again, officer. Couldn’t you please let us off with a warning?”
Amanda played out the whole story pushing out her breasts, overdramatizing the story, while the guys laughed and Mary got hysterical.
Sage stood up and placed her hands on her hips. “I did not flaunt my assets.”
Amanda crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows at her. “The cop was stuttering.”
Sage turned toward the guys who were staring at her intently and making her entire body react as if they were touching her. Her nipples hardened, and her pussy ached.
“Oh crap. We have to get going. Are you coming to hang out and then go to Rocky’s?”
“Rocky’s?” Quaid asked, raising his voice.
“Oh crap. I forgot about how the dads feel about that. We’ll probably head into Croton.” Amanda tried covering up.
“I’ll call you and let you know,” Sage told her.
“Okay, you better not duff out on us. We’ll drag you out of that cottage of yours in just your panties and bra if need be,” Mary said as she and Amanda waved good-bye, laughing and wiggling their way back to the driveway and their car.
* * * *
Matt found the conversation to be pretty amusing. However, Sage seemed embarrassed if her rosy red cheeks were any indication.
He reached for her hand as Virgo and Dale moved around the table and closer to her.
“Your friends have quite the personalities,” Matt told her.
She turned to look at him, and she seemed different. She glanced at Quaid, then Virgo and Dale.
“You should hang out with Sissy. She’s a wild one,” Sage told him.
Matt took her hand and gently played with her fingers. She tried pulling away, but with little effort. He took it as a sign that she liked how his hand felt holding hers.
“You don’t need to be embarrassed about the stories they told,” he added.
“Definitely not. We could tell you some real good ones about Matt here,” Quaid added.
“About me?” Matt asked, looking at his brother.
“Hell yeah. Even Virgo and Dale have some stories,” Quaid added.
“Don’t even think about it, Quaid. You push your luck and Sage will find out about the mud-wrestling contest,” Matt said.
“Mud-wrestling contest? I think I want to hear about that,” she stated.
“It’s pretty bad, Sage. Might totally change the way you look at Matt,” Virgo said.
“Fuck you, change the way she looks at me. I kicked that guy’s ass despite the fact that his three friends joined in. As a matter of fact, why don’t we tell her the story so she realizes how screwed up you three are. You didn’t even help me,” Matt yelled back.
He pulled her closer and between his legs, as she listened to the men carry on.
“We weren’t the ones with our hands up the guy’s sister’s skirt,” Dale added, and then they were laughing and Matt just shook his head.
“Oh damn, that guy was so pissed off. Matt didn’t even see him charging him,” Dale added.
“He sure as shit didn’t which is why he wound up in the mud pit, minus the two women in bikinis who were putting on a show minutes before,” Quaid added.
“Women in bikinis in mud pits? Okay, I think I’ve heard enough.” Sage stood up and began to walk away when Dale stood in her way and placed his hand on her waist. He looked down into her eyes, and Matt could tell that his cousin was feeling the attraction, too. There was no way Sage was going to Rocky’s tonight. In fact, they were going to have to step their seduction up a notch before some other guy got in the way.
Sage's Story [The Town of Pearl 5] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 3
