Derek sighed, having momentarily forgotten how worried he’d been about Sage all day. “Nothing, it’s just… my girlfriend is usually really quick about responding to my texts, but… I haven’t heard back from her since this morning.”
“Hmmm,” she sighed, shifting her legs slightly so that her shirt inched up and Derek saw a tiny “V” of pink underwear that momentarily made his heart race, and his cock throb. “Trouble in paradise, Derek?”
He blushed. “No, it’s just… not like her.”
“I’m sure she’s fine,” Angel said, in a tone that suggested she much preferred her more scandalous version. “It’s you I’m worried about.”
“Me?”
“Yes,” she said, reaching forward to refill their glasses and showing more panty than not. “We’ve just got to get you a better pair of boxer shorts.”
Chapter 7
Sage
“Pure trash,” Sage decreed as they walked in the front door. “And I loved every minute of it.”
Craig laughed as the door closed behind him. “That must be why I only heard half the movie,” he teased, sliding his jacket off onto the back of one of her barstools. “All that hilarity.”
“I can’t believe you didn’t like it,” she said, reaching for a bottle of red wine from her scattershot collection on the kitchen counter.
“I didn’t say I didn’t like it,” Craig clarified. “I just… the two kids they got to play the lead characters was all wrong.”
“That’s what I loved about it,” Sage said, opening the bottle and pouring them both a glass. “Once I pulled the plug on the idea of it being so vastly different from the book, boom… I could enjoy it all the more.”
She carried the bottle and her glass onto the deck, admiring the cool sea breeze as she bent to light several jar candles scattered around the porch. “I can’t believe this has been up here the whole time,” he said, admiring the view. “I would have never known.”
“I try to keep it on the down low,” she said, sinking into an Adirondack chair across from him.
“Like your love of the Country Cabin series, no doubt,” he teased.
“Well, of course! Bookstore owners are supposed to read Dickens and Chaucer, don’t you know?”
He laughed, breezily and easily, eyes crinkling behind his sexy retro glasses. Sage sighed, knowing she shouldn’t have invited Craig up to her loft after the movie but it had been such a perfect evening, starting with appetizers at her favorite bistro across from the Seaside Mall and then a movie adaptation of the first Country Cabin book, she just didn’t want it to end.
The fact that Craig had been a perfect gentleman all night, hanging on her every word, asking about her life, listening to her answers and nodding at her rambling about books, books and more books hadn’t made it any easier.
“So, I’m proud of you,” he said.
“For what? Reading Chaucer?”
“No,” he said. “Not checking your phone all night.”
She blushed. “Well, I mean… it wouldn’t be right, would it?”
“I know we said tonight wasn’t a date,” he reminded her, “but even when it is, I can’t tell you how many girls sit there and text other guys, the entire night.”
“Right in front of you?”
He nodded. “It’s insane out there,” he said. “Be glad you have someone in your life so you don’t have to deal with the dating scene like I do.”
“I couldn’t do that,” Sage insisted. “I’d get up and leave. I just… life’s too short. I don’t know why you put yourself through that, Craig.”
Their eyes met, his soft and intimate, making her shiver. “What else should I do?” he asked. “I mean, it’s either date or stay home alone.”
She sighed. “I guess I just never minded being alone.”
“You say that now,” he pointed out, “because you have someone. Think back to when you were alone then judge my miserable dating life.”
“I’m not judging it,” Sage assured him. “And it wasn’t too long ago that I was alone. I know what it’s like. I guess you’re just braver than me.”
“Or stupider,” he huffed, sipping his wine. “Anyway, it’s going to be hard going back out into the cruel, dating world after tonight.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, you’ve set the bar pretty high for dates. I mean… non-dates,” he hurried to correct himself.
She chuckled. “Did I say it was a ‘non’ date?”
“Yes you did,” he teased. “About five seconds before I came to pick you up.”
She laughed, topping off their wine. “Well, at least I didn’t ask you to meet me there. That would have sent a clear signal.”
“Unlike calling it a ‘non’ date?” he chuckled, clearly not offended. That was what Sage found so refreshing about Craig: Everything was light, easy, breezy and fun. She’d been missing Derek so much since he’d been gone, and thought it would be like that until Christmas when he came home. At least, for this one night, she could enjoy the company of a man as a friend, and not worry about the rest.
“I guess I am sending mixed signals, huh?” she teased.
“Hmmm,” he chuckled, “let me see: You call it a ‘non’ date, then show up looking like that…”
“Like what?” Sage asked, peering down at her orange and purple crinkle skirt, sleeveless orange blouse undone two buttons. “This old thing?” But even she had to admit, it was way sexier than anything she’d ever worn to work.
“Then, instead of letting me drop you off after the movie like any respectable gentleman, you ask me up for a nightcap, at which point the minute I get the wrong idea, I’m sure you’ll throw me out on my ear!”
Sage blushed, flattered that anyone could get the “wrong idea” about her, let alone two men in the same year! “See there,” he said, noting the churlish look on her face. “I’ve already said something to offend you.”
“No, you haven’t, Craig,” she said, voice low. “You’ve done everything right tonight. I wish… I wish…” She looked away, biting her lower lip. It wasn’t the wine; she wasn’t drunk. It wasn’t the night; she’d had many nights alone on this very balcony. It wasn’t the movie; she’d seen better. But whatever it was, the night had made her suddenly… confessional.
“Don’t say it, Sage,” Craig murmured, shaking his head.
“Say what?”
“Say how you wish you’d met me first.”
She chuckled. “You make this too easy on me.”
“I wish it was easy on me,” he croaked.
“Why do you think I called it a non-date?”
“I should have taken you at your word, Sage, but… I’m not that strong.”
“I’m not as strong as you think,” she said and, when their eyes met, Sage knew the words to be true. She’d asked Craig out for one reason: She was lonely. But she’d asked him upstairs for another: She was horny.
She didn’t want to sleep with him. Well, of course she did, but not in reality. Even so, there was an element of danger in being with another man while Derek was away that she suddenly found, for whatever reason, incredibly sexy. It was the temptation of knowing what couldn’t be hers, the harmless flirtation of knowing where the night wouldn’t end, and the strength in knowing she wouldn’t give in… or so she thought.
Now, Craig’s eyes boring into hers, his body sleek and sexy in his khaki shorts and striped tank top, the wine flowing, Sage suddenly wasn’t so sure. “I should leave,” he said, making no move to get up.
“Not without finishing the wine,” she said, leaning close as she poured him another glass, and then topped off her own.
“If you insist,” he said, sitting back with an obvious leer that made her feel most appreciated indeed. “I guess I should feel flattered that I’m Derek’s stand in.”
“It’s not like that,” she assured him. “I just… it’s like you said, Craig. I get lonely.”
“Lucky me.”
She snorted.
“Jesus, you act like some high school dweeb who’s never been on a date before. I mean, look at you. You’re… you’re…”
“I’m what?”
“Sexy,” she confessed. “You could have any girl you wanted.”
He shook his head pointedly. “Not tonight.”
“Stop that,” she teased and, yet, Sage was enjoying herself too much to quit. Was this how Derek had felt with Colby? She wondered. Had she judged him too harshly? Hadn’t she already crossed a line by inviting Craig out to the movies? And then up to her place after? And even if nothing happened, if she’d wanted it to… didn’t that count?
“Where’d you go?” he asked, voice hardly above a whisper.
“Nowhere,” she whispered back, her wine almost gone. And his as well. “Just… I find you very distracting.”
“The feeling’s mutual,” he said, standing up at last.
She joined him, heart heavy and stomach knotted with mixed emotions, one of them desire. They lingered on the way to the kitchen, the house dark except for the candles she’d lit earlier; his handsome face aglow in the flickering flames.
“I had a great time,” he said, setting his wine glass on top of the bar.
“Me too,” she said, sliding her glass next to it. “I wish it didn’t have to end.” Suddenly, Sage realized she meant it; literally.
He smirked, half-playful, half-intense. “It doesn’t have to.”
“But… what would we do?” she asked, the wine going to her head, the candlelight in his eyes, his lips full and moist.
“Nothing you don’t want to,” he said, inching closer.
“I can’t,” she lied.
“Me either,” he lied back.
She nodded then, licking her lips as if it was an open invitation. In that moment, Sage convinced herself it was okay, it was right, that Craig should kiss her. After all, Derek had done far worse, and she’d forgiven him. If only Sage had that one kiss, she promised herself, she wouldn’t need anything else.
“Tell me what you’d like to do,” she purred, steadying herself with one hand against the bar. “And I’ll tell you if it’s okay.”
“How long do you have?” he asked and they both laughed, the tension suddenly gone and, in its wake, their bodies having inched closer together.
“Let’s start with the basics,” she said, hardly believing her ears.
“Basically,” he teased, hand sliding along the bar until it gently slid atop hers. “I’d like to touch you, gently, like this.”
“That’s okay,” she murmured. “Right?”
“I think so,” he insisted, skin warm atop hers. “I think I might like to kiss you.”
She bit her lip, as if immunizing herself. “Mmmnnn,” she said, finally, nodding. “I like the sound of that…”
“Me too,” he whispered, breath warm and sweet on her lips as his brushed against hers. The sensation was so exotic and unexpected. Despite the warning, she shivered with delight and melted into it.
His lips were so unlike Derek’s, and yet so familiar. For a moment she could imagine it was her lover, and then thrill to the fact that it wasn’t. That she was doing something wrong, and spicy, and scary and hard.
His hand still covered hers and, lips sticky and sweet, he murmured, “I’d like to touch you…”
She whimpered in compliance, lost to the moment, nodding as his fingers gently teased her shirt buttons open until her blouse fell away and he—
She gasped, suddenly, as if being snapped out of hypnosis. “Oh,” she said and, fumbling, he backed away, nearly tripping over a barstool as he fled.
“I… Sage,” he gasped, eyes apologetic, mouth wide, shaking his head. “I’m so sorry.”
“No,” she gasped, buttoning her blouse as he backed toward the door. “It’s my fault, Craig. I… I shouldn’t have let it get this far.”
He chuckled, a strangled sound as he reached for the door. “Don’t apologize for my desires, Sage.”
“They weren’t yours alone,” she assured him, clinging to the door as he lingered on the stoop. “I’m sorry.”
He nodded. “Me too,” he said and then… he was gone.
She shut the door, shaking her head, clenching her fists in disgust. A small sob escaped her lips as she realized she hadn’t heard from Derek all day. Wanting to confess, but knowing what it would do to him, Sage shook her head and let the tears fall. It didn’t help that when she finally remembered to check her phone, there were over two dozen messages from him!
Chapter 8
Derek
Angel sat, sipping her Greek beer, long legs crossed and glossy in the setting sun. “This is new for me,” she sighed, before plopping a Kalamata olive between her sensuous, plum-colored lips.
Derek laughed. “What is… rejection?”
“Yes,” she laughed, but there was a bite to her laughter, rendering it joyless, and bordering on bitter. “I’m honestly flustered by this recent turn of events.”
“You don’t look flustered to me,” Derek chortled.
“But I am,” she insisted. “I’ve brought out all the big guns: Red wine, sexy negligee, exotic perfumes, every hint, twist and come on known to man, and still you resist.”
“I’ve been there,” he said, eyes automatically flitting to his cell phone, silent and still on the wicker table.
“Who, with Sage?”
Derek snorted, to hear his lover’s name on Angel’s tongue so often. They truly were a dysfunctional pair. “She kept me at bay just long enough for both of us to realize it was more than just lust when we finally hooked up.”
“So that’s the secret, huh?” Angel waved her empty beer bottle at the waiter, a swarthy type with an olive complexion and black stubble on his athletic head. He winked and went to get her another. “You hold out past the ‘I want to tear your clothes off every minute’ phase until you get to the ‘I want to grow old and die with you’ phase?”
Her tone made it clear she didn’t consider the exercise an altogether appealing one.
He smirked. “That’s the general idea, yes.”
“If that’s how you court in Florida,” she sighed, “remind me never to move to Florida. Or even visit there!”
They were at their favorite new place, Pita’s, a small Greek café just off campus. They had several tables out front and after a long day of teaching, they liked to sit and unwind, sipping Greek beer and dipping baked pita crusts into homemade lemon hummus.
It seemed inconceivable to him that he could sit across from someone so beautiful, tempting and willing as Angel and not even feel the slightest urge to cheat on Sage. He’d been there, done that, and his dalliance with young Colby had left him scarred for life. Seeing the hurt in Sage’s eyes, hearing it in her voice, seeing the tears – tears that he’d caused – rolling down her face, felt to Derek like a hot stove he’d touched once and feared ever going near again.
It amused him that Angel kept trying, though less and less each time they hung out. It had become a regular event, between binge watching their favorite vampire series on NetFlix in his dorm suite or sipping wine by candlelight in hers, there wasn’t an evening that had gone by where they hadn’t spent at least a little time together.
And yet, despite her half-hearted come-ons and bedroom eyes and sexy negligee and absolutely stunning, flawless and available body, Derek was more than content to slip back to his room at night and text Sage until they both grew drowsy and drifted to sleep. Was he just getting older? Wiser? Or was Derek finally, truly and officially… in love?
Derek thought he knew the answer, but wasn’t so sure about his lover. While he and Sage were still in contact, she had grown… distant… ever since he’d started teaching his travel writing classes.
“It’s just not like her,” he said, admiring the waiter admiring Angel as he set down two more beers. The sexual tension between them was so thick he could have cut it with the sharp edge of a pita crust!
“Why don’t you stop texting?” she asked,
playing hard to get as the waiter eventually drifted off without a word. “Give her a call?”
“I’ve tried that,” he insisted, sipping his beer. “Believe me.”
She rolled her eyes, a common occurrence these days. “Why don’t you flip the script and play hard to get?” she suggested. “Quit being so available and just… put the phone down for a few days.”
“I’ve tried that, too,” he said, the ridiculousness of his predicament making him chuckle. “She texts the same amount and it just ends up driving me crazy!”
“I don‘t know what to tell you,” Angel offered, easing back into her wicker chair to sip her beer. “This is all virgin territory for me.” Her hair was back in a soft, loose, braided ponytail, sunglasses covering her bright eyes, glossy maroon lipstick shimmering in the day’s last sun.
She wore a beaded tank top, slinky and loose on her full, round breasts, and a maroon crinkle skirt with open toe sandals. She would have looked right at home on the deck at Shuckers back in Seaside, sipping on a beer and fighting off surfers left and right.
Then again, Derek had a feeling Angel would fit in anywhere, anytime, and with any man. Perhaps that’s why he hadn’t fallen into her trap. “Why are you looking at me like that?” she laughed, the throaty chuckle hitting him right where it counted – in the crotch.
“Am I?” he asked, pushing away his bread plate full of pita crumbs and olive pits. “I… I guess I’m still trying to figure you out.”
She put a hand along her throat. “Me? We’re talking about me now? What about Sage?” As always, Angel said his lover’s name with a slight, nasal twang, like you would “fly” or “mosquito”. He found her petty jealousy somehow endearing, and endlessly frustrating.
He sighed. “Aren’t you tired of hearing about Sage by now?”
“Jesus, aren’t you tired of talking about her?”
“I suppose,” he grumbled. “It’s just, she’s my first serious girlfriend, so I… What? Why are you making that face?”
Waves of Passion: Contemporary Romance (Holidays Beach Read Book 3) Page 4
