Chapter 22
Nothing is ever simple on Smuggler’s Hideaway.
Addy
P enelope glances up from her book. This one is on growing wheat in arid areas. “Why is everyone gathered in front of the window?”
“We’re waiting for Gage,” Mila says.
Penelope frowns. “Is he coming for dinner?”
“Addy and Gage have a date.”
Penelope wrinkles her nose in confusion. “Why are you waiting for Gage if he’s going on a date with Addy?”
“If he kisses her, we have to shout.”
I groan. “Who told you such a thing?”
Mila points at Otis.
“Really?” I raise an eyebrow at my brother.
He shrugs. “It’s my brotherly obligation.”
“He’s suddenly all about brotherly obligations,” Penelope mutters.
I hold up a hand before Otis can respond. “No arguing.”
She slams her book shut and stands. “Fine. But I’m not listening to him tonight. ”
“But I’m the babysitter,” Otis hollers after her.
I frown at him. “You couldn’t let it go?”
He smirks. “Brotherly obligations.”
“He’s here!” Mila shouts before rushing to the door and flinging it open. Gage lifts her up and throws her into the air. She giggles in response.
“Don’t drop her.”
Gage grins at me before setting Mila on her feet.
She stomps her foot. “But I was having fun. I never get to have any fun.”
“If she has a temper tantrum, I’m not babysitting,” Ottis mutters.
Gage kneels down in front of her. “If you promise to behave, you can come to one of my practices next week.”
“Can I come, too?” Otis asks.
“Everyone can come. It’ll be a family affair.”
A family affair? My heart spasms. I want to give this man, who grew up with no one, a family. Even if the family is a bunch of annoying siblings.
Otis bounces on his toes before clearing his throat and sticking his hands in his pockets. “Cool.”
Gage digs a book out of his back pocket. “This is for you. This book helped me to focus better on my game.”
Otis snatches the book from him. “Thanks, Gage.”
“Anytime.”
Gage crosses to me and kisses my cheek. “You ready to go, songbird?”
“Where are we going? ”
“I thought we’d have dinner at Smuggler’s Cove. ”
I raise my eyebrows. “You got dinner reservations at Smuggler’s Cove tonight?”
“Yep. I phoned and they reserved a table. No problem.”
I giggle. This is going to be fun. He has no idea tonight is the Smuggler’s Reenactment Dinner. The reenactment used to be held one weekend in the winter to attract tourists to the island in the off season. But they were so popular, the city decided to hold them monthly.
Gage entwines his fingers with mine and leads me to the door.
“Everyone, behave tonight!”
Otis snorts. “You behave.”
“Bye, Gage!” Mila shouts.
“Bye, little Mila. I’ll be seeing you soon.”
Gage starts for his SUV but I tug on his hand. “It’s a beautiful night. Let’s walk. It’s less than five minutes.”
“Works for me. More time to hold you near.” He releases my hand to wrap an arm around my shoulders.
“You are some kind of charmer.”
“Only with you, songbird. Only with you.”
“How was your day? How was practice?”
He rolls his shoulders. “It was good. But I hate push day at the gym.”
“What’s push day?”
“It’s the day we focus on pushing exercises such as bench press, overhead press, and tricep extensions. ”
My nose wrinkles. None of those sound fun. “I can’t remember the last time I went to the gym.”
He rakes his gaze over me and his eyes heat. “Don’t start going on my account. I love your body.”
I shiver as memories of him loving up my body surface. The attention to detail. The single focus on me and my pleasure. It was addictive. I want to experience it again.
Our chemistry is one of the main reasons I agreed to date him. I’ve never experienced the sparks we have before. It’s hard to resist. Especially when he laughs and jokes with my family. And has the perfect manners. Throw in his childhood and how he rose above it and I couldn’t help but cave.
We reach the main street and I point to the restaurant. “ Smuggler’s Cove Restaurant is there.”
“Why is there a line outside?”
I shrug. If he hasn’t figured out tonight is a reenactment, I’m not telling him.
We bypass the line and enter the restaurant. “Hi,” I greet Hazel. “I thought you weren’t working here anymore since you’re working full-time at the resort as a physical therapist.”
“They begged me to fill in.”
“And rumor has it you can’t resist begging.”
She slaps me with the menus. “Behave or I’ll sit you in the middle of the action.”
“You should definitely sit us in the middle of the action.”
“Why would you…” She trails off with a smirk. “He doesn’t know?”
“Know what?” Gage asks .
I hurry to answer before Hazel can ruin the surprise. “How good the food is here.”
“You probably shouldn’t eat here if you want to make weight,” Hazel adds.
Gage waves away her concern. “Weekly weigh-in was today. I have an entire week to make up for whatever I eat tonight.”
Hazel shows us to our table. She slaps the menus down. “Your waitress will be with you soon.”
Gage holds out my chair for me. “Someone’s a gentleman.”
“I did as you said and researched wooing.”
I bark out a laugh. “Don’t be surprised if you get a dictionary for Christmas.” Christmas? Christmas is months away. We might not be dating then. I backpedal faster than a mermaid who caught sight of a smuggler. “I don’t expect us to be dating in December. No pressure from me.”
He lays his hand over mine. “I do. My digital shopping cart is already full of presents for you and your family.”
My mouth gapes open. “It is not!”
“You won’t know if you don’t give us a chance,” he sings.
“You are seriously incorrigible.”
“You say incorrigible, I say—”
He’s cut off when the door bangs open and several men rush inside the restaurant. They’re dressed as bootleggers from the Prohibition.
“The Prohis are right behind us,” the first man says.
“We need to hide.”
The first man scans the room. “Or we could take a hostage.”
Gage leans across the table. “What’s going on?”
“Shush.”
But it’s too late. The bootleggers are already coming our way.
The first man narrows his eyes at me. “She’ll do.”
“She’ll do for what?” Gage asks.
The bootleggers ignore him. “Get up,” the man orders me.
I push to my feet. Gage growls and stands in front of me. “You’re not taking her hostage.”
The man waves a gun at him. “Get out of the way before I shoot you.”
“You can shoot me but you aren’t taking my woman anywhere.”
Gage is dead serious. He has no idea this is a reenactment. I tug on his sleeve. “It’s okay.”
He doesn’t bother looking at me. He keeps his gaze aimed at the two bootleggers. “No, it’s not. It’s our first date. I’m not letting anyone ruin it.”
“The Prohis are coming!” Hazel shouts from the front of the restaurant, where she has the curtain pulled aside to peer outside. “If you don’t want to be caught, you'd better hide or get going.”
The bootleggers stare at each other for a second before scurrying toward the kitchen. The second they’re out of sight, the front door of the restaurant bangs open and the Prohis – the prohibition agents – rush inside.
“Where are they? We saw them enter this restaurant. They can’t hide from us. ”
Everyone in the restaurant points to the kitchen. They give chase. As soon as they’re gone, the place bursts into applause.
Gage glances around with his brow furrowed. “What the hell is going on?”
I burst into laughter. “It’s the Smuggler’s Reenactment Dinner,” I manage to say between bouts of laughter.
He rubs his neck. “This was a show?”
“Yep. It happens once a month. Why do you think I was surprised you got a reservation? And there was a line outside?”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
I point to his face. “And miss how confused you are now? No way.”
“I will get you back.”
“We’ll see,” I sing. “This is Smuggler’s Hideaway after all.”
He finally sits down. “Your hometown is crazy.”
“Takes one to know one!”
“This is some first date.”
“I think it’s the perfect first date.”
He clasps my hand. “Any date with you is perfect.”
The waitress slams two bottles of beer down on our table. “On the house. For providing us with entertainment.” She winks.
Gage bows. “Always happy to be of service.”
“Some of the tourists want your autograph.” She points to a group of women creeping closer to us.
“I’ll… um….” I start to stand. I have no idea where to go or what to do, but I don’t want to witness a bunch of women drooling over my date. He’s mine to drool over .
Nope. Not mine. This is a date, not a statement of my intention to keep him.
Gage catches my wrist. “I’m happy to sign autographs. After dinner.”
“Gotcha. I’ll deal with them.” The waitress ushers the women away.
The second they’re gone, Gage’s shoulders drop and he blows out a breath. “Sorry about them. Fans don’t always understand privacy.”
“You seemed okay with the situation.” He even flashed his dimple.
He rubs his thumb into my wrist. “I can’t be an asshole. It’s part of the job.”
My nose wrinkles. “Your fans bother you all the time?”
“It’s not a bother. An inconvenience when you’re on a date with a woman you’re trying to impress? Sure. But not a bother.”
I decide to let it go. If we’re going to date, I need to get used to him being famous. Besides, this is our first date. Who knows if they’ll be more?
“Impressing me went out the window when you decided to interrupt the reenactment.”
He puffs out his chest. “I thought I was saving you.”
I pat his hand. “Okay, big guy. You can save me whenever you want.”
In fact, I wouldn’t mind if he saved me every single day. I don’t need saving, but oh, how glorious it would be to have a man who stepped in front of danger for you whenever he thought you needed help.
Slow down, Addy. This is a first date. Gage hasn’t proclaimed his undying love for me. No matter how much I’m starting to wish he would.