Chapter 8
Callie
“I need my phone back!” I laugh, landing a playful kick to Gage’s ass.
He grasps the heel of my foot, tugging me forward and tossing out an arm to catch me in a low dip before I fall.
“That was smooth,” I compliment him.
He grins and presses a hard kiss to my mouth. “Can’t wait ‘til after the party for your phone?”
“Gage!” I shake my head. “I have clients. A business. I’ve been off the grid for two days too long.”
“Fine,” he murmurs, tugging me upright. He walks toward the kitchen, and I follow him, watching incredulously as he rummages in a cabinet and plucks my cell phone out from its hiding place behind the toaster.
I arch an eyebrow. “Seriously?”
He walks over to a charger by the kitchen island and plugs it in. When it powers on, he glances at the screen and lifts an eyebrow. “You have so many fucking emails.” He tosses me my phone.
I groan, and he laughs.
Then, he comes to my side and slips an arm around my waist.
I groan again as I note the thread of emails, messages, and missed calls on the screen of my phone.
“Are you mad?” he asks softly.
“No.” I look up at him. “I needed the break. Even if I didn’t admit it.”
He nods and kisses me again. It’s softer this time. Sweeter. “I need to help my sisters and Joe set up for the party. But I’ll come by to scoop you up around three p.m. Does that work?”
“You don’t have to come back up. I’ll meet you on the beach,” I say, shaking my phone at him. “It will give me some time to make a dent in the emails flooding my inbox.”
“Don’t stress, Calla Lily. Take it one message at a time.”
“Yeah,” I say, even though I feel my anxiety rising. As much as I know I need to have more of a work-life balance, it’s hard to achieve when the nature of my work is as fast-paced and intense as it is. When so much money and the careers of my clients are on the line.
“I’m serious, Cal,” Gage says, palming my ass and giving it an appreciative squeeze. “There’s fresh coffee. I’ll see you in a bit.”
“See you,” I say, my eyes already glued to the emails.
Once Gage leaves, I sit down at the kitchen island, open my laptop, and set to work. The first hour flies by and my nerves begin to settle. I catch up on paperwork, check in with two clients, and scan through new endorsement possibilities for one of my soccer players.
But as the second hour starts, my inbox dings with a new email from Grayson Watches.
My eyes scan the lines of text rapidly and my heart sinks.
“Shit.” I shake my head. The deal’s off the table. We didn’t respond and, in our silence, Grayson Watches, perhaps correctly, assumed that Gage is retiring. Now, the endorsement offer has been pulled. “Damn,” I whisper, dropping my head into my hand.
How am I going to tell him? What am I going to tell him?
A few nights of dreaming of a future and falling into his bed and I lost my client—Gage of all people—one of his top endorsement deals, with a company he always desired to work with.
Disappointment sweeps through me, quickly followed by shame and guilt. They churn in my stomach, making me feel nauseous.
This is why I don’t mix business with pleasure. This is why I don’t date my clients.
But Gage isn’t just a client. He hasn’t been for a long, long time. I just didn’t want to admit it. How could I? I’m a professional.
And Gage is…well, he’s everything.
I sigh. On the periphery of my shame, nerves begin to dance.
What will he say when I break the news to him? Will he be angry? Disappointed? Annoyed?
My phone chimes with a text, and I groan, smacking my hand against the edge of the tabletop.
I reach for my phone and then snort, my anger fading.
It’s a bunch of the Boston Hawks Hockey girls. I snicker at the photos Vivi, Declan Yaeger’s wife, sends through from the night before. The women are up on a stage, singing karaoke for Chloe’s bachelorette party. She’s marrying Boston Hawks team captain, Austin Merrick, in a few weeks.
My phone rings a second later and when I note Vivi’s name, I relax.
“Genevieve Yaeger, shouldn’t you be sleeping?” I answer.
She laughs, loud and boisterous, exuding warmth. “Callie, I have a gaggle of small children and a new shelter opening. I haven’t slept in five years.”
I laugh, nodding in agreement. Vivi’s outreach work in Boston is expansive and keeps her incredibly busy. But the parents she and Yaeger are to their growing family is truly amazing. I can’t imagine navigating their stacked schedules. “How was Chloe’s bachelorette?”
“It was awesome. Chlo had the best time. Poor Austin is on hangover duty today.”
I laugh again.
“But we missed you,” Vivi adds.
“I wish I could have been there.” I don’t have a ton of female friends, but the Boston Hawks Hockey girls pulled me right into their group.
Since I’m an agent for a handful of the players, they welcomed me with open arms from the beginning and always include me in their parties and milestone celebrations.
“You’re too busy for us. Jet-setting all over the world,” Vivi laments, humor in her tone.
“Hardly!”
“Yeah? Where are you now?”
I snort, knowing she’s caught me. “Valencia, Spain.”
Vivi groans. “If I close my eyes, I can almost see the beach.”
“You should come.”
She laughs. “I’ll stow a kid or two in my luggage. Who dragged you out to Spain?”
“Myself. I was trying to track down Gage Gutierrez,” I share. I never talk about my clients with other clients—or friends. But as Gage and my relationship is changing… I could really use Vivi’s advice.
“Good ol’ Gutierrez, huh?” Vivi comments, slyly.
I snort. “Yep…”
“Is this work or pleasure?”
“Vivi!”
“What? There’s always been something between you guys.”
I close my eyes. “You saw it too?”
“I’d have to be on Mars to have missed it. You can cut the sexual tension with a knife when y’all are in the same room.”
My eyes pop open. “Seriously? You think—”
“You’re nothing but professional, Callie.
You know that. But there’s always been something between you two.
I noticed it in the way you talk about him.
And the gala you two were at in Boston last year, as well as that youth sports outreach program that Abbi put together in New York in the fall…
” She trails off and I remember the event she’s talking about.
How Gage brought me my favorite cupcakes from Primrose Sweets. The way his fingers nestled into the small of my back when we stood beside each other. The umbrella he held over my head as he walked me to my waiting car.
That night, I wished he’d kissed me and then I banished the craziness of the idea from my mind. Never to be thought of again until…until now. This week.
I sigh. “Things have changed.”
“Whoop! About damn time, Callie.”
I roll my eyes. “I didn’t tell you anything yet.”
“You don’t need to. If things have changed, it’s because your feelings for him have finally caught up to the way he feels about you.” Vivi laughs. “So, y’all are in Spain?”
“It’s his parents fiftieth wedding anniversary.”
“Oh, wow. And he brought you? That’s big.”
“I kind of showed up. There was an endorsement offer.”
“And?”
“He insisted I stay and give us this week to see…to see if…”
“What could be between y’all.”
“Yes,” I whisper. I don’t know how to do this, confide in a friend. It’s been so long since I’ve had any. My go-to people were always my dad and grandma. My family.
“And?” Vivi prods.
“The endorsement deal was just pulled,” I practically cry, blinking back the moisture in my eyes. “I fucked this up and—”
“No, you didn’t,” Vivi cuts me off. “Offers and opportunities change all the time in this industry, and you know that. Stop looking for reasons to sabotage whatever is brewing between you and Gage. If you have feelings for him, and you think there could be a future there, then focus on that. God knows you haven’t properly dated in years.
That’s partly why Abbi and Claire were desperate for you to come to Chloe’s bachelorette. They want to set you up with—”
“Set me up?”
“You’re isolating yourself. Throwing yourself into work. And, yes, I know the last few years have been tough and I completely understand why you’re burying yourself in your clients’ problems.”
“They need me,” I protest.
I can hear Vivi smile. “I know,” she says softer. “There’s no one like you, Callie. But you have to focus on yourself and your well-being too. Your love life.”
I scoff.
“Good ol’ Gutierrez,” she murmurs.
I pull in a breath. “So, you don’t think I’m crazy?”
“Not unless you blow this with him. Unless you’re not really feeling it and—”
“No, that’s not it,” I rush to reassure her. “The way I feel with Gage is…”
“Is…”
“It’s good.”
“You suck at this,” she comments.
I snort. “I know!” I clear my throat. Try again. “The way I feel with Gage is everything. I’ve fallen in love with him. I just didn’t want to admit it.”
“Aw, Callie,” Vivi sighs. “You deserve him, and he’s a good one.”
“He really is,” I agree.
And then, because she knows me well, she adds, “You’re not doing anything wrong. You’re two consenting adults who have danced around this for a long time. You, better than most people, understand the importance of time, Cal. Don’t keep wasting it without the partner your heart wants.”
I blink back more tears. Gosh, when did I get so emotional? “Thank you, Vivi.”
“Call me if you need anything, babe. I’m always here for you.”
“I know.”
“And we’ll celebrate this big the next time you’re in Boston.”
I snort, knowing the girls will be giddy if I show up with Gage on my arm. “I’ll keep you posted.”
“Go get the guy, Callie! Good luck!” She ends the call.
“Okay,” I murmur to myself.
My eyes flit back to the email and my disappointment and shame rush back.
I need more than luck.