Chapter 14 Tori #2
Gage turns his head and captures my mouth in a kiss far deeper and more passionate than our first one. His hand is on my back, tugging me closer, and my hands are moving through his hair, across his neck, down his arms. I’m swept up, losing my sense of time, direction and place.
This kiss is everything.
Gage pulls back, his breath coming out in short puffs of white in the chill night air.
My chest is rising and falling with a matched breathlessness.
“So,” he says, pushing a strand of my hair off my face with the back of his hand and then dragging his fingers down the side of my face oh so softly. “What I brought you out here to say was …”
I burst into laughter.
“What?” he asks, a full smile on his gorgeous face.
“No.” I laugh again. “It’s fine. Say what you were going to say.”
“What’s so funny, Tori?”
“After that kiss? You can still remember what you came out here to say?”
Gage smiles. It’s a smile I’ll remember for years to come. He’s so relaxed and genuinely happy, but it’s more. It’s us—this unexpected ease and familiarity we’ve developed.
“I remember everything when it comes to you, Tori.”
His declaration makes my heart flutter.
A wind whips through the church property and I shiver.
Gage tugs me close, wrapping his arms around me. Then he pulls back, removes his suit coat, places it on my shoulders, and pulls me back into an embrace. I rest my head on his chest and he tucks me under his chin.
His voice rumbles when he speaks. “I brought you out here to ask you out—on a date.”
I tilt my head back and look up at him. “I thought you brought me out here to kiss me,” I tease.
“Not exactly,” he says, lifting one of his arms away, but still holding me with the other. He puts his hand in his pocket and pulls out a little sprig of green tied off with a plaid grosgrain ribbon. “I did bring this, though, just in case.”
“Mistletoe?” I ask, smiling.
“It’s on your bucket list. I was just thinking I’d help you check off another item if you wanted me to.”
“I do,” I say. “And yes. I’d love to go on a date with you.”
“Or two?” he asks with another smile.
“Maybe even three,” I say with a wink that surprises me.
“I’m thinking I might need four … or five,” he counters.
“I wouldn’t be opposed to six,” I offer.
“I think I might lose count by then,” Gage says.
“Me too.”
“Hmm,” he hums contentedly. “Well then, we’ll just go on dates until we lose count.”
Gage lifts his hand, the one holding the mistletoe, and he dangles the sprig in the air right over our heads. He tips his chin upward and eyes the little tuft of greenery. Then his eyes fall back to mine.
“Well, look at that,” he says.
“What do you know,” I tease him. “Looks like you’re going to have to kiss me.”
Gage leans in, placing a soft kiss on my lips. I put my hand on the back of his neck, and I kiss him back. He drops the mistletoe and his arms wrap around me. Our kiss feels like a floodgate opening. Gage tugs me closer to him and I run my fingers through his hair.
I don’t know why I never allowed myself to imagine what kissing him would feel like.
Maybe I thought something vague like, I bet he’s a good kisser.
I could never have imagined this—the way he feels so right.
Like home and adventure. Like the best kind of promises.
Like hunger and satisfaction all wrapped up in one.
“Tori?” Stephanie’s voice cuts through the night from somewhere in the distance.
“Gage?” That’s Mitch.
Gage pulls away and I instantly bury my head in his chest.
“Feels like we skipped school and the principal just called my mom,” he whispers into my hair, chuckling softly.
I giggle, but I’m still tucked in his arms as if I can become invisible if I hold him close enough.
“Tori!” Steph calls out again.
“Gage!” Mitch yells right after her.
“We’re over here!” Gage shouts.
He extends his hand and I take it. I’m still wrapped in his suit coat and he’s only wearing his dress shirt. We round the building to face our friends.
Mitch looks down at our enjoined hands and then up at Gage.
“That’s what I’m talking about!” Mitch shouts.
Steph smiles at us, graciously not commenting on the obvious. “They’re about to cut the cake.”
“So, is this what I think this is?” Mitch asks, gesturing to our clasped hands and then moving his pointer finger between Gage and me.
“It is,” Gage says confidently.
His eyes lock on mine, and everything around us fades.
For once, I don’t care who’s watching or what they think of me.
I smile up at Gage, and he squeezes my hand in six short bursts—a private gesture that means everything. We’ll date until we lose count.
I squeeze back, telling him without words that I’ll always say yes to one more.
If you loved Date Yourself a Grinch, you’ll love watching Noelle fall for Liam in Rent Yourself an Elf and you’ll crack up and swoon over Alyssa and Carson’s story in Catch Yourself a Snowmance.