9. Gage
GAGE
I watch her walk to the restrooms with her cousin, hips swaying in the short black material of her dress, a few curls trailing from her topknot. It’s been a long time since I danced with someone and felt like that. An elbow to the ribs jolts me to consciousness.
“Hey, let’s go sit. I’ve got some questions for you,” Andi barks at me. She looks at Harvey and says, “Why don’t you go to the bar for a few?”
He lifts his eyebrows at me but moves away from us. I wonder what she wants.
She parks herself on the edge of the sofa and motions for me to join her before she begins her interrogation. She sips her drink, her sleeveless outfit showing off tattoos that wrap around her arm and wind up to her shoulder.
“So Gage, you're just here for the summer, right?” She gives me a hard look. She’s ballsy for sure, but it works for her. I can’t stand fake people.
“Yes, that’s the plan. What about you, where do you live?”
“I live in New Hampshire now, but I grew up here with Charli and Sam. We’re cousins.”
“Nice.”
She leans back now, relaxing into the seat. “How old are you?”
“Twenty-five.”
“College?”
I shake my head.
“Military?”
“No. You’re a real hardass you know,” I say amused.
“She needs a good distraction this summer.” Her tone is serious and her eyes are focused.
This piques my interest. Is she giving me the green light here? “What do you mean?”
She crosses her legs waiting for me to add something. “You're into her, right?”
I nod my head. “Well, yeah, I think she’s gorgeous and would like to get to know her better.” I hope I’m making a good impression here.
Andi peeks over her shoulder to see if they’re coming back yet. “Just treat her right and be a good guy. She’s just getting out of a relationship. And I can’t be here to be her bodyguard the rest of the time. Most of her other friends have moved away. She’s special.”
“She sure is,” I reply, giving Andi a reassuring smile as I stand to meet Charli on her way back.
“Want to come sit with me?” I ask hopefully.
“Yeah,” she answers quietly. I hope the cousin was right.
I place my hand on her lower back as I usher her to the lounger we were on before. “Do you want me to get you a drink?”
“I’m good with water for now.”
“Cool, I’ll be right back.”
I return with two waters for us and instead of spreading out, we sit together in the corner away from the others. Neither one of us pays attention to what they’re talking about. We’re in our own bubble. I catch her cousins eyeing us, but I let it go.
There’s a long pause before either one of us says anything as I rack my mind for some interesting conversation starter. She smooths down her dress as our knees brush together. Her eyes flash to mine and she worries at her lower lip.
“So you said you wanted to travel sometime soon,” I blurt out, my nerves getting the better of me.
A look of relief washes over her pretty features and she brightens up, a smile lifting her expression. “Yeah, I follow a travel blog and already have my passport. I want to go to a few places before it expires.”
I can manage this without messing up my chance with her. “What’s first on your bucket list?” Our knees bump again and this time they stay pressed together.
She knits her eyebrows together and purses her lips, adorably. “You know, I don’t have one. I’ve never traveled out of the U.S. besides one trip to Canada, and honestly, I just want to go somewhere, anywhere but here.” She twists her fingers together in her lap.
Maybe some more talking will relax her a bit. I lean back on the couch and drape my arm across the back right behind her shoulder. So close that I could reach out and touch her smooth skin. “Let’s narrow it down.” I lift my eyebrows at her. “Do you want to go to a warm or a cold place?”
A pause lingers between us. “You know, either one is okay with me.”
I nod. “Alright, I haven’t been to many cold places, so you got me there. What about language, foreign or English?”
She slaps her knee excitedly. “Not English.” She recovers with a nervous laugh. “I only took a few years of French in school, but I know I want to hear people speaking a different language, whether I understand it or not.”
“Now we’re getting somewhere.” I tap my foot against the low table in front of us. “What do you want to do when you're there?”
She wiggles a little on her seat, scooching forward to stretch her hands out onto her knees. “I want to see a big, well-known city, but then I want to go to the countryside or some natural areas.”
“You're so quick with these answers, I’m surprised you don’t have your destinations all mapped out.” I shoot her a quick grin and she blushes ever so slightly. “I think you should go to South America or Europe first.”
“I’ve never even been on a plane.” She rolls her eyes at me.
“So what, do you want to take a boat?” I’m not a fan of air travel either.
She snorts a laugh. “No,” she shakes her head. “I mean, I want to travel, but it’s overwhelming planning it.”
I lean closer and rest my hand between the two of us on the lounger. “You could meet with a travel agent. You’ve got to start somewhere,” I say in a low voice, as her vanilla scent washes over me. I want to brush back the little bits of her hair that’ve escaped her bun.
Pulling away, she gives me the side eye. “Oh my God, stop.” She reaches for her water, condensation dripping onto her exposed thigh. I watch it run off her knee. “What about you, where have you been?” She leans back crossing her legs, her sandal hanging off her foot as she snaps it up and down.
“I’ve been up and down the East Coast and to almost every Caribbean island, plus we took a few family trips out west when I was young.”
She tilts her head to the side and runs her hand back toward her neck. “What’s been your most memorable trip?”
“Honestly, there’s so many beautiful islands in the tropics, you can’t really go wrong. But, I like Antigua the best for sailing. The British Virgin Islands are more popular for boating, but it can get too crowded.”
A grin teases at her lips, her expression rapt. Her teeth sink into her plump lower lip and she tucks her leg up underneath her, shifting a little closer to me.
“Sorry to interrupt you two, but we’re leaving,” Sam says, with an awkward wave.
Shit, we were just getting somewhere.
Charli looks at her watch and then back at me. “I need to go. I have work in the morning.”
“Yeah, of course,” I answer. I rub my knee to keep it from bouncing. “I had fun with you tonight. Can I call you sometime?”
She looks at me, eyes as big as saucers, green with gold flecks, searching for a minute. I swallow hard as I wait. Her lips twitch and I lift my eyebrows. She pulls her phone out of her bag and asks, “What’s your number?”
I tell her and my phone vibrates with the best text I’ve gotten in a long time. I chew my cheek to contain my excitement.
We stand to say goodbye. “I’ll message you tomorrow,” my voice comes out hoarse, and I stuff my hands down into my pockets so I don’t reach for her.
“Okay,” she replies, hesitantly. “It was nice talking to you.” She joins her cousins as they head towards the elevator.
She turns and gives me a backward glance as I watch her walk away, all long legs in that short little black dress.
Harvey nudges me, bringing me out of my daze. “I said, do you want to stick around or go back to the boat?” he asks again.
I scrub my hand over my face and blink my eyes.
Damn, did I really just have her in my arms tonight?
It seems too good to be true. She looked absolutely gorgeous.
That smoking hot dress, her hair on top of her head, tanned skin, and curves for days were almost too perfect.
Despite people being around us all night, I felt like it was just the two of us.
“No, man, I’m ready to go. I’ve got a busy day tomorrow.”
“If you say so,” he answers with a laugh.
Harvey walks toward the door to the elevators as I stand there for a second.
Do I have it bad, or was it just so good holding her that I can’t believe it?
It felt so natural to have her next to me, in my arms, pressed so close.
I hope it wasn’t just liquid courage that brought her to my arms tonight.
I’ll have to wait and see what happens when I text her tomorrow. She said she wasn’t seeing anyone else. Still, that other guy might be the jealous type. I don’t want to make trouble for her, so I better take it slow.