Last Call (19 page)

"Savannah, the dude knocked a guy out cold." I opened one eye and looked at Sara standing over me. "For you," she added, her hands on her hips.

Remembering the look of anger and concern on Gage's face the night before sent small waves of heat through my legs. I thought about the song he gave me. I listened to it on repeat half of the afternoon, my mind running wild with fantasies and ideas of what he was thinking when he picked that song.

It was close to seven o’clock when I timidly walked into The Garage. For once, I felt almost shy at seeing my handsome superhero. Suddenly I was nervous as hell. I had unconsciously called Gage
my
superhero. I was walking into
his
bar to meet another date, and there I was calling him
mine
. "You are so messed up," I scolded myself as I looked around.

"How's the cheek?" Gage startled me as he came up from behind and caused me to yelp.

"Geez," I swore. I clutched my chest with one hand and used the table to my left to steady myself. I looked at Gage and the butterflies began to pound through my stomach.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to frighten you." His eyes searched my face, looking for any signs from last night’s dramatic smack down. When I’d awakened that morning there was a slight discoloration on my cheekbone, but thankfully, the painful bite of Jax's elbow didn't leave a big mark.

"Nothing a little makeup couldn't fix," I answered, watching as the intensity of his stare faded. "How's your fist, Ali? I assume you know who Muhammad Ali is?"

"Sweetheart I'm from Australia, not Mars." He looked offended, as if I had the audacity to question his manhood.

"Ah yes, I forgot," I teased, starting to feel more at ease. The crowd was somewhat thin for a Saturday night and I finally noticed the bags he held at his side. His muscles twitched under the black tee that was his customary "uniform".

"You doing some grocery shopping?"

He stood there watching me for a moment and then lifted the bags up. "Yeah, I needed to make a run for some garnish. Couldn't run out of limes in case my favorite Tom Collins-ordering gal came in tonight." His flippant tone matched the cute grin on his lips as he walked past me and gently placed the bags on the counter. Noelle was behind the bar tonight and waved at me when I followed behind Gage.

"Hey girl,” she called out. “I heard there was a slight commotion in the parking lot last night." Her eyes were wide, and she looked eager to devour any and all gossip I could give her.

Sliding onto a bar stool, I tried to stay easy-breezy as I spoke. "Just a small misunderstanding, that's all."

"That's not what one of the bouncers said earlier."

"Noelle," Gage interrupted, before I could respond; his voice deep, authoritative. "I doubt she wants to talk about it right now. Take these limes to the back and start prepping them."

Noelle grabbed the bag of fruit and stalked to the back, quietly throwing a puzzled glance back at me. Gage rolled his neck from side to side, looking very annoyed before he returned his attention to me again.

"I asked the guys to keep their mouths shut about last night. Evidently I’ll have to have a talk with them again."

"It's not a problem. I know Noelle from school, so she probably thought I would fill her in. You don't have to protect me, you know. I'm a big girl."

He smiled, his voice filled with sarcasm when he spoke. "You are, huh?"

I shook my head in affirmation and swallowed whatever I was about to say when Gage lowered his head close to mine and leaned into me. His masculine scent tickled my nose; a tantalizing mix of tangy cologne and mints. His warm breath fanned over my cheek as he placed his lips next to my ear and spoke faintly.

"I know you could have kicked his ass if you wanted to, but could you possibly let me believe what you said in your text?"

My eyes began to droop closed at the ecstasy his soothing tone brought to me. Confused for a moment, I asked what he was referring to. My hand shot out of its own accord and gripped his upper arm. The heat radiating off of his skin instantly warmed my icy fingers.

"You called me your hero last night," he murmured into my ear. Then he sighed; his breath causing a shiver to run down my neck. "I rather liked the thought of being your personal superhero. After all, you're turning into my own personal brand of kryptonite."

He pulled back and lingered inches from my face for a moment before he straightened gently, prying my hand from his arm. His hand continued to hold mine for a few moments more, and he caressed my fingers gently before placing my hand on the bar top.

Bzzzz Bzzzz Bzzzz

The vibrations from my cell phone going off slammed my hazy senses back to reality. I looked up and stared at Gage, still not able to think clearly, before he nodded to the phone sitting on the counter with my small wristlet wallet.

"That's your phone, sweetheart."

"Hmmm," I muttered. The second wave of vibrations pulled me the rest of the way to reality. "Oh!" I gasped, shaking my head and feeling like an idiot.

Gage chucked my chin as he stepped away, calling behind him, "I'll be back in a while."

I watched him walk away like a lovesick girl. The need to check for drool on my chin was overwhelming. Clicking the phone on and sliding my finger across the unlock button, I glanced at the text awaiting me.

Sara: so i forgot to tell you i cancelled your date tonight. stop fighting gage and GO with it girl! <3 Sara

You've got to be kidding me. I mentally kicked Sara in the head twenty times as I typed out a reply:

Me: i can't believe you two hounded me about how badly I needed to go on this date. i can't believe you cancelled on the poor guy last minute!

Sara: relax. i told him you were sick and would try to reschedule when you got better. AND you did need to get out. you need to admit you have it bad for the sexy crocodile hunter and jump his bones, mate ;)

The unbidden picture of Gage dressed as the crocodile hunter flashed through my head and I squeezed my eyes shut to get it out. A shoulder bumped into my back as someone took a seat next to me. Opening my eyes I was surprised to find the skinny figure of Ryan, the sales clerk from the art store, taking a seat.

"Excuse me…" he apologized, looking down. As he shifted in his seat he lifted his head and gaped at me. "Well hello again. We seem to keep bumping in to each other." He laughed an awkward laugh as he smiled at me.

"Yeah we do, don't we?"

I looked around for Gage absentmindedly while trying to decide what I should do at that point. My date wasn't showing, and Gage was obviously busy with work. I should leave.

Then again, maybe I should stay. Those last tantalizing words Gage whispered into my ear were the most amazing words I think I had ever heard. As I wavered in my decision, I watched as the bar began to build more of a crowd and the music got a little louder.
Riley must
have
the weekend off
, I thought to myself as I looked over at a substitute DJ playing tracks.

"Did the charcoals work for you?"

I heard the voice but didn't actually catch what it was saying. "Sorry?"

"Your pencils from the other day?" Ryan asked; his small eyes flicking up and down from the bar to my face and then quickly back. He was obviously very nervous talking to me.

"Oh, yes – well actually, I haven't played with them yet. I'm taking a new class on Mondays and we haven't had an assignment using charcoal yet," I informed him with a smile.

"You've been coming into the store for a while now. Are you an art major?" His voice was somewhat faint, but I could tell he was gaining confidence in talking with me. His eyes were more direct when he asked questions now. "I don't mean to pry."

I waved my hand, telling him not to worry about prying. "I'm an Art History major. The sketching is a passion of mine, but I don't really expect my stuff to ever be in a gallery or in anyone’s home."

"Well why not?"

"Ha - you've never seen my work. If you had, you'd know why not. I'm not bad, but I really just do it because I love to draw. It's a way to escape."

He was about to ask me another question when Gage made an appearance behind me. He was making a habit of coming up behind me tonight, but this time I didn't jump.

He touched my shoulder lightly, causing internal sparks of need to shoot through my nerve endings. "Hey, I almost hate to ask, but are you here waiting on someone tonight?" I rolled my eyes out of irritation that he would think he had to ask that when he added, "I'm not trying to rag on you. It's kind of been, well…"

"Stop while you're ahead Gage," I teased, turning away from Ryan and toward Gage on my right side. "I'm not here waiting for a date, no. I totally know why you asked, and although it's somewhat embarrassing, I guess I’m not mad at you for it."

He brought his hand close and ran his fingers languorously over a loose strand of my hair as it draped beside my face; causing me to freeze. "I was wondering if you'd eaten already. I'm working in the office tonight and was going to grab a bite before the bar gets too busy."

I almost danced my happy little fanny right out of the chair as I mentally chanted
'YES! YES! YES!'
, but instead gave him a small affirmative nod. I started to follow Gage towards the back when I remembered Ryan. Turning over my shoulder, I caught him watching me and called out to him, "It was nice chatting with you. See you at the store again soon, I'm sure."

Gage was waiting at the mouth of the hallway for me to catch up with him. Setting his hand on my shoulder, he escorted me to the same office he’d brought me to last night to calm down.

"Are you okay with something from Watson's upstairs?" he asked; pulling out a chair for me before rounding the large desk and taking one of his own.

"Yeah, that'd be great. Their Southern Chicken Salad is fine."

I waited as he picked up the phone and called for a takeout order. Looking around, I noticed the office didn't hold any sort of memorabilia or personal items you’d expect to see from the manager. It occurred to me then that I hadn't seen Drew in a while. I tried to remember if Riley had mentioned an ownership change in the bar previously, but I didn't recall that ever coming up.

"So, what do you have to do in the office? Are you filling in for Drew while he’s out or something?" I inquired smoothly, shamelessly trying to dig for information.

"No, Drew is no longer here, so I'm helping manage the place until the new owner can hire someone he trusts."

"Oh, so are you just here temporarily, then?" My voice sounded disappointed even to my own ears, but I hoped he couldn't tell.

"That all depends on how things go. Let me go grab our food and check on the bar. I'll be right back."

Returning with our dinners ten minutes later, Gage pulled a chair over from the corner of the office so he could sit next to me.

"Thank you," I said while pouring honey mustard over my fried chicken salad.

"Tell me about Riley," he asked unexpectedly as we started eating.

"Riley? What about him?"

"You said you were just friends, and yet I get the distinct impression he wants more than that when I see him looking at you."

"We
are
just friends. I…I guess he and I get along so well that it’s run through both our minds that we should’ve gotten together by now." Gage pulled a tense smile, but not before I noticed a dark frown flash across his face. "We've agreed it's best to stay friends, though."

"He's not going to claim rights to you then?"

"Claim rights to me? When?"

"When you decide to stop all the random loser dating and pick a real man."

I laughed somewhat nervously. I didn't really want to discuss my dating habits with Gage, but if he asked I would be honest with him. Or at least somewhat honest. His almost jealous questions about Riley and query about ‘claims’ on me suddenly brought something else to mind.

"Well since we’re talking about claims, what about your fan club?" Gage threw his head back as a shout of laughter escaped him. "Hey, I'm serious," I frowned, playfully slapping at his arm. "I know you said that it's just part of the job, but is there ever a point where you would turn them down?"

He immediately put his fork down and angled his body towards me; his face a lot more somber than it was previously. "Let me set one thing straight. I don't sleep with any of those women, Savannah. Now I'm not going to pretend to be a saint and say I've never taken what's been offered to me, but not here - not in Nashville I haven't."

Relief washed over me at his explanation, although that wasn't what I really meant. "I wasn't talking about sex, though I'm relieved to know you're not playing boy toy to the cougars, Gage." I winked, popping another bite of salad in my mouth.

He regarded me with lifted brows, so I wiped my mouth and answered his unasked question. "I meant - will the flirting always be part of the job? If there was a Mrs. Aussie Bartender, would you continue to allow those women to hang all over you?"

"Mrs. Aussie Bartender, huh? Is that what we’ll be calling her?"