Last Call (28 page)

"Mmmm, okay." I snuggled into him. My shirt was hiked up around my waist and his hot skin touched my stomach as I got comfortable. Smiling at the intimate contact, I drifted back to sleep while Gage played with my hair.

I woke again, after what seemed like minutes, feeling an intense warmth between my legs. My nerves twitched as Gage's fingers swirled over my inner thigh. It was like they were teasing thin ice; seeing how close he could go without falling in.

Catching his hand, I hissed, "
Really
. Can't a person get some sleep around here?"

"Not on my watch," he tossed back, and before I knew what hit me, I was thrown flat on my back with Gage straddling me.

He imprisoned my hands above my head with one hand, while his other began to ease my t-shirt up. His smooth fingers lightly skimmed my ribs, making me buck my hips as he tickled me. The dirty boy eyebrow raise Gage threw me told me he was quite fond of my hip thrusts.

"I'd like to make a habit of this."

"What? Attacking me?"

"You wish," he kidded, and swooped in for a quick kiss. "I like you in my bed. Stay again tonight?"

"Gage…" I waffled, looking at his boyish grin as he asked me to stay.

A flash of disappointment crossed his face and he released my arms and scooted off of me. "I'm sorry, Savannah, I know I said no expectations. I shouldn't press you."

"Nooo," I exclaimed, not wanting him to get the wrong idea. "Gage, I…listen, I think you were right last night. We need to slow down some. It would be so easy to get caught up in this…this physical attraction, but I don't want to move so fast that we just crash and burn."

I thought about Spencer and Daniel and how I still needed to get closure with both of them before I could really move on. As much as I wanted to be with Gage, if I didn't close those doors completely the wounds of the past might have a way of ripping open again, and I didn't want them to affect us.

Deciding on a slower course of action, I sat up and held out my hand for his. "You know how you said we needed to not have sex because of what you feel when we’re together?"

He shook his head and his lips were tight; a muscle in his jaw flexing as he clenched it shut. "Gage, I feel that too. I want to explore it and be careful with it, so that whatever this is between us can grow stronger. Can we take it slow? Take some time to date?"

"Of course. Savannah, I’ll do
whatever
makes you most comfortable, as long as I get to kiss you when I want."

"Kiss me now?"

Thursday - May 16, 2013

Triple Date Night

The following week was a blur.

Before leaving Gage's house Sunday after brunch, we decided to take things slower and not get too physical too quickly.

"What is it southern men do? ‘Courting’, right?"

"Sure, if we lived in the eighteen hundreds."

"Well sweetheart, you deserve to be courted."

"You do know that means supervision at all times…"

"To hell with courting then," he laughed; grabbing me and kissing me. "How about we have a quiet date night this week? Ladies choice."

"Only one?"

"I know how crazy the gallery showcase is going to be for you, and I don't want to monopolize your time or energy. Plus John’s on vacation for a few days, so I have to be at the bar to run it."

"Oh? Are you thinking he’s going to be the new manager then?"

"I think so. He’s still in need of an assistant, though. But don't change the subject …how about Thursday night?"

"Sounds great. Why don’t you come to my house and let me cook for you? We'll have a chill movie night – just me, you and the girls."

"Sounds kinky." He winked and waggled his brows suggestively.

"Um, no," I deadpanned, looking for something to toss at him. "Tell you what, if you don't mind I'll have Sara and Candace invite dates. You know, to equalize the hormone level.”

"So now it's an orgy? Damn! I knew I liked you for a reason."

"Gage."

Bowing his head like an abashed toddler he mumbled, "Sorry." Then he ruined the choir boy look by raising those sexy brown eyes and smiling his one dimpled smile at me.

Butter.

He'd turned me into freaking butter and I melted at the sight of that smile.

Sara and Candace were all up for a triple date night, and when Thursday evening finally came around I was shocked to find Candace already in the kitchen preparing her special poppy seed chicken dish.

"Oh my word, you are a savior, Cand," I offered, as I carried in two bags full of wine and beer. There was just one hour remaining to get ready and finish dinner.

"No biggie, I knew you’d most likely be running late. Sara should be here soon too. She went to go grab some movies." Candace was the official chef of the house. Her cute little blond bob was currently being held back by a headband as she stirred the chopped up chicken and other ingredients to put into the casserole dish.

I placed the grocery bags onto the counter and pulled out the salad mix. "You sent
her
to get movies? Good Lord...you know she’s gonna come home with something crazy."

"That's half the fun."

"Well look who the cat dragged in," Sara called as she walked in the front door fifteen minutes later.

For a moment, dread hit me. I hadn't cleaned myself up yet and Gage was already there? A huge sigh of relief left me at the sight of Tony's smiling face.

"Savannah, go change. We've got this," Candace ordered, nodding her head for me to leave the kitchen. "Tony, get your ass in here and give me a kiss and a cutting board. Sara, come help."

"Hey, Savannah." Tony smiled, following Candace's directive and going straight to her side.

"Tony." I nodded and then stepped to the side.

Sara stepped into the kitchen as well and pushed me towards the hall. "Let your ugly stepsisters handle this one for a change, Cinderella. Go get ready for Prince Charming."

Gratitude wasn't a good enough word for what I felt when I looked at my two roommates. "Thanks for being the best friends a girl could ever ask for."

Cand said a little "Awe" and Sara shrugged and pushed at me again to leave. "Go before this becomes a sappy Hallmark commercial."

Twenty minutes later I was casually, yet cutely, dressed for a movie night with my Aussie superman, two best friends and their dates. Sara invited Chris, her on-again off-again fling from the past. I liked him, and thought he was a good guy.

The doorbell rang at exactly six-thirty to signal Gage's arrival.

"Well he’s punctual, that's for sure," Sara laughed, and I wiped my hands on the apron tied around my waist to keep my clothes clean. As I walked to the door I stole a quick glance in the mirror hanging on the wall, and couldn't help but notice the smile plastered on my face.

I opened the door to find Gage with at least two dozen roses in his hand.

"Wow, you've come ready to make a good impression." I leaned in and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before inviting him into the house.

"These are to replace your secret admirer’s flowers."

Introductions were made and the guys popped open some beers and began to talk boy talk while Sara and Candace put the finishing touches on dinner and I found a vase.

The meal was delicious and filled with boisterous conversation. I learned that Gage played in a band growing up, as did Chris, so they shared stories of assorted gigs they’d played through their college days.

I realized that I never asked Gage about college, and deep down I felt like the snob I was sometimes accused of being. Since he was a bartender I just assumed that he’d never gone to school, and I felt horrible for not showing more interest in his life. Admittedly he had been pretty closed off about his personal life when we did have deeper conversations, but it was my fault that I hadn't tried to dig deeper.

Sara must have seen my discomfort because she valiantly stepped in and started asking questions.

"So Gage, I haven't grilled Savannah on all your dirt yet. You said you played in a band during college, so where did you go to school?"

"Um, I went to the University of Melbourne for Business."

"A business major, huh?" Sara said thoughtfully as Tony shot out, "How’s the surfing in Australia? Is it as amazing as people say?"

"What brought you to the U.S., then? Wait - how old are you?"

"I'm twenty-five and I came here because I wanted to check out some business opportunities."

"Oh yes, America: the land of opportunities," Sara joked, and I almost spit out the sip of beer I'd taken.

"Sara, this is too much like twenty questions," I warned.

"It's fine. It's like I'm meeting your family for the first time."

"Ha - right," Sara shouted, laughing. Candace hit her arm not so subtly. "Trust me when I say meeting us is like ninety-eight-point-eight-percent easier and safer than meeting Mrs. Guthry."

"Ignore her, Gage," Candace jumped in, giving Sara an evil look. "We don't let her around civilized company very often. She's not passed her manners classes."

Everyone at the table laughed and Sara grumbled a few choice words. As dinner wound down, discussions floated around to various topics and eventually the boys ganged up on us; asking for embarrassing stories about each other.

Making our way to the living room Gage and I sat on the couch together, Candace sat on the floor between Tony's legs as he sat behind her in a chair, and Chris chose the smaller love seat. Sara grabbed the bag with the movies she’d rented for the occasion.

"Ok, ladies and gentlemen…chick flick or something manly?"

The fifty/fifty split could have been easily predicted by a two year old.

"I'm not watching some dumb movie where I have to hold your hand and watch you cry all night, Candace," Tony teased. Chris chimed in his agreement. Gage looked at me and remained silent, but slung his arm over my shoulder and pulled me up close to his side.

"Tell us what they are, and maybe we can pick from there?" I suggested.

A pillow flew across the room, hitting Sara in the gut as she stood there teasing us with movies.

Candace shrugged and looked around innocently while we all started chanting, "Tell us. Tell us."

"Wow, this is a restless crowd tonight," complained Sara. "Next it'll be tomatoes."

One of the boys mocked, "Don't tempt us." Gage snickered as he leaned into my ear. "Is she always like this?"

I smothered a laugh at his question. "You mean an attention whore? Yes…yes she is."

"Hey, I heard that."

"Okay, okay people. I'll give you some hints…our chick flick tonight consists of a group of misfit girls, a will-they-or-won't-they-be-a-couple couple, and a competition."

Candace and I looked at each other immediately - ‘Pitch Perfect’. The guys looked clueless and a little revolted.

"Our boys choice consists of a bunch of men with big muscles doing manly things."

"For the love of God, put in the manly film," Chris laughed, rubbing his hands together.

"Are you sure?" she asked, glancing between Tony and Gage.

She was up to something. Candace and I knew Sara well enough to know that there wasn't a
real
manly movie in that bag. She was way too jacked up on making us choose for this
not
to be some sort of trick.

"I'm just here for the company," Gage answered, lightly squeezing my upper arm.

"I'm good with it. Let’s go," Tony agreed.

"Just remember you asked for it. Drum roll, please." We played a little drum roll on our laps, I coughed out "Drama queen," and she pulled out the movies slowly.

"Gentlemen, you opted to
not
watch the marvelously funny ‘Pitch Perfect’,
and instead get…‘
Magic Mike’."
She laughed maniacally; jumping up and down in a little dance.

The room was immediately filled with male ire as all three of the guys complained.

"That's bogus!"

"How is that
manly
?"

I broke into fits of laughter as Chris jumped up to wrestle the offending movie from Sara's kung fu grip.

"No way am I watching a bunch of shaved men shaking their junk in my face!"

Sara tossed the movie my way when Chris attacked her. I caught it and jumped off the couch before Gage could get it from my hands. He just sat there and laughed at the mayhem. Candace and Tony were playfully arguing, and Sara had fallen to the floor with Chris tickling her.

"Hold up!" I shrieked. "This is a democracy here, people, and you can't change your vote once placed. We’ll watch ‘Magic Mike’, and perhaps you boys can learn a few moves."

I popped the disk into the player and everyone settled down to watch the fine work, or should I say
works
, of art.