I opened the door for him. I thought the lobby was swanky. Shit, that had nothing on the room itself. There was a large couch and loveseat positioned in the middle of the room facing a large flat screen television mounted on the wall. Against the wall was a desk, looking out the window. Opposite the desk was a six person dining table, mini fridge, and coffee bar. There were two doors beside the coffee bar, both open letting me see it was a bedroom and what could be maybe a conference room or office. There was a short hall that ended in the master suite.
“You didn’t have to get a two bedroom. Gabe and I could have shared a bed.”
Gage stopped, watching me. “This is my suite. You and Gabe will be in there” -he pointed to the room on the left- “and I will be in there.” He pointed down the hall.
“Oh.” We would be sharing a hotel room? Not what I expected.
“Don’t worry. I will be a total gentleman. You and Gabe even have your own bathroom. You won’t see me unless you want to. I’m going to lay him in bed.”
Gage walked into my room and gently laid Gabe on the bed. I kissed his head and whispered I loved him. I turned and came face first with Gage’s chest. His very hard, tattooed chest.
“Oh, sorry,” I mumbled.
Gage gripped both my arms and looked into my eyes. “Can we talk? Please?”
I could feel the electricity his touch was sending through my body. Waves of want crashing on me. “Sure.”
19
Gage
Running my hands down her arms I grabbed her hands and pulled her out of her room. I had to get her out of there. Too many dirty thoughts were running through my head. Leading her to the couch I sat down, pulling her with me. She made sure to leave adequate distance between us.
Now that I had her alone I was tongue-tied. I wasn’t sure what to say. I adjusted uncomfortably on the couch. I gave up and stood, padding to the mini fridge. “Want a beer?” I asked over my shoulder.
“Sure.”
Grabbing two beers, I popped the tabs and made my way back to the couch and sat a few feet away from her. She kept her head facing forward as I handed her the beer. We both took a long pull. She turned her emerald green eyes to me. “What do you want, Gage?”
What I really wanted was her. I wanted her naked and in my bed. I wanted that jersey she was wearing to hold true meaning. There was something about her that had my heart racing, but at the same time my head was telling me to slow the fuck down. I wasn’t ready. I was looking for someone to fill a huge hole in my life. Cobie couldn’t be replaced. Annie was the first beautiful woman I had seen. Being the proud owner of a dick, it reacted the way any other dick would. I was human and I loved sex. I missed it.
“I want to know why you hate me.” There, we would use that as a starting point.
Annie shifted her eyes around the room, repositioning herself as she did. She scooted further away and tucked her legs underneath her. Physically, she looked comfortable. Mentally, she couldn’t have looked more uncomfortable. My hand was twitching to touch her. I entwined my hands and held on tight to my beer bottle, stopping myself from looking like a fucking idiot.
She finally sighed and said, “Gage, I don’t hate you. I don’t really know you well enough to hate you.”
“You certainly don’t like me.” I looked straight ahead at the wall. I propped my feet on the coffee table and waited….
And waited…
And waited…
Finally the green eyed goddess spoke, “I like you. Too much for my comfort and that scares me. I didn’t think I would literally run into some guy at work one night and never stop thinking about him. I wasn’t prepared for that. I’m not ready for that.”
Trying to hide my excitement, I took another swig of my beer and I asked, “You couldn’t stop thinking about me, huh?” That earned me a brief smile before tears were filling her eyes. Fuck. I hated when females cried. I didn’t mean to make her cry. What did I say that made her turn to tears? “Shit, Annie. I didn’t mean to make you cry. I’m sorry. I was just trying to make a joke out of something serious. I meant to make you laugh and clearly those are not tears of laughter.”
She wiped away the few tears that escaped. Rotating so she was facing me, she worried her top lip. “Your friend Jenna talked to me earlier,” She whispered. I nodded and she continued, “She told me I should tell you what I told her. I don’t want to jump to conclusions, though.”
“Conclusions? About what?” I knew exactly what she was talking about. I wanted to hear her say it.
Suddenly the beer bottle on her lap became very interesting as she answered me, “Us.”
“It’s no secret how much I like you, Annie.”
“I know. But, I don’t know what you want from me.” She looked at me through her lashes.
Pulling my bottom lip into my mouth, I watched her eyes go wide and her breathing accelerate. I was making her nervous. She made me nervous. I wanted to tell her the truth. “I don’t know what I want, to be honest. I know I like you and just thinking about you has a smile forming on my face. But, it has only been five months since my wife died.”
“How long were you married?” Annie’s voice was so soft.
“Two days shy of one month. Our relationship isn’t the usual love story. It was our own crazy, written in the moment novel that ended too soon.” I could see all the questions Annie had written all over her face. I could tell she wanted to ask, but didn’t want to upset me. “My wife, Cobie, is...err was, my best friends little sister. She was the line I shouldn’t have crossed. At the time we were both hurting. I guess you could say we used each other. She was supposed to be a one night stand. She ended up pregnant with our daughter, Londyn. When her brother found out he wanted to kill me. Which is ironic. Her older brother is Larkin. He is married to Jenna. He essentially did the same thing to me a few years ago with Jenna. I won’t go into details, because that’s not my story and Larkin makes Jenna happy.”
I chanced a look at Annie. She had moved around again. This time she had her knees at her chest with her arms wrapped around them, her beer dangling in one hand, and her chin resting on her knees. “I’m so sorry, Gage.” Her eyes full of sincerity.
I lifted one shoulder and brought the bottle to my mouth again, empting the contents. “Anyway, Cobie and I decided we wanted our daughter to have a stable, loving home. I bought a house in her hometown and we made a home. I fell in love with her. Could I say, if it wasn’t for Londyn, would we still have fell in love? I don’t know, and never will. When she was five months pregnant we found out she had cancer. Her options were terminate the pregnancy, which meant inducing early labor and going through all the motions of having a baby, but not taking our baby home. Or, having our family and Cobie losing her life. Cobie made the decision before her doctor was finished telling us our options.”
I heard Annie’s audible intake of breath. “Oh my God, Gage. That is horrible.”
“I was so fuckin’ pissed in the beginning. Then Cobie made me realize there was nothing I could do. I had to accept it. It still hurts and I still struggle. I still have my moments of anger, but I know Cobie is with us.”
Annie took a drink of her beer. “I wish I could be a little more like you.” She gave a sad smile over her bottle.
“Really? Why’s that?” I figured I was the last person she wanted to be like.
“I’ve never talked about this before.” Her eyes started tearing up again.
“You don’t have to. I told you what I did so you would know where I was coming from. I like you, but I’m not looking for anything serious. I just want to have fun again.”