“Like fucking hell you will,” Reed grumbled. “There’s two other vehicles here. Take your choice.”
Brandy was doing this to get a rise out of him. She always did. She practically reveled in him getting worked up.
I turned to Sage, blocking the two of them out as they all situated who was driving with who. “Ready to go?”
She sucked in a deep breath, nodding. Though she’d come with the girls, there didn’t seem to be any question that I’d be driving her home. I braced one hand on the already opened passenger door while the other hovered at her back as she got in. I wanted to give her space rather than assume she’d be okay with me touching her again.
Once she was buckled, I closed the door and rounded the truck, giving everyone a short wave before sliding behind the wheel.
“My parents' place to pick up Avery?” I asked as I turned the key.
She shook her head, leaning back in the seat. “No. Your place.”
24
Callan
My parents were fine with Avery spending the night once I called them, but I wasn’t sure what Sage wanted out of tonight. Was it too soon to take her to bed? Did she just want to chat? I’d talk with her all night if she wanted, but I didn’t want to ruin whatever this was between us. If there even was anything between us.
She could have only kissed me because of the rush, but a part of me knew it wasn’t just that.
It’d been so long since I’d been with anyone that I didn’t really know what classified as dating. We’d gone on one date and shared one kiss, but did she want more?
I turned onto my driveway, heading toward the house. It wasn’t too far from the street, but the dirt road was bumpy as we approached the white two-story.
“This is your house?” Sage asked from beside me, finally speaking after keeping quiet the entire ride.
“It is.” Shifting into park, I killed the engine and hopped out. I took steady breaths on my way around the hood to open her door for her. The nerves were settling in, but I did my best to keep them away. I didn’t need to be nervous around Sage. She was like sunshine after a blizzard, warming every cold inch that she shined on. Any fear I may have felt about having her in my home couldn’t touch me.
After sliding off the seat, she looked up at the house while I closed the door. “You live here alone?” she asked as she turned to me.
“Aside from the crickets and coyotes?” I joked. “Yeah, I do. My brothers give me shit for having a house like this until they’re the ones crashing in my guest rooms.”
“Rooms?” she repeated, emphasizing the S.
“Just two.” Guilt slammed into me like a train. She and Avery were living over in town in a small two-bedroom cottage-like house, and I was out here living alone in a structure four times that size.
Shifting on my feet, I set a hand on her lower back, leading her toward the front door. After I unlocked it and headed inside behind her, I bolted the door again. It didn’t matter that I lived in the middle of nowhere, safety was always a priority. Plus, after tonight, the last thing I needed was that guy coming around for revenge. Speaking of…
“Did you know that guy?” I asked as she studied my kitchen.
She took a moment to respond, like the setup of my appliances and cabinets was all that interesting, then said, “No.”
I cocked a brow. “That doesn’t sound like a very confident ‘no.’”
She looked over her shoulder at me as I set my keys in the dish on the counter and my hat on the hook on the wall. “He was in the cafe a few days ago.”
“Ah, so you know of him.”
“Not really.”
“You didn’t speak to him, then?”
She tensed for a split second, but even though it was brief, I didn’t miss it.
“I did.”
I closed the distance so that I was standing directly behind her, her back now lightly pressed to my chest. Reaching a hand up, I brushed the hair away from her neck, then leaned closer to her ear. “Do I have to keep prying things out of you? Because I can.”
“So demanding,” she teased, her voice full of satiny lust that wrapped around my senses, heading south.
“This? This is nothing, Sage.” I brought my lips to her ear, faintly brushing a kiss to the lobe. Goosebumps freckled her neck and I smirked. “What’d you talk about?”
She inhaled deeply, her chest rising with the action, accentuating her breasts in the fitted white tank top she wore. I wanted to clamp down on them, suck on her peaked nipples for hours. I wanted to do a fuck ton of things to her in this moment, but I had no idea what she wanted out of being here. She was the one to ask to come to my house, but that wasn’t an invitation to have sex with her.
“He asked for my last name and if I’d been in town long,” she stated, her voice harder than before.
I stopped, pulling my lips away from her ear. “He did what?”
She turned, our chests now touching. “It wasn’t anything, but then he wanted to buy me a drink at the bar and…” She trailed off.
“And now you don’t think it’s nothing,” I filled in.
She nodded slowly, her eyes shining with worry, though she did her best to mask it. She didn’t have to hide it around me. Whatever her battles were, whatever her insecurities or problems consisted of, I wanted them all. I wouldn’t let her be alone in that beautiful mind of hers.
She went to take a step back, but my arms quickly came around her, holding her to me. “Tell me what’s on your mind.”
She let out a slight scoff. “That’s a lot to ask.”
