Sage laughed at her friend’s dramatics. “I’m getting there.” She undid the ribbon that held the box closed. Inside, under a lot of tissue paper, was a small wall mirror with words engraved on the bottom of the frame, right below the mirror proper. She lifted it and was surprised by how much it weighed.
“Wow. I think that’s a real silver frame, Sage.”
“You may be right,” Sage replied, and examined the mirror closely.
“What does it say?” Grace was obviously growing impatient.
Her eyes filled as she looked up at her friend. “Believe,” she whispered, and smiled.
“Oh,” Grace said with a wobble in her voice. “I swear, if you don’t marry this man, I will fight you for him.” Grace leaned over and snagged the mirror. She looked at her image and smacked her lips in a pretend kiss.
“Don’t you think this is all moving so fast, though, Grace?” Sage asked as she flopped back against her pillows.
“You’ve spent enough time with him to know whether you love him or not. He’s the most creative, romantic guy I’ve ever heard of, he gets you gifts all the time, jets you off to another city for a date, takes you to meet the family, and, if I may hazard an educated guess, makes love like a god. So what’s the problem in it moving fast?”
Leave it to Grace to make everything so very black-and-white.
“The problem is that he’s too perfect. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop and for the horns to sprout.”
“Ah, honey, don’t think that way. This isn’t really a fairy tale. No dragon is going to attack, no poisoned apple is going to be placed in our kitchen, and no needles will put you to sleep. Don’t be afraid of holding on to something that you already have. Don’t fight it; just enjoy every moment of being together.”
“I had a wonderful time on our last date,” Sage said.
“I want to hear every single, sordid detail. I can’t believe my meeting ran so late last night. I was planning on making popcorn and holding you hostage until you spilled all,” Grace said. “But we have time now, and that hostage thing is coming into play if you’re not careful.”
Sage spent the next hour telling her all about their trip. “He was amazing. The sex was beyond anything I could have ever imagined. I mean, I’m a doctor, so I knew it would feel good. I know there are certain chemicals in the brain that fire off when your body gets excited. But I had no idea it would be so . . . so . . . just so.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, Sage. Sex can really suck. Trust me, I know. If you aren’t with a man who knows how to light you on fire, it’s nothing, meaningless, and you’re left feeling empty. Granted, it seems good sometimes. But it’s not ultimately about what your body can do. It’s about what your soul wants, what your heart is feeling—what you need most.”
“Well, I don’t have previous experience as a point of comparison, but I know I wouldn’t mind doing that—with Spence, anyway—every single day for the next millennium.”
Her body was still sore, but the soreness wasn’t such a bad thing. Though she ached in places she’d never imagined aching, still, whenever she moved, it sent a naughty image straight to her brain, which in turn, heated her core and readied her for another hot night with her lover.
“Do you work tonight?”
“Yes. In a few hours, actually.” Sage reluctantly threw off the covers and finally left the warmth of her bed.
“Is Dr. Hottie working with you?”
“Yes, I believe Spence is on the schedule.” Sage grinned as she gathered her clothes and started making her way to their small bathroom. A shower would have her revved up to go.
Grace followed her. “Then totally shock him. Drag him into an on-call room and rock his world,” she said, making Sage stop in her tracks.
“I couldn’t do that.”
“Why not? You have a pager, right? If any emergencies arise, the two of you can throw on your scrubs and be out there in seconds. It would certainly interrupt the mood, and if you haven’t . . . you know . . . then he might go out there sporting some major wood. But, you might not be interrupted, and then you’ll be so much more relaxed for the rest of the night. Besides, wouldn’t the shock on his face be worth it? He won’t know what to do with such a shameless hussy.” Grace guffawed at the redness in Sage’s cheeks. Little did Grace know that Spence had already suggested such a thing.
“I’ll think about it,” Sage said, now unable to rid her mind of the image of getting horizontal with Spence on a small on-call bed.
“Don’t think about it. That’s really the problem here, Sage. You’re thinking too much. Just feel. Go with what your body wants and quit worrying or computing or analyzing or whatever else it is you do with that superhuman brain of yours.”
Sage opened the bathroom door and looked back at Grace. “I need to shower,” she said.
“Yeah, rub extra lotion in all the right places so you’ll smell extra good for the doctor.”
Sage could hear Grace’s laughter even after shutting the door and turning on the shower tap. She couldn’t get sex off her mind, and that was definitely not good. Walking into the hospital was going to be a feat, because the minute she saw Spence, she’d want to rip off his scrubs and do dirty things to him. Sex muddied things up, made a person think of nothing else. What if she was confusing sex and love? Well, she’d probably find out soon.
A hot cup of coffee and more sleep was all Sage could think about. Her trip three days ago had been wonderful, but she certainly hadn’t slept much, and now being on her feet for endless hours was making her think that maybe she should have forgone the trip and stayed in bed.