Sage walked beside the two of them as Becky chatted away, making Spence laugh at some of her stories. Sage was clearly the odd man out and was more than relieved when they stepped outside and Becky took them to her car.
“I’ll stop by tonight,” Spence told her before bending down and giving her a quick kiss on the mouth.
“It was great to meet you, Page,” Becky said, and Sage had no doubt the woman had gotten her name wrong on purpose. She didn’t bother correcting her.
“You too, Becky.”
Sage stepped into the car and soon was traveling away from the ski resort. Tears filled her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. What had begun as a flawless day had not ended the same way.
She really didn’t even know what had just happened. Had Spence been ashamed of her? Did she not stack up to his more worldly friends? Was Becky an ex-girlfriend?
When she got to work and began her shift, the hospital too quiet, Sage had plenty of time to think about their day. She was grateful she hadn’t told him how she’d been feeling, because right now she was thoroughly confused.
When the night went on and Spence didn’t stop by as promised, her mood turned even more sour. Was their euphoric time together already coming to an end? By the time her shift ended and she managed to drag herself home and into bed, she had no answers. She’d just have to wait and see what Spence would do next.
“Move in with me.”
Spence was standing outside her open front door, letting the cold in with her wearing nothing but a nightshirt. Mouth open, Sage stared at him and tried to clear her head. The night before he’d taken off with another woman, hadn’t stopped in to see her, though he’d said he would, and then he just shows up at her door and those are the first words out of his mouth?
“What?” Maybe she’d just heard him wrong. She had to have heard him wrong.
“I said move in with me.”
Sage wanted to throw something at him. She hadn’t slept well even after a long day’s skiing and a longer night shift at the hospital, was less than pleased with him right now, and he was asking her to live with him. They hadn’t even spoken of the future. They hadn’t even said anything about love. Yes, she’d spent a lot of nights at his place over the past couple of weeks, but she also knew she could come back home at any time. She couldn’t just move in with him. Her grandmother would be disappointed in her. She’d be disappointed in herself.
“This is not a wake-up kind of conversation,” she said, her forehead creased with a frown.
He stepped inside her door, shut it, and then wrapped his arms around her and nuzzled her neck. “You’re never very talkative when you wake up, are you?” He was acting as if everything was perfectly all right. Maybe in his mind it was.
“No,” was all she replied. She was busy trying to gather her thoughts, to figure out what she wanted to say. She pulled away and tugged her fingers through the tangled mess that was her hair.
“Are you hungry, Sage?” he asked, gripping her hand as he moved toward the couch and sat, pulling her into his lap. As he continued nuzzling her neck, she wanted to forget the unpleasantness of the entire day before and just fall into the lovemaking part of their relationship. When his hand climbed up her thigh, and then a finger found her heat, she did forget—she forgot about everything but wanting him.
It was another hour before Sage was able to speak again. If only she could forget her concerns, forget her worries. Then there would be no arguments, no decisions, no heartbreak. She suspected she was in for some real heartbreak with Spence.
“I hope you’re feeling less . . . feisty now,” Spence said as she leaned against him, her breathing still a bit erratic.
“Really? I thought you liked me feisty,” she said, struggling just enough on his lap to feel his arousal beginning to rise again.
“Mmm. Scratch that. You’re right, I do like you feisty.”
“I’m always right—I’m a woman.”
“Are you going to answer my question? We’re together practically every minute, so it wouldn’t be difficult for you to move in. It would be just a matter of shifting a few boxes to my place.”
Taking a deep breath, she pushed away from him. “I need to get up.”
“Not yet, darling. I’m ready for round two.”
Somehow she managed to pull away and then walked to the bathroom, where she stared at herself in the mirror for several moments before turning on the water and cupping it in her hands, splashing the coolness against her face.
After becoming more herself, she climbed into the shower and hoped the pulsing spray would clear the cobwebs from her brain. When that didn’t help, she stood in front of the mirror again, taking her time combing her hair. She still didn’t know exactly what she was going to say to him when she came out, but she felt a little more prepared now that she’d had a few minutes alone.
Walking out into the kitchen, she thanked him when he handed her a hot cup of coffee. And then she sat at the table, still unsure what to say. Why did everything have to seem so uncomfortable when, just twenty-four hours earlier, it had been perfect?
“I love the smell of your shampoo,” he said, leaning down and kissing her before sitting down.
“I love that you love it,” she replied with her first smile since he’d shown up at her door.
“That’s much better. I love your smile, Sage, love how it brightens your face.” Spence leaned back and assessed her mood. “I’ve scared you, haven’t I? I’m moving too fast.”