Gabe shook his head, smiling. “No. He probably hasn’t even noticed. I understand he usually takes a nap around now.” He pushed the button to start the elevator moving again after picking up her jacket and handing it to her.
“I didn’t think I would see you today,” he said softly, looking at her while zipping up his pants. “But I’m glad I did.”
Sage smiled, wondering what there was about Gabriel Blackwell that made her go ditzy. “I’m glad I did, too. That was really an exhilarating experience.”
Chuckling, he nodded. “Yeah, I think so myself.”
Sage smiled. “One thing is for certain.”
Gabe lifted a brow. “And what’s that?”
“I’m sleeping good tonight.”
Gabe couldn’t help but laugh. When the elevator came to a stop, he pulled her into his arms. “So am I, baby, so am I.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
“I really enjoyed church service,” Rose said, kicking off her high-heel shoes. “And it was nice seeing Gabe Blackwell again.”
Sage crossed the room to hang up her jacket in the closet. “Yes, and I think he enjoyed the services, too. I should have invited him long before now but never thought to do so. I liked him being there.” She thought there had been something special about standing next to him sharing a hymnbook and sitting next to him in church holding hands while the pastor had delivered the message.
“I can’t believe how fast Eden is getting built,” Rose said, interrupting her thoughts. “They’ll be finished with it in no time.”
Sage’s heart sank at that thought. The beginning of Eden meant the end of her relationship with Gabe. She would remain in Anchorage for three to four months after that, but she knew that he would be moving on. There were other projects his company had lined up, including that job in England. “Yes, it seems that way, doesn’t it?” She had taken Rose to the job site directly after church. “It will be a beautiful resort once it’s completed.”
Rose nodded as she flopped down on the sofa. “And what’s with Parnell Cabot? He seemed a lot friendlier when we first met over eight months ago.”
Remembering what Gabe had shared with her about the man, Sage said, “It seems that things aren’t working out with the lady who’s keeping his kids, and he’s going to have to let her go. And since he hasn’t come up with another sitter, there’s a chance that he’s going to have to take the girls back to Detroit to his mother.” Sage sighed. “According to Gabe, he really wanted the girls here with him.”
“Did he try putting an ad in the papers?”
“Yes, that’s how he got this woman, so he’s skeptical about doing it again. His first sitter came highly recommended, but this one has issues with keeping his house clean,” Sage said as she grabbed a magazine off the table.
Rose shook her head. “That’s a shame. I’m sure he has enough on his mind without having to worry about his girls. And they’re cute as buttons.” She had seen them with their father at church. They had looked pretty, dressed in identical dresses with little matching bonnets on their heads.
Sage looked curiously at Rose. “You know, you’ve been complaining about being bored around here every day.”
Rose raised a brow as Sage sat in the chair across from her. “So, what of it?”
“I was just thinking that it would give you something to do every day.”
Rose eyed Sage warily. “What will give me something to do?”
“If you were to watch the girls for Parnell.” Sage smiled. “You certainly seem to get a kick out of watching their father.”
Rose shrugged. “Well, that can’t be helped since he’s so darn good-looking. But like I’ve told you, I don’t do men with kids.”
Sage chuckled. “Yeah, and like you’ve told me lately, you aren’t doing men period, so what’s the problem? What are you afraid of ?”
It was a long time before Rose spoke. “Attachment. I never told you this, but I once dated a divorced guy who had a two-year-old son. While Mark and I dated, Little Mark became the world to me, and I think a part of me always figured that one day I’d be his stepmother. It was only later that I found out that while I was at Mark’s house taking care of his son, he was seeing other women. When I confronted him about it, he told me I was getting too possessive and broke things off. Ending things with him wasn’t so bad, but losing Little Mark is what really tore me apart,” she said sadly. “I often wonder if he remembers me. He’d be around twelve years old now.”
Sage crossed the room and sat down next to Rose on the sofa. “Hey, I’m sorry. Had I known, I would not have suggested it.”
Rose shook her head. “No, that’s okay, and like you said, you didn’t know.” Moments later, she stood, sighing deeply. “What time is Gabe coming to take us to his place for dinner?”
Sage glanced down at her watch. “He said he’d be here around four.”
Rose nodded, smiling. That gives me at least an hour to take a nap. I’ll see you later, girl.”
Sage watched as Rose quickly left and headed toward the guest room. She was sorry that Rose had had a past filled with men who just hadn’t wanted to do right. She hoped that Rose’s future was a lot better.
She then thought about her own future. She would continue to take one day at a time with Gabe, enjoying everything he offered. And when the time came for them to go their separate ways, she would learn how to deal with it and have no regrets.
Gabe raised his eyes to the ceiling. “Yes, Mom, everything is fine. And yes, I’ll be coming home for Grandma and Grandpa’s anniversary party. And no, I don’t need you to find me a girl to take. All right, Mom, I love you, too. Now may I please talk to Chris?”
Gabe ran a hand down his face when Christopher got back on the line. “Hey, man, I thought you agreed to keep Mama busy so she could stay out of my business.”
After a few moments, he said, “Well, maybe you and Maxi should adopt a baby or something.” He knew that due to a medical condition, Maxi couldn’t have any more kids, and they had talked about adopting. “Christopher Max needs a sister.”
Gabe smiled. “I don’t care if he’s a handful; that’s beside the point. Joella Blackwell needs something to do. If she wouldn’t drive me batty, I’d send for her to come and watch Parnell’s girls, but I’m not a glutton for that much punishment.”
Gabe chuckled at Chris’s reply. “Well, do something about her. I’m counting on you. Goodbye,” he said, quickly ending the conversation before his best friend could back down.
He stood and walked across the room and looked out of the window. His mother was determined that he not come to his grandparents’ anniversary party alone, and he didn’t plan to. He intended to ask Sage to go to Detroit with him, and he hoped she’d agree to do so.
“I talked to Parnell Cabot today,” Rose said as she dried the last dish Sage had washed.
Sage raised a brow and turned around at the sink. “Really? When?”
“Around lunchtime. I went out to the job site to see how things were coming along.”
Sage nodded and wondered if that was the only reason Rose had gone out to the job site, but decided to just listen and let her do all the talking. “And?”
“And he was there,” Rose said, placing the dish in the cabinet. She turned back around to Sage. “I told him that I had decided to hang around longer than I originally planned, and since I wasn’t doing anything during the day, I could watch the girls for him.”
Sage raised arched brows, surprised. “What made you decide to do that?”
Rose shrugged. “I just couldn’t see him sending his girls away. He loves them so much, and he’d be miserable the entire time without them.”
Sage nodded, knowing that was true, but still, that didn’t explain why Rose had offered her services, especially after what she’d shared with Sage a week ago.
“And besides, like you said the other day, it’s not like I have a lot to do around here every day while you’re at work. I may as well put my tim
e to good use.”
Sage smiled. “I’m glad you’re doing it, and it will work out perfectly.”
“I think so, too, although he did tick me off today and almost made me withdraw my offer.”
Sage lifted a brow. “Really? What did he do?”
Rose’s face took on an irritated expression. “He asked me for references, which made me feel like he thought I had a criminal record or something.”
Sage laughed. “Oh, Rose, he didn’t mean it that way, and you know it. You can’t blame parents for being cautious these days, you know. And he probably wanted to make sure you were up for the job. I can imagine that two four-year-olds can be a handful.”
“Well, I’ll be able to handle them. I used to earn money baby-sitting as a teenager.”
Sage smiled. “Then, I’m sure you’ll have everything under control.”
Rose placed the dish towel on the rack. “I’m going to start in a few days. I’ll go to his house every morning before he leaves for work at six and stay until he gets home which is usually around five. Since it seems the snow days are officially over—thank goodness—I won’t have to worry about that.”
Sage shook her head, smiling. “Seems like you and Parnell have come up with a workable plan.”
“Yes, but it’ll only be for three weeks until that lady comes back.”
Sage studied Rose intently for a moment. “Why are you so uptight about it?”
Rose shrugged. “I’m not. I’ll do fine, but I plan to stay detached.”
Sage wondered how Rose would manage to remain detached from a good-looking, single man who had beautiful twin daughters. But she decided not to ask Rose that. “Do whatever you think you have to do, Rose.”
The house was completely dark, and the candles were lit. The scent of vanilla filled the room. It was pamper-yourself night, and everything was the same except the place. Gabe had convinced Sage to hold her weekly ritual at his place instead of hers, and she had readily agreed.
He lay propped up against the pillows in his bedroom with his gaze occasionally straying to the connecting bathroom door. Sage had been in there for almost an hour already. Soft music, the sound of Miles Davis, floated through the room, and he thought a few times he actually heard her humming.
He smiled. Just like his body was humming in anticipation of tonight. It had been almost two weeks since they had made love. That quickie in the elevator a week ago didn’t count. It had been that long since they had shared a bed, and he was antsy, hot with readiness. He had missed her and was glad she had agreed to spend the night.
“Gabe?”
He glanced up, and she was there in the doorway, a beautiful vision dressed in the sexiest nightgown he had ever seen. His breath caught. His pulse rate increased. The candlelight hit her at an angle that made her seem too stunning to be real. But he knew that she was real. She had planted herself so deeply in his heart, there was no way he would ever be able to get her out of there, even if he tried.
He sat up in bed. “Come here, baby.”
She seemed to float over to him and crawled into bed next to him. Her scent of vanilla made his nostrils flare with desire. She eased under the covers and snuggled close to the warmth of his body.
“I missed this,” she said softly. “This closeness, the need for you to hold me in your arms while I sleep.”
Gabe glanced down at her, smiling. “You don’t have sleep on your mind, do you?”
She shook her head, grinning. “No, sleep is the furthest thing from my mind.”
“It’s the furthest thing from my mind, too,” he said huskily, lifting her atop him and wrapping his arms around her tightly. “Do you feel like riding?”
She leaned down and met his lips, licking them from corner to corner. “I was hoping you’d ask.”
Later that night the ringing of the telephone woke them up. Although Sage was fully aware of it, she remained nestled in Gabe’s arms while he shifted his body to reach over and answer it.
“Yes?”
After a long pause, he said, “Okay, I’ll tell her.”
Sage sat up in bed after hearing the conversation. “You’ll tell me what?”
Gabe ran a hand down his face to wipe the sleep from his eyes. He then reached over and turned on the lamp, bringing brightness to the room, trying not to concentrate on Sage’s naked body.
“That was Rose. Your father just called, upset. He’s at the hospital. Your mother became ill during the night, and he had to rush her to the emergency room.”
Sage was out of bed in a flash. “Did Rose leave a number where I can reach him?”
Gabe nodded as he also got out of bed. “Yes. She said for you to call him on his cell phone.”
She nodded and immediately rushed to the phone and began dialing. Gabe went into the bathroom, and when he returned moments later, he could tell by the redness of Sage’s eyes that she’d been crying. He quickly crossed the room and pulled her into his arms. “What is it, baby? What’s wrong with your mother?”
Sage wiped tears from her eyes. “I don’t know, and Dad says the people at the hospital aren’t telling him anything. I can’t get much out of him, Gabe. He’s literally falling to pieces. I need to be there.”
He nodded in agreement. “Do you want me to make flight arrangements?”
She smiled her appreciation, glad he was here with her. “Oh, would you? I can’t seem to think straight right now.”
He nodded as he began putting on his pants. “Get your things together and I’ll take you home.”
“That’s not necessary, Gabe. I have my car here, remember?”
He smiled as he zipped up his pants and watched her slip into her bra and panties. “You won’t be able to drive all the way to North Carolina, Sage.”
At her bemused look, he said, “When I said that I’d take you home, I was talking about taking you home to Charlotte. I have my pilot’s license, and it shouldn’t be a problem to get a plane tonight and fly you home.”
Sage stopped what she was doing. “You’d actually take time off work to fly me home?”
He reached for his sweater and pulled it over his head, then said, “Of course I would.”
She turned to face him. “Why? Why would you go to all that trouble for me?”
Gabe shook his head. He didn’t want to believe she could ask that after what they’d shared over the past months. And he’d felt the same uncertainty coming from her when he’d asked her about accompanying him to Detroit for his grandparents’ anniversary party next week. She never had said one way or the other if she would attend with him.
Deciding it was time to get a few things straight, he crossed the room to her. “Do you really want to know the real reason that I would go to all that trouble for you, Sage?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
He reached out and touched her shoulders, to make sure he had her full attention. “Because you mean a lot to me, Sage. In fact, you mean everything to me. I love you.”
He watched her blink. Then, when she had fully comprehended what he’d said, she turned around and continued dressing. “No, you don’t.”
“Excuse me?”
She turned around to face him. “I said that you don’t love me. You love what we share, but that doesn’t connect to me as an individual.”
Gabe crossed his arms over his chest. “So you think I made love to a nameless, faceless body all those times?”
“No, of course not, Gabe. It’s just that you can’t love me.”
“Can I ask why?”
Sage sighed, as though the question was too annoying to answer. “Because you can’t. We haven’t reached that level yet, and I never intended for us to. I’ve loved one man in my lifetime and look what happened. And then, after what my father did, how do you expect me to believe in love?”
Gabe was beginning to feel frustrated and angry. “I expected you to believe in it because I’ve not given you a reason not to during the time we’ve been together. Do you think I was making
love to you for the fun of it? Each time we made love, Sage, for me it was for love. The only reason I hadn’t told you how I felt before now was because I wanted to give you time to get yourself together after Erol.”
She whirled on him then, giving him a sharp look. “To get myself together?”
“Yes.”
She exhaled angrily. “Why is it that everyone thinks I didn’t have myself together after I broke up with Erol? I didn’t need any pining time. He betrayed my trust, and that was reason enough to walk away and not moan over it. So you’ve wasted your time with me if it was intended to get the heartbroken Sage through a difficult time.”
“I didn’t say that, and please don’t put words in my mouth, Sage.”
“Well, I don’t want to have this conversation, Gabe. I just got out of an involved relationship and don’t want to get into another one. I figured when your company was through here that that would be the end of it.”
“Of us?”
“Yes.”
“Well, you were wrong; we belong together.”
“No, Gabe, you’re wrong; we don’t belong together. You were also wrong for putting more stock into our relationship than what was there. We should have talked about it. I would have saved you the trouble. I don’t want or need love in my life.”
After saying those words, she grabbed her overnight bag off the bed and left, slamming the door behind her.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
“Let me make sure I got this right. Gabe told you that he was in love with you, so you gave him hell?” Rose asked as she assisted Sage with her packing.
Sage raised her eyes to the ceiling as she folded a nightgown to put inside the luggage that was spread open on her bed. “I did not give him hell, Rose. I merely tried explaining why I thought he was wrong.”
“For loving you?”
Sage frowned. “No, for thinking he loves me.”
Rose strolled over to the bed and sat down. “Oh, so now he’s not old enough to know his own heart, is that it? Just how old is he anyway? Thirty? Thirty-one?”
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