Tough To Love

by Rochelle, Marie

  Chapter Seventeen

  It took everything within him not to prove to Sage how wrong she was. If she wanted all of those things, he could give them to her in abundance. Just the image of her being in love with another man set him off. Also, the thought of her having children with Julian didn’t sit well at all. He didn’t want her walking around pregnant by anyone but him.

  If you feel that way you better find a way to make it happen, his mind taunted. This new Sage needs more than words of love from you. She’s a beautiful, healthy woman and she’s ready to start a family with or without you.

  “How do you know that Julian even wants children? He doesn’t seem like the daddy type.”

  “We’ve talked about it.,” Sage answered. “People who are dating usually talk about stuff like that. Didn’t you bring up having children with Vanity?”

  How could he have let this situation get this far?

  Too much was heaping on him all at once. Sage showed no signs of wanting to start a future with him. He was having problems with several clients at work because of the man he hired to replace her. Plus, Shawn was threatening to break ties with him if he didn’t do more to prove his love for Sage.

  What if he gave Sage everything she desired: the ring, a warm, loving home, and the house full of children? Could he drop his expectations of fulfilling the family bloodline and just accept his love for Sage?

  She loved so unconditionally and with everything she had in her. She told him all the time she was so proud of his accomplishments. When it came down to it, he just loved being around her.

  “The subject of having children has never come up,” he answered honestly. If it was left up to Vanity, the conversation never would, but it didn’t matter to him anymore since she wasn’t his woman anymore.

  “Really?” One of Sage’s eyebrows raised a fraction. “I find that surprising, especially since you’re marrying her solely for that purpose.”

  “Vanity is out of my life, so I’m done talking about her,” Rally exclaimed. “I would rather talk about us. Do you know I saw Julian the other day? He was having lunch with someone. It took everything in me not to demand he stay away from you.”

  Sage’s mouth fell open. “Rally, you have no right to confront Julian about anything.”

  Unbelievable, Rally thought, shoving his hands into his slacks. “How can you tell me that when you constantly gave me advice about Vanity?” he asked. “I’m only doing the same thing, sweetheart.”

  “She was bad for you. I’m glad you dumped her skinny ass.”

  “Julian is bad for you. He doesn’t want or love you the way I do. Dump him and let me prove how much I care about you.”

  “I can’t believe you are being so hard on Julian. All of us used to be so close to each other. Now I can’t mention either one of you to the other without one of you getting upset.” She sighed.

  Rally saw he wasn’t getting anywhere like this, so he decided to go a different way. He had something with Sage that Julian didn’t…memories. He would use their past to make her see she was staying with the wrong man.

  “Do you remember the time I truly kissed you?” he asked, rubbing his hands up and down her bare arms. Shit, he did.

  “No,” she whispered, staring into his eyes.

  “Liar,” Rally said. “You damn well know what happened, but since you’re acting forgetful, I’ll refresh your memory.

  “I was lying in bed, hard and horny after having a very erotic dream about you. You came busting through the door wearing a short white nightgown that barely covered those beautiful breasts. You jumped on my bed, totally clueless to my state of arousal. You asked me was I ready to go downstairs and have my birthday breakfast.

  “While you were talking I was trying to keep my mind on other things but how good your breasts looked.”

  His body grew even harder when Sage flattened her hands against his chest. “You need to stop.”

  “Why?” he asked, lifting her smooth hand off his shirt. He quickly unbuttoned it and slipped it on the inside against his heated skin. “Does the memory of what we did still make you hot?”

  “Yes,” she moaned, running her hand over his skin. “I still think about it.”

  His cock stirred and swelled against the front of his slacks. “Which part? Tell me.”

  Shaking her head, Sage rested her hand above his pounding heart. She didn’t answer him which meant he would have to do it.

  “I asked you for a birthday kiss and you started to kiss me on the cheek until I moved my head. I knew the second your soft mouth touched mine I was in trouble. You tasted so sweet and fresh like spring water. I was addicted and wanted more.”

  “That was my first French kiss,” Sage admitted, staring into his eyes. “I thought I would go crazy with the way your tongue moved in my mouth. It was driving my body crazy.”

  Mixed feelings surfed through him at Sage’s confession. Maybe he was the one that encouraged her attraction to him with that exploratory kiss, but he couldn’t help it. She was turning into such a gorgeous woman and he only wanted a little sample.

  With that one innocent kiss, he had found everything he wanted in a woman. He shouldn’t have kissed her in the first place, and that’s why two weeks later he started dating Vanity. He had to put some distance between them or he would have done more than kiss her the next time she touched him.

  “I think that was the changing point in our relationship,” Sage told him, removing her hand from his shirt.

  “In what way?” he asked, taking a step back. He couldn’t be that close to her and keep a clear mind.

  “I started to fall deeper in love with you, and you started resenting me because of it.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  The air in the room changed drastically after Sage’s statement. The truth hung in the air between them and he hated it. He had started to resent her, but not for the reasons she believed.

  Back then, he had been more than a little jealous that Sage went after what she wanted with both hands. The second she realized she loved him, he didn’t doubt that Sage never second guessed it.

  He knew that he controlled his emotions way too much, but he wasn’t a live-by-the-seat-of-his-pants kind of person. However, he could learn how to be that way with help from Sage. All she had to do was reinvest her time into him by falling back in love with him.

  “Are we finished here?” Sage muttered, massaging her temple, “because if we are I need to get back to work.” She dropped her hand and moved away from him.

  As Sage turned to leave, Rally raked his mind for a way to stop her. He was lonely living out here now all by himself. He missed the companionship she gave him. She filled that part of his soul that was hollow.

  It was the times he would come home and Sage would be waiting up for him, or the smell of something good baking in the oven hitting him as soon as he opened the door. In some ways, she was more of his girlfriend than Vanity.

  Since she had moved out, he hated coming home to a big empty house. He didn’t know how much he loved being in a routine with her until it was snatched from him. He was about to give up until an idea came to him.

  “Will you help me plan the annual office party this year?” He loved the time he spent with Sage getting everything set up with the caterers and entertainment.

  “Do you think it would be a good idea? I don’t work for you anymore. I can give the information on who I used in the past to the new guy. I’m sure he’ll be able to handle it,” Sage replied.

  “No! I don’t want him involved in this. It was always our time together and I want it to stay that way.”

  “What if Julian will need my help?” Sage hedged, obviously trying to find a way not to do this. “I’m sure Julian will have enough going on with Serenity to keep him busy while you help me do this.” Rally’s heart pounded and he slowed his breathing to calm himself.

  “The office party is in a few weeks. I can’t believe you haven’t started getting ready for it yet. D
o you think we will have enough time to get everything done?” she asked. Rally’s office parties were legendary. If this one failed it would be talked about for years.

  “That’s why I’m almost begging you to help me out here.”

  “Well, Julian hasn’t mentioned needing my help with anything, so I guess I’m all yours.”

  Oh, you’re mine in more ways than you ever imagined, Rally thought.

  He was dying for Sage to agree to this. It might be his last opportunity to get close to her again. He had to get her away from Julian to make her see what she felt for him was still there.

  “Wonderful, when do you think you can be back here? We need to get started on a list. I want to do some things differently than last year.”

  The more time he could get Sage to spend with him, the less she would be around Julian and his charm. Julian was way ahead of him in the department of Sage’s feelings, so he had a lot of catching up to do.

  He waited patiently while Sage pondered his question before she finally answered. “I can’t come back until Friday. Tomorrow I’m having dinner with Julian and his family, and then Thursday we’re going to work late going over the budget for Serenity.”

  Fuck!

  He didn’t want to ask, but he had to. “You’re having dinner with Julian’s family?” He was worried he might be too late at winning Sage back. “What’s the special occasion?”

  Sage shrugged one shoulder. “He wanted me to meet his family. Honestly, I can’t wait. He’s always talking about his crazy siblings,” she replied with a grin. “I think they’ll be a lot like Shawn.”

  How did his relationship get so ruined with Sage?

  “Julian’s brothers aren’t like Shawn. They’re very flirtatious around a beautiful woman. How about you skip Julian’s family gathering? I can cater a small dinner for you, Shawn, and myself.”

  More than anything in the world, he wanted her to say yes. He missed seeing her gorgeous face across the dinner table.

  “No, I can’t do that. I already have plans and I’m not going to cancel them,” she told him.

  “I’m telling you not to go,” Rally snapped.

  “Don’t yell at me.”

  “I’m sorry,” he apologized, but he just had a bad feeling this dinner would take Sage further away from him. “I didn’t mean to snap at you.”

  “Rally, you know Julian is a part of my life now. I enjoy being around him. He makes me laugh. I feel so relaxed and comfortable around him.”

  Laughter is all that his ex-best friend gave her. What about passion? What about the things that made a woman fall in love with a man?

  “Are you in love with him?” He moved closer and ran the pads of his fingers over the side of her smooth face.

  “You know that I’m not and so does Julian, but it doesn’t matter to him. He cares about me and it feels wonderful,” she answered, removing his hand from her face. “Now, I can see myself falling in love with him. The recipe for it is all there. All I’ve got to do is open my heart a little more to the idea.”

  “How can you say that it feels wonderful? You aren’t in love with him. You love me.” He wasn’t going to stand for Sage living in this dream world. “Baby, I told you that I loved you at his charity event and I’ll keep doing it until you believe me. If you want me to take you out to romantic dinners, send you gifts, or cuddle with you on the couch, I will do all of those things and more. Just please don’t use Julian as a pawn to get back at me. I won’t be able to take it much longer.”

  “Rally, I want you to listen to me. I need more and you know what it is. I want an adoring husband who will look at me with love each and every morning. You aren’t going to put a ring on my finger. So, now I’m going for a man who will. It doesn’t matter how much you love me. I do believe you love me in your own way, but sometimes love isn’t enough.”

  Standing on her tiptoes, Sage brushed a soft kiss across his mouth. “I’ll see you later.”

  Moving back, she stared at him for a few seconds without saying a word, and he wondered what was going on in that beautiful head of hers. It was so hard to read her now.

  “Can you stay and talk a little more?” Rally wanted to make her understand what marriage meant to him. He couldn’t commit to it unless he was sure it was going to be forever.

  “No, I’ve got to go.” Sage gave him a small wave and then hurried from the room before he could find a way to stop her.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “Are you having a good time?” Julian asked, handing her a glass of red wine. “I think my family was shocked when I told them I was bringing a date with me to dinner.”

  Taking the glass from Julian, she set it down on the table. “Without a doubt, your parents were more shocked than your brothers. Could you tell that your brothers already had ideas about me?”

  “I might have mentioned you to them a few times. I couldn’t help it. They knew about the crush I had on you for years,” Julian said.

  “You had a crush on me?” Sage gasped, staring at him. “I never knew that.”

  “Of course not,” he said. ”How could you? You were in love with Rally. Honestly, I believe that you still are.”

  Sage opened her mouth to deny it, but couldn’t. What was wrong with her? Julian was the perfect man for her. Why was she still hung up on someone who wanted to play cat and mouse games?

  “Julian, I’m sorry,” she apologized. “I shouldn’t have led you on like this. But it doesn’t matter how I feel. Rally isn’t ever going to give me what I want from him. He’s scared of marrying me, so it will never happen. As much as it hurts me, I have to move on with my life.”

  “Are you sure about that?”

  Julian’s question came to her while she was watching his family interact around the grill. They were laughing and teasing each other about who was burning the meat. The night air was cool, but not chilly. It felt good to be in a family setting again.

  His family made her want one of her own even more. She was tired of living on dreams.

  “Yes, I’m positive.” she replied, finally answering Julian’s question.

  “See, I think you’re wrong. I saw you and Rally out on the patio the night of the party. He looked at you like you were his entire world. Don’t you think you should give him a chance to prove he has changed?”

  “Do you how many years I stood in the shadows and watched Rally date woman after woman while my heart broke?” she asked. “He never showed any interest in me until I stopped with him. So, what if all of his sudden attention is coming from a bruised ego and nothing more?”

  “I believe you’re wrong. I hate telling you this because I think you should be with me, but you should think about giving Rally a chance.”

  If someone told her to write down twenty things that would happen to her tonight, Julian pleading Rally’s case wouldn’t have landed on the list. Sage felt like the wind had gotten knocked out of her.

  What was she going to do?

  “Julian…”

  “Please don’t interrupt me. Rally doesn’t show a lot of emotions, but he does anytime you’re in the room with me. You may not see it, but I do. He’s trying his best to make up for the Vanity situation. Let him do it.”

  Leaning forward, she grabbed Julian’s hand. “You make me feel special and cared for. All Rally does is tell me what I can and can’t do.”

  He brought the back of her hand to his mouth and ran his lips across her knuckles. “I bet most of it is how he’s the better man and you should be with him instead of me?” he asked.

  She was feeling guilty for the first time since she started ‘dating’ Julian. He was too good of a man for her to treat like this. She didn’t love him, but she was fond of him.

  “I should have never involved you in my battle with Rally, it wasn’t fair.”

  Julian grinned at her and it lit up his entire face. “Honestly, I’ve loved seeing my cocky friend knocked down a few notches. He needed this to happen. He shouldn’t think everythi
ng will go his way because he demands it. It was good for him. However, if you aren’t ready to tell him you still love him just yet, I will be your anchor for a little while longer. Besides, it gives me the chance to show off a pretty woman to my family.”

  Chapter Twenty

  “What time are you coming over to the house tonight? I can fix us something to eat. How about chicken and pasta? I’ve got a lot of ideas down for the party.”

  Sage stole a quick glance at Rally standing next to her, looking eye-catching in a crisp white shirt and dark blue slacks.

  “Give me a minute,” she said, and then finished handing out the lunches to the kids at the table before removing her apron. “Follow me and we can talk somewhere else.”

  Placing the apron on the hook by the door, she went out with Rally at her heels. She kept walking until she got into the small office at the end of the hallway. Going inside, she turned on the lights and waited while Rally closed the door behind them.

  “Why are we meeting in here?”

  “I was hoping we could have some privacy while we talked. It can get so loud out there sometimes when all of the kids are here. I wanted to run a few things past you about the party.”

  Rally took a step towards her. Reaching out, he ran his fingers down the side of her face. “Do you know how pretty you look today?” he asked.

  “Thank you, but I didn’t come in here to get compliments.”

  “Sage, I know you didn’t, but I haven’t given you enough. So, I think it’s about time I started,” Rally said. “I’ve something for you.” Reaching inside of his pocket, he pulled out a small black box.

  Her eyes darted down to the box then back up to his eyes. “What is this for?” she asked.

  “I never gave you a proper graduation present, so I’m doing it now. I hope you like it.” Rally placed the gift in her hand and took a step back. “Open it.”

  She could barely contain her excitement as she flipped open the box. Sage gasped as her eyes landed on a diamond Hello Kitty necklace on the inside with a matching bracelet. She had mentioned how much she loved this to Rally weeks before her graduation, but she never expected him to give it to her.