But she wasn’t afraid of him, and she didn’t sense a lick of danger coming from him. If anything, his intensity only fueled the attraction.
It might have started out as a desperate need for change, for fun, but spending time with Gage had turned into something more than simply stepping out of her tedious rut. She liked the bold, confident woman she was when he was around, and she wasn’t ready to stop exploring that part of herself yet.
“Sky?” Lacey prompted. “So is he worth it?”
She exhaled in a slow rush. “I guess I’ll find out tonight.”
…
“If I catch one more motherfucker snorting coke in the bathroom, I’m going to lose my shit,” Gage snapped as he stormed into Reed’s office.
Two sets of eyebrows shot up, accompanied by a low curse of amazement from AJ. “Jeez. What the hell is up your ass?”
Gage scowled at his friends and made a beeline for the mini-fridge in the corner of the office. He yanked open the door and grabbed a beer, angrily twisting off the cap.
“And now you’re drinking on the job?” Reed piped up, equally astonished. “Seriously, man. What’s going on?”
“Nothing,” he mumbled.
Everything, a voice corrected.
Fine, not everything. Just one thing. One person.
Skyler.
He hadn’t seen her in a week. One very long, very frustrating week, and the ironic part? It was his doing. He was the one avoiding her calls and texts.
Not that she was flooding his inbox with please-please-call-me requests. Her messages had sounded more concerned than desperate, and Gage knew he was a bona fide ass for ignoring her. But damn it, what else was he supposed to do? He was too jaded and messed up for someone like her. Skyler was sweet and funny and unbelievably good. She practically radiated sunshine.
And he was terrified his darkness would dim all of that incredible light. Or worse, extinguish it completely.
Sometimes he wished he were a different man. An easygoing, worry-free dude who could open up to people, trust them, lean on them, but he wasn’t. He was closed off and prickly and a total bastard at times, and Skyler deserved better than that.
Lord, she made him want to be that man, though. She made him feel things no other woman ever had, and the thought of disappointing her—or worse, hurting her—tore at his insides like a dull razor blade. Better to cut ties now before either one of them got too close.
Only it seemed he’d underestimated the woman’s tenacity.
No sooner had he taken a swig of beer than a knock came on the door, and suddenly Skyler marched into the office unannounced.
Gage’s heart leaped the moment he saw her. She was wearing a red skirt and white tank top, with sneakers on her feet and her brown hair tied back in a ponytail. Lord, she was the cutest goddamn thing he’d ever seen. And great, now he was thinking a woman was cute. Some manly man he was.
“You’re avoiding me,” she announced. When she noticed the grinning faces of Reed and AJ, she glanced over with a cheerful smile. “Hi, I’m Skyler. Nice to meet you.” The smile vanished as she turned back to Gage. “Why are you avoiding me?”
Discomfort rolled around in his stomach. “I’ve been busy.”
“Uh-huh. I’m sure you have.” She narrowed her eyes. “My roommates told me not to bother coming here. They said I should just accept that you’re not into me, and move on. Are they right?”
Reed spoke up before Gage could respond, sounding so delighted by the situation that Gage wanted to slug him. “Oh, he’s definitely into you, honey.”
She looked intrigued. “Is he?”
“Trust me, he is. He’s barely said one word to me about you.”
“I didn’t even know you existed,” AJ piped up, green eyes twinkling.
Her frown swiftly returned. “You two aren’t really painting a picture of a guy who’s interested.”
“With this idiot, that’s exactly what it means.” Reed jerked a thumb at Gage and rolled his eyes. “The less he says, the more interested he is.”
Gage gritted his teeth. “Would you please stop talking about me like I’m not in the room?” He walked over and touched Skyler’s arm. “Let’s go talk somewhere private.”
“Actually, leave the club altogether,” Reed ordered. “Take a walk, see a movie, I don’t care.” His gaze shifted to Skyler. “Just get him out of here.”
“It’s Friday night,” Gage said irritably. “I need to be on the floor.”
“No, you need to be somewhere else. Anywhere else.” Reed sounded just as annoyed. “You’re strung too tight, bro. Snapping at customers, drinking—” He gestured to the beer bottle Gage had forgotten he was holding. “Take the night off, okay? We don’t need a lawsuit on our heads after you snap and rough up the wrong person.”
“We’ll handle it,” AJ said in a firm voice.
The deadly expressions on their faces told him not to argue. Crap. They were right, anyway. He was on edge. And it was only nine o’clock, way too early to already be feeling this way.
Skyler watched him expectantly, a flicker of concern in her eyes. “Gage?”
“Let’s go,” he muttered.
He released her arm, keeping a foot of distance between them as they made their way out of the club and emerged into the same alley where they’d first met.
“I’m sorry for barging in like that,” she said sheepishly.
He nodded. “It’s okay.”
They wandered onto the main street, instantly dodging a group of rowdy young men barreling down the sidewalk. The city’s downtown core was busy as hell on Friday nights, and Gage led Skyler to the edge of the sidewalk so they could avoid the rush of pedestrians. It was dark out, but the streetlamp behind them illuminated Skyler’s face, bringing out the reddish highlights in her chestnut hair.
“I just had to know for sure,” she added.
“Know what?” he said gruffly.
“If this is worth pursuing.” Her hair fell over her shoulder as she slanted her head, and he resisted the urge to stroke the silky brown strands. “Is it?”
He gulped.
Tell her no.
What came out was, “Do you want to catch a movie or something?”
Chapter Seven
Skyler looked downright bewildered by the question, and Gage wasn’t sure he blamed her. He was throwing off a serious case of mixed signals, yet for the life of him, he couldn’t tell her to go. It had been easy to avoid her when all he had in front of him were words in a text message, but when she was standing right in front of him and looking so damn beautiful?
No amount of willpower in the world could force him to walk away.
After several seconds of silence, Skyler smirked at him. “Isn’t that breaking the sex-only rule you enforced?”
“Yes or no,” he said through clenched teeth.
She rolled her eyes. “You are the master of nonanswers, huh?” But she nodded anyway, her expression brightening. “You know what? Let’s do it. I’ve been dying to see that new Stallone movie but nobody has wanted to go with me. My roommates hate action movies, so I always end up seeing them alone.”
She liked action movies? Oh hell. She really was the woman of his dreams.
Skyler checked her phone, an adorable crease forming in her forehead as she scrolled through the listings. “Hey, it starts in thirty minutes. We can totally make it.”
With that, she took off walking, leaving Gage no choice but to trail after her. He couldn’t help but voice the question on his mind. “You don’t mind going to the movies alone? A lot of people are way too embarrassed to do that.”
Her dark ponytail bounced with each step. “Sometimes I prefer it, actually. And it doesn’t embarrass me at all. I don’t mind being alone.”
“Me neither,” he admitted.
“No, I think you prefer it, too.” A thoughtful note crept in. “Were you a loner growing up?”
He shoved his hands in his pockets and shrugged. “Naah, I ran with a group of guys. We got into a shit-ton of trouble together.”
“Did you grow up in Boston?”
“Southie, born and raised. You?”
“North End growing up, and then Beacon Hill when my mom remarried.”
“Huh. I didn’t take you for a rich girl.”
“I’m not. My stepfather is.”
They sidestepped a trio of giggling teenage girls and continued along at a brisk pace. Skyler didn’t seem to mind walking, and he appreciated the hell out of that. Some women would balk at the thought of trekking eight blocks to see a movie, but Gage had a feeling nothing fazed Skyler. Ever.
“So you caused trouble as a kid,” she mused. “And then you got older and chose to make a living by fighting.”
He frowned. “You’re doing a master’s in psychology, huh? What, are you conducting a case study on me or something?”
“Nope. This is for my own private database. I’m trying to make sense of you.”
“Don’t bother. I’m not very complicated. What you see is what you get.”
“No, I don’t think so at all.” She came to a halt in the middle of the sidewalk and placed her hand on his chest. “Tell me the truth—do you like me?”
With those big eyes peering up at him and her soft hand resting between his pecs, he couldn’t do anything but offer a wordless nod.