Page 34 of Hard To Stay

“Does that mean you like to dance, too? Because there is nothing hotter than an attractive girl in a tight pair of daisy dukes.”

“Are you always this smooth? Ready with a line?” I asked, which only caused him to laugh.

“That depends,” his eyes zeroed in on my cleavage, “Do you always look this good? Because if you do…” His head lifted to mine. “I can be as smooth as a baby’s bottom.” He winked and then took another pull of his drink.

During the time that I prayed for our meals to arrive I noticed that Gage’s favorite topic of conversation was Gage. Over the next 30 minutes I learned about how beautiful he was as a baby, how academically gifted he was as a student, what an incredible athlete he was in college and how worshipped he was by the entire female population. Even when I did manage to squeeze in a question, he seemed to have an answer for everything and quickly turned the topic back to him. It felt like I was dining with Gaston from Beauty and the Beast.

It made me more determined to see if Brad could have been wrong about him because this was almost sad. Was there really more to Gage Garrison, or was it what you see is what you get? The inquisitive part of my brain couldn’t help but wonder what made these two such enemies.

So, I cut into my steak and went for it. “I’ve been meaning to ask you… what’s the deal between you and Brad. Is there a reason why you guys don’t get along?”

Gage’s eyes narrowed while running his thumb along his bottom lip, thinking it over. “Morgan and I have always seemed to find ourselves at odds with one another. We’ve never really gotten along. And lately, it seems like we have our eyes set on the same thing.”

Was he talking about me? His prized calf on the other side of the table? I sure hoped not. Even though I’d agreed to this date, this night wouldn’t go any further than this restaurant. In fact, I’m not sure we would even make it to dessert. I would not be used as a pawn in some childish game. He needed to understand that his efforts tonight were pointless.

“You know that Brad and I are friends, right?”

Gage rested his elbows on the table and leaned in. “Friends, huh?” He smirked, blinking with feigned innocence. “Sure didn’t look that way to me last Friday night.” He replied without missing a beat.

I reached for my water, trying to hide how uncomfortable and angry this conversation was making me. “How it looked seems kind of irrelevant, considering that’s all we are.”

He knitted his brow and leaned back in his chair. “You know that he’s still hung up on his ex, right?”

Like I needed a reminder. “Yes. I’m aware.”

“Good. Then just so we’re clear, I don’t want to be your friend.”

“No?” I asked, “then what do you want from me?”

A cocky smile stretched across his entire face. “I want you to come home with me tonight.”

The only thing bigger than the balls on this guy was his ego. I coughed, spluttering part of my drink out. Picking up the napkin I wiped my chin. “Wow, you don’t beat around the bush at all, do you?”

“I know what I want and when I want something, I don’t play games going after it.”

“You seem pretty sure of yourself.”

“We’re both attracted to each other. That much is obvious or you never would have come out tonight. Why waste any more time? Especially when I know how good we could be together.”

“You mean in bed?” I clarified.

“A bed is a good place to start, yes! Or even the back seat of a car, the kitchen counter. I’m sure we would be good anywhere you could think of.” These were words from a man who was not used to being told no by a woman. Well, there was a first time for everything.

I pushed my plate away, suddenly losing my appetite. I leaned back in my chair and stared at him. “I’m not the girl for you.” I told him honestly.

He tilted his head. “No?” he asked, like he didn’t believe me.

Shaking my head, I replied. “Not if you were the last man on earth, and all the batteries were dead.”

He threw his head back in laughter. He obviously wasn’t taking me seriously. “Oh, beautiful, I love a challenge. You just made me want you even more.”

He could pursue me all he wanted, but this date was over before it even started. He just confirmed that I was nothing but a hill for him to conquer. My conversation with Brad yesterday started running through my head. It was taking every ounce of strength I had to not think about him. It had been less than twenty-four hours since I last saw him. I missed him, terribly.

The rest of our dinner conversation went by without any more mention of Brad, but that didn’t mean he still wasn’t stuck in my head. I passed on dessert and coffee and offered to take a cab back to my apartment. Gage insisted on seeing me home even though I made it clear that he wasn’t welcome inside.

“You smell so good,” he said when I tried to give him a friendly hug goodbye.

The entire trip back to my apartment consisted of me removing his hand whenever he would try to slide it around my shoulders and me pulling away when he would try to whisper a joke in my ear. His weak attempts to change my mind about sleeping with him were an epic fail. He was a determined son of a bitch, I would give him that.

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