Page 53 of Pick Me
“Mmmhmm. Grab them tight,” I expounded. “Put my hands all over them. Lick them. Bite them. Make them mine.”
Gage’s mouth formed a silent O of surprise like he couldn’t think of a damn thing to say.
My friends didn’t have that problem.
“Uh. Okay, weirdo.” Curt snorted.
“Shut up and have some sympathy, bitch.” Rod slapped Curt’s arm lightly. “Knox is clearly doing low carb. Been there, done that. Don’t worry, Knox. The bread cravings go away, and you’ll be shredded as fuck in no time.”
“Tried that. These cravings aren’t going away,” I said, staring hard into Gage’s eyes. “In fact, the longer I go without them, the worse they get.”
“Oh.” Gage blushed. “That’s… Are you…?”
“Ready to leave?” I supplied. “Yes.”
I nodded a goodbye to Jason, who inclined his head and smiled.
“But Gage, you and I were just getting to— Hey!” Curt protested as I pulled Gage away.
Gage chuckled nervously, darting a look at me as we wound our way through the living room. “Okay, your friends are…”
“Assholes?” I suggested.
“No! I’m sure they’re lovely when you get to know them. I was gonna say intense. Like, they were arguing about restaurants. Legitarguingabout them. And dog spas. Rodney says if you can’t afford to have a dog sitter watch your dog in your home every day, you shouldn’t be allowed to have a dog. But Dustin said that’s only true if you want your dog to be an elitist asshat. And things gottense. Also, they’re verypassionate about Mykonos.” He wrinkled his nose. “That’s in Greece, right?”
I gave him a clipped nod and led him inside to the empty front hall, where I set my drink on a flimsy table and turned to face him. “They love to one-up each other. Ignore them.”
“No, it’s cool. I’m sure they’re really nice. But they’re not like you.” He winced. “Sorry. Not that you’re not nice, just that you’re so…yourself. Unapologetic and snarky and… honest. And… I’m babbling. So weird. I haven’t even had a drink yet.”
I wanted to tell him that I’d missed his chatter. That his babbling felt soothing, like water on parched earth. But that seemed a little excessive. He hadn’t agreed to anything yet except leaving with me.
I took a step toward him. “I can be competitive in my own way,” I said softly. “I like achieving things. Being the best at what I do, because that means I get to be in charge.”
Gage took a step back and tried to smile. “Ah. Y-you’re the alpha of the pack,” he teased. “You don’t need to brag, because everyone already knows you’re the best. And you don’t need to be an asshole because you always…” I crowded his back against the wall, and his voice was a thready whisper as he finished. “…get what you want.”
“I don’t always get what I want, Goodman.” I braced my hands against the wall on either side of him and leaned into his space, taking in a deep lungful of his saltwater scent. Gage’s breath rushed out in a startledwhoosh. I stared into those brown eyes that danced and sparkled and held a million secrets I’d pay money to know. “But maybe sometimes. Maybe tonight, if you’ll let me.”
His jaw went slack, and he stared up at me cautiously. His tongue darted out to lick his lower lip, and his pulse pounded beneath my fingers. “You… We… What’s happening?”
I lifted a hand to trace the softness of his mouth with my index finger. The indent of his upper lip, the pout of the lower. His breath shuddered out of him.
“Are you sure you’re done talking to Jason?” I asked, my blood singing with the need to put my mouth on his.
Gage nodded like a bobblehead. “He said he’d call me about an interview. He’s… he’ll—”
I moved just slightly so my thigh slotted between his, pushing up against his half-hard dick. Why had I denied myself this? Deniedbothof us this? At that moment, I couldn’t remember.
“Oh, fuck.”
“I’d like to go back to the hotel now,” I said conversationally. “Unless you wanted to stay? I know you haven’t even had a drink yet or that food I promised you. And it’s a shame to waste this outfit.” I trailed a finger down the row of buttons from his chest to his flat belly. “It’s your call, Goodman.”
“I… I thought you were gonna pick someone appropriate and bring them back to the hotel. I thought you were going to get laid.” His voice was hopeful, but he seemed to need me to spell it out for him, and I understood why. It was my own fault for being so indecisive for so long.
I leaned in close enough to soak up the ocean scent of him, then scraped my teeth along the edge of his jaw so I could whisper in his ear.
“I am.”
Chapter Nine
