Page 74 of Pick Me
I laughed. “Why am I not surprised?”
“—but that’s also not safe for work.” Gage grinned.
“I’m gonna need to hear more about that later, though.”
“I will tell you in great detail,” he promised. Then he cleared his throat and got serious. “I’ve always been into computers and technology, maybe partly because the island where I grew up had shitty internet and was so disconnected from the mainland. I saw technology as this cool thing that can connect people, and I loved that. But then a year and a half ago, I really refined my dream about what I want my role to be—not just working on other people’s ideas and making money, ultimately, but making technology accessible to people and using it to solve problems. Even tiny problems, like dispensing dog treats. And what changed for me was…” He cleared his throat. “My family found a buried treasure.”
He said the last bit so quickly, all the words ran together, and I wasn’t sure I’d heard him right. “A… treasure?”
“Yeah. I’ll tell you the story another time. I wasn’t even there, but my family gave me a cut just the same. And… yeah.”
Gage’s fingers tightened on mine, and he darted a sideways look up at me, checking my reaction. I wasn’t sure what he expected me to say or what the “right” reaction was, but I got the feeling a lot of people had responded the wrong way in the past.
“That’s probably part of what drives you to want to get a job at a solid company and learn as much as you can from them,” I said slowly. “The money is a huge gift, but I bet it can feel like a huge responsibility, too.”
“Yessss,” he sighed with something like relief and relaxed back in his seat. “You know, Kanye West once said, ‘Having money’s not everything, not having it is’ or something like that, and it’s true. I want to start my own company and give people a leg up. Identify needs and fill ’em.”
In my entire life, I’d never had anyone quote Kanye West at me. Was it any wonder I was so enthralled with Gage Goodman?
“That’s why the Rubicon job sounds so perfect, right?”
Gage nodded. “Yeah. I don’t care about having a corner office or a fancy title or being indispensable to them, though. Ultimately, it’s just a means to an end. A way to learn. I mostly just want to do my own thing and be happy.”
“Mmm. Don’t we all?” I mused.
“You?” Gage grinned, but his eyes were serious. “Sometimes I don’t know. I think you’re as afraid of happiness as I am of cows, and it makes about as much sense.”
I scowled. “That’s not remotely true. I’m happy. I’vebeenhappy.” I took my hand away from his under the pretense of switching lanes, and I kept it firmly planted on the steering wheel.
Goodman was quiet for a moment. “You know, sometimes right before breakfast or dinner, you walk in the back door of the kitchen and just stand there for a second, watching your family. I’ve seen you do it a bunch. At first, I thought you were just standing there appreciating them or something, but then I started to wonder if you’re scared to get too close.”
“To my own family?” I scoffed. “No. Jesus.”
“And then there was the whole thing of you not sleeping with me for all these contrived reasons…”
“They weren’t contrived. And besides, I got over that pretty thoroughly, so your theory doesn’t hold water.”
“Youdidget over it.” Goodman shifted in his seat so he could lean over the console and press a kiss to my cheek. Funnily enough, I couldn’t remember anyone ever kissing me like that before, with such sweet, simple affection. “Have I told you recently how glad I am that you did?”
He moved back to his own seat but grabbed my hand in his again, and I let him.
“I’m gonna give you remedial happiness lessons, Knox Sunday,” he said like a warning. “There’s hope for you yet.”
“Nonsense,” I told him.
But deep down, I thought if there were anyone in the world who could teach me something like that, it was him.
* * *
“Really?” I lifted an eyebrow. “A whole city at your feet, chock full of experiences and excitement, and this is what you want to do tonight?”
Gage poked his head and one naked shoulder out of the blanket pile he’d made on my living room couch and cracked one eye open. “This isexactlywhat I want to do. I’m tired. As you very impolitely pointed out earlier, I was up early today communing with a baby heifer.Andyou made me go shopping with you, which was traumatizing.” He scooted over and patted the couch beside him. “Come and comfort me.”
The simple command made me warm inside, and I couldn’t muster even the pretense of a complaint as I sat beside him, especially when he plastered his naked chest to my equally naked side and pulled the blanket over both of us. I was comfortable in the extreme—which wasn’t really a thought I’d ever had while sitting in my apartment before.
I liked the place just fine—the plain cream walls, the sleek black couch, the sliding glass door to a small deck with a view of the Charles—and someday I was going to make a mint when I sold it, but it had never been the sort of space that gave off relaxing vibes. Not until Gage was there with me.
“You didn’t seem traumatized when we were in the store,” I noted. “Poor Jeremy,the personal shopper who overheard you giving me a friendly erection check, on the other hand, is probably traumatized in the extreme. And that wasbeforeyou pulled me into the dressing room with you and locked the door. The poor man’s pearls have probably never been clutched so hard.”
