Just one more glance.
He didn’t tell me not to.
I watch as his feet move toward the door, and I lift my head.
They land on his naked butt. His cute, tight, perfectly-muscled butt.
Goodness gracious.
And when my eyes travel up, they meet his.
His butt is facing me, and he’s twisted around so his eyes are, too.
I’m caught red-handed.
He smirks at me before I slam my burning face back into the hole.
“Okay, I’m leaving now,” he says, a hint of laughter in his tone. “I’ll see you back in the lobby.”
I wait until I hear the door click shut behind him, glad at least that he’s planning to wait for me. I did, after all, initially reject his idea to spend the day together, but I’ve rethought that plan.
Probably because I saw him naked.
A fling.
That’s all this can be.
I need to make that clear.
Not that he’s exactly given me the vibe that he does want an attachment, but even if I spend the day with him, that’s all it will be.
I walk back toward the women’s locker room, get dressed, and head out to the lobby, where I find Gage.
“Ready?” he asks, his eyes sparkling as they fall onto me.
As we walk back toward the elevators, I wrestle with what to say. That was nice sounds dumb. Hold my hand again sounds needy. You’re ridiculously hot sounds desperate.
So I go with silence.
“I need to ask you something, Nashville,” he says after he pushes the button to call the elevator.
I glance over at him with my brows up.
“What color panties are you wearing?”
My jaw drops and I smack him in the shoulder. He rubs it and makes a big show of acting like it hurt.
“None of your business,” I hiss.
“I’m sorry,” he says, holding up both hands. “I just knew you were on the table next to me, probably with panties on because you don’t seem like the kind of girl who would take them off for a massage, and you saw all my junk hanging out and then I just kept wondering the entire time what color panties you had on.”
I soften a little. The doors open, and there’s people already in the elevator car. I look over at him, and then I turn my eyes down to the ground. “Black,” I mutter as we step on, and I don’t miss his soft chuckle followed by a long exhale.
When the doors open to the twenty-second floor, we both step off. I almost think he’s going to grab my hand, but he doesn’t.
“So, you said we’d revisit the idea of spending the day together if the massage went well, and I think it went well. Don’t you?” he asks.
I laugh. “It went well.” My cheeks turn pink at just how well it went. “But can you get out of your meetings?”
He nods. “Yeah. I called the office and told my assistant to reschedule.”
My brows shoot up as I turn toward him. “You did?”
He nods and finally reaches over to grab my hand. His fingers link through mine, and when he speaks, his voice is low and husky. “I figured you’d be worth it.”
My heart beats a little faster. I have no idea what’s in store for today, but suddenly I can’t wait to get it started. “All right, Motley Crue, what do you want to do first?”
“Let’s get changed and meet at the café downstairs in a half hour. I’ll plan a little itinerary for the day with a few options, and we can go over them while we eat.” He stops in front of his door and reaches for his wallet to grab his room key.
I try not to gape at him in surprise while my tummy does that little flip thing it keeps doing around him. He’s going to plan a little itinerary? Who even is this guy? He’s gorgeous, he’s got a crazy body, he seems intelligent, he’s funny, and he’s clearly interested in me since he’s planning a day for the two of us.
I need to get on that no attachment thing. Stat.
CHAPTER 14: GAGE
After breakfast, we head out for our one-day adventure. She opted for the beach since apparently Nashville doesn’t have many of those, so we grab a Lyft to Santa Monica, a place I’ve been to only once before.
With a different woman.
My ex, Stacy.
We dated on and off for about a year, and ultimately she got tired of being off. I didn’t want anything permanent—mostly because she was from Vegas, too, and she knew I had bigger dreams than Vegas had to offer. She didn’t. She loved it there, and she wanted to stay forever. I didn’t.
The day we broke up was the last time I ever talked to her. We took a road trip to Los Angeles one weekend, and we had a great time...until the ride home, when she badgered me about how it could be like this all the time if I’d just give in. I permanently ended things in the middle of a deserted highway between LA and Vegas.
That made for an awkward three hours...and that’s my best piece of advice: Never dump someone in the middle of a road trip.
Wait until the end. Maybe even when you’re pulling into her driveway to drop her off.
I usher Lexi into the back of the car, and I flex my fingers on her thigh after I settle in beside her. She glances over at me, and I sense a bit of a change in her. She’s eyeing me hungrily, which she wasn’t doing before, and I silently thank my cock for showing off the way he did earlier.
But that hungry look is scaring me a little.
I need to make it clear that this can’t be anything more than one weekend of fun. I wrestle with what to say as we get out of the car near the Santa Monica pier. We’re walking slowly next to one another, but I haven’t taken her hand. She hasn’t reached out for me, either. We’re just slowly strolling on a crowded pier.
Maybe in a month from now, or two months, or a year, I won’t be able to do this.
When I’m a member of My Favorite Band—because I will win that open spot—I’ll be recognized the world over. I’ll be mobbed at my public appearances because I’m part of a worldwide phenomenon, and I won’t be able to just stroll the pier with a girl by my side without people stopping me for autographs or selfies.
Being the idiot I am and lacking the foresight that this could make for a really awkward day—clearly having learned nothing from breaking up with Stacy in the middle of a long-ass road trip—I open my mouth to tell her that this can’t be anything more than a two-day adventure together.
But she opens her mouth first. “I need to say something.”
“Okay,” I say hesitantly, drawing out the word.
“I just...um, how do I say this?” She clears her throat. “This just...well, Gage, it just can’t be more than whatever happens over the next couple days. There’s lots of reasons, starting with the fact that you’re from Vegas and I’m from Nashville and it just won’t work.”
Could this woman be any more perfect for me?
I chuckle at the irony.
“Why are you laughing?” Her tone is accusatory and a little angry.
I shake my head. “I’m not, Nashville. It’s just ironic.”
“What is?”
“That I was about to tell you the same thing. I can’t get attached right now, either. And yet...you seem to be about the most perfect woman in the world.” I stare at her for a long beat, and her eyes are so nervous and so innocent and I have to fucking kiss her now.