Stirred: A Love Story (20 page)

She laughed. “Let’s try to be present. What do you think?”

“I think you sound like my dad. Do you watch Oprah?”

“Her show’s not on anymore.”

“Must be reruns because he watches her all the time.”

“Oprah has amazing insights.”

“Yeah, I guess. I do think it’s good to live in the present and I guess if you’re focused on what you’re doing, then there is some power with that.”

“I do too. I’m working on that.”

“On what?”

“Being present and being powerful.”

“You’re not powerful?”

“I’m. . . well, no. I’m awkward and I’d like to be more in the moment. I want things.”

“You seem pretty powerful behind the bar.”

“That’s my stage and I don’t have to be myself. I can put on badass bartender, and it’s fun.”

“But you are badass bartender, aren’t you?”

“I guess. Kiss me, Garrett.” She put her arms around his neck, and as his warm lips touched hers, she closed her eyes and soaked in the present.

“Sage,” he said after they’d slipped apart.

“Yes.” She opened the front door for him.

“Don’t go to dinner with Chris.” He kissed her again lightly and walked to his truck.

Sage closed the door and leaned against it, trying desperately to not think about the future.

Chapter Eighteen

G
arrett could now check “best man” off his life list or put it in his bottom drawer. Christ, he was starting to sound like Sage and his father rolled into one. But it was true, he’d never been in a wedding, let alone had the best seat in the house as a beautiful woman—dressed in what Kenna informed him was silk—walked toward them. It was cool, more change, a whole lot emotional, but great.

What was supposed to be another farm-to-table event for Senator Malendar and some of his close friends had secretly been turned into a wedding. Garrett, Kenna, and Travis were told late Thursday night, and Kenna, “no longer able to hold it in,” told Sage Friday morning. It hadn’t made much of a difference because all of the pieces were in place and Logan handled the menu. Things were all set when fifty people crowded into the barn to watch Logan Rye marry Kara Malendar on a crisp February evening under the stars and an arch of magnolias.

After a few months of going back and forth, Kara and Logan had decided they wanted a small, surprise wedding. To their credit, there was not one reporter, which appeared to make Kara very happy. “She wanted a day that was ours,” Logan told them, and as Garrett looked around the barn, it was clear that’s what she got.

Garrett and Grady, Kara’s brother, stood ready as Logan walked over with their father to take his place right before the wedding started. Garrett felt a lump in his throat and a sense of imbalance at watching his family. They’d shared so many firsts, the four of them, and this was their first wedding at home. Kenna had married Adam in Vegas, which was the first quickie wedding, and now this one had all the bells and whistles. The beginning of many new and exciting changes, he tried to convince himself, because there was a weight in his chest. Letting out a slow breath and fixing the back of Logan’s jacket, Garrett remembered what Sage had said about staying in the present. As the music started, he was pretty sure that’s what kept him from crying like a baby.

Across the aisle, Kara had a man of honor, Jake, her best friend and a maid of honor, Makenna. Paige was the cutest flower girl in the world, of course, along with Eloise, Jake and Cotton’s daughter. The entire place overflowed with what he could only describe as pure love and joy as his brother told the woman he’d waited so long for that “he’d loved her all his life,” and “couldn’t wait to cherish her forever.”

“Married man,” Garrett said, making his way to Logan as people milled around once the toasts were done and the food was eaten. Putting his arm around his brother, it was not lost to him how much time had passed since he’d taught Logan how to drive a stick shift.

“I think we pulled it off, right?” Logan asked, practically glowing under the evening sky and the string of lights surrounding the barn.

Garrett nodded.

“Did you see her face? My God, do you see how beautiful she is?”

Garrett swallowed back the emotions that crawled into his chest and began to wonder when he’d become so damn soft. Maybe he’d always been a little soft but never had a use for it before. “I did. It was a great wedding. I even got a little choked up. She’s gorgeous, man, and for some reason, she loves you. Go figure.”

“I know, right?” Logan’s eyes spilled the contents of his heart. He almost looked like a little kid. “Thank you.”

“For what? You made all the food.”

“For being my big brother.”

It was so damn basic that it almost knocked him down. Garrett couldn’t speak.

“For teaching me and showing me how to be a man.”

“Pretty sure Dad did that,” he said, barely getting the words out.

Logan grew serious. “Garre, it’s my wedding night and I’m trying to tell you that you’re a big part of the reason I’m standing here. I’ve looked to you my whole life for how to be and it’s never let me down, so I want you to know that —”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Garrett said on a whisper, pulling his brother into a hug and holding him tight, which shut Logan up and filled Garrett with the love only family brought. His eyes welled up and it washed right over him. All of them, the house, the day in and day out of making their family work. “I’d do it all again. Love you, man.”

“I love you too,” Logan said as Garrett loosened his grip.

Patting him on the back, Garrett shook his head and muttered, “This shit is all Oprah’s fault. We should take the damn television out of the house.” He smiled at his brother and turned. “Go find your new wife. I need a drink.” Logan laughed as Garrett walked toward the bar. He had to walk away. There was nothing he could say that would express the feelings watching his little brother get married stirred in him. The love between them was so pure that it almost didn’t feel like it belonged in him. That was probably why he pushed it down, kept it in its place most of the time.

“Are you all right?” Sage asked as he approached the bar.

He nodded.

“Beer?”

“Please.”

“Great wedding.” He could tell she was keeping it simple. It wasn’t in her nature, but she knew him.

He took a pull of the beer she handed him and tilted his head in thanks.

“Anything you want to talk about?”

“No.”

“Okay. Do you want to dance?”

Garrett arched his brow to check her sincerity.

“You don’t dance?” she asked.

“Not if I can help it.”

Laughing, she stepped out from behind the bar. She was wearing a short gold dress that he hadn’t noticed before, although looking at her now, he wasn’t sure how that was possible.

“Nice boots,” he said, looking down at the muckers she wore in stark contrast to the sparkle of her dress.

“Thanks. Kenna let me borrow them. It’s muddy behind the bar, so there was no point wearing heels.”

One of Grady’s friends, the one with the bowtie, approached them and Sage slipped back behind the bar.

“What can I get you?” she said.

“Actually, I was wondering if you’d like to dance.”

“Oh, that’s so sweet. I’d—”

Back the hell up, man.

“Sorry, I beat you to it,” Garrett said, taking her hand and pulling her to his side.

The guy looked confused as they walked to the dance floor. Garrett offered up thanks that it was a slow song and took her in his arms. She was laughing.

“What?”

“Nothing.” She rested her head on his chest and Garrett felt a rush of breath leave his body. It was replaced with the sweet smell of her.

Another first, he thought. He did dance, as long as it was with her.

The cake was delicious; it was the one dessert Logan knew how to make and it was Kara’s favorite—chocolate cake topped with tart cherries. Paige was holding a group dance lesson for Travis, Garrett, Kate and Grady on the dance floor, so Kenna and Sage sat in two comfy chairs by one of the fire pits.

“Things are good. He stopped by and we had dinner at my house last week.”

“Okay,” Kenna said less than enthusiastically over the rim of her wine glass.

“I’m telling you, we’re in a good place. I like him.”

“That’s not new, Sage.”

“No, it sort of is. I like the real him, not the please-brush-by-me lusty kind of thing I had going on before. I’m getting to know him and he gets to see the real me. I told Travis yesterday while we were closing that things are. . . friendly.”

“With benefits?”

Sage shook her head. “No. No benefits. He’s been different, but. . . maybe we’re good as friends.”

“I don’t pretend to understand my brother all the time, but I’m going to guess he doesn’t want to be your friend.”

She shrugged. “Well, he doesn’t seem to know how to move forward and honestly, I’m happy to be with him without my awkward sexy talk.”

“So you’re back to being nice, no more naughty?”

“Yeah, I deleted it,” she said, shaking her head.

“What book are you on to now?”

“
Acceptance: A Lifelong Journey
.”

Kenna almost spit her drink onto the grass as Sage adopted her Zen voice.

“Okay, and how’s that going? You’ve. . . accepted things and you no longer want to jump my brother’s bones?”

Sage looked around as she always did because Kenna could be so damn loud.

“I. . . no. I mean”—she leaned in and whispered—“of course I do, but I put on the brakes because I can’t do that casually, not with him. I’m trying to accept my life and enjoy whatever abundance comes to me.”

“Uh huh, well, don’t look now, but Mr. Abundance is walking over here with fierce purpose if you ask me.” Kenna swung her legs to standing, kissed Sage quickly on the cheek, and held her beer up in a toast to her approaching brother before walking away.

“I need to talk to you,” Garrett said, seeming almost winded.

“Okay.”

He gently took her arm, and while she was still admiring the way he filled out a dress shirt, now rumpled and rolled at the sleeves, he led her farther away from the barn.

“So, here’s the thing,” he said now that they were alone. He was flustered or nervous maybe? “I’d like to, um, revisit the ‘never ever.’”

She knew what he was talking about and as he crowded closer, she couldn’t find her wit.

“I feel like we are heading off in a direction, and I’m. . . shit. . . did you tell Travis we were friends?”

Sage nodded.

“Why?”

“I didn’t exactly say we were friends, I said that we were friend-ly. You know, now that I’m not simply lusting after you, we have gotten to know each other. Right?”

“Yeah, we are, but not as friends. I realize at your house last week I was weird and it may have felt like I was backing up, but then I said I didn’t want you to go to dinner with Chris and”—he took her arms—“Sage, I don’t want to be your friend.”

“Okay. I thought since we’d sort of stopped being flirty and things cooled off that we should. . . if you don’t want to be friends, what—”

“Things haven’t cooled off. I want you,” he said as if he had to get it out or he’d burst. “All of you. I’m losing my mind here. I can’t sleep and that ‘never ever’ sex keeps rolling around in my head. I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing or how to fit things together, but tell me what you want”—his hands went to her face—“tell me how we move past ‘never ever.’”

Sage’s heart drummed steady and deep in her chest. It was heady to be on the other side of want for a change. Garrett was babbling, pouring out words she never imagined hearing, so she was honest. “I need something after sex. As fun as I’m sure your headboard is, when it comes to you, I need a relationship after I catch my breath.”

He nodded. “I. . . can do that,” he said, looking like his mind was racing, trying to order exactly what he was promising. “I want that.”

Seeing him so vulnerable, straining to erase the ‘never ever,” Sage let go and allowed herself to love him all the way. The release made her playful.

“Is that so? Huh.” She backed him up to the side of the house. The moon was only a sliver and the night sky was black. She took his hands and, up on her tiptoes, it was an effort even with both of her hands, to hold his above his head. Awkward but sexy awkward, which wasn’t exactly naughty, but close. “What do I do now?” she said into the side of his neck, her lips grazing the softness.

Garrett grinned and looked up at his hands. “Kiss me.” His voice low, sounding like he’d done this before.

She kissed along his jaw and made her way to his mouth, touching her lips to his, and barely allowing her tongue to taste. Garrett closed his eyes, releasing his hands easily as he grabbed her around the waist.

“What now?” she asked, not nearly as confident because her heart was racing something awful.

Garrett leaned in, his mouth close to her ear. “Now, we’re going to say goodnight to the happy couple, we’re going back to my place, and I’m going to. . .”

Sage inhaled slowly, letting the exhale slip past her lips as he continued whispering into her ear. The man should definitely be in charge of all fantasies going forward. She was grateful his arms were still wrapped around her as he kissed her collarbone, and she lost all sense of balance.
Nice to Naughty
didn’t have a chapter that came close to the buzz of him telling her exactly what he was going to do. It wasn’t naughty, it was being desired in a way she had never understood before that moment. He wanted to touch her body, show her what she did to him, his heart. It wasn’t taking her up against a wall, although his words were certainly as bone melting. It was the slow whisper of a man who had waited, learned about her, and now knew exactly what she needed. When he was finished seducing her, she leaned against his chest, her head in the curve of his shoulder. Gently, he set her back, allowing her to find her footing.