“Go on.”
“I was thinking that...if you’re interested...” She drew out that last word...worried suddenly that, with all the negative publicity, she was going at proposal delivery all wrong. Talking to him more like a friend than a client.
“You can stop right there, Sage. I’m not interested. I don’t care if she’s the Princess of the Moon, is the most beautiful woman in the world and owns every bank known to man... I don’t need you setting me up.”
Standing there with her mouth hanging open, Sage fell back to her chair. Setting him...what?
“Frankly, it just feels...kind of creepy. Wrong. You, selling me on another woman. Selling her on me...”
She almost burst out laughing. Except that there was nothing funny going on.
“Um, Gray? Never ever, even for one second, in any universe, have I ever even thought about hooking you up with another woman.”
Another woman. Oh, God. There couldn’t be another unless there was one. Her. And she wasn’t, currently. She just...had been.
And it hit her, sitting there, with her hands sweating, that she still thought of herself as Gray’s woman. In past tense. Yes. Of course.
But still his.
For part of her life, she had been.
What did closure have to say about that?
He wasn’t talking. Neither was she. Pulling back her cell, she checked to see that the call was still connected. Flooded with relief to see that he hadn’t hung up.
And took action. “I spoke to Marissa about Buzzing Bee Clinics.” Her daughter’s creation—that name. Leigh.
Closure settled over her. Suffocating desperation. And she continued with a professionalism she was trying very hard to connect to. “She mentioned doing two events...” Sage figured she talked for two minutes. Didn’t even remember coming up for air. Discussing details of a project he hadn’t even spoken to yet. Because she didn’t pause long enough to give him time.
Until she’d run out of words. And finished with, “What do you think?”
She held tightly to her phone. Hoping they hadn’t just ruined things between them.
Gray’s voice sounded loud, coming from the silence that had been hanging so long on his end. “Whatever it costs, I’m in.”
And Sage let out the breath she’d been holding.
He needed a date. A woman who entertained him. Who enjoyed being with him. Who wasn’t looking for a future that included family. Gray couldn’t think of any other way to get Sage out of his system long enough for their friendship to take root.
But couldn’t think of any woman he wanted to ask out. Partially because he on a date meant that he exposed whoever was with him to the possibility of cameras flashing at any given moment. With any narrative attached. True or completely fabricated.
He could get creative. Rent a day cruiser, drive south to pick it up and pull into a private marina someplace to collect his date. It could be all hush-hush and romantic.
The idea raised nothing but dread in him. All aspects of it. From the effort to finding the woman.
A guy with his life crashed around him, with the debris still being picked through...he just didn’t feel like exposing that to anyone he knew. Or someone he didn’t know, but could meet. If he kept himself open to doing so.
The women he dated generally came with a good dose of compassion. And that led to expressing their understanding and sorrow, or offering to help, or, worst of all, questions. He just wasn’t into it.
So why in the hell had he given Sage the impression that he thought she’d think he was good dating material?
With a package that she’d praise to a friend?
Unable to rest easy with the huge gaffe he’d made that afternoon, Gray changed into shorts and a polo shirt after work and, sliding into flip-flops, headed down the beach. Scott was out with Morgan. He may run into his friend or not. They’d actually talked about sharing a meal that night, since they hadn’t done so since Gray had moved in. After his conversation with Sage that afternoon, Gray had been thinking about making an excuse to avoid the sit-down with her brother.
Instead, he was heading down to fix the situation. With rain from the past couple of days having slowed beach activity, and gray skies still overhead, Gray was surprised to see how many people were out and about.
Until he considered the fact that dogs had to go, rain or shine. And dog owners had a tendency to congregate as their canine companions looked for just the right spots.
