He wanted her for the time he was there to see where it went. But now the follow-through was getting slippery. He’d gotten a glimpse of the real Chloe the other night. And yet…
“Look, I don’t know what your deal is, but staying isn’t so bad,” East said. “Having some roots and a nice girl to come home to sounds great to me.”
Gage snorted. “Says the town playboy.”
“Why do you think I stay? There’re a lot of pretty women around these parts.” He winked. But Gage didn’t miss the way East shot a glance to the chatting brunette in glasses across the bonfire.
Despite his best intentions, Gage knew one thing still to be true: he was capable of committing to a woman, but not a place. But between their sexy mock search and rescue and her inviting him to her restaurant, he had to hope he was gaining ground.
Chloe finally tossed him a smile, then quickly glanced away. So he was in her mind. He was in her thoughts. And if the way she’d begun to open up to him was any indication, he was close to being in her heart.
That was enough to work with.
There had to be a way to have Chloe and freedom.
“Hottie McSearchy keeps staring at you,” Natalie said to Chloe.
Michelle leaned into the huddle they had going on and peered over the fire. “Which one is he?”
“He’s the one in the black T-shirt with the black hair and black eyes,” Natalie said. “Basically, he’s the tall, dark and buff one.”
“Thanks, Nat,” Chloe mumbled and sipped her beer.
East’s summer bonfires were casual and frequent, and Chloe hadn’t expected to see Gage. But…she was kind of happy to see him. The last couple of days since their date had left her thinking about a lot of things she shouldn’t. She was trying to focus on preparing for the anniversary event, yet her mind always drifted back to Gage.
How he made her feel safe whenever he held her. How he mastered the art of being intense and casual all at the same time. How he made her think…made her want. Yeah, Gage made her want a whole hell of a lot. Like more. Not that she’d ever really admit that to him, or herself even.
“And who is that?” Michelle pointed at the guy next to him.
“Easton Ambrose,” Natalie said with a huff. “He’s annoying.”
“And handsome,” Michelle said.
Natalie’s head snapped up, almost like she cared. Interesting. It was no secret East had a reputation with the ladies, and Natalie had…her cupcakes.
“Well now that we’ve addressed everyone’s staring problem…” Chloe nudged Natalie’s shoulder.
“Hey, as far as I can tell, the guy drooling at you from the other side of that inferno is the one with the problem,” Natalie said.
Yeah, Chloe was aware of that problem, because she was having some herself. Like thinking too much about him. Which needed to stop. Though the other night had been more real than any she’d ever spent with another man, and her dress had stayed on the whole time. Their date hadn’t been a fantasy. It’d been…normal. Like a relationship. And she’d actually liked his company.
She shook her head and tried to get her thoughts clear.
Keep it fantasy, not reality.
“Oh no…” Michelle said softly as a big fat raindrop beaded Chloe’s hair.
There was little more warning than that. The clouds unleashed gallons over all of them and beat down on the fire, sending everyone scattering to their cars or inside East’s house.
“I was going to take off anyway,” Natalie said loudly, unconcerned about the rain.
Michelle ran up to them, the poor girl’s perfect hair now a soggy mess. “Can I get a ride with you?” Michelle asked, and Natalie nodded. Chloe tossed her empty beer bottle onto the extinguished fire and headed for the car.
“Not afraid of the rain?” Gage asked from behind her. He held up his jacket like an umbrella and covered her head with it.
“It’s water. Nothing scary,” she said.
Water she wasn’t worried about, but Gage getting closer? Much more nerve-wracking. He was the one man who made her heart shake in her chest, and the closer he came, the less she could deny how she felt about him. And that terrified her.
She looked into his intensely dark eyes. With the orange glow of the fire gone and the clouds muting the light of the moon and stars, Gage’s gaze slid over her skin like a touch she wanted to get lost in.
She knew better, but he was her drug, and with him in front of her, she couldn’t say no.
She took a step forward, stood on her toes to kiss him—
“Ah!”—and fell right on her ass in the mud. “Oh, God.”
Gage smiled and bent to help her up. Mortification surged through her like hot water. This was nowhere near a fantasy. This was real and embarrassing, nothing sexy about it.
She moved to run away, but Gage caught her arm. “I thought you weren’t afraid.”
Right then, with his hand on her skin and his gaze searching hers, fear buzzed in her chest. But it wasn’t the rain, or even him setting it off—it was something deeper, something she’d been denying for weeks.
She couldn’t do this. She couldn’t stay. It was getting too real.
“I’m not. I’m fine,” she fibbed and hustled away. Gage caught up with her near the tree line before she reached her car. Everyone had left. A few people were inside East’s house. Gage closed in, the splattering sound of his boots tromping through the mud made her skin buzz. His entire presence was engulfing her.
He pressed against her. “When are you going to stop running?”
“When are you going to stop chasing?”
He stared at her for a long moment, uncertainty in his normally confident gaze.
“What if I said I wanted to keep chasing you for as long as I was in town?”
“I’d say you’re crazy.”
He dropped his coat, and the rain pelted them both. Even beneath the tree and in the darkness, she felt him. Smelled him. Wanted him.
“You come in and out of town,” Chloe said. “Anything longer than a weekend complicates things. Don’t you see that?”
He nodded, and Chloe arched an eyebrow. He was agreeing with her?
“What if complication was a consideration?” he asked.
“It doesn’t work that way, Gage.” She wiped her brow and moved her hair off her face as rain streaked down from the top of her head to her neck. “You come in for a weekend, we have a good time, and you leave. That’s worked well for us, but anything longer comes with…”
“Strings?”
Truth was, she was more attached to him than ever—and it terrified her. The more she felt for him, the more power he had over her emotions. Her heart.
Distance had provided an excuse before, but now he was standing in front of her, in her town for a few weeks, and she wanted to touch him all the time. She could think of little else—which was a problem. She was dangerously close to handing her heart over to a man for him to do as much or as little with it as he wanted.
And then, after everything, he would leave.
“We have great sex,” she hedged.
Gage frowned. “Can you look at me right now and say this is still just sex to you?”
She pursed her lips. No, this was absolutely more than sex, but she couldn’t say that.
“This is why I don’t date,” she whispered.
He ran his fingers over her cheekbone. “It’s only been a week.”
“It’s more than that.” It was the past two years. It was the way he looked at her, the way he tapped into every fantasy she had, the way he gave a damn. The way he made her cave.
She’d given in to him, and deep down, a raw part of her heart was already at his mercy. But there was no way she’d admit it.
No, she needed to get out of this wet, increasingly real moment. Now.
But when she tried to pull away, he grabbed her arm and stopped her.
“Don’t look at me,” she said.