Perfect Fit - Brenda Jackson [114]
She leaned down and met his lips, licking them from corner to corner. “I was hoping you’d ask.”
Later that night the ringing of the telephone woke them up. Although Sage was fully aware of it, she remained nestled in Gabe’s arms while he shifted his body to reach over and answer it.
“Yes?”
After a long pause, he said, “Okay, I’ll tell her.”
Sage sat up in bed after hearing the conversation. “You’ll tell me what?”
Gabe ran a hand down his face to wipe the sleep from his eyes. He then reached over and turned on the lamp, bringing brightness to the room, trying not to concentrate on Sage’s naked body.
“That was Rose. Your father just called, upset. He’s at the hospital. Your mother became ill during the night, and he had to rush her to the emergency room.”
Sage was out of bed in a flash. “Did Rose leave a number where I can reach him?”
Gabe nodded as he also got out of bed. “Yes. She said for you to call him on his cell phone.”
She nodded and immediately rushed to the phone and began dialing. Gabe went into the bathroom, and when he returned moments later, he could tell by the redness of Sage’s eyes that she’d been crying. He quickly crossed the room and pulled her into his arms. “What is it, baby? What’s wrong with your mother?”
Sage wiped tears from her eyes. “I don’t know, and Dad says the people at the hospital aren’t telling him anything. I can’t get much out of him, Gabe. He’s literally falling to pieces. I need to be there.”
He nodded in agreement. “Do you want me to make flight arrangements?”
She smiled her appreciation, glad he was here with her. “Oh, would you? I can’t seem to think straight right now.”
He nodded as he began putting on his pants. “Get your things together and I’ll take you home.”
“That’s not necessary, Gabe. I have my car here, remember?”
He smiled as he zipped up his pants and watched her slip into her bra and panties. “You won’t be able to drive all the way to North Carolina, Sage.”
At her bemused look, he said, “When I said that I’d take you home, I was talking about taking you home to Charlotte. I have my pilot’s license, and it shouldn’t be a problem to get a plane tonight and fly you home.”
Sage stopped what she was doing. “You’d actually take time off work to fly me home?”
He reached for his sweater and pulled it over his head, then said, “Of course I would.”
She turned to face him. “Why? Why would you go to all that trouble for me?”
Gabe shook his head. He didn’t want to believe she could ask that after what they’d shared over the past months. And he’d felt the same uncertainty coming from her when he’d asked her about accompanying him to Detroit for his grandparents’ anniversary party next week. She never had said one way or the other if she would attend with him.
Deciding it was time to get a few things straight, he crossed the room to her. “Do you really want to know the real reason that I would go to all that trouble for you, Sage?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
He reached out and touched her shoulders, to make sure he had her full attention. “Because you mean a lot to me, Sage. In fact, you mean everything to me. I love you.”
He watched her blink. Then, when she had fully comprehended what he’d said, she turned around and continued dressing. “No, you don’t.”
“Excuse me?”
She turned around to face him. “I said that you don’t love me. You love what we share, but that doesn’t connect to me as an individual.”
Gabe crossed his arms over his chest. “So you think I made love to a nameless, faceless body all those times?”
“No, of course not, Gabe. It’s just that you can’t love me.”
“Can I ask why?”
Sage sighed, as though the question was too annoying to answer. “Because you can’t. We haven’t reached that level yet, and I never intended for us to. I’ve loved one man in my lifetime and look what happened. And then, after what my father did, how do you expect me to believe in love?”
Gabe was beginning to feel frustrated and angry. “I expected you to believe in it