Perfect Fit - Brenda Jackson [58]
He stood after making a quick decision. He walked over to the phone and began dialing the numbers he had memorized. He inhaled deeply when after a few rings a feminine voice came on the line.
“Hello.”
After a brief pause, he cleared his throat. “Hello, Sage, this is Gabe.”
A short silence stretched across the line as Sage’s heart skipped a beat, caught off guard by the sexy sound of Gabe’s voice.
She had just finished pampering herself and had slipped into her nightgown. “Yes, Gabe. How are you?” she asked as her heart continued to hammer in her chest. She closed her eyes, wondering what in the heck was wrong with her. She reopened them when she silently admitted that she knew. After spending nearly an entire hour leisurely soaking in a hot tub of bubble bath while fantasizing about him, she could no longer deny that she was attracted to Gabe.
“I’m fine. What about you?”
She pushed a lock of hair out of her flushed face. “Great. Did you meet with Parnell Cabot today?” She inhaled quickly. There. She had immediately put his phone call on a business level.
“Yes, but that’s not why I’m calling.”
“Oh.”
“I was calling to see if you would have dinner with me tomorrow night.”
Sage swallowed the lump that formed deep inside her throat. “Dinner?”
“Yes, you know, that thing we agreed to do together on occasion as friends.”
When she heard the teasing sound in his voice, she relaxed somewhat as a smile lit her face. “I do remember agreeing to something like that.”
“Well, then, will you be available to have dinner with me tomorrow night?”
Sage nervously bit her lips as she tried thinking of a single reason she could not. “What time?”
“Umm, what about eight. Is that all right with you?”
“Yes, eight will be fine. Tell me the name of the place and I’ll meet you there.”
There was a slight pause. “I’d rather come by your place and pick you up. Would that be okay?”
Another moment of silence fell. The husky sound of Gabe’s voice had actually sent shivers up her spine. “Yes, sure. That would be okay. At eight o’clock, right?”
“Right.”
Sage swallowed hard again. “And the place where we’re going, will the proper attire be dressy, business, casual …?” she asked softly.
“Umm, let’s try dressy but not overly so.”
“All right.”
He cleared his throat. “Well, I better let you get back to what you were doing before I called.”
Sage blinked. She wondered what he would think if he knew that she’d just finished taking a leisurely soak in the tub while fantasizing about him. “Okay.”
“Oops, I almost forgot. I’m going to need your address.”
“Oh, yes, of course.” She then gave it to him, and he repeated it for accuracy.
“I’ll see you tomorrow. Good night, Sage.”
“Good night, Gabe.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Sage stood in front of the full-length mirror in her bedroom and surveyed how she looked in the clingy black dress. Gabe had said “dressy but not overly so,” and she hoped what she had on was appropriate. This was the second time she had worn it. The first time had been on her last night in Charlotte before moving to Anchorage. She and Rose had gone out on the town to celebrate.
She drew in a long breath as her gaze drifted over her curves. Because of the style of the dress, she wasn’t wearing a bra and had decided on wearing a silky pair of thigh-high stockings. To solve the problem of her panties showing through the clingy material, she was wearing a black thong, and the thought of that piece of underwear underneath her dress made her feel sexy.
She turned around in the mirror as a heated sensation flowed through her. It had been almost six months since she had gotten all dolled up for a man, and it was the first time since her senior high school prom that the man had been anyone but Erol. Earlier that day when she’d thought about her date with Gabe, she’d felt strange. For so long Erol had been the only man in her life, the only man she