Perfect Fit - Brenda Jackson [67]
Sage regarded what Rose said in silence for a while. Could that be the reason for Gabe’s attitude? She remembered what he’d shared with her over dinner about the woman he had wanted to marry and how she had broken things off, just like that, because she’d become involved with someone else. Had that someone else been an ex-husband or an ex-lover?
Sage sighed deeply. “Maybe you’re right, Rose. I’ll call and talk with Erol tomorrow.”
“Not good enough.”
Sage frowned. “Excuse me?”
“I said a phone call isn’t good enough. You should talk to him personally. The two of you should meet somewhere on neutral ground, without the interference of his family or yours, and get this matter cleared up once and for all. Think about it, Sage. Think about it real seriously if you want things between you and Gabe to ever go somewhere.”
There was a long silence; then Rose said, “Oh, and before I forget, I’ve decided to come out and visit you after all. Lord knows after listening to your woes, someone ought to be there to help you straighten out the mess you seem to have gotten your life into without me.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Gabe glanced at the clock that sat on the night-stand next to his bed. It was four in the morning, and he was still wide awake. Getting up, he strode to the bedroom window and peered outside.
According to the weather reports, it was supposed to snow again today, which seemed to be an everyday occurrence for March. Except for that one day it hadn’t snowed, the day he had gone to Sage’s office to apologize. And from the way it looked, he owed her another apology. His mother had been right. He could not go around placing judgment on every woman who’d had a breakup with a former boyfriend by what Lindsey had done. Yet he had because he was afraid to take a chance on letting any woman get close to his heart again.
But tonight had shown him one thing with Sage. She had touched him deeper with a kiss than he’d ever been touched before. What he’d told her was true; sexual chemistry was a powerful thing. As much as he’d enjoyed sleeping with Lindsey, Debbie and a number of other women he’d dated over the years, none of them had elicited such intense and unabashed desire from him before. There was lust, and then there was lust. What he felt with Sage was something he couldn’t explain. He’d experienced sizzle with a woman before, and also skin-prickling heat. But with Sage, there was more, something different, something all-consuming. Without even trying, she was becoming elemental to his total well-being.
From the time he had arrived at her apartment to pick her up for dinner, there had been a frisson of immediate awareness flowing through every part of his body. But it hadn’t just happened then. It had happened each and every time he’d come within feet of her, but before he’d been able to play if off. Not last night. Whether she realized it or not, she had displayed her growing trust in him. She had been open with her feelings while sharing information with him—unpretentious, honest—and at the end when he’d lit her fuse, she had become a spitfire.
His accusation had questioned her integrity, and she hadn’t liked it one damn bit. It had made her furious, and in the heat of the battle she had gone from feminine to a confident hellion without missing a beat. Desire had sharpened her senses, armed her with more ammunition than he’d been prepared for. He thought she would accept what he’d said about not being a substitute without any fuss or argument. But that had not been the case. She had gotten madder than hell and had not backed down in her assertion that he was the one missing the point and not her. She’d been confident in her feelings and her belief in herself.
Why couldn’t she