Perfect Fit (25 page)

Gabe couldn’t help but laugh. The astonishment in his best friend’s voice was priceless. It wasn’t that Christopher was surprised that a woman had spent some time at his home, but it was the mere fact that she had slept in the guest bedroom and not his bed. Only someone with a sordid womanizing past as Christopher’s could ask such a thing or have the astounding ability to pick up a woman’s scent a whole week later.

“My relationship with Sage hasn’t moved to that level yet,” Gabe said, shaking his head.

“Losing your touch, Blackwell?”

“No, playing it safe and trying to protect my heart, although it may be too late.”

Christopher eyed Gabe thoughtfully. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

Gabe leaned back in his chair. With a finger tucked under his chin, he met Christopher’s gaze and responded, “I don’t know. What do you think I’m saying?”

Christopher leaned forward, making sure he had Gabe’s complete attention and to also make sure he picked up on every vibe Gabe emitted. “I think that this Sage woman has gotten to you.”

Gabe nodded slowly. “And do you see that as a good thing or a bad thing?”

“It depends. That’s why I’m dying to get to know her.”

Gabe nodded again. Christopher was someone who could read a woman like a book. He had tried warning Gabe about Lindsey, but he hadn’t listened.

“You may as well know she has issues,” Gabe said quietly. “Pretty much the same ones Lindsey had.”

Christopher’s jaw tensed. “Then, why in the hell are you setting yourself up for punishment, Black-well?”

Gabe sighed. “I’m hoping that’s not what I’m doing, Chris. There’s a part of me that wants to believe that Sage has her head on a lot straighter than Lindsey did, and that she’s really let go and is ready to move on with her life.” He wondered how he could even say that when in a few days Sage would be flying to Texas to meet with her ex-fiancé. The only reason he supported her going was because inside he knew that she would either return to Anchorage ready to continue what the two of them had started or to tell him that she and her ex
had worked things out. It would be better for things between them to end now than later after she had wiggled her way into the pit of his heart.

But then, deep down he knew it didn’t really matter; she was already there. After spending the last three years avoiding any type of a serious relationship with a woman, Gabe realized Sage had already wrapped herself around him pretty tight. He had never enjoyed being with a woman more than he had these past weeks. She had made him laugh and had filled an emptiness within him that had existed for so long. There were so many things about her that he wanted to explore, to get to know. And then there was the budding side of their relationship that definitely gave him something to look forward to, the intimate side. In a very short amount of time, Sage Dunbar had become his fantasy woman. There were sensuous bones in her body that hadn’t yet been worked. Evidently, her ex-fiancé hadn’t been one who was into exploring new and different things in the bedroom, and Gabe looked forward to teaching her everything he knew … and then some.

“Gabe?”

Christopher’s voice pulled him back to the present. “What?” He stared at Christopher for a long, uncomfortable moment and wondered just how much he had figured out.

“A part of me doesn’t want to see you get hurt again. Believe me when I say that I felt your pain, bro,” Christopher said quietly. “But then there’s another part of me that wants you to have just what I have, the very thing that I thought could never be possible for me. Maxi has done nothing but bring me immense happiness and pleasure, Gabe. And when I think of how I used to live my life, all
the women I used to sleep around with and discard with no thoughts or feelings for them whatsoever, I feel blessed that God still felt I was worthy enough for Maxi to be mine. And then Christopher Max is the icing on the cake.”

A lump formed in Gabe’s throat that really didn’t surprise him. He had known the old Christopher Chandler, the one who had been tormented by a past he couldn’t forget. And Gabe was so very happy that he had finally found inner peace. And he hoped and prayed that God would find the same favor with him that he’d found with Christopher and grant him that same inner peace.

C
hristopher liked her.

That fact was so obvious Gabe couldn’t help the smile that crinkled the corners of his mouth. Chris was so taken with Sage it wasn’t funny.

Gabe had decided to prepare dinner at his home instead of taking them out to a restaurant. Leaving his office early, he had gone home to cook what he considered a feast, then left to pick Sage up from her home to bring her to his.

During dinner Christopher had been completely charmed by the likes of Sage Dunbar, and for any woman, other than Maxi and Joella Blackwell, to charm Christopher was not easy. Gabe had enjoyed taking a backseat while Chris and Sage got to know each other, first on a business level, then personally. She had engaged him in conversation about Maxi and Christopher Max, which were Chris’s favorite topics of conversation. Gabe had actually seen his best friend blush profusely when after showing Sage a photograph of his son, she had gone on and on about how much Christopher
Max looked like his father, a fact that Christopher was pretty damn proud of.

Later that night when he returned Sage to her apartment, Gabe couldn’t help but grin.

“What are you smiling about?” she asked as they walked from the elevator toward her apartment door.

“Oh, I was just thinking about how taken Chris was with you tonight.”

Sage smiled as she glanced up at him. “And I was just as taken with him. I can see how the two of you are such close friends. He’s a pretty nice guy.”

Gabe chuckled. He remembered a time a lot of women didn’t think so. Christopher had been the type of man that women couldn’t stand but couldn’t resist either. Gabe knew that during that time his mother had constantly stayed on her knees praying for Chris’s redemption. And like he’d told Parnell that day, he really believed his mother had connections up there.

“Would you like to come in, Gabe?”

Sage’s question brought his thoughts back to the present. Oh, yeah, he definitely wanted to come inside. She would be leaving tomorrow morning to meet her ex-fiancé, and Gabe intended to leave her with something to think about. Before he left tonight, her mind would be so full of him she wouldn’t be able to think straight. A couple of times during the course of the evening, he had wished that Christopher would get lost, just to have Sage all to himself. When he saw that wouldn’t happen, then he had started counting the minutes, then the seconds, before he would take her home.

“Yes, I’d like to come in if you don’t mind. I know you have a plane to catch in the morning, and I wouldn’t want to keep you up late,” he said,
trying to keep the desire, the deep feeling of arousal, out of his voice.

“No, I don’t mind,” she said softly, opening the door.

As soon as Gabe stepped into her apartment, into the soft glow of lighting that filled her living room, he picked up her scent which was already embedded in his nostrils. Now inside her apartment, her scent was more prevalent. This was the place where she came home from work each day, to eat, to sleep, to bathe. This was her space, and he intended to invade it real good tonight.

“What would you like?”

Her question caught Gabe’s attention, and he met her gaze. In all this thirty-two years, he was quite sure he had never wanted a woman as much as he wanted the one standing before him. But he knew that he had to stick to his goal. He didn’t want a night with her; he wanted a whole lifetime. He blinked at the thought, taken aback by what he’d just decided. But then when a man loved a woman, he thought such things. The key with him would be to convince the woman that he was worth loving.

“Gabe?”

“Yes.”

“I asked if there was something you wanted or did you want to talk?”

Gabe leaned against the closed door. He found himself smiling at her question. And since she’d asked …

“No, Sage, I don’t want to talk, and yes, there is something I’d like, something that I want.”

Sage swallowed, knowing the answer to her next question, but she found herself asking anyway. “What?”

“You.”

For a full minute Sage didn’t say anything. There was nothing she could say. He had every right to want her, especially after the past few weeks. Unselfishly, on five different occasions, he had brought her to the pinnacles of total fulfillment with orgasms so strong, so potent, so unlike anything she’d ever experienced that even now the thought of them was making her tremble inside. And each time that he had fulfilled her needs, his own had gone unsatisfied.

He’d been determined to keep his word to her, determined to prove he could be trusted. A part of her knew that trust was no longer an issue between them. In a way, it never had been. There had been something about Gabe that had let her know from the first that he was a man who wouldn’t take advantage of her and her feelings. He was a man who proved to her that he would put her well-being before his own. He’d done exactly that over the past weeks.

She was woman enough to know that sexual pleasures should work both ways; yet for him they hadn’t, and it was time to put his torment to an end. It was the first time she would try seducing a man, and Sage hoped she did it right.

“Tonight is usually my pamper-yourself night,” she said softly, as a whirlpool of desire erupted in her stomach with the intensity of Gabe’s gaze.

“A pamper-yourself night?” he asked huskily, pushing himself away from the door to come and stand within a few feet of her.

“Yes, it’s a night that I pamper myself. I usually take a long, leisurely soak in the tub with lit vanilla candles all around and soft music playing in the background.”

He nodded, then flicked a quick glance at the door that led to her bedroom and master bath. “Don’t let me stop you. Go ahead and enjoy yourself. I’ll sit and wait out here for you.”

Sage took a step toward him. “Or you can join me.”

Gabe considered it for a moment, the full extent of her invitation. He was a man who could take only so much, and would have to be made of stone to join her in a bath and not make love to her. Did she not know what she was asking of him? Did she not think there were limitations to their madness? Evidently, she didn’t. He intended to push a lot of her buttons tonight, but they were buttons he knew he could push and still maintain control. She was asking for the impossible, and like he’d told her on several occasions, he was no angel.

“Thanks, but I’ll wait for you.”

She nodded. “If that’s what you prefer.”

He wanted to tell her it wasn’t what he preferred but that he had no choice. The decision was the best one to make for the both of them.

“If you change your mind, I’ll be right through that door,” she said, pointing to her bedroom. “Make yourself at home. I’ll be back later.”

With a walk that had his full attention, astounded, he watched as Sage crossed the room to disappear into her bedroom. Rubbing a hand down his face, he wondered if he had literally lost his mind. She was getting naked in the other room, and here he was, standing in her living room with an erection the size of Texas.

Deciding to do something, anything, whatever he could, to pass the time away, he walked over to the television and turned it on. He tried to ignore
the sound of her moving around her bedroom, the scent of vanilla candles being lit that filled the air and the soft sound of the music the television couldn’t even drown out. Then when everything in the room suddenly went pitch black, except for the glow of candlelight that cast shadows of flickering light in the living room, Gabe knew he was in trouble.

Deep trouble.

Sage leaned against the back of the tub that was filled with bubble bath. She closed her eyes, not wanting to think about her trip to Dallas tomorrow. She wanted to concentrate only on the present, which included the man in her living room. If he was still in her living room.

She was hoping that he was following the candlelight to her bathroom. It would be just the way she had fantasized that day in her office when she’d thought of taking a bath with Gabe standing in the shadows watching her. She took a deep breath and forced herself to think positively. Gabe was a man, and men had certain needs. He couldn’t last much longer.

Over the past two weeks she’d had to rethink her position about wanting to share a relationship without sex. Maybe for another couple sleeping together now was too soon, but for her and Gabe it made perfect sense. She smiled, not believing she felt that way. Never in a thousand years would she have thought she could feel comfortable sharing herself with a man she’d known only for a few months, although they had actually met seven months ago. But there was something about her and Gabe’s relationship that wasn’t normal. It
seemed they weren’t destined to take things at the pace most people took them. The sexual chemistry between them was too volatile, almost explosive, too plain old hot. And to top that off, she felt comfortable with him and the trust she had placed in him.

But then she had also discovered there was more to their relationship than just the sexual aspect of it. She enjoyed doing things with him, spending time with him, talking with him, working with him. It seemed that she and Gabe were a good combination, a solid match on all levels.

Sage slowly opened her eyes when she heard the sound of footsteps. She held her breath as she felt her body beginning to stir with anticipation, with wanting, with desire. She turned her head and locked her gaze on the doorway.

She stared for endless seconds before he finally appeared. The sight of him took her breath away. He had removed his suit jacket and had pulled his dress shirt from the waist of his pants. He didn’t have any shoes on his feet, but he still had on silk socks. He looked sensuously comfortable, and at the same time laid-back. The multitude of emotions in his dark gaze said it all.

He still wanted her.

“I forgot to mention that I have a remote in here that controls all the lighting in the apartment,” she said quietly, holding his gaze and explaining why the apartment had gone totally black. “On pamper-yourself night, the only light I want is candlelight.”