Worthy of the Harmony (Mountains & Men Book 2) (9 page)

“Yes, Sage, I’m sure,” I reply, both amused and confused by his reaction.

“Okay, then. That’s where I’ll take you. I’ll pick you up at seven.”

“Okay.”

He pops the last bite of his cake into his mouth as he checks the time and then stands to his feet. “I’ve got to jet. The guys and I are auditioning a couple bass players this afternoon. Wish me luck?”

“Good luck,” I say, and mean it.

He leans down and presses a quick kiss against my lips. “Thanks, doll face.” He kisses me one more time before he heads for the door. “Don’t work too hard.”

“Oh, I will,” I chuckle. He looks back over his shoulder as he steps back into the hallway and offers me a wink. “Wait, Sage?” I ask, standing from my chair. He stops and leans into the room, bracing his hands on either side of the doorframe. “Thank you—for the coffee cake.”

“Any time, gorgeous.”

I WAKE WITH A
start, sitting bolt upright as I search for my clock. I squint, in need of my glasses as I look to the wall to see what time it is. I barely make out that it’s a quarter after nine. “Shit,” I mutter, jumping out of bed. I must have forgotten to set my phone alarm before I was knocked out. It was a rough night.

I breathe a sigh of relief when I open my bedroom door and spot that no one is in the bathroom. Then, I waste no time before hopping in the shower. I make sure to grab my toothbrush along the way. As I wash my junk, I scrub my teeth—
who says men can’t multitask?
I’m headed back to my room, a towel around my waist, when I run into Violet. In little more than one of JJ’s t-shirts, she emerges from his bedroom, rubbing her eyes. Her short, blonde hair is a mess from sleep and I can’t help but chuckle. She’s kind of cute first thing in the morning.

“Hey,” she grumbles. I know that she didn’t have nearly as much to drink last night as the rest of us, in her attempts to stay sober enough to mediate the fucking Mountains & Men pity party, but I can tell she feels the effects of last night, too. “Oh, good. You’re up.” She yawns. “I wanted to check. I know you said you had someplace important to be this morning.”

“I do. Thanks for checking. I have to move my ass if I don’t want to be late, though.”

“Mmm. Yeah. Don’t let me keep you,” she mumbles, shooing me away with her hand before she closes herself in the bathroom.

God. Sometimes, I don’t know what we’d do without that girl. She belongs to JJ, but she looks out for all of us. Shit—she’s one of us.

It takes me two minutes to throw on some clothes. I slide my glasses on my face and, not even bothering with my hair, I scoop up Maestro and head downstairs. I let him out back, giving him the chance to do his business while I fill a bag with some food for him and grab his leash. When I call him inside, he’s obedient and comes running. He follows me through the house and out the front door to my car, jumping in when I open up the passenger side for him. I know I’m running late, but I decide to make a quick pit stop. I’m sure she’ll forgive my tardiness if I bring her a peace offering.

Ten minutes later, I’m jogging into Little Bird, begging the powers that be that there isn’t a line a mile long. Just my luck, Tabitha and Brandon are both behind the counter. By the looks of the full lobby, I just missed the craziness.

“Hey, Sage. What’s up?” asks Tabbi.

“I need a sixteen-ounce soy, caramel latte—extra hot and as fast as possible. I’m late.” I rattle off my order and then offer her a pleading grin.

“Coming right up,” she hums, returning my smile with a flirty one of her own.

The girl has it bad. Not to sound like a prick, but it’s completely true. I try not to encourage her. She’s cute and all, but I don’t bag my co-workers. I thought about it once. Then, for a split second, I imagined having to work with her day after day and the awkwardness of her wanting more and me wanting nothing. Until recently, I liked to keep my options open. I preferred my hook ups to be simple with no strings attached. Tabbi’s nice, but I knew she’d come with one big ball of string.

“You’re not a soy man,” says Brandon as he rings me up. “You going to see your sister?”

“Yeah. Sophia has a doctor’s appointment this morning. I think she needs to get shots or some shit like that. Anyway, Harry’s at work and she didn’t want to have to take the boys, so I told her I’d watch ‘em.”

He lifts his eyebrows at me and then turns to grab a cup. He fills it with black coffee, slaps on a lid, then slides it to me across the counter. “No offense, but you look like you could use that.”

I chuckle, immediately grabbing his offering, prepared just the way I like it. “Thanks, man. Rough night.”

“Millie?”

I shake my head once. “Whiskey. Auditions didn’t go as well as we’d hoped. If we don’t find someone by the end of the week, we’re up a fucking creek. We need someone who knows his shit backwards, someone committed, someone who fits.”

“You know…” he pauses, folding his arms across his chest as he strokes his chin. “I might know someone.”

“Don’t mess with me man,” I mutter before taking a sip of my coffee.

“No, I’m serious.”

“And you’re just telling me about this now?”

“Sorry,” he laughs. “It
just
clicked. Name’s Alex.”

“Well, give
Alex
my number. That is, if this
Alex
character has what it takes.”

“Trust me. You won’t be disappointed. I can’t believe I didn’t think of connecting you two before. I’ll pass along your number for sure.”

“Thanks, man.”

“Who’s Millie?” asks Tabbi, sliding my sister’s finished drink across the counter.

I look to Brandon and I can tell he’s biting back a laugh. “A friend,” I answer simply.

“Oh, did you decide where you’re taking her tonight?” Brandon asks.

“She wants to go to Giuseppe’s.”

“Wait—what? Isn’t that—?”

“Yeah,” I say with a shrug, backing my way to the door. “I know. But what the lady wants, the lady gets.”

“Good luck, kid,” he calls out with a laugh.

Even though my hands are full, I still manage to flip him off—with both middle fingers—as I join in his laughter. “I’ll see ya.”

Fifteen minutes later, when I pull up to the Montgomery residence, already feeling the rejuvenating power of my cup of Joe, I hurry to the front door. I ring the bell and wait with Maestro on the porch, preparing myself for Pepper’s wrath in response to my tardiness. Instead, I’m caught off guard when I’m greeted with a smile.

“Somehow, I just knew ten a.m. on your day off would be a bit of a struggle for you. Oh, is that for me?” She opens the door, handing me my beautiful niece as she takes the latte. “Mmmm,” she hums after her first sip. “You love me.” She sighs and then nods for me to follow her inside.

“Um, what’s going on?” I ask, confused. I step into the house and watch as Maestro goes charging for the noise. The boys are obviously in the next room playing.

“I don’t have to leave until ten-thirty. So you’re not fifteen minutes late, you’re fifteen minutes early.”

I gape at her for a moment as she turns to smirk at me in the entryway of her home. “Christ, Pep. I busted my ass getting here.”

“I appreciate it. Now you have a few minutes to chat with your big sis. And watch your language, for crying out loud. My precious girl can hear, you know?”

I smile down at my niece, barely over a month old, who looks up at me with her pretty brown eyes. I press a gentle kiss against her forehead, amazed at how much she looks like Pepper. “Sorry, Soph.”

“Kitchen,” says Pepper with another nod. “Don’t let the boys see you.”

We sneak by the living room, where the boys are busy with Maestro, and head into the kitchen. They love my French bulldog; so much so, they haven’t connected the dots that if
he’s
here, so am I. Once we’re out of sight, Pepper leans against the counter and looks at me intently from over the rim of her cup.

Unlike Rosy and me, she inherited more of our father’s features. Her skin is milky white, and her shoulder length hair, worn back in a ponytail more times than not these days, is a dark reddish brown color. While Rosy and I both have blue eyes, Pepper got mom’s brown eyes. When we were younger, she used to complain about how different she looked from her younger siblings, but she got over it. She’s beautiful, even now—soft around the edges after giving birth to her third child. She amazes me, really. Except, at the moment, that look in her eye has me feeling more suspicious than anything else.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“So, I talked to Rose yesterday. She had quite the interesting story to tell me.”

“Oh, good god!” I groan, rolling my eyes.

Pepper laughs, her amusement lighting a twinkle in her eye. “We won’t talk about it,” she assures me, for which I am grateful. “But as a fair trade, you have to tell me
something.
One girl—four weekends. That’s pretty impressive.”

“I told you. I want her.”

“So it’s going well? She’s over the age thing?”

“We’re working on it. I’m taking her out tonight.”

“Oh, yeah?” she asks, lifting her eyebrows at me. “Where?”

I clear my throat once before I respond. “Giuseppe’s.”

She immediately covers her mouth with her hand, but it does nothing to silence her gasp. “You
are not
taking her there.”

“It’s where she wants to go. It’s her favorite place. What was I supposed to say,
no?
”

“Oh, Sage. You
do
want her, don’t you?”

We’re interrupted by a high pitched scream followed by crying. Pepper sets her coffee down, all thoughts of Millie and Giuseppe’s fleeing her mind as she starts for the next room.

“Wait—no, no,” I insist, handing her Sophia. “I got it. You get her ready to go.”

“You’re sure?”

I give her my best,
oh, please
, expression. “I’m Uncle Sage.
I got this
.”

As soon as I walk into the room, Carter, my two-year-old nephew, looks over at me and instantly stops crying. I can’t help but chuckle as I drop to my hands and knees and crawl toward him and Henley, my four-year-old buddy. I reach out to wipe away Carter’s alligator tears and he smiles at me before he starts chatting. Whatever was bothering him before, it’s certainly not bothering him now.

Like I said. I’m Uncle Sage. I got this.

BY SOME MIRACLE,
I manage to get through my entire work day without being cornered in a room by Lindsey. I know the day is coming. I know she’ll have endless questions about Sage—my
admirer.
I haven’t dated anyone since I started working at the college. The last guy I was silly enough to fall in love with left me just before my very first class.

Literally. Right. Before.

Needless to say, I haven’t had anyone to talk about. Neither am I a woman who kisses and tells, so it’s not as if she’s heard about every single one-night stand I’ve had over the past two years. I’m sure seeing Sage waiting for me at my office speaks
volumes
in her mind.

Then again, to say that it doesn’t speak volumes in my own mind is a lie unworthy of the effort. The same goes for denying the anxious anticipation that has my stomach tingling as I finish my makeup. I’m excited to see him. There’s no point in lying about it. No one would believe me, not even myself. He texted me earlier, warning me what would happen if I backed out at the last minute. When I assured him I wouldn’t, he told me he’d spank me anyway, if I so desired.