Trust in Us (12 page)

They had moved from the large armchair to the sofa, where they shared the blanket and took in the sight of the steadier snowfall. The condo was moonlit and quiet but for the minute tapping of the snowflakes against the glass doors leading out to the balcony.

“Didn’t I just make up for leaving?” she asked.

He dropped another kiss to her head, gathering her impossibly close. “You definitely made up for it.”

Alythia discovered she had been wrong. She’d only
thought
she’d known true contentment lounging there alone on her sofa. But
this
was it and if it wasn’t, it was certainly a damn sight closer than she’d been a few hours ago. She didn’t want anything to infringe on that and curved into Gage as she tried to will away the conversation.

“Why’d you go, Alythia?”

“You know how it is,” she huffed. “Work to do...”

“Right, business worries
can
make you forget everything.”

Regret forced Aly to close her eyes. She didn’t want him to think that her work was enough to make her forget him. “Coming here was all I could do to forget everything that went on back there, Gage.”

“That’s got nothing to do with us, Alythia.” His arms about her tightened in sync with the hardening of his voice.

“I can’t understand how you can feel that way.” She clenched a fist to the center of his chest and held it there. “These are people we’ll have to see all the time.”

“Not necessarily.”

“Are you suggesting we dump our friends?” Her tone was playful.

“Not at all, but it’d be hard to get tugged into crap if we aren’t around.”

Aly braced herself on an elbow and gaped down at him. “Are you talking about not going back?”

“Yeah...” He shrugged as though the plan were perfectly logical.

Alythia couldn’t believe what she was hearing and that fact was amplified as she studied him with a look of amused disbelief. Gage graced her with a roguish wink and tucked her back between his arm and chest.

“Look at that snow,” he marveled, and put another kiss to the top of her head.

Chapter 12

“Y
ou live here?” Aly figured more words would fail her as she stood just inside the grand corner condo.

The place occupied the opposite end of her floor. There were only two of the L-shaped units, one at either end of the hall. Alythia had considered herself blessed to have acquired the spot she had and often wondered about the kind of people who could afford digs on such a scale and rarely use them.

Gage kept his place leaning on the condo’s open door, arms folded over a lightweight burgundy hoodie. He seemed more interested in watching her observe his home than in the place itself.

Aly was drawn to the wall of glass that filled the far right and rear wall of the living room. The scene before her eyes was stunning and provided an almost panoramic view that was impossibly more spectacular than her own.

“How long have you lived here?”

“Let’s see...” Gage focused on something in the distance. “Since yesterday.” He smiled when she turned on him with an exasperated look. “I had to be sure I’d have somewhere to stay if you decided not to let me into your place last night.”

Alythia was on the verge of laughter. “And I guess all the hotels in Aspen were full?”

“Anegada spoiled me.” He shrugged. “I’m used to being close to where you are now, I guess.”

“All in the span of a few days.” She shook her head. “This is a pretty penny to drop on a place you’ll never use.”

He eased his hands into the pockets of his navy carpenter’s pants and frowned over her prediction. “Why do you think I won’t use it?”

“Do you have business here?”

“Sure do.” He shut the door, rested back against it. “I was at work all night last night.”

“Be serious.” Alythia fought against smiling and failed.

“I am.”

Her smile wavered. “Don’t tell me you bought this place for me?”

“Would that scare you?”

The quiet seriousness of his voice held Alythia speechless for a moment. She didn’t know what to make of the steady gaze or easy stance next to the door, with which he beckoned her.

“You don’t know me, Gage.”

“I’m trying to fix that.”

“Why?”

“Why not?”

Aroused, exasperated, angry at herself for not trusting that
he
was so right for her, she rolled her eyes and turned back to observe her understatedly plush surroundings.

* * *

Gage dropped his easy expression. In its place emerged uncertainty. For the thousandth time since he’d taken off after her, he asked himself what the hell he thought he was doing. He wasn’t unaware of his manner with women. Truth be told, his reputation wasn’t much better than that of his closest friends, but such things only elevated a man’s appeal, didn’t they?

Unfair or not, women always fared far worse in the blows dealt to their reputations. It was an unfailing truth, whether the blows were earned or inherited. He’d toyed with reconsidering the Aspen trip, telling himself that he was in for an uphill battle.

Regardless of its awesomeness, he knew that she’d regretted sleeping with him in Anegada. That regret had probably carried over to what had happened between them the night before, as well.

And what about himself? He considered. Did he now imagine himself in love with her because of the mind-blowing sex they’d enjoyed? No...that wasn’t why he was there. Of that he was certain. The final hours of the Anegada trip were prime examples of hell in a handbasket. Such a beautiful environment tainted by such ugliness. Yet all he could think of while keeping the offending parties separated was how badly he craved the contentment Alythia’s presence provided him. She’d been an anchor in a storm and he had fallen in love with her.

There was a knock at the door. Alythia watched as Gage answered. He admitted a small man dressed in dark trousers with a white shirt and a bow tie. The man brought with him a square table set for two and carrying silver platters with coffee and juice carafes.

The server smiled in Alythia’s direction as he pulled the covers from the platters to reveal steaming dishes of fluffy scrambled eggs with pancakes, bacon and fruit.

* * *

“So, then, your brother-in-law is the epitome of the perfect man?” Gage asked.

She and Gage were halfway through their filling breakfast. They had discussed Gage’s upbringing as an only child and being without cousins, as his parents were only children, as well. Alythia sat riveted by stories of family vacations to Spain and Africa—places she could scarcely imagine as a child. When it was her turn to share, she couldn’t help but feel a little self-conscious about her humdrum upbringing. Gage, however, seemed completely absorbed in her stories. Encouraged, Alythia felt more engaged as her talk moved to her older sister’s true-love tale.

“She wouldn’t agree that Owen’s the perfect man but... Well, the girl’s always been a little silly.” Aly joined in laughing with Gage at her sister’s expense.

“He does stay busy, though.” Alythia relaxed in her chair and sipped at her almond coffee. “Life of a lawyer, I guess.”

“Wait a minute.” Gage’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Is your bother-in-law Owen Hays? The attorney?”

“That’s him.” Alythia beamed.

“I’ve seen your sister.” He regarded Aly with heightened appraisal. “I’m thinking her husband is
very
devoted to her.” He placed a finger alongside his temple. “Your parents shared an awesome gene pool with their girls.”

“Thank you.” She nodded, gracefully accepting the compliment. “But it’s not just good genes that caught Owen’s eye. Angela did everything right.”

“How so?”

Feeling rejuvenated by the fabulous breakfast and the wintry view, Aly didn’t mind talking. “She was just a great example. No one
told
her to be. I guess she felt like she had to be for me, the baby. There weren’t many shining examples where we’re from....” She placed her mug on the table and propped her chin on the back of her hand.

“Making sacrifices and walking good paths...they aren’t things people just do because others need or expect it. There has to be a real good deep-down reason that gives them the ability to see it all through.”

As she confided to him, her amethyst stare alight with love and admiration for her sister, she imagined that Gage must have been wondering how much of that “real good deep-down”
she
had.

“Angie already had four years under her belt as a prosecutor—a damn good one—before she met Owen. She’d worked hard enough to call her own shots, but working that hard doesn’t leave much time to develop relationships.” Aly shrugged her brows. “Good thing for her, too—helped her live up to that lofty goal of saving herself for marriage.”

“You think that’s why Owen was interested?” Gage leaned closer, resting both elbows on the table.

“Isn’t that what all men want?” Alythia averted her eyes. “To be the first and the last?”

“Some men only care about being the last.” An animal intensity sharpened his features. “You only care about that when you’ve found the right one.”

Aly wouldn’t let herself fall under the spell that his liquid gaze was wholly capable of weaving. “It was obvious to Owen that Angela was the right one.” Her intention had been to keep the conversation on funny family stories, but she found herself discarding the decision.

“How’d you find me, Gage? Why?”

“I put my already overworked assistant to work on it, got my results fast,” he told her at last.

Aly nodded, following the invisible design her fingers traced on the tablecloth. “Are you used to getting your results quickly?”

“In some things.”

“Business?”

“Always.”

“Women?”

“Frequently.”

“You forgot one,” he said when it seemed she was done with her questions. “Things that matter,” he supplied.

Aly regarded him curiously. “Doesn’t your business matter?”

“Things that last, then.”

“What’s your track record there? With things that last?”

“Not sure,” he responded, but he looked uncertain. “I never went after anything I truly cared about lasting.”

“Your business—”

“Business isn’t even in the same hemisphere as this, Alythia.”

She ducked her head, trying to soothe her uncertainties about the words she was about to utter. “Why’d you come to find me, Gage? You and I enjoyed Anegada for the most part. There would’ve been no harm in letting it end there. Considering...”

“You’re right.” Absently, he stirred at the honey butter that had been left behind following their breakfast. “I guess a big part of that enjoyment is what brought me out here. A big part, but not even half of it.”

“How long can you stay?” Suddenly she wasn’t altogether sure that she wanted to know the other part of what brought Gage Vincent to her doorstep.

“I’m the boss.” He reclined in his chair again. “I can stay for as long as I want.”

“And what of your overworked assistant?” Her smile was playfully judgmental.

“It’ll be good for him to be in charge for a little longer. Besides, I’ve got him at work on closing a pretty big deal. I shouldn’t get back too soon and have the poor guy thinking the boss is micromanaging.”

Alythia laughed, though she was all too aware of the “deal” Gage’s assistant was most likely trying to close.

“Thank you for this.” She cast an appreciative look around the room. “I, um...I really do need to check on things at the boutique.”

He nodded. “Dinner later? We’ll go out.” He chuckled, correctly reading the smile she returned. “We’ll be around lots of low drama, I promise.”

“Gosh...not even a lovers’ spat?”

“
Especially
not a lovers’ spat.”

“It’s a date!” Aly threw back her head to laugh again. She caught the sheer heat flooding Gage’s eyes as he only watched her.

“I should go.” She pushed out of her seat. “This was really nice.”

Alythia stood while Gage continued to recline in his chair. She was passing him when he snagged her wrist and tugged her down into a kiss that grew wet and needy in a second. Aly was moaning weakly and entwining her tongue around his in a lazy tangle before she bit his lip softly and repeated the erotic action. She was in his lap a moment later.

Willpower was nonexistent where Gage was concerned, and she could accept that. In his arms, she could imagine that they could be more. It didn’t matter that reality screamed they could be nothing more than a fling.

Gage patted her hip, broke the kiss to drop one behind her ear. “I’ll see you later,” he whispered.

It was no small feat for Aly to draw herself away, but she managed. She made a dash for the door before she said to hell with business and uncertainty and returned to take what she wanted from him.

Outside his door, she rested back to slow her breathing and was summoned from her haze by the chiming of her phone. Marianne. Alythia changed her mind about answering. Casting a lingering look across her shoulder at Gage’s door, she turned and sprinted down the hallway toward her own.

Charlotte, NC

“Great,” Marianne Young whispered when her call went to voice mail. She considered hanging up and then decided to give her client the news Mari guessed Alythia had been dreading.

“Aly, it’s Mari. Looks like Jeena was right. Gage Vincent
is
the silent power hovering over the new downtown space. Call me. We should discuss how you want to handle it. Talk to you soon.”

Marianne ended the call only to have the phone ring less than a minute later. “Aly?” she greeted without checking the faceplate.

“Webster Reese,” a deep voice countered.

“Oh! I—I’m sorry.” Marianne collapsed back into her desk chair.

“I’m the one who should apologize, Ms. Young.”

“Oh?”

Webb chuckled at her bewildered tone. “I didn’t mean to upset you the other day when I called for information on your client Alythia Duffy.”

“Oh...Mr. Reese.” Marianne remembered then. “It’s okay—”

“No, it’s not, and I apologize a lot better in person.”

“Mr.—Mr. Reese, are you...asking me out?” Mari leaned forward in her chair, threading fingers through her reddish-brown bangs. “That’s really not necessary and it probably wouldn’t be a good idea anyway.”

“Oh?” Webb let his bewilderment show.

Mari cringed. “We’re, um...we’re kind of caught up in a business deal.”

“Business?” Webb’s bewilderment showed no signs of waning.

“My client’s trying to secure retail space in a building your boss owns. We’ve submitted a bid and everything.”

“Yuck. I take it our bosses don’t know any of this.”

“Just told mine via voice mail.”

“Ouch.” Webb followed up with a grunt. “I think I’ll just stay a little too busy to inform my boss.”

Marianne cringed again. “He won’t take it well, I guess?”

“I can’t say, Ms. Young, but something tells me that
I
don’t want to be the one to tell him.”

* * *

“Dammit...” Alythia had just replayed Marianne’s message in hopes of hearing a different version and had not gotten her wish.

Perhaps she
was
making a mountain out of a molehill. Maybe it wouldn’t rattle Gage in the least to discover that the woman he was seeing wanted space in a prime piece of real estate that he owned. Maybe he wouldn’t think that she’d been sleeping with him to better her chances at securing it.

Maybe he wouldn’t think that—if she hadn’t slept with him two days after meeting him.

“Stop, Aly.” She tried to focus on getting ready for dinner. The comb stilled in her hand and she studied it through the mirror without really seeing it. Then she was hurling the wide-toothed instrument across the room and holding her head in her hands when it hit the wall.