Carrie looked over at Gage again, who was clearly wearingsomethingunder her jeans, walking around the backyard and not talking to anyone. She seemed to be more interested in the pool and the hot tub than the women she was here to meet, but she didn’t get in either and just walked around them, checking things out. Carrie found herself looking down more than she should have, but she couldn’t believe Gage would be so brazen as to walk around packing like that when they were all supposed to be getting to know each other.
“Gage is here for something, but I’m not sure it’s love,” Jennifer said as she sat down at the round patio table. “Morning.”
“Hi,” Carrie replied.
“Morning,” Debra added.
“And what do you mean?” Carrie asked.
“Gage, right? That’s who you’re talking about?”
Carrie nodded.
“Gage wants sex. At least, that’s my hypothesis.”
“Don’t we all?” Debra joked.
“I think she’sprimarilyhere for that. The other part is a nice bonus if it happens. And she’s packing right now, isn’t she?” Jennifer asked as she looked at Gage, who was on the other side of the long pool and couldn’t hear them. “Yeah, looks like it.”
“Is that bad? Don’t some people just do that?” Carrie asked.
“Yeah, it might just be her thing. Who knows?” Jennifer replied. “Looks good on her, doesn’t it?”
“Okay. Let’s gather round, ladies,” Nia announced, interrupting their conversation.
When everyone joined around the table, sitting or standing, including Gage, who stood opposite her, Carrie couldn’t take her eyes off her. She didn’t like Gage’s standoffish attitude, and if Jennifer was right and Gage had only come here for sex, that would mean she’d lied to Nia during the application process. Carrie didn’t like that, either, but she couldn’t help the fact that Gage was sexy as hell to her physically. Her short brown hair and dark-brown eyes went well with her tan skin, and her overall demeanor told the world that she didn’t care what it thought of her, and Carrie likedthata lot. Hell, she could probably use a little bit of that herself.
“Here’s where things will begin to get a little interesting,” Nia told them. “You’ve been paired with two different people now, and there might be a third different person tonight. Remember, if at any time you’d like to spend another night with someone you’ve already been with, please let me know as soon as possible, and I’ll confirm with them myself. If you’d like that for tonight, please tell me after lunch at the latest so that I can make plans. For today, we’ll continue the no talking about sex, love, or anything pertaining to relationships rule. We’ll also be playing some games. Specifically, I’ll ask you to play charades, where you’ll use non-verbal communication, Pictionary, where you will draw something out and work additionally on your communication, and lastly, a guessing game, where one personwill have a clue but won’t be able to use that clue to get their partner to guess, focusing on verbal communication.”
“And competitiveness,” Becky added. “You want to see how your possible future partner acts when they lose a game before you put a ring on it, right?”
“Right.” Nia laughed. “We’ll be rotating, and you’ll play in the group. One hour for each game. We’ll take a break for lunch. Then, cocktails and dinner. Tonight, you should focus your cocktail and dinner conversations on your family lives.”
“Why can’t we talk about sex and relationships?” Gage asked, clearly irritated. “That’s what we’re here for.”
“All in good time, Gage,” Nia said, brushing her off.
Gage crossed her arms over her chest then, and Carrie did her best to forget about her altogether, but it was difficult because she knew what Gage had in her pants and its purpose, and she’d always wanted a woman to wear one of those for her. Well,alwaysbeing since she had figured out that she was attracted to women. Maybe if Gage really was here just for sex, she could give Carrie what she wanted, and Carrie could give her the same. No, she told herself silently as they rotated through the games she didn’t really want to be playing. She wasn’t here only for sex. She wanted more. If she’d just wanted sex, she could’ve had it by now.
At cocktails, she noticed that Gage wasn’t there, which was odd because everyone else was. Carrie checked the backyard and saw her on one of the chaise lounge chairs, staring out into the backyard and the view behind it. Gage seemed contemplative, and Carrie found herself wondering what she was contemplating exactly. She stared at Gage for a while before she decided not to draw attention to herself and went in search of a drink.
During dinner, Gage was quiet, not saying anything at all that Carrie remembered, and Carrie would remember becauseshewasn’t saying anything, either. She was too focused on Gage,who was sitting diagonally from her and looked like she didn’t want to be there at all but had to eat something, so she was enduring dinner with everyone.
“Thank you all again for a great dinner,” Nia said when they finished eating. “Now, it’s time for our third night pairings. Tonight, we have Becky with Helena, Sharon will be paired with Debra, Jennifer will be with Kristina, and Gage will be with Carrie. You all know the rules by now. I’ve placed your cards on the table, and you can, of course, choose anything you’d like from the den. There are some other interesting things in there that just came in today. Feel free to take a look before you head back to your rooms if you’d like. I’ll leave you here now, but feel free to find me if you have any questions.”
Carrie had been paired with Gage. She knew it would happen at some point; they were supposed to rotate and be paired up with everyone. She just hadn’t expected it to be tonight. Gage looked up and over at her, so Carrie gave her a shy smile. Gage actually smiled back at her, which surprised her. Then, they all stood, and the caterers began clearing the dishes from the table.
“I can get the cards,” she offered.
“Sure,” Gage said, not sounding enthusiastic about that at all. “Do you want to check out the den first? We can maybe go in and look at the new stuff, at least.”
“Not right now,” Carrie replied. “Maybe later, though. Is that okay?”
“Sure,” Gage repeated, still with no enthusiasm.
They walked down the hall toward Carrie’s room, and once they were inside, Gage closed the door behind them.
“Want me to set a timer or something?” Gage asked.
