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“There’s more than hitting the field,” his boss said. “You have the level head to deal with these types of situations and delegate the right teams to the right missions, which is essential to search and rescue.”
How had this conversation turned into trying to keep Gage at a glorified desk job? He wasn’t trying to diminish the work people like East did, and yes, his boss had a hard job, strategizing the best plan and team for certain jobs. Gage could do that…but at what cost? How would he handle hearing about people they lost on missions and never knowing if he would’ve been able to save them?
“I’m honored you’d think of me,” Gage said. “But that’s not what I am. That’s not who I am. It’s not how I’m built.”
“Sounds like you’ve made your decision. Keep doing what you’re doing.”
“Well, let me know what missions come up. I can be there—”
“I know. But you need to finish training the volunteers,” he said and hung up.
Gage gritted his teeth as he resisted the urge to throw the phone. He stared at his suitcase in the corner of the room—he’d never even unpacked.
Who the hell was he to think putting down roots would ever be a good idea?
His plan was crumbling, and if he didn’t regroup, it would all fall apart.
“So is this part of your grand plan?” East asked, coming to stand by Gage.
Gage hovered near the bonfire on East’s property, glancing across it to look at Chloe. After his earlier failed attempt to get his boss to send him on the rescue mission, he’d gratefully accepted East’s offer to join him and his many other friends for a barbeque. If he couldn’t be out on a rescue mission, he’d focus on the mission he’d come here to finish. Because truth was, Chloe hadn’t reached out to him since their date the other night.
Something in his heart had shifted that night. When he thought about the situation he’d put them both in, he had a hard time breathing. The possibility of leaving was more difficult to swallow than before, but so was staying.
“You’re just going to stare her down without saying anything?”
“Maybe,” Gage said. He had a plan. But after their date the other night, he was feeling less at ease about it. What had felt like a win-win was getting more complicated. He’d been so focused on what it meant to be with Chloe that he’d pushed one big issue to the back burner.
Staying.
And thanks to his boss, he now had the word at the forefront of his mind.
The word made his damn mind do somersaults. He wanted a lot of things, but Chloe was at the top of the list. After having an amazing evening with her, then another, he wanted to spend all his free time with her. So why did the idea of sticking around feel so heavy?
Maybe because it’s becoming more real…
And therein lay the snag she’d been warning him about from the beginning. It had nothing to do with wanting her—just the logistics of keeping her. They’d spent every encounter up until the other night in a fantasy world. It’d always been temporary, but now he didn’t have to leave. This time, whether he stayed or went was a choice—and it was daunting as hell.
He drank his beer. The night was beautiful—clouds hung low, and the smell of impending summer rain was in the air. But East was right. While Gage was pretending to look at the bonfire, he was really staring at Chloe standing across from it.
“Speaking of staring,” Gage said, changing the subject. “The cute girl in glasses keeps glaring at you. What’s going on there?”
East laughed. “Ah, sweet Natalie. She’s hated me since we were kids.”
Come to think of it, everyone there knew each other. Likely had for a long time. For a while, Chloe had been one of the few people Gage hadn’t been familiar with. And then that had changed. She’d gone from the intimate stranger he had casual sex with and instead had become…
That was the hell of it all. He had no idea what she had turned into. Or what she would become. What they would become. All this time, he’d assumed that if she just gave them a chance, they’d automatically see how well they fit together.
But his brilliant blackmail plan was biting him in the ass, because now he was messing with something he might not be able to get out of: a commitment to staying.
I can commit to a woman, but not a place…
That little gem of truth his buddy had laid down on him earlier was now pulsing harder than ever in his brain.
“Word around is the head of the Carolina Search and Rescue core retired and they’re looking to replace him. Rumor is they even offered this job to a specific person and still haven’t heard if said person is going to take this job.” East eyed Gage. “Hmmm, I wonder what this mysterious person will choose…” He tapped his beer and grinned at Gage.
Gage nearly knocked his friend flat on his ass. “So it was you who told the boss it should be me in the training position.”
East shrugged. “All I said was we should look for the right person.”
