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ChapterFive
WYNN
I wasn’tthe least bit surprised to find Gage’s truck sitting in front of my house when I pulled up later that evening. I’d gone to yoga as planned, hoping my friend Aurora’s class would help to dull the edge on the arousal I’d been feeling since earlier that morning.
My girl had put the whole class through our paces. I’d built up a sweat, and by the time I walked out of there, my body was loose and limber, my muscles warm from exertion. The loud growl my stomach had let out during Shavasana had reminded me that I’d forgotten to eat lunch, so I stopped at the market on the way home.
I parked in the driveway and popped the trunk, hooking the straps of my reusable grocery totes over my forearms. I managed to wrestle the front door open only to be met by Gage’s voice carrying through the house the moment I stepped across the threshold. “You’re out of Snickers bars!” he called out accusingly.
I rolled my eyes, kicking the door shut behind me as I hefted the slipping bags back up before they spilled all over the place. “Check underneath the box of frozen salmon quiches.”
I heard a low-pitched grumble, followed by my freezer drawer sliding closed. Gage had a very specific sweet tooth. He only liked Snickers, and he only liked them frozen. How he hadn’t shattered all his teeth yet was beyond me, but I always made sure to stay stocked for moments such as this.
He popped up into view as I rounded the corner from the entryway into the open concept living and kitchen area and rounded the peninsula that separated the living room from the kitchen. The instant he saw the bags I was holding he divested me of the uncomfortable weight and spread them across my very limited counter space. My place was nowhere near as awesome as Gage’s—this whole place could fit easily inside his kitchen—but it was enough. At least for now when it was just me. Truth was, I’d always planned for this place to be more of a starter home. A resting place until I was ready to move into my forever home with my partner. That plan had been blown to smithereens.
I went about unpacking the bags and putting things away as Gage ripped his candy bar open and gnawed off a bite, speaking around the frozen nougat and caramel as he said, “Frozen salmon quiches sound fucking disgusting. And this was the last Snickers. You’re slacking on the job, Bits.”
I yanked out the gargantuan package of king-sized candy bars and gave them a shake. “Cool your britches, Viking. I’ve already got you covered.”
He snatched the package from me and used the tip of his boot to pull open the freezer drawer again, tossing them inside before coming back to help me with the rest of the groceries.
We moved as an effective team, with him as used to being at my house as I was to being at his. Only, this time, instead of moving on autopilot, I was more aware of his physical presence than I ever had been before. His aftershave smelled more potent, like leather and something spicy, like fennel. A spice that reminded me of licorice. His massive frame felt like it was dwarfing my tiny kitchen even more.
At one point, when he moved behind me to put a bag of chips in the pantry and placed his hand on my hip to gently scoot me out of the way, my stupid knees nearly buckled.
I needed to get my shit together.
Or more aptly, I needed to pull my vibrator out of its drawer and put it to use, because something told me this kind of tension wouldn’t let up unless it was released.
I gave my head a sharp shake to clear it of those ridiculous thoughts and to rattle some sense into me.
With the last of the groceries put away, I folded the totes and stored them in the bottom of the pantry as Gage grabbed a beer from the pack I kept stocked for him in the fridge. He took a large swig before asking, “So you manage to center yourself or whatever?”
My cheeks instantly heated. I remembered his reply to that text from earlier today and my mind tried to return to the gutter it had been crashing in all day, but I refused to let it.
“If you’re asking about yoga, it was great. You really should have come with me. You missed out. How’s teriyaki chicken sound to you?”
He grunted and took another pull from his beer as I started gathering all the ingredients for dinner. On the nights we had dinner at his place, it was always takeout, but when we ate at my place I insisted on cooking. I’d always loved to cook, it was one of my favorite hobbies, so much so that I could get lost for hours watching cooking reels on social media. I was damn good at it but something about cooking for one took the fun out of it, so shortly after moving to Redemption I stopped. There’d been no point. Now that I had Gage in my life, I’d been able to return to something I loved to do, and it felt damn good to have someone enjoy the meals I prepared as much as he did.
Although, he didn’t seem to have the same enthusiasm for it tonight that he usually did. He thought he was hiding it, but I saw the tick in his jaw, the tension in his muscles causing him to hold himself stiffer. Small, practically infinitesimal tells that only came with knowing someone as well as Gage and I knew each other.
I dropped the package of chicken breasts onto the counter by the rest of the ingredients and started chopping my ginger, garlic, and green onions, all the while watching Gage from the corner of my eye. “Hey, you all right?”
His nostrils flared as he drained the rest of his beer and headed back to the fridge for a second, yanking the door open with more force than necessary.
“Got a call today,” he said, all vague and ominous before guzzling back nearly a third of the beer he’d just opened.
“Okay. A call from who?” I asked when he didn’t expand any further.
I could practically hear his molars grinding together. “From Vanessa.”
The knife in my hand froze mid-chop. It was like a record scratched in my brain. “Vanessa?” The question was followed by a tiny growl. “As in yourexVanessa? The bottom-feeding, soul-sucking despicable bitch?ThatVanessa?”
I hated that woman more than I hated anyone, and I’d never even met her. I didn’t have to. I knew what she’d done to Gage, how she’d broken him nearly beyond repair when she ended their years-long relationship in a fucking letter she’d mailed to him during his deployment. He’d been defending our country and trying to stay alive and she broke his heart in a fuckingnote.
The corners of his mouth hitched slightly with a suppressed grin. “Christ, Bits. Don’t hold anything back. Why don’t you tell me what you really think?”
I returned to chopping, going to town on the green onions, not the best idea, given the sudden spike in my temper. “I don’t know how you could find this funny.”Chop, chop, chop. The knife in my hand was destroying the garlic that was supposed to go into our dinner. “What could that swamp-dwelling she-devil possibly have to say to you?”Chop, chop, chop. “And after all these years?”Chop, chop, chop.
