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“The pork was so good,” she said, trying to fill the awkwardness blazing through her.. “I don’t think I’ve ever had Kalua pork. And the shrimp.” She moaned, and Ty chuckled in her ear. He lingered so close, so close, and she did everything in her power to stop herself from leaning into him further.
“I’m glad you liked it.” His voice hummed through her soul, and Sage loved the vibration of it deep in her lungs.
“I so could be a fire-dancer,” she said next.
“That was an amazing show,” he said. “I think they’re going to do an encore during dessert.”
“One more dance,” someone said over the loudspeaker. “Then we’ll ask you to return to your seats for your final offering from tonight’s luau.”
Ty ducked his head and swayed with Sage now as the music turned soft and slow. She hadn’t anticipated there being a dance like this at a luau, but as she settled into his arms and into the rhythm of the song, she thanked all the stars in heaven for it. Standing in his arms was the best feeling in the world, and she pulled back a little to look at him.
His eyes met hers, and her first instinct was to thank him again. She realized he didn’t need to hear it, so she kept her mouth closed. Instead, she reached up and trailed her fingers down the side of his face.
His eyes closed, and he dropped his chin. Sage had been kissed before, and she let the moment linger as her eyelids drooped as well. When his lips touched hers, the magic of the night imploded, filling her with warmth and passion and sparks.
Then it exploded, firing out in all directions until she was certain she and Ty lit up the entire island of Carter’s Cove by themselves.
Sage had been kissed before, but never like this. Never with such a strong stroke that also spoke of tenderness, of gentleness, of love.
The song ended; the kiss ended; the magic faded.
Ty whispered, “We should go sit down, sweetheart.”
“Mm.” She pressed her lips together, sure she couldn’t eat right now. If she did, the taste of him would be erased. She finally opened her eyes to find that the sandy dance floor had mostly been abandoned, save for a few stragglers about to step back onto the stone patio where they’d eaten dinner.
Part of her wanted to hurry after everyone else, so no one would look at them. The other part of her gazed at Ty, a soft smile coming to her face. He looked back, and so many doors opened between them. She wanted to walk through all of them, and that surprised her a little. Enough to get her to duck her head, breaking their connection, and then take his hand as he turned to lead her back to their table.
“There you are,” Bessie said as Sage retook her seat. “I couldn’t see you, and I thought maybe you two had left.”
“I would never leave before dessert,” Sage said as she picked up a fresh napkin the color of the inside of a conch shell and spread it in her lap. She grinned at Bessie. “Too bad they didn’t have a dance-off tonight.”
Bessie smiled and shook her head. “Yeah? Would you have gotten up there?”
“Maybe,” Sage said as she faced the stage again. The emcee for tonight raised the mic and started introducing the dessert on the table in front of them. “I’ve been…trying new things.”
“Yeah, looked like it,” Bessie said almost under her breath.
Sage pulled in a breath and turned to her friend. “What does that mean?”
Oliver leaned in closer too, and he muttered, “It means Bessie’s a big, fat liar. She saw you kissing Ty out on the beach, and she’ll talk to you about it later, because he’s talking about a guava cheesecake and some of us want to hear this.”
Then he straightened, gave Bessie a look out of the corner of his eye, and looked at the emcee again.
Sage’s heartbeat flashed through her body as she looked at Bessie too. They both stared at one another with wide eyes, and then Bessie started to laugh. Silently, but her shoulders shook and shook and shook, and that struck Sage as funny too.
Maybe not the kissing-in-front-of-everyone thing, but definitely the way Oliver had just called her and Bessie out for not listening to the dessert ingredients.
When the emcee finally said, “Go ahead and try it,” Sage picked up her dessert spoon to do just that. The guava was subtle, that was for sure, but the bright red raspberry sauce brought a tartness to the sweet cheesecake that made it perfectly balanced.
“This is fantastic,” she said, looking over to Ty.
“I love the dark cookie crumb with it,” he said, already scooping up his second bite. “Who knew they put coffee in that to make it richer?” He’d obviously listened to the emcee too, and Sage ducked her head and focused on her cheesecake lest she start giggling again.
So Bessie had seen her kissing Ty. Big deal. A former version of herself would’ve cared, but this new, adventurous woman she was becoming didn’t mind. It was kissing, not something super scandalous, and Bessie didn’t have to know it was their first kiss.
It had been the best kiss of Sage’s life, and she couldn’t wait to repeat it when Ty dropped her off later.
13
