AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Don’t,” he whispered into her hair. He drove his fingers into her hair and held her head right against his chest. “It’s so great to see you. Hold you.” He bent down and touched his lips to her forehead, then her ear, then her neck.
Their eyes met in the summer evening light, and he grinned at her. “Dinner’s almost here, and Gypsy is not happy you left him in the back.”
Sage spun back to her car and vacated Ty’s arms. She felt him watching her as she hurried back to her car, and sure enough when she looked his way again, she found his eyes glued to hers.Sure looks like he likes you, she thought, not sure where such a thing had come from.
She released Gypsy, and the shaggy dog galloped toward Ty, who laughed and led him up the steps. He opened the front door, and Gypsy went inside his house like he owned the place, leaving Sage to collect her hair-cutting kit by herself.
Armed with that, she approached Ty again. “You’ve got a beard going on too,” she said, smiling at him.
He reached up and rubbed his face. “Yeah, a little bit.” He nodded to her kit. “Can you give me a shave too?”
Surprise flitted through Sage. “Yes,” she said, because she did have the equipment to do that. “I haven’t done that in a while, so you can’t blame me if I nick you.”
“I trust you,” he said as seriously as ever, and then he took her hand and led her up the steps to his front door too.
“Do you want to do the cut first?” she asked. “Or after dinner?”
“We have about a half-hour,” he said. “So now?”
“Sure, now.” She followed him into the kitchen, where he turned around a dining chair and sat down. Sage put her head down and got to work, because she wasn’t sure if she could just slip into his lap and kiss him. He hadn’t kissed her hello, at least not in the way she knew he liked to, and she couldn’t quite meet his eyes.
She put the drape around his neck and got out her scissors. “I was busy today, but I hope you got some down time.”
“I did,” he said. “I watched a movie before I started going crazy, and I went over to Grant’s for a bit.” He smiled—or at least Sage could hear the smile in his voice. “But they’re beach bums, and I didn’t want to sit in the sun today.”
“Or go to the beach on a Saturday after school’s gotten out.”
“That either.” They laughed together, and it sure felt good.
Sage cleared her throat. “Listen, Ty, thank you for letting me word-vomit on you today.”
“Anytime,” he said, and it sounded so genuine.
She clipped and pulled his hair through her fingers, trying to get the lump to go down her throat. She moved to his side, and he turned and looked up at her. Their eyes met, and everything inside Sage wobbled.
Ty was right there, steady and strong and oh-so-capable. He took her onto his lap, scissors and all and said, “Let’s pause for a second.”
“Pause?” she asked, still trying to find her balance on his thighs.
“Yeah.” He looked right at her. “I didn’t get to kiss you hello.” He matched his mouth to hers, and Sage dropped her hair-cutting scissors so she could get lost in his touch. He kissed her completely, and Sage could not imagine he could do that if he didn’t like her.
He pulled away several moments later and leaned his forehead against hers. “Not only do I like you, Sage, I’m falling in love with you.”
A tremor of fear moved through her, settling in her heart. “How do you know?” she whispered.
“I’ve been in love before,” he said simply. “I know what it feels like.” He opened his eyes and put enough distance between them that he could meet her eyes again. “You loved Jerry, right? You know what it feels like too.”
“I thought I did,” Sage said. She slid from his lap and retrieved her scissors. She finished his haircut and set about getting her shaving supplies out. With everything lathered up, she looked at him. “It’s easier if you can lie down. I’ll nick your neck if it’s not stretched a little.” She turned and looked into his living room. “The recliner?”
“All right,” he said easily, and she moved her straight razor and shaving cream over to the end table. He sat down, fluffed the drape around himself, and leaned back in the recliner. He met her eyes and said, “I trust you,” again.
She wasn’t sure why that was so sexy, only that it was. Only that it meant a whole lot to her. She lathered up his face, giggling when she got some on his bottom lip and had to wipe it off. He grinned, and then she lifted the razor.
His eyes moved to that, and he swallowed. “Here goes nothing,” he said, and Sage grinned as she did the first swipe of the razor against his neck. “Mm, I remember how to do this.” She wiped off the cream and the bit of scruff she’d gotten and went back for more.
Two, three, four stripes up his throat, and Sage’s heart started beating like a big, steel drum. Ty’s eyes never left her, and pure male desire lived there. Sage hadn’t seen that burning in a man’s gaze in a very, very long time. If ever.
“Ty,” she whispered, and she managed to put down the razor before he reached for her and pulled her back onto his lap. Only he was lying down this time, and Sage sank easily into his side. He kissed her and kissed her, even when the doorbell rang announcing the arrival of their dinner.
