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“Good girl.” Fuck, that slipped out before he could think better of it. Would she jump down his throat, reproach him for being condescending, reinforce she was a grown woman? He definitely didn’t need reminding around that concept.
Whether she believed it or not, he’d said it with praise, with appreciation, with affection.
He braced himself for her verbal attack.
Surprisingly, none came.
The look she gave him radiated relief. “But I want to get your unbiased opinion on the messages first.”
She swallowed and darted her eyes to her laptop, charging on the coffee table. “I’ll get everything ready.”
Alexander cleaned up quickly and joined her on the couch. She had her computer perched on her lap and her email and social media open, her mobile sitting between them.
Sage looked at him. “Everything’s there. Go for it.” She handed over her laptop, and he scrolled through the array of correspondence.
Oh yeah, this was fucked. Someone held a massive grudge against Sage, and they’d weaseled their way into her life, making her feel off-kilter, uncertain, fearful…unnerved. And he aimed to fix that. In his prime, he’d been known as ‘the fixer’. Problem solving was his forte.
She’d hardly waited two minutes before her fingers bit into his thigh, setting his heartbeat skyrocketing. “What do you think?”
I want to strip you down and make love to you. Except she didn’t want his opinion on him and her. She wanted his assessment of her stressful situation.
He placed her phone and computer on the coffee table and twisted toward her, threading their fingers together. “Going by what I’ve read, the message escalation correlates too closely to the intrusion not to be connected.”
“Oh.”
“I know it’s not what you hoped to hear, but I promised to be honest—”
“No, I want you to be honest, no matter how hard it is. I want to hear your opinion. I need to know what I’m dealing with. It’ll help me stay more alert. And it confirms I’m not paranoid, and I’m not going insane.”
He cupped her face with his hand. “You’re one of the sanest people I’ve ever met.”
“Really? How can you say that when we’ve just reconnected?”
“I know you.”
“Not that much anymore.”
He’d breached the physical boundaries, he should stop touching her, but he couldn’t. “Enough for me to see you’re still switched on and not someone who overreacts.”
She pressed her palm to the back of his hand. “Thank you.”
“You don’t need to thank me. Like I said, I won’t lie to you.”
“I know.”
“Since when?” He didn’t want to ruin the moment, but he needed specifics.
“Since you were adamant you wanted to protect me. Since you pushed for more details and wouldn’t take no for an answer. Since you took me seriously.”
“I’ve always taken you seriously…too seriously.” He stroked the pad of his thumb over her cheek.
“No such thing.” Her gaze moved between his eyes and lips—back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. Fuck, she wanted a kiss. No way would he waste this chance.
He leaned in slowly, giving her the ability to retreat.
She didn’t.
Sage met him halfway, closed the distance, pressed those sweet lips to his, and he was lost…in the best possible way.
