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THE SOUND OF thudding and what sounded like an electric saw—woke Sage from her sleep. She wasn’t sure why the sound of construction seemed so close by, but her mind couldn’t be bothered to concern herself with the reason.
Her sleepy eyes followed the long, wooden beams on the ceiling above her, as the tingly memories of sitting by the campfire tickled her insides. A smile lifted her lips in a way they never had before. Duke may not have kissed her or they hadn’t had sex, but they’d laid down a foundation of friendship. And maybe that had been what they’d been missing the first time—besides both of them being too young, confused and chasing/running away from fears.
This time proved to be different. They had connected on a deeper level and, for the first time, she was getting to know the man behind the bodyguard.
Her stomach growled, as if the s’mores they’d eaten last night hadn’t filled her enough. It had been three or four in the morning by the time they’d gone to bed—in different beds, but in the same room. She’d laid above him for what could’ve been minutes or hours, staring at the ceiling like she was now, smelling his woodsy scent, and feeling the sexual tension around her.
Her stomach growled now.
What time was it?
She climbed down the bunk bed ladder, not surprised to find Duke’s mattress empty and the bed neatly made. She ran her finger along the quilt before she ruffled through the closet—she was beginning to enjoy the hunt of new clothes—and found a cotton plaid housecoat.
Following the smell of freshly brewed coffee, she found Susan and Bowie washing and drying dishes.
“Good morning.” Susan had her regular morning cheer. “I can warm you up a couple banana pancakes.”
Sage picked up an apple from the fruit bowl in the center of the table. “This will do today, thank you.”
“Coffee?” Bowie finished drying the inside of the mug before polishing the outside and holding it up.
“I can get it.”
Bowie waved a hand at Sage, averting her from taking any more steps toward the coffee machine.
“Black please,” Sage said.
Bowie handed her the steaming mug and Sage wrapped her hands around it. “Thank you. Where’s Duke?”
“With Stone reconstructing a surprise greenhouse that I don’t know about,” Susan said. Her answer was followed by the sound of water draining and the saw starting up again. She turned to face Sage. “It’s very sweet of them, but if they think I can’t hear the tools, they’re just fools.” She laughed, and as it dwindled, so did her smile. “I’m going to lie down for a bit.” She looked between the ladies. “No more boxing matches.”
Bowie ran her hand down Susan’s outer arm. “We’ll behave. Go rest.”
With her coffee and apple, Sage walked to the back door. “I’m actually going to check on the guys.”
She stepped outside and basked in the quiet sounds of the country before the sound of a drill made her jump and almost spill her coffee. She missed the quite simplicity of her mom and everyone at the shop who, as flighty and annoying as they could be, were an everyday part of her life.
Following a pebble path through an opening in a single row of pine trees, she found where the grinding sounds of a saw and drill were commencing.
Her mouth parted at the sight of Duke and a breath of desire heated her lips more than any coffee could do.
There was some sort of a framed octagon-shaped building with glass windows broken out, paint stripped away by weather. The leaves and dirt inside looked like animals had been housing inside it.
Her eyes landed on Duke who was balanced on a metal ladder at the peak of the roof. Sweat glistened off his bare back as one arm flexed above him as he positioned a wood board he fastened in place with the drill. One hand fished out another screw from the back pocket of a pair of jeans.
Sage wiped her lower lip, positive she’d drooled at how hot his ass looked in denim.
Good morning to her.
She bit into the crispy outside of the apple and watched the muscles on Duke’s back flex as he drilled four more screws, before he started down the ladder.
Hot damn, this morning couldn’t be any better unless he scooped her in his arms and made love to her in that run-down greenhouse.
He hopped off the last step and turned to face her. Her eyes lowered to the V his lower abdomen made that disappeared under his low rise jeans.
Her stomach flipped. She nearly choked on her apple as the area between her legs warmed.
He caught sight of her. Of course he did. His senses never turned off and he’d likely heard her walk up, calculated the distance between each step, and speculated it was her long before he smiled at her—and what a good morning smile it was.
He walked straight to her, setting the drill down on a makeshift table beside Stone. She hadn’t even noticed Stone, but the grin on his face said he’d seen her. With Duke’s bare torso walking toward her, she had to concentrate on keeping eye contact. But she hadn’t missed his ripped six-pack of bulging muscles. No sane person would.
“Did you sleep okay?”
There was that word again. Okay. She would have slept better in his arms, but she didn’t say that.
She nodded, and sipped her coffee to distract her lips from saying something she’d regret later.
“Why don’t you go change and you can help.”
She’d rather stand around and watch him all morning, afternoon ... she could sit here all week and simply glorify in this man’s body.
“Okay.” And there it was again.
He smiled and white teeth glistened. “Can you grab me a water on your way back?” he asked.
She wanted to cool him off with the hose. Maybe she needed a cooling down. Where was the hose?
She nodded before she raced back into the house and shut the bathroom door.
Her flushed face met her in the mirrors reflection. She splashed cold water on her face to even the color, but when she finished, she just found herself laughing at the ridiculousness of acting like a love-struck teenager.
How was she supposed to work with his macho sexiness taunting her?
***
HOW WAS DUKE SUPPOSED to work with Sage looking drop dead sexy in the cut-off denim shorts she’d changed into and the T-shirt tied at her waist which kept slipping down her shoulder and inviting him for a taste?
Asking her to help seemed like a dumbass idea now, but she was still his job and he needed his eyes on her and her surroundings every waking hour.
Still, glancing down from the two-by-four he was drilling, he couldn’t tear away from her round ass as she bent down to sweep the dead leaves into a dustpan. She dumped the pan full into a large grey garbage can and began to sweep up another pile. It was a damn good thing he was wearing denim because his dress pants would be showing a teepee.
He felt unexpectedly better today. The morning had taken him by surprise when he’d woken up and death and guilt hadn’t been his first thought.
More shocking, neither had Sage. After having a helluva time trying to fall asleep lying underneath her, but not underneath her, his body had yearned to feel her head resting against his chest, her arm draped over his middle, and her legs tangled in his. Yet he’d awakened with a sense of peace he didn’t recognize but wanted to hold onto. Even the hardest workout had never left him feeling as energized as he had this morning and he had Sage to thank for that. She’d sat through his list of all the things in his past he’d never shared with another soul and she hadn’t past judgement or ridiculed him. She helped release pieces of him he felt ready to free.
He suspected he’d never fully forget or forgive himself for everything that had happened in his childhood home, but he also wouldn’t let it control his life. Not anymore. He was tired of running and hiding like he had that day in the barn.
“Did you run out of screws?” Stone stood at the base of the ladder with a huge stupid-ass grin on his face. He chuckled as Duke climbed down the ladder.
“Man, you got it bad. I don’t know how I missed you two shacking up back in the day. I mean, the tension between you two now is thick.”
Duke ignored him. “Why don’t you help me get some of these rotting beams replaced,” he said, instead of appeasing him with a denial or confirmation about Sage. It wasn’t anyone’s damn business when he couldn’t even label what it was between them. Friendship? The beginning of a relationship? Bodyguard and client?
He hoped the last one was only temporary and growing into something more.
Duke twisted the lid off his water bottle and slugged down large gulps of cold water while Stone chuckled on his way to the wood pile.
He followed. “What do you do on vacation?” Duke asked him.
“You’re vacation is over man. You’re on the clock.” Stone picked up a board and carried it to the table and pulled out a measuring tape from his back pocket.
“Enlighten me.”
Stone measured the board and marked it with a pencil that he then slipped behind his ear. “I guess I barbecue, drink beer, enjoy the great outdoors.”
Drinking was out of the question. “How do you enjoy the great outdoors?”
“Here?” He lined the line on his board with the saw blade. “Go to the beach and actually take your shirt off, lay under the sun, go fishing, take a hike. I can drive my four-wheeler down and you could take Sage for a spin. You are literally on the edge of one of the best tourist towns. Go rent a boat for the day.”
These were good ideas, some not possible right now, but others he could work with.
Stone put on his safety glasses and Duke walked away as the saw spun to life.
“I had no idea you were good with your hands too,” Sage said, as she bent down and picked up her water bottle.
He watched her backside like he had no control. When she stood up, she wore a goofy grin.
“That didn’t come out right. I know you’re good with your hands ...” A blush colored her cheeks. “That didn’t come out right either. What I’m trying to say, is I didn’t know you could build a greenhouse.” She brought the metal top of the water bottle to her lips and sipped.
“The frame is already here, but it’s old, rotted, and ready to crumble in places. We’ll replace the ones that need it and replace all the windows and install a heating system so she can come back here in the winter months too. Fresh fruits and vegetables all year around.”
“You might as well do something good since you’re stuck here babysitting me.”
He’d never been one to fantasize, but visions of her being his older, mature, damn sexy babysitter flitted through his mind.
“Making sure you stay alive is good.”
“And boring.”
“Sweetness, you’ve been anything but boring.”
Was that a flirt? It sounded like a flirt. It certainly didn’t sound like anything that came out of his mouth.
She ran her fingers through her hair. “I’m not sure if that’s a compliment.”
“It is.” He stepped closer, the sweet smell of her winding its way around him. “How about after lunch we do something.”
Her eyes lit up. “Really? What?”
“You’ll see.”
She nodded. “Okay.”