Sage: Take the Risk (F&L Story #3)

Sage: Parts 21 & 22

Part Twenty-one

Saturday, July 31, 2010.

Putting on a good show with Carey by her side was easier than she thought. Considering how much she hated him right now. Sage laughed and joked with people she didn't know as he held her hand and nuzzled her neck. He's good at this, she thought sourly. How many times did he do this with other women and looked just as enamored as now?

She had to force herself to like him, even though she was so far gone in love with him. After that crass remark he slammed her with last night, she cried herself to sleep, thinking that he only saw her as a female body nearby to slake his needs with if he ever got the hankering.

Oh, no. He definitely won't be touching her now. Carey Sanborn was a guy dominated by his groin, and Sage Honeycutt wasn't about to become another notch on his baseball bat. Oh, she still wanted him. She still had vivid dreams, even last night, with him staring center stage, but she'd be stupid to let go of her pride.

However, that didn't stop her from teasing him mindless all through the reception.

When they entered the backyard of Emma's house, Sage brushed intimately against him, and heard his groan. When the cake was cut and he fed her from his plate, she stared right into his eyes while she licked the frosting from the fork, and saw his eyes dilate. When they danced to a slow, sultry song, she snuggled so close to his body that he stiffened from his arms down to his feet. And when he tried to make her jealous by flirting with some simpering blonde, Sage walked right up to him and gave him a lingering kiss on the mouth. He narrowed his eyes, but smiled adoringly down at her...all in the act of showing the world that he loved her.

Bologna.

Carey was incapable of love. Lust, he had in gallons, but love was an emotion that dumbass' black heart would never feel.

“Sage, darling,” he murmured in her ear while they sat at a table with Eve and Dr. LeBoeuf. Now, that was a sight to see. Eve and Clint hanging off each other, purely in love, even after all the stuff that happened between those two. Sage made a mental note to ask Eve about that the first chance she got.

“Yes, Carey?” she asked sweetly.

“What are you doing?”

Sage turned her puppy-dog look to him. “Whatever do you mean, honey?”

“Is this retaliation for what I said last night?” He kept his voice low and his eyes shining with that fake love.

She patted his cheek. “I haven't even got started.”

“Look at you two,” Eve sighed from across the table. “I never thought I'd see my baby brother so infatuated with a woman.”

Carey smiled a smartass grin at his sister. “Coming from my sister who's dating my doctor. You lied to me, sis. You said you and Clint weren't seeing each other, much less sleeping together.”

Eve snorted. “At the time, I didn't lie. But things change. And I'm glad.” She leaned forward and spoke to Sage, “Don't take none of his crap, you hear me? He'll try to charm you and bully you to get what he wants, but don't fall for it. You keep the upperhand.”

Sage laughed at the irony of the situation. “Oh, don't worry about that. I've got him right where I want him.”

Carey fired her a look of unclouded suspicion. Sage placed a warm hand on his thigh under the table and squeezed. He shot out of his chair. Everyone stared at him. “Something wrong, Carey?”

“Um, no. I just remembered that I have to...” He shrugged and dashed away.

“Something's wrong with that boy,” Eve muttered and turned back to her doctor.