6. Just Karma

Knox was running around doing his chores and errands faster than normal on Saturday afternoon.

Before running into Sage on Wednesday, he thought he'd be spending the weekend doing what he always did. Yard work, laundry and any other slew of cleaning that he put off during the week.

Somehow the house he didn't spend a lot of time in always needed cleaning. Odd to him when he only spent time in the kitchen, living room and his suite upstairs.

Half the time at night, he was watching TV up there anyway.

He wondered if he walked in his sleep and purposely messed things up.

At four, he stopped everything and jumped in the shower.

Two dates in a row. Two dates in two days was more like it.

He couldn't remember the last time that happened.

Hell, he wasn't sure yesterday was a date. But at the end, she reached for his hand in the parking lot, leaned up on her toes and kissed him on the lips, then said, "So, I know I might not have been interested in the eighth grade, but I am now if you are."

"Yeah, I am," he'd replied.

"Then how about we do something tomorrow too unless you've got something else going on."

"Nothing as exciting as seeing you again," he said.

She'd smiled at him and nodded her head, then left him standing there watching her pull away.

It wasn't until he was home that he realized they'd made no plans.

She texted him at ten this morning to ask if he was up for an adventure. He didn't know what she had in mind but said sure.

The next thing he knew there was a link to an escape room. He'd never done it before, but she booked them in the entry level one at five. He was meeting her there at ten of. Then they'd probably get some food.

When he was out of the shower, he towel dried his hair, then ran his hands through it. He rarely combed it, it just fell the way it wanted to anyway and that was why he kept it on the short side, but he knew he needed a trim. Something he should have done today if he could have squeezed it in.

He walked into his closet, grabbed jeans and a T-shirt, got dressed and drove the fifteen minutes there to meet Sage.

All that went through his mind was that this would have been a cool date as a teen and something he would have loved doing with her back then.

Maybe it was just karma to do it now at thirty-two when they didn't get that chance at twelve. At least he wanted to think that.

He'd always found her a nice girl and now he knew she was a nice and considerate woman. Could be she had some secrets like him, but he wouldn't judge her by them. He wasn't giving her all the facts of his life and didn't expect she would either.

When he pulled up to the building, he saw Sage getting out of her SUV and parked as close to her as possible. He'd wanted to offer to pick her up, but she'd said they'd meet and he figured it wasn't worth arguing with her. It wasn't that big of a deal.

"Hi," she said. "Have you done this before?"

"No," he said. "Never. If I scream like a little girl you're not going to hold it against me, are you?"

He was joking...but not really. Spooky things always freaked him. He hated to be caught off guard.

Could be since his whole life felt like one surprise after another.

Now he wanted more control, but he knew it wasn't always possible.

"I might be screaming with you," she said. "I'm pretty sure if I jump in your arms you'll catch me, right?"

"Absolutely," he said and hoped a bunch of blood didn't rush to his dick with that thought. The one where she was in front of him, her legs wrapped around his waist.

Talk about a teenage fantasy.

"Let's go in and get ready," she said. "I'm so excited. I haven't done much since I've lived here other than going out to eat or hitting the casino with friends. I'm sure I could have gotten Ivy to do this with me."

"Only her?" he asked, opening the door for her.

"Maybe Daisy. But both of them are engaged. Daisy's fiancé is a doctor and he works or is on call a lot so I always hate asking her to do things if he's around. The same with Ivy's fiancé who is an investigator with the state police.

"Okay," he said. "Does everyone have a flower name?"

She laughed. "No. Though there are a lot. I told you there are over a hundred employees, but most of the flower names are in the offices or retail shops with the exception of a few in the greenhouses or the owners."

"Still a lot," he said. "It's funny."

"Or as many of them say—fate. It's working and it's fun too."

"It looks as if you love your job."

"So much," she said. "Crazy to say that so early into it, but I really do. It's challenging, exciting and fun at the same time. Not sure how they manage it, but it's like going into a party daily at the same time as work."

"With no alcohol though," he said, laughing.

"Nope, but lots of chocolate."

"Did they eat all your cookies?" he asked. "I would have if I had more."

"I should have given you some to take. I'll make more another time."

"I'll take them too," he said.

They gave their names and were told the room would be ready in a few minutes so they moved off to the side to wait.

When Sage's name was called they went with the guide. No, master gamer, he was called.

The instructions were given and they were told they could call on the master gamer at any point if they needed hints.

Knox hoped they didn't need him or there weren't too many people watching if he couldn't figure something out. He thought he was a pretty smart guy when it came to putting things together.

"Are you ready for this?" she asked.

"I am," he said.

The door shut, the timer went off and they read their first clue. It took them at least five minutes, maybe longer to figure it out, but then they quickly got the hang of it.

Or just when he thought he was okay, the lights went out and something brushed his arm. He let out a scream, followed by Sage's.

When the lights came back on, she was plastered against his side, but nothing else was anywhere for him to know what touched him.

"What was that?" she asked.

"I don't know. Maybe it was you touching me that made me scream."

"No," she said. "I jumped when you screamed."

Yep, his manhood was shrinking even when it wanted to grow with her body pressed up against him.

"We are on the clock," he said.

"Yeah. Let's hope you don't lose your voice screaming like that."

She laughed and all he could do was laugh with her.

"I admit it," he said. "I suck at these things."

They'd spent their hour in there and at one point he thought he was going to piss his pants when an arm came out of a hole in the wall and grabbed him. It was a real arm too.

He hadn't signed up for that and just about came out swinging after he screamed like a wuss.

"You did great," she said, bumping into him. "Once you realized it was fake. I think the object of it was to make us not be able to think and figure out the clues."

"Or to get me to wet myself," he said. "I know they knew what made me jump."

She giggled some more. "You do have a short trigger," she said. "Good thing that was the entry level room."

"Very funny," he said. Even if she was right. "I'm starving now. I could go for a big masculine meat-filled pizza."

"A hot spicy one to grow hair on your chest too."

"No woman likes a hairy chest," he said. "Even I know that."

"You'd be right, but a man that waxes or shaves is too high maintenance for me." She put the palm of her hand to her forehead. "Did I insult you? Do you wax or shave?"

It was the humor in her eyes that had him laughing. "I guess you'll just have to wait to find out if you're all that interested."

She hummed low in her throat. "You know, Knox. Aside from looks that are different, even your personality is too."

"I grew up," he said. "And realized that I don't care all that much what other people think about me."

Her smile dropped and he wasn't sure why. "I'm getting there," she said. "Just like you were a late bloomer with physical growth, maybe I'm that way in this."

He felt bad that their playful interaction seemed to have taken a turn and he'd do anything to get it back.

"Let's get that pizza then. I'll get my meat one and you can get whatever you want."

"Maybe I want the same as you," she said.

He wondered if there was a double meaning there, but he was clueless enough to let it drop for now.

They climbed into their vehicles and drove to get their pizza. This was when he wished they were in the same car so they could talk.

When he pulled next to her, she was the first to say, "This was stupid meeting there. I should have said yes when you offered to pick me up."

"Why did you say no? It's not like I don't know where you live."

"No clue," she said. "I won't say no next time."

Which told him things were back on track.

They got seats in the back, ordered their pizza and a beer again.

"Do you always drink beer or are you a wine drinker too?"

"I'll drink just about anything. I don't care. I'm not that fussy." Her hand went to her mouth again with a laugh escaping. "That came out totally wrong. I'm not a lush."

"I never thought you were," he said.

"We've all had our moments. Or I did in college. The truth is, I'm adaptable. I think I try to fit into my surroundings. One of those things I learned in my last job."

"Don't worry about me. Drink and eat what you want."

"I am," she said. "It's an Italian restaurant. Trust me when I tell you the wine here isn't that great. I think it might come out of a box."

"You could be onto something. Beer is a safer bet."

"And they don't cater toward fun fruit drinks. I do like them too, but man they hit me the next day if I have more than two. That's for girls' night fun."

"Do you get silly when you're with the girls?"

"Depends on the girls I'm with," she said. "The friends I have now and here are more real to me than anyone else I've had in the past. Other than Kate, but I don't see her much anymore."

"Kate, your brother's best friend? You hung out with her outside of family things?"

He was surprised men weren't crawling all over the two of them. Though Sage wasn't a model she was still stunning to him.

"I did," she said. "When she was in town and didn't have anything else planned. But we didn't have the same tastes in the type of bars to hang out. We had more fun just chilling at one of our places."

He wasn't sure what was so funny when she said that and he just shrugged.

Their pizza came out fast and they both dove right in.

Two pieces in each and she was groaning at the same time she was laughing as she gave a play by play of their time in the escape room.

After two hours of taking up space in the restaurant and getting looks from the staff that they should take their leave, he conceded it was time to go.

They'd even prolonged it by ordering dessert, but that had been over thirty minutes ago.

When the bill came, he added a hefty tip for the time they'd lingered. It was the least he could do.

"I suppose our night is at the end," he said.

It was close to eight thirty at this point. Still early, but unless she invited him back to her place, they'd be on their way.

"It looks it," she said.

Guess there was no invite.

"Do I get to see you again?" he asked. "I know you said earlier that you had to ask me out since you missed the chance twenty years ago. Now it's my turn."

She reached up and pulled his head down to hers. They were in the parking lot and she was making the first move for a kiss again.

He was rustier than he thought.

Or just unsure of himself because it was Sage.

He was going to keep it simple, but she nudged his mouth open, her tongue sliding in, the taste of the strawberry shortcake on her tongue mixing with his chocolate cake.

"Is that answer enough?" she asked, then left him standing there once again without making a follow up date.

He supposed it'd be up to him to text tomorrow like she had this morning.

He liked the game they were playing.