CHAPTER TWO

Two hours earlier

“SAGE!” TERESA CALLED .

Sage pulled off her reading glasses and groaned. Dropping them on the desk beside her laptop, she rubbed her eyes. She’d selected her roommate very carefully. Tony was an awkward geeky IT guy who wouldn’t hit on her— check —would pay his rent on time— check— and was highly unlikely to find a girlfriend.

Fail.

Complete major fail.

Tony and Teresa had been dating for a few months and were the most nauseating couple on planet earth. Well, as far as she was concerned. When they weren’t snuggled up on the couch having little kissy make-out sessions, they were giggling at something private or cooking up a mess in her kitchen. Still, she’d put up with all of those things if she didn’t have to listen to their awkward vanilla sex through her bedroom wall.

Not that she was in any position to judge. Her sex life consisted of one rabbit vibrator and that suited her just fine.

Mostly.

The erotic novels she read on her Kindle had created all kinds of thigh-clenching fantasies in her mind, and recently she’d been wondering what it would truly be like to experience them. Not that she ever would. Fantasies were exactly that—something you imagined as you were getting off, and once that delicious orgasm struck you popped the rabbit away and carried on with your carefully planned out life.

Right?

Because Sage had big life plans and they didn’t include ménage à trois or being tied up by silk ropes and tortured deliciously by a man layered in muscles. Or finding out what it felt like in the... you know... the back end.

Heck, she didn’t know if she’d even enjoy any of those things.

No, her plans were a lot more sensible, and it was better if she got her head out of the smutty books and got on with what she had named her Life List . Sage had created it when she was thirteen, and was on track when her sister, Piper, had messed things up.

“Sage.”

Oh crap, she hadn’t answered Teresa.

“Come in,” she called out.

“Do we have any icing sugar? It’s just we were going to make cupcakes and you have to have icing, otherwise they’re muffins, right?” Teresa said, with a grin.

Sage just stared at her.

Firstly, we didn’t have anything. This was her house. Her kitchen and her ingredients they were cooking with. Secondly, she didn’t have time for this. She had to finish her application for the promotion going at work.

Sage was a laboratory assistant for a pharmaceutical company and when the opportunity had come up, she’d leapt at it. Number three on her Life List was becoming a principal scientist. That dream was years away, but this new position was the next step in getting there. She’d already had two interviews and had been asked to complete a submission by Monday. Then she’d hear back by the end of the week.

“Honestly, I’m not sure. Why don’t you head to the store and grab some?” Sage walked past Teresa and caught sight of the domestic bomb which had exploded in her living room.

Her nicely folded throws were haphazardly spread across the sofa where the loved-up couple had been—ugh, whatever they’d been doing— and the kitchen was covered in, she assumed, the cupcake ingredients.

Sage was tempted to say something to Tony on the spot, but it was cruel to call him out in front of his girlfriend. Plus, she needed his rent money.

Item two on Sage’s Life List had been buying a home, or more accurately, getting a mortgage. She was so proud of herself for saving her deposit and finding a home she loved, but she had stretched herself a lot and now money was tight.

Tony’s rent money eased that, but if she got the promotion, she’d be able to reassess things. Who was she kidding? She’d be giving Tony (and Teresa) notice.

Sage was serious about this promotion and had been told she had a very good shot at it. While she was confident she’d done well in her interviews, she didn’t want to get complacent. She had to focus on her report and finish it to hand in on Monday.

Sure, she had the weekend, but Sage wasn’t one to sit on things. Plus, it wasn’t like the two lovers would disappear. They were around constantly.

Ugh.

“I’ll go to the store,” Teresa said, bouncing over to kiss Tony on the lips, who looked at her as if he’d won the lottery.

Sage was pretty confident she was his first proper girlfriend and felt a sliver of guilt.

“You know what? Try the top shelf on the right.” Sage waved her hand toward the kitchen. “Just clean up when you’re done, okay?”

“Sure, no problem,” Tony replied and scooped Teresa up in a hug.

Sage rolled her eyes. She’d given up trying to decipher their excitement and reason for embracing about everything.

“I’m going to head out for a few hours,” she said. There was a local bar she enjoyed, and it wouldn’t get busy for a few hours. If she hurried, she could have a few wines and get her report done before it filled up.

Okay fine, there was also a cute guy from work, Carl, who sometimes went there so she might run into him.

Not that he noticed her.

But he matched the next item on her Life List . Marriage. Sage had specific criteria for the type of man she wanted to marry, and Carl ticked them all. He was tall, handsome, healthy—because, babies—and had a good job. He played baseball—not that she’d been listening in on his conversations, okay fine she had—and was family focused.

He worked in the finance department, and they often saw each other in the cafeteria.

Correction: Sage often saw him.

Carl knew who she was. He’d been in a few meetings with her, but he rarely said more than hello, and asked how her day was going in that way people did but didn’t care.

Regardless, she was still optimistic the opportunity for sparks between them had yet to happen. He’d winked at her once when a few of them were in the cafeteria and Louise, the receptionist, had spilled her soup. Carl had attempted to make the older woman feel less silly and made a little joke. Sage had helped with the clean-up and lifted her head at the right time, grinning.

His wink had made her blush, and he’d smiled at her.

So, she was hopeful, and wondered if it was that he had a girlfriend right now and couldn’t ask her out.

She sighed.

Her life could have been so different. Sage thought she had met ‘the one’ years ago. Colin. Instead, he’d cheated on her with Piper while they were in college, and the event had changed her life.

Sage had been steadily dating Colin since high school and even lost her virginity to him. She’d always romanticized about marrying her high school sweetheart—which had now been crossed off the Life List— and becoming a mom. Her career would come later, they’d decided. She was okay with that, knowing Colin supported her dreams of being a principal scientist.

Instead, the two people closest to her had betrayed her.

Sage had been devasted.

Piper was a year younger than Sage and the two couldn’t be more different. However, they had been close. Like chalk and cheese and yet they fit. Her sister was bold and confident with a curvy body and large breasts. Sage was the same five foot six inches in height but barely had an ass and her chest was a token effort from God.

The most noticeable difference between them was their hair; Piper had long dark curls and Sage had an unmanageable mop of auburn curls.

Growing up, their overbearing mother had dressed them similarly, even though Piper climbed trees and played in the mud, while Sage had elaborate weddings for Ken and Barbie.

The good news, if one could call it that, was she hadn’t found Piper and Colin in bed together. Instead, she’d overheard Piper speaking to him on the phone and there had been no second-guessing what had happened.

Sage used to wonder if she might have ended up marrying Colin if she’d never heard them that day. It would be nice to think Piper would confess, but when she confronted her about it her response had been horrible. She’d said it was just a one-time thing and Colin didn’t love her anyway, so Sage should forgive her.

Piper was wrong.

The next week Sage had moved into another room to finish college and had barely spoken to her sister for two years.

Their father had eventually called a family meeting and forced them to make up. Her parents were good Christian people who went to church every Sunday and were appalled at the breakdown of their friendship over a boy. Never once had she heard them tell Piper what she had done was wrong, only that the two of them needed to make up.

Sage suspected it was a case of not wanting to deal with the messy stuff, but it still irked her to this day.

While marrying her childhood sweetheart was off the Life List , Sage was determined she would meet the perfect man and create her own family.

Five years later, Sage hadn’t dated anyone seriously. She was hoping things with Carl might progress, but in the meantime, Mr. Rabbit and her erotic novels were a good distraction from her single status, financial stress, and impatience as she waited to hear about the promotion.

Sage opened her wardrobe, selecting a navy dress which flared at the hips and finished just above her knee. She pulled on long brown boots and twisted her auburn hair into a bun.

With little thought, she brushed on a cream foundation, coated her lashes in thick mascara, and finished it off with a peach blusher. She froze when she glanced at her lipstick options.

Last night she’d read about a heroine who had her bright red lips wrapped around...

Stop.

She had to stop fantasizing. Maybe she needed to read some sweet romances.

Fuck it.

She ran the red over her lips and rubbed them together. “If I can’t have the fantasy in real life, I can pretend for one night.”

Puckering once more in the mirror, she ran her hands over her hips and tidied her skirt, then let her fingers run up over her average-sized breasts.

Her nipples hardened.

“God, I need to get laid.” She groaned. “And not by Mr. Rabbit.”

Going by the heat between her legs, Sage realized it had been months. She wished she was more confident, like her sister, who seemed to have a new boyfriend every month. Instead, Sage focused on work and kept one eye on Carl.

Perhaps she was wasting her time?

One glance out the window told her it was a clear night. Small miracles given she lived in Seattle, Washington.

“I’ll see you both tomorrow.” She pulled on her coat and grabbed her bag and laptop. One glance at the flour flying through the air as the two lovers waved farewell and she grit her teeth and left.

Ten minutes later, she was sipping on a Sauvignon Blanc and taking in the patrons at Tuesday’s Bar. As she’d expected, it wasn’t busy, but it would soon be, so she had to focus. She pulled out her laptop and began tapping.

A while later, she glanced up and took a large sip of her now warm wine. Her eyes roamed the bar until they landed on two men at the bar. Both were tall and muscular, with a dangerous aura about them. Perhaps it was the black clothing or their size, but their good looks did nothing to change that.

The taller of the two drank a golden liquid—whisky, she assumed—and had a square jaw with that sexy scruff. His leather jacket fit perfectly over what she imagined to be a sculptured set of shoulders. His dark jeans hugged a really great looking ass, and his boots looked expensive even though they were plain.

There was something else keeping her attention on him. The way he held himself gave away a sense of strong personal power. His chin never dipped, and his back was strong and straight.

Even from her seat she could see the large watch poking out from his sleeve and Sage knew from working with wealthy pharmaceutical executives this man had money.

The second man was interesting, and hot. While they both looked around the same age—early to mid-thirties—he seemed younger. Or was it that the other man seemed older?

The younger one laughed, and Sage smiled. His dark blonde hair and what looked like blue eyes made him hard to miss. Her eyes roamed past his black shirt to a pair of solid thighs.

God, yes, he works out a lot.

Later, when it was just her and the rabbit, she was going to choose one of these men as her fantasy. Lifting her drink to her lips, she watched them both and couldn’t decide.

Must. Get. Laid.

She let out a sigh.

When she glanced back the dark-haired man was staring at her with a rich intensity. Her heart stuttered as his eyes locked onto hers. She swallowed and then froze. The room around her disappeared as he held her in place with just his gaze. Sage’s body filled with a heat from the inside out.

Finally he blinked, and she looked away.

Sage studied her notes, not reading a thing.

Holy shit.

In those few seconds it was as if she knew what he was thinking. His eyes had promised things and her body was jumping up and down saying yes.

My God.

She had no idea a single glance could create such a chemical reaction in a body, but that man had near hypnotized her.

She couldn’t look at him again.

She looked at him.

Dammit.

Dark eyes captured hers and this time there was a sparkle to them, and Sage desperately wanted to know what it meant. Her cheeks heated as her imagination soured.

Men like this never noticed her.

They looked at Piper, but not her.

And that was fine because this man did not match her Life List. He’d be a sexy distraction for a night at best. If he was even interested.

Sage knew she shouldn’t have worn the red lipstick. It was giving off the wrong message. She wasn’t that woman. God, she probably looked like she was sitting in the bar alone looking to pick up.

What was she thinking?

I should leave.

More ridiculously good-looking men showed up and joined the man’s group. They were getting a lot of attention from the women around them, and the men, and Sage suspected his friends would distract him as she slipped out.

She finished one more paragraph and then shut her laptop. When she glanced up, he was walking toward her.

Ohgodohgodohgod.

She swallowed.

He stopped at her table. Sage waited for him to say something, but he didn’t. Slowly, the edges of his lips curved.

“Invite me to join you.” He... purred.

Swallowing, Sage tried to pry her eyes away and tell him she was leaving, but instead, she nodded. “Yes.”

Yes?

God, she was a moron.

He grinned and pulled out a chair, then sat down with his legs spread in the most dominant and masculine manner she’d ever witnessed.

She tried to think of something to say, but she was too overwhelmed with the powerful and incredibly beautiful man sitting in front of her.

He placed his glass on the table and the hunger in his eyes told her everything he wanted from her. Sage was pretty sure she wouldn’t be able to stop him.

Nor would she want to.

“My name is Ari.”