Sage's Story (The Town of Pearl 5)

He squeezed her a little tighter, pulling her up against his rock-solid chest. She pressed her hands against his stone-hard chest and gasped.

“I’m not empty-handed now, Sage. Maybe I’ve just been searching for the right woman.”

They heard a roar of laughter and she squeezed from his hold and straightened out her blouse. She looked from Matt to Quaid, and damn, did he look just as hungry as Matt did. She needed to set them straight. She just couldn’t play any games.

“Listen, save it for the bimbos. I don’t play games.”

She started to walk away but Quaid stepped into her path. He reached for her shoulder and placed his huge hand on it. She instantly felt protected but also fearful. He was so big, his reputation mysterious and unnerving, and she wasn’t stupid. Both men worked for the government besides for the sheriff’s department. They made capable seem too weak of a word.

“Slow down. You have got a hell of a temper on you. Don’t you get rid of most of the hostility on the mats at the dojo?” he asked, and gave her a wink. She took a deep breath and stared at Matt, who now had one hand on his hip revealing his designer watch, and very defined forearms.

“I keep some on reserve for times like this.”

He slowly shook his head. Then Quaid moved his hand to her shoulder and neck. She tightened up.

“Quaid, don’t. Please let me go.” She stuttered her words. Although she knew in her gut that he wouldn’t hurt her, she just couldn’t let a man touch her. She was too fearful, even after all these years.

His other hand moved to her waist to stop her.

“I would never hurt you, Sage. We would never hurt you,” he added as Matt reiterated Quaid’s statement by moving closer and nodding his head.

“I believe you. But I like my space.” She stepped out of his hold. She reached up and rubbed her hand over the spot on her shoulder where Quaid had held her. She could practically still feel his warmth.

“Hey, gorgeous!” Sage turned around to find Mary and Amanda approaching, waving their hands and of course strutting their stuff.

“Hi,” Sage greeted them.

“Hello, Quaid, Matt,” Amanda said as she ran her hand down Matt’s arm and winked at him. Sage’s chest tightened unexpectedly, as she watched the scene and saw Matt looking none the happier to have been interrupted. Well, Sage was relieved.

“Are you ready to ditch this barbecue yet? The guys are heading up to the lake to have a few beers and I think go into Turbank,” Mary told Sage.

“I just got here a little while ago. I can meet you guys,” Sage replied and then glanced at Matt and Quaid who for some reason looked angry.

“Are you going to duff out on us and go to the library? Come on, Sage, a bunch of the guys who used to go to the university are going to be there. I’m sure what’s his face won’t come. He pretty much got your message of ‘not interested’ after all those phone calls you denied,” Amanda stated.

“Well, she did have to get a bit physical with him,” Mary added.

“It doesn’t matter. Listen, I need to stick around for a while, but I’ll call you in a bit.”

“Was some guy bothering you, Sage?” Quaid asked.

“What guy was bothering her?” Dale showed up, obviously hearing part of the conversation. Behind him came Virgo and he looked angry, but that just seemed to be a normal facial expression for him.

He was well built, too. He and Dale were as big as football players. They could put the majority of her university’s football players to shame.

“Everything is fine. In fact, Amanda and Mary were just leaving,” Sage began to say, but Matt and Quaid were insistent.

“Tell us about this guy, Amanda, and what he did.”

Amanda looked at Sage and shrugged her shoulders, but Sage knew exactly what she was doing.

“They don’t want to hear about some dumb story when we were in college last year. I’m certain that Quaid, Matt, Virgo, and Dale have better things to do,” Sage stated.

“It’s not like Sage did anything silly or immature. On the contrary, she was always so mature, sophisticated, and tried, mostly with success, to keep the rest of us in line,” Mary added.

“Oh God, that reminds me of that time we snuck out of the dorm to meet those guys from the University of Texas. Oh man, they were mighty fine,” Amanda said with such enthusiasm as Mary grabbed onto her arm and laughed.

“You almost got us arrested,” Mary stated firmly.