Second First Kiss

Chapter 19

Jasher

Jasher was nervous. Which was probably why he said what he said to Sage over a shared serving of chips and salsa at the hospital cafeteria. “About Saturday. I don’t want you to get nervous.”

“Why would I be nervous?” Sage’s ankle strayed close to his beneath the table of their booth, shooting bursts of energy through him. “I thought you said we are going to Newberry Reservoir. Kind of a secluded spot.” Her brow arched. “Private.”

“Yeah.” What he hadn’t told her about Saturday was what they would be doing there, and with whom. I should be the one who’s nervous. Tyanne’s a loose cannon. “Have you ever tried kneeboarding?”

“Kneeboarding!” Sage reached for both his hands, her eyes alight. “Are you serious?” Her eyes were the Fourth of July, and she gripped his fingers hard.

“Uh, yeah?” Should he be worried? “Is there something I should know?”

“Yes. I mean, no. I mean, I’m not anything like skilled at it, but it’s my favorite sport in the whole world.”

No way. “Mine, too.”

This girl just got better and better. She let go of his hands and popped a chip in her mouth, grinning.

“This is going to be so cool.” She paused, mid-chip. “But, where are you getting a boat?”

Ah, that was the crux of it. “My cousin Tyanne and her husband have one.” He stifled a cringe. This could go so badly.

“Oh.” Sage blinked at him a few times. “Cool. Your cousin. Is that why you told me not to get nervous? Is she … I don’t know. A character?”

That was the perfect way to put it. And if Jasher had known anyone else in a hundred-mile radius with a boat, he wouldn’t have brought Tyanne into the equation. But what else was there to do at Newberry Reservoir besides boat? No shore to speak of for a picnic. No fish to try to catch. It was boating or nothing. And he was obligated to take Sage to Newberry Dam, so Tyanne and Tate’s boat it was.

“Just don’t believe a word she says.” Especially if the words involve my past crush on you. “She’s great, but let’s just say she exaggerates.”

“Dude. It sounds like you’re the one who’s nervous.”

Which meant Jasher was as transparent as glass. To Sage, at least. Maybe that’s not such a bad thing. In fact, maybe it’s a great thing to have someone really see me.

Jasher pressed his ankle against Sage’s beneath the table, and her gaze met his. If there were any way to get her back to that linen closet right now; if both of them weren’t on shift; if it weren’t wholly inappropriate—Jasher would have kissed Sage blind right this second.

And not just because she’d given him the most mind-blowing kiss of his life the other day, or that every second that passed when he wasn’t pressing her to him felt like a year. This feeling taking root in him was much more than a teenage crush. Much more than the physical chemistry that distilled stronger than moonshine between them.

“I need to get back to work and check on Powell Barlow.” He was such a chicken. Boy, that train of thought took him down a spur of unfamiliar track. “More test results are in, and then I’m in my clinic the rest of the week.”

He rose to leave—and to get away from the clucking of his conscience’s accusing him of his chicken-hood.

“So, I”—Sage’s eyes dipped— “guess I won’t see you until Saturday.”

Unless I take you to dinner tonight, and to breakfast tomorrow, and keep you with me all the hours in between.

“You don’t mind being introduced to family, do you?” He lingered near the booth where she still sat, smelling of ginger and honey shampoo. Why was it so hard to walk away?

“I mean,” she said, “wouldn’t you say your mom and Redmond are family, too?”

“Oh. Right.” They already knew Sage and her parents. And they loved Sage. All that meet my family awkwardness was kind of moot. “We’ll pick you up at ten.”

“Ten.” She gave him the thumbs up. “And, Jasher?”

“Yeah?”

“I look forward to meeting your cousin and all, but I want to put in a plug for a little alone time. Just me and you.”

“No problem.” No problem at all.