Gage (Men of Honor 1)

Almost once a day I relive our first meeting, all the feelings and sights and sounds are still fresh in my mind. I was at a luncheon with Lisa and Tracy who was visiting from out of town; some charity event that they’d dragged me off to. Though I’d come out of my shell somewhat after going away to college, once I returned home to my parents I’d all but fallen back into the same routine I had as a child.

I’ve never been the most outgoing of beings, preferring my own company to most and hiding away from the rest of the world in the old world fashion in which I was brought up. I don’t resent the values with which I was raised, truth be told they’ve helped me to settle into marriage with a man like my Gage much better than had I been raised differently.

But my innate fear of everything and my lack of social skills were something I could do without. I remember how it felt to feel his eyes on me from across the room that day. Remember even more the shock to my system when our eyes collided for the first time.

And when he approached me I couldn’t believe that it wasn’t part of some joke. It was only Lisa and Tracy ordering me to go for it that had unglued my feet that had become stuck in place when he approached me later that afternoon when things were coming to an end and he wanted to have a word with me.

I thought at first that he was going to offer me a job in the field I’d studied for, I mean what else could the wealthy, distinguished and very handsome man want with me in a room full of outstandingly beautiful women?

But when he asked for my name and number and with that assertive way of his told me he would pick me up the following evening for dinner I thought I might just die on the spot. I didn’t believe him until he showed up at my parents’ home the very next evening after sending me a dozen yellow roses that very afternoon after I returned home.

I’d tried explaining him to my parents but it was hard since I’d never mentioned a member of the opposite sex to them before. In high school I’d not been allowed to do anything more than focus on my studies, and even once I went away to college they still kept tabs on my every move. Had it not been for aunt Emma I may not have enjoyed what little I did of the college experience.

I hadn’t put too much stock in it anyway since I knew that my parents’ plans for me did not include a career even though I excelled in my studies. Their vision for me was to marry some unassuming gentleman, maybe a professor of their acquaintance, twice my age, who would take over my care from them so they no longer had to be worried about me.

No way were they going to accept someone as volatile and lively as Gage and because he made me feel a level of excitement I never knew before in my life I didn’t want their disdain to sully this new feeling I had.

So I downplayed our meeting and hoped that I didn’t make a complete fool of myself. Once they knew we were going out on a date the cautionary tales started. They were all about men only wanting one thing and how this experienced man who they’d asked around about in that short span of time was just going to use me and discard me once he got my highly valued in their eyes anyway, virginity.

Holly

* * *

Our first date had been a disaster on my part. I was so nervous and out of my depth that I’d forgotten everything I’d been taught over the years, even which forks to use at dinner and had made a mess of things.

I was almost certain that he wouldn’t want to see me again, but when he walked me to my door at the end of that first night and without even trying to kiss me goodnight said, “I’ll see you tomorrow night” I’d walked into the house on air.

We went out every night for a month and by the last night I was dying for his kisses, which we’d started sharing after that first week. We’d spend a good hour in his car with our mouths mated together until they were sore.

I’d long given up trying to get my parents’ approval by this point and was surprised when at the end of that first month they gave me an ultimatum. I, for the first time ever, was willing to go against them. I was in love for the first time and nothing had ever felt so good.