Page 111 of Hooking a Hottie

“My apologies, Sage. Continue. Please.”

“Thank you,” she said. “I landed a big client. On my own. I decided to treat myself to a night out.”

“You came out here alone?”

“Yes.”

“What was your plan? To stay? Get a ride back… home…”

“Are you grilling me right now, Henry? Are you worried about me?”

She smiled.

I gritted my teeth.

I was quickly reminded about how much of a pain in the ass Sage could be when she felt like it.

“Forget I asked a thing,” I said.

I started to walk and Sage grabbed the back of my shirt. “Not so fast. What are you doing here, Henry? Your turn to spill the beans.”

I offered my left hand. “Let’s walk near the water. I’ll tell you my life story.”

“Oh, jeez.”

Sage took my hand and I was instantly thrown back in time.

All those stupid teenage feelings still lingering around.

Like a mold that was never properly cleaned.

I thought about how I just walked up to that bar and chased away the guy buying her drinks. Making her my responsibility now. There was no way in hell I would just let her go off on her own right now. If she still lived where she grew up, she was a good thirty minutes away.

And she was not in any shape to drive.

I had no idea how she even got here in the first place…

“Come on, let’s hear this story,” Sage said.

“My rags to riches story,” I said.

“Are you rich?”

“No.”

“Don’t lie to me then, Henry.”

“Maybe I should just back off then. I’ll give you a call when I’m rich.”

I watched the way she bit her bottom lip and had no clue what it meant.

“You know, I hated the way it ended,” I said. “I think about it all the time too. About you. About Leon. How is he?”

“Stubborn. Fierce.”

“Same as always then.”

“Maybe we should just not talk about the past then.”

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