Page 63 of Broken Hearts

“Shit,” Sage mumbles, burying her face against my chest. “Sorry, they wanted to walk me home.”

Chuckling, I drop a kiss on the top of her head. “It’s okay, although I would’ve come and got you.”

Sage lifts her face to me, and I can’t resist leaning in for another kiss, ignoring the cat calls and wolf whistles this gets me as I flip the three of them off.

“BYE!” Alana shouts. “Don’t do anything we wouldn’t do!” They all dissolve into fits of laughter, as though this is the funniest thing ever.

“Text me when you get home,” I call as they turn and walk off, the three of them once again singing that stupid kissing thing as they disappear into the darkness. “So, I take it she guessed, huh?” I ask, turning back to Sage.

“Yes,” she groans, dropping her forehead to my chest. “Alana just…ugh, I don’t know, she’s like…”

I laugh, guiding her inside. “I know exactly what she’s like,” I tell her.

“She claims it was obvious,” Sage says, following me into the living room. “Like she knew it was gonna happen.”

“Course she did,” I say with a snort. “So how’d the lei-making thing go?”

Sage blows out a breath as she flops onto the couch. I take a seat beside her, pulling her against me as she rests her head on my shoulder. “Good, I guess,” she says with a shrug. “I mean, we mostly talked about this, obviously,” she adds, gesturing between me and her.

I sink down, dropping my head on the back of the couch as I smile. I can’t even imagine the interrogation she faced with the three of them. Alana is bad enough, but when they are all together, jesus, waterboarding is probably less painful.

I guess at least it stopped the conversation from drifting to Mitch and the memorial service.

“What’s the story with Owen and Sloane?” she asks, lifting her head. “I told Sloane he said hi, and she didn’t seem that impressed.”

Chuckling, I tuck her hair behind her ear, my thumb tracing along the shell. “No, she wouldn’t be. Owen isn’t exactly her type.”

“Oh?” she asks, curious. “Why’s that?”

My thumb strokes across her cheekbone. “Because Sloane is like me, and Owen isn’t,” I tell her.

Sage narrows her brow. “What, you mean she’s…” She trails off as I nod. “And Owen?”

“Owen is like in a whole different world,” I say. “And for Sloane, that can be hard to…well, you know,” I say, shrugging.

“But you and Owen are friends, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, but it’s…I don’t know. Different, I guess.”

Sage pouts at that, an adorably confused look on her face as she says, “But it shouldn’t matter.”

Smiling, I close my hand around the back of her neck, pulling her close as I brush my lips against hers. “I know, but it still does,” I whisper, trying to ignore the thought that Sage and I are the same as Owen and Sloane. From two different worlds.

“Do you think they genuinely like each other, though?”

I laugh now, kissing her again. “Yeah, I don’t know. I think Owen probably likes her.”

“I think Sloane likes him too,” she says, pulling back a little. “She acted all pissed off when I told her he said hi, but I could tell she was also kinda secretly happy about it.”

“Okay, little matchmaker,” I say, chuckling. “How about we forget about Owen and Sloane hooking up and focus more on you and me and what we’re gonna do for the rest of the night.”

This earns me a smirk, as Sage rests her hand on my chest. “Well,” she starts, “am I staying here or are you coming over to my place?”

Grinning, I lift her hand, kissing her knuckles as I say, “Well, you’re outta condoms, so I’m thinking we should probably stay here.”

“Wait, what?” she asks. “I didn’t…I thought they were…”

She trails off, her confusion suddenly morphing into understanding and then embarrassment. I grin, connecting the dots at the same time Sage does.

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