Page 66 of Under the Ink

“Yeah, sure.” Actually, she would rather go hide in her bunk…but since that wasn’t an option, the table was the next best thing. Sitting on the couch would feel a little too intimate—and they were at cross purposes, so facing each other somehow seemed appropriate. “After you.”

That way he couldn’t sneak in the seat next to her. No coziness. Just talk.

“If you insist.”

After he sat in one of the chairs on the side facing the front of the bus, she slid in on the other. It was probably better if she couldn’t stare down the aisle so she could see the road…better to give Sage more attention. For that reason alone, she was glad the flatscreen TV hanging on the wall over the table was off for a change.

The guys seemed to like it on 24/7.

Lifting her coffee cup to her lips, she took a slow sip. If Sage wanted to talk, he was going to have to start it.

Unfortunately, he had no problems doing that. “Why’d you leave last night?”

“I got on the bus like everyone else.”

“You know what I mean. Notlast nightlast night. The night before. The night you were in my room. Why’d you leave?”

“Why should I have stayed?”

Ah. That worked. He didn’t have a ready answer.

But he’d been giving the matter a lot of thought and had no problems drumming up a response. The way his voice softened up clued her into the fact that maybe Sage had a bigger heart than she’d given him credit for. “I thought we were having a good time.”

“We were. But then we fell asleep. Did you really want me to stick around, snoring and stealing the covers?”

“You do that? You snore?”

“I don’t know. Hypothetically.”

“Hypothetically, you might also talk in your sleep and grind your teeth. You might have violent nightmares where you punch and kick and shout. I don’t care. It just seemed kind of…” Pausing, he let out a sigh, seeming to want to change the direction of what he was saying. “Maybe I should have suggested that you stay. Would you have stayed if I’dinvitedyou?”

This was all the shit she hadn’t wanted. While she had to admit there were a lot of things about that encounter that she’d enjoyed, she neither wanted nor needed a man in her life. Not Sage or anyone else.Ever.“No. Why would I?”

“Jesus H. Christ, woman. Are we gonna keep going in circles?”

“If you keep asking me the same questions, probably.”

Closing his eyes, Sage let out a long breath. There was no denying the man was getting frustrated, but he managed to keep his voice soft. “I thought our time together was special.”

As much as she wanted this moment to end, at the bottom of it all, she felt like Sage was becoming a good friend—which meant she couldn’t just be a jerk. “Itwas. But that doesn’t mean we had to have a slumber party.”

They were both quiet for a bit, so she took another drink of coffee, realizing she wouldn’t be going back to sleep anytime soon, not with all this caffeine entering her system. Sage finally said, “What are you afraid of?”

Naomi swallowed, realizing her mouth was watering—but she wasn’t sure why. “I’m not afraid. I just don’t…want anything…complicated. Is that so bad?”

Blinking several times while looking at the tattoos on Naomi’s wrist, Sage finally shook his head. “No. It’s not. And maybe that’s my bad for not asking in the first place. I thought we were kind of on the same wavelength.”

As painful as this all felt, the last thing she wanted to do was ruin the friendship theydidhave. Although she’d be leaving in a couple of months, she wanted their time together to be free of drama and strife.

She wanted and needed his friendship. It made things on the tour better.

Touching his hand, she waited to speak until he lifted his eyes to meet hers. “I, uh…I don’t do relationships. And it doesn’t have anything to do with you.”

“Who said anything about a relationship?”

Oh, no. Had she completely misread everything? Taking her hand back, she said, “Tha—”

“I just thought we were having fun, but the way you left makes me think you didn’t.”

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