Page 11 of Leashed

Chapter Five

Sage stepped out into the cool Saturday morning breeze, wrapping her coat tight around herself as she checked her phone and read over the 2 a.m. text from Nixon canceling their breakfast date again.

She couldn’t fault him for trading an early morning meal for an extra few hours of sleep before he was back out networking and building his client portfolio. It was, after all, his future.

Their future.

And once she was no longer studying between two jobs, they would have more time to reconnect, to move past the stasis their relationship had been in for longer than she cared to think about.

Her phone buzzed and she scanned the name, letting it go to voice mail when she saw it was her mom calling. Being stood up again wasn’t a great start to her morning, but defending it to her mother would definitely push her limits.

Shaking off the growing feeling her life was in a holding pattern, she began her trek to Bean There, Done That, a small coffee shop tucked tight beside a behemoth of a condo complex across from the park. Wisps of snow drifted off the tall pines, the flakes melting the moment they landed on her cheeks and lashes.

She slowed her pace at the entrance to the park, coming to a stop when she caught sight of unmistakable long blond hair against the ruddy brown of the earth.

Bo lay sprawled out on his stomach, reaching shoulder-deep into a thick web of bushes. With a grunt, he rolled onto his bare back in the snow, tossing his arm over his eyes and muttering a slew of curses. Tanned skin and abs drew her eye to the V-cut of his hips that would put the statue of David to shame. The slate-gray tattoo stamped on his chest heaved with his every breath. As her mind caught up with her unintentional staring at his shirtless torso, she blushed and lowered her eyes from the view, the coffee shop long forgotten.

“Sage?”

Caught, she took a deep breath and looked over at him as he got to his feet, his torn jeans riding far too low in a world where gravity was law. “Hey, Bo.” She smiled weakly. “Another midnight run?”

Bracing himself on a branch, he bent over the bushes, producing a shirt with triumph. He slapped it against his thigh, sending a smattering of snow and leaves flying. “Yeah. Got a little turned around, so a two-hour run after the bar turned into a…what time is it anyway?”

“Eight.”

“Turned into a six-hour run,” he finished, his voice more gravelly than it had been the night before. He took a few steps toward her and froze, patting his back pockets. “Ah, fuck. My phone.”

He turned toward the shrubs and stalked slowly around them, giving her a good look at the artwork spanning his back. The tattoo was an incredibly detailed representation of Hades and Persephone surrounded by the souls of the underworld they ruled over. Cerberus sat at their feet, the meticulous portrayal of the mythological beast stretching down to the low-lying band of his jeans. “Wow. That tattoo is incredible.”

He paused his search for a moment before he knelt down, retrieving his cell from the underbrush. “Thanks.”

She took a step closer, fighting the intense desire to trace the precise lines of the tattoo. “Is that a local artist?”

Straightening up, he stilled for her to examine the piece. “Second cousin from down under. You have any?”

“Oh, no.” She laughed, tearing her eyes off the tattoo and averting her gaze while he tugged his shirt over his head. “Pain and I don’t hang in the same circles.”

Striding over to her, he shoved his hands into his back pockets. “You get used to it after a while,” he said. “Where are you headed so early?”

She glanced over her shoulder at the quiet cafe across the street. “I was just going to grab a coffee.” Shivering at the sight of his bare arms, she shook her head. “Aren’t you freezing?”

“Yeah, starting to get there,” he muttered with a frown, as though suddenly noticing the chill.

“Then why don’t you join me? At the very least, you can warm up for a bit.”

With a shrug, he nodded. “Why the hell not? I don’t have to be at work yet.”

Leading him to the Bean, she stepped aside as he opened the door for her. “Thank you. So where do you work?”

*

Bo followed Sageinto the quiet coffeehouse, hanging back while she placed their order at the till but moving quick enough to cover the tab before she could open her purse.

“Hey,” she scolded. “I invited you, so it was my treat.”

“Consider it my offering for tolerating my company,” he responded, waving off the change and collecting their cups. “Lead the way.”

Taking him to a booth at the back of the restaurant, she shrugged off her coat and sat, giving him a nervous smile. “So, um, I know you like to hike in the dark for fun. What do you do for work?”

---