Page 93 of Courtside

And then he heard the squeak of footsteps behind him, and he started to laugh. Even as his lungs burned and his muscles protested, still stiff from a night spent on Chuck’s couch.

He didn’t even care when Sage passed him, snatching the ball up and immediately launching into a series of taunts that all revolved around him being old and slow.

He didn’t care because Sage was smiling so wide that her mouth was open, and each of her exhales came out as a laugh.

He’d done that. And there was nothing in the world that David Hughes loved more than seeing the people he cared about safe and happy.

CHAPTER25

SO FUCKING POLITE

DAVID

David Hughes stood on Sage Fogerty’s doormat, bouquet of flowers in hand.

After returning from the gym they’d parted ways, agreeing to meet at Sage’s place after they’d both cleaned up. Itwastheir first date, after all.

David had taken the time to shower and change into jeans and a soft orange button up that he normally only pulled out for the birthday parties of his friends’ wives, which always were somewhere too fancy that didn’t serve enough food.

Sage answered the door in faded jeans and a little tank top that exposed the softness of her belly. And her nipples —goddamnitthis woman was going to kill him with her hard little nipples pressed against the almost transparent white fabric. Her hair was still wet, pulled back into a braid that curved over her shoulder.

He was so fucking done for her.

“Hey,” she breathed, lips quirking up into that crooked smile.

“Hi.” David was probably smiling like an idiot, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care.

She stepped aside and pointed over her shoulder. “I have steaks.”

David slipped out of his shoes before walking into the living room. “I got you these,” David said, holding out the flowers and feeling suddenly shy standing there in front of her.

Sage took the bouquet from him, burying her nose between the blooms and taking a slow inhale. Her eyes fluttered shut and her cheeks flushed pink. “They smell amazing,” she breathed, opening her eyes and smiling up at him. “Thank you.”

“I’ll get you more,” he blurted. “Flowers. I know it’s your thing, but can it be my thing too? Or would that be too many flowers?”

Sage’s expression was so fond and her cheeks so pink, like maybe she was a little bit embarrassed on his behalf. “You’re ridiculous,” she said as she exhaled a soft snort. “There’s no such thing as too many flowers.”

She moved to the kitchen, and David followed, watching as she put the flowers into a large glass jar. Then she opened the fridge and took out a plate with two thick ribeyes stacked on it.

Jesus, this woman.

Sage wasn’t facing him; her hands were busy in a way that only someone who is able to multitask in the kitchen can achieve. She chopped, sliced, stirred, and David watched the golden light in the room catch on the dips and swells of her shoulders and her strong upper back.

He knew that he should offer to help, but in that moment he couldn’t tear himself away from the simple joy of watching her.

“I want to tell you something about me,” Sage said suddenly, her hands never faltering from their sure movements. “I think it might help. You told me about what happened with Johnny, and I feel like I understand you better now. I get you in a way that I didn’t before.” She glanced back over her shoulder at him. “I’ve never had a boyfriend, but unless all of the books I’ve ever read are based on complete bullshit, I’m pretty sure that being honest is a good place to start a relationship.”

David smiled as he leaned his elbows on the bar. “I don’t think your books were lying,” he agreed.

“My dad left when I was little,” Sage continued, turning back to her cooking. “He was a successful man who had one of those jobs in upper management with a corner office. One day he came home with divorce papers and told my mom that he’d fallen in love with his secretary, and he left us with nothing to start another family.” A sharp sizzle filled the air as she laid the steaks carefully down in a cast iron. “I don’t really remember him, but it fucked my mom up. Likereallyfucked her up. She hadn’t worked since she’d had Brinley, and all of a sudden she was a single mom who had to support two kids. She’d never finished her degree, and it was like all of the choices she’d made over the years to make her relationship with my dad work came back to haunt her at once.” Sage opened the oven, using a kitchen towel to protect her hand as she pulled out a pan of roasted asparagus.

“So I grew up with a single, hard-working mother who, like a broken record, constantly reminded us of the dangers of older, successful men. I understood where she was coming from, but I think it maybe hurt us — Brinley and me — more than it helped.” She flipped the steaks one by one. “I think it maybe led me to crave that forbidden thing she talked about. Maybe it led me to Evan.” She shrugged, and David noticed that the mention of him seemed easier, like maybe the grip that experience had held on her had loosened.

“Last night at the game my mom saw you looking at me.” Sage turned around, leaning her body back against the counter in a way that somehow accentuated the bare skin of her stomach leading down to her jeans. “And then she saw how I was looking at you, and then she knew, because she’s my mom and justknowsthings. Of course then that led to another lecture about older men and inevitable hurt and relinquishing freedom.” Sage looked at him,reallylooked at him with all of her attention, leaving no doubt that she was there with him. That they were together in this.

“After that I just needed some time to, I don’t know, recalibrate, maybe?” She shook her head, like that wasn’t the right word for what she was trying to express. “But it wasn’t about you. It wasn’t about how I feel about you or how you are with me, because you’ve never been anything but respectful, David.” Her lips curved up into a smirk. “Sometimes too respectful, if I’m honest.”

“I wish I’d asked what was going on,” he said, hating that she’d been struggling and he’d missed it.

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