Page 49 of Flirting With Forever
He nodded. Mia had fallen for her half-sister’s baby daddy and wound up in a marriage of convenience with him that had thankfully turned into a real marriage with time. But they’d all had that moment of—baby mama’s sister? Seriously?
“What I’m trying to say is I can identify with Sloane’s position. She’s staying with you. Dependent on you and that’s a very vulnerable position to be in. A tightrope. Maybe take some time to try and see things from her perspective.”
“Fair enough.” He nodded and managed a smile. “I don’t want her feeling obligated in any way or thinking that I’m taking advantage.”
“Good. So my next question is whether the feelings you’re feeling are mutual?”
Yeah, wasn’t that the million-dollar question? “That’s the thing,” he said in a low voice. “They are. I know they are, and she’s— I’m not imagining things. We mesh in a good way. A way that makes me see things differently.”
“That’s certainly a good start.”
“I think so, too. I’d like to see where things might go but…”
Mia didn’t speak, and he turned to see her staring up at him, looking more than a bit bemused. “What now?”
“Nothing,” she said, smiling. “It’s just I’ve never seen this side of you. Oh, come on, that can’t come as a surprise. You’re always all about work and the next project and making more money. So driven. I’ve never seen this…softer side. It’s nice, Gage.”
She hadn’t seen it because he wasn’t sure it existed before now. Before Sloane.
Gage looked around at those gathered inside and out and sucked in a low breath, realizing just how much he’d missed due to the hustle and grind he’d held himself to. His nieces and nephew were growing up, and he was missing it all. “How did Alec finally win you over?”
He’d heard bits and pieces of the story during the last couple of years, but he’d never really listened. It was about time he did, before he looked up one day and realized his nieces and nephew were fully grown and he was an old man with nothing to show for his hard work but money.
“You mean besides kidnapping me?”
He blinked at the words. Wait, what? Had he heard about that? “Kidnapping you?”
A laugh bubbled out of her, and she set the plate aside to lean down and pluck up her daughter, settling the little girl against her side with one leg draped over her pregnant belly. “You really haven’t been paying attention, have you? Your older brothers have been up to no good. Alec, Brooks and Elias have made use of the whole kidnapping and romancing thing to win us over. It’s become a joke among us girls, wondering who will be next.”
She went on to explain about how his brothers had all had a falling out with their significant others and gone overboard in an attempt to win them back. And it had worked. In time, anyway.
“I don’t think that would go over well with Sloane.” Not with her trust issues. “She’d see that as the ultimate act of me trying to control her again.”
“Mmm. You might be right,” Mia said, kissing Willa’s head. “So instead, maybe you need to lose control.”
“Meaning?”
“Do the complete opposite of what you’re doing and let go. Tell her how you feel and give her control. Let her decide. What’s the saying about if you set something free and it comes back to you? Do you know it?”
“Yeah, I’ve heard it.” But the advice wasn’t what he wanted to hear at all, and he certainly wasn’t sure he could follow through on it.
“She has to choose you, Gage. And don’t forget that you deserve to be chosen as much as you’ve obviously chosen her. You’re a good guy. Maybe a little too laser focused at times,” she said, flaring her eyes wide as if to emphasize her point, “but a good guy. Look around you. Look at all the love that’s here today. You deserve someone who wants you as much as you want them.”
Willa began fussing, wanting a drink, and Mia flashed him a smile before carting her daughter away. Gage turned back to the view, feeling more than a few sets of eyes on him as he thought over her words.
He pulled his phone out and was about to send a text to Sloane to check in and ask about her headache when a hand clamped over his shoulder. Cole tugged him into a one-armed hug with a head-rub the way only older, bossier brothers could do.
“Mia get you set straight?”
He tucked his phone away and shook his head. “Figures you’d tell Ana what I told you.”
“Wasn’t me. I’m pretty sure Alec picked up on you and Sloane early on. And even I’ve caught you stealing a kiss at work. That’s all on you.”
“Yeah, well, there is no Sloane and me.”
“For real? Is that why she’s not here? Please tell me you didn’t tick off the best employee we’ve found so far. Did she leave town?”
Gage glared at the view and the change that it represented and equated it to the woman who’d appeared, sucked him in like a riptide and then was about to disappear out to sea like she never existed. “Which pie did you like better?”
