I shook my head and stuck my tongue out at her. “Am not.”
“Oh puh-lease,” she laughed. “We both know you’re dying to tell him that you dropped your panties and need his help finding them.”
I wrinkled my nose and made a face at her. “Please promise me that if you ever hear me using lines that bad, you’ll smack me upside the head.”
“Hey! That line isn’t bad. I was just about to put it into my new script.”
I raised a brow. “So you’re writing porn now?”
Allie giggled as she turned toward the fridge to fill a glass with ice. “No, but now I really am tempted to put it into the script just to see if I can get away with it.”
We were still laughing when we heard the doorbell to our condo. Knowing that Gage was on the other side of the door had my heart beating at quadruple its normal rate. I’d wanted to play it cool, but the need to see him overrode that in a big way. I hurried to the door and flung it open, grinning like an idiot when I saw him on the other side.
As I’d discovered over the course of the previous dates, Gage made jeans look good. It didn’t matter that I’d already seen him in a pair before—the effect was still just as powerful as it had been the first time he showed up at my house dressed casually.
I wasn’t surprised when he stepped inside, closed the door behind him, and pulled me in for a kiss because I’d sensed that after the night before, we’d taken a step forward in our relationship. I wound my arms around his shoulders as he cradled me in his arms and kissed me so passionately it was as if we’d been separated for months instead of hours. When he lifted his head minutes later, I’d been thoroughly kissed, and we were both breathless.
He cupped my face between his hands and stared down at me for countless seconds, the two of us grinning at each other like fools. “Goddamn, beautiful,” he rasped. “It just gets better and better.”
I felt myself blush as I bit my lip and looked up at him from beneath my lashes. “It’s definitely something to write home about,” I said.
“I have no idea how I’m going to survive without this while I’m gone. You’ve gotten so damn far under my skin.”
I felt the same way, but hearing him say he felt it too floored me. “I’m going to miss you,” I admitted in a soft voice.
He groaned as he took a few steps forward until I was up against the wall behind the door. “Best fucking thing I’ve heard all day, beautiful.”
And then he kissed me again. And again. We kissed until the sound of Allie wolf-whistling got our attention. Only then did we separate, both laughing as Gage lifted me into his arms and moved us out from behind the door. He set me back down without letting me go as he turned us to face the living room. I was glad he held me since my knees were like jelly from his kisses. I knew I was blushing when my eyes connected with Allie’s. She was openly laughing, her arms crossed over her chest as she shook her head at us in mock-disbelief.
“I thought you guys were going to dinner and the movies.”
I giggled like an idiot as Gage traced my lower lip with his thumb.
“We are,” I said.
“In that case, you might want to get moving. It’s already five forty-five. You’ve been out here macking down on each other for a hella long time. I had no idea you were even still here until I came out to refill my drink.”
The look on Gage’s face before he threw his head back and burst out laughing was one of disbelief. “Like I said”—he chuckled—“you’re under my skin. We’re running behind schedule now, baby. Can you hustle?”
I nodded as I arched up and planted a quick kiss on his lips before I pulled out of his arms and ran for the kitchen where my purse was. When I ran back to the front entry, he and Allie were talking about nearby restaurants where we could eat at quickly since we’d lost almost an hour to kissing.
“There’s an Italian place a few blocks away,” she offered.
“No Italian. Even though I love it, I won’t be able to sit comfortably in a movie theater for a few hours if I’m loaded with carbs and reeking of garlic. How about we go to Carl’s Junior,” I suggested as Gage reached out to take my hand.
“Really?” he asked, seemingly surprised.
“Um, yeah,” I laughed. “I’d eat a western bacon cheeseburger and fried zucchini almost any day of the week.”
“It’s true,” Allie chimed in. “When she’s in a crabby mood, I always know to bring those two things home for her, along with a giant fruit punch. In no time at all, she’s back to her normal, chipper self.”