Chapter Three
Shawna felt like crap when she woke up on Friday. She hadn’t slept well after Gage dropped that one-year bomb on her, floating through a long shift like a zombie and finally dropping dead on her bed sometime after midnight. She got up fully prepared to turn down Gage’s proposition, because living with him was ridiculous. It would only lead to trouble. Hot, sexy trouble and that was just the type of trouble she was looking to avoid.
She hopped in the shower, hoping that the hot hard spray would wake her up and maybe knock some sense into her, but by the time she got dressed, she was still tired and without an answer for Gage. “At least I still have my health,” she sarcastically told her reflection.
Dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, because she refused to wear her uniform outside the casino, Shawna stepped outside and found a giant orange sticker on her apartment door. “Double damn!” An eviction notice caught her attention, and she groaned.
This was the problem with month-to-month leases. They allowed you the freedom to get up and go at a moment’s notice, but that also meant she could be kicked out with just thirty days’ notice. And for no reason, dammit. She went to speak with the apartment manager and was stunned to find out he’d been told she’d been turning tricks out of her apartment. To her stunned amazement, nothing she said could convince him otherwise.
On her way back to her apartment, she caught a glimpse of Pearce’s familiar figure leaning against an equally familiar red Mercedes SLR in the parking lot. “Shit!” Damn you, Pearce! Everything suddenly made sense. Stomping back inside her apartment and slamming the door, she called the bar manager to let him know she wouldn’t be in today. “I’m sorry, but I have to deal with this right away. If you can’t find someone to cover for me, I can probably make it in later.” He grunted an answer, and she smashed the ‘end’ button before tossing the phone on the sofa.
Missing the tip money on a Friday would hurt her bank account, but the sooner she got out of this place the harder it would be for Fuck Face to find her. Getting him out of her life was a top priority, second only to finding a new place to live. On short notice.
She groaned when the phone rang again, diving on the sofa and grunting an answer. “Yeah?”
“I hope you didn’t think calling off work today would get you out of giving me an answer.”
Gage. “Of course, I didn’t, but contrary to what you seem to think, not everything in this world revolves around you and your enormous ego! I was prepared to text you a big fat no until I found this stupid eviction notice on my door. Oh, and a slimy ex-boyfriend with a gloating smirk outside my door, you jerk!” She kicked her door in frustration, crying out as the pain reverberated up her leg. He was silent for a moment. “Oh, now you have nothing to s—”
“Don’t go anywhere. I’m on my way.”
“You don’t even know where I… live,” she said, even though he’d already disconnected the call. “Whatever,” she groused, unwilling to worry herself over Gage and his nonsense.
She marched to her room and dug inside the back of her closet in search of the boxes she was now glad she’d kept. It was a habit leftover from childhood, as was quickly packing up the essentials when her mom’s latest boyfriend stole away with the rent money and they needed to be gone by morning. Oh, the memories, she thought bitterly and went in search of packing tape.
She refused to cry and instead focused on taping all the boxes before packing up the kitchen cabinets. I hate this crappy apartment anyway. That much was true, but it was also cheap and close to work and campus, which was why she dealt with spotty plumbing and the grease-ball manager who always talked to her boobs.
“Ow!” That’s what I get for not paying attention. She stared at her now-bleeding thumb, completely oblivious to the door opening behind her.
“Hey, are you okay?”
She turned at Gage’s deep hypnotic voice and swallowed around a lump of sawdust in her throat. He looked sexy as hell in those thigh-hugging jeans and a t-shirt with the Revolution logo emblazoned on one ridiculously sculpted pec. “Yeah, I am. You didn’t have to come.”
Don’t cry. Absolutely do not cry. The last person she wanted to fall apart in front of was Gage.
“Of course, I did.” He flashed that grin that made women go stupid. Speechless. Dumbstruck. “My girlfriend is being evicted, which sucks, but now it will be easy to convince her to move in with me. Where she belongs.” He flashed his best loving boyfriend smile and moved in for a hug.
Shawna couldn’t help it, she laughed.
“That was almost believable, Gage.” She appreciated the effort, even if there was no audience to see his performance. “Except I know that you’ve only come to gloat.” Keeping her tears where they belonged—inside her head—she released a shaky emotional breath.
His frown only made his rugged features more handsome. “Actually, I came to help and to give that douche a show.” Winking, he pulled her into his arms in the open doorway. She peeked over his shoulder to see that, yep, Pearce was scowling up at them. “Seriously though, are you all right?”
Shawna let her arms wrap around his hard, narrow waist, enjoying the feel of his masculine warmth for just a minute. Only a minute. “I will be.” Eventually.
His blond brows rose in surprise, blue eyes scanning the boxes already assembled. “You already started packing?”
“Yep. I figured the quicker I was gone, the sooner Pearce would be out of my life.” Plus, she didn’t want to stay where one phone call could make her homeless when she hadn’t done anything wrong. “I tried calling the manager, but he made it clear he didn’t want ‘my kind’ polluting the place.”
Gage stared at her, obviously not understanding what she was saying. “What the hell does that mean?”
“It means Pearce led him to believe I was selling myself and using this apartment to do business.” Talk about humiliating, telling all this to her billionaire boss.
He frowned again, darker this time. “My place will guarantee that jackass keeps his distance. If he doesn’t, he’ll have to deal with me. Pack a bag and let’s get out of here.”
“You may be my fake live-in boyfriend, Gage, but you are not the boss of me.” Pulling herself from his grasp, she smacked his hard stomach when he laughed. “I need to pack.”
“No, you don’t. Where’s your bedroom?” He didn’t wait for an answer. He marched past her, leaving his masculine scent swirling around in her head and making her think crazy thoughts. “It’s a good thing you’re tiny, because this place is a shoebox,” he called from the back of the apartment.
“Well, it’s affordable and convenient, not that you’d know about that. What do you think you’re doing?” She stopped in the doorway, watching him throw her bras and panties into a small suitcase.
He stood and stared at her like she was the one who’d lost her mind. “Packing. Do you have a bathing suit in here?”
Finally, her brain started working again and she hip bumped him. “I am perfectly capable of packing my own bags, thank you very much. And why would I need a bathing suit when all I do is work and go to class?” She snatched a green thong that hung from his fingers. “Pervert.” She suppressed a smile because really, the man didn’t need any encouragement.
“Aw, honey, you say the sweetest things.” He batted his long, thick nearly-white eyelashes in her direction, which she refused to respond to. He was so damn potent she couldn’t ignore him if she wanted to, which she didn’t. But she needed to, dammit. If I bottled him up and sold it, I’d be a billionaire, too. He moved too close. Smelled too damn good. “Pack this,” he barked before he handed over several dresses.
“Stop telling me what to do!” Shawna knew she sounded like a brat, but the man had a knack for just taking over, whether his help was wanted or not.
“You’re extra hot when you’re feisty, Shawna.” Those blue eyes took a slow trip down her body before crawling back up, his look so heavy she felt it like an erotic caress.
She opened her mouth to respond, but nothing came out except a long low growl.
He laughed with that smirk that said he knew exactly what she was thinking. “Hurry up,” he told her, smacking her ass as he walked by.
Shawna squeaked at the feel of his big hand on her ass, telling herself it was an unwelcome touch. It didn’t feel good, and she definitely wasn’t turned on. Much. I won’t need a year shacked up with him, because I’m pretty sure I’ll kill him long before then.
In no time at all, they had three bags packed and Gage was ready to go, at least if his anxious pacing was any indication. “You can go, Gage, if you have someplace else to be. I can—”
“Take care of yourself, I know,” he growled, sending her a dark look she couldn’t decipher. “I’ll hire movers to come in and pack everything up and take everything to my house. Except the furniture,” he added casually.
“Too ugly for your place?” She was being a snot for no reason, but this was hard for her. Relying on someone else when she’d spent her entire life making sure she didn’t need to rely on anyone. When that person was a billionaire playboy, it was damn near impossible.
“No,” he sighed, seeming annoyed by her question. “I figured you’d want to keep it for later, so they’ll take it to my storage facility.”
“Oh.” Yeah, I’m an ass. “Thanks, that’s really nice of you, Gage.”
“Yeah, that’s me, a real fucking peach.”
She tossed her head back and laughed at his grumpy demeanor. “There are worse things to be, Peaches.” She laughed again when his scowl darkened. “Come on, nice guy. Your secret is safe with me.” She pulled him outside and locked the door. “He still there?”
“Yep. Come here.” Gage’s voice was low, deep and thick with something that sounded a lot like desire. She opened her mouth to question him, again, but he cut her off with a hungry kiss that stole her breath. His tongue slicked against her lips, first the bottom and then the top before sliding inside.
This shouldn’t be happening. At least according to her mind, but her hands held on to his large firm biceps, her hips pressed against his denim-clad ones. Her mouth acted like a hussy, opening and letting him inside to explore, torture, and tease until she moaned in response. One hand settled in her hair while the other slid over her shoulder and down her back until it cupped her ass and pulled her against where he was hard—and very large—against her. Shawna pulled back, because self-preservation demanded she do so. Sucking in a deep breath, her heated gaze met his midnight-blue eyes. “Wow.”
“Yeah,” he agreed and stomped off, wearing a dark scowl.