Secret Gifts (Steamy Version) (7 page)

“Gage.” She reached out for him, but he pushed past her.

“Leave me alone, Megan. I didn’t ask for your help and I don’t need it.”

He flung open the door and walked inside but came to a dead stop. To the right was the restaurant where Bo and Morgan were waiting, and Megan was sure to be rejoining them. He could go back to the easy conversation and sense of belonging he’d had with them. It was easy. But Megan would be there. And despite the fact that all he wanted to do was pull her into his arms and kiss her, he’d just been a first-rate jackass to her. Maybe, if he apologized, if he— “Gage!”

A remotely familiar voice behind him called out and although it took him a second to place the voice, he turned to see a beautiful blond woman waving at him. The girl from the night before. As a reflex, Gage’s face relaxed into a slow smile, which the blond must have taken as encouragement because she started walking in his direction.

Moments later, she was in front of him. “Hey,” she said. “Sorry our party got cut short last night. But we can try again, can’t we?”

He glanced backwards at the glass door where he was certain Megan was still watching him. She watched everything. Just knowing she’d heard at least his half of the conversation he’d had with Hannah made his blood boil again. She had no right. And monitoring how much he drank? What was next? Was she going to tell him who he could and could not have sex with?

Gage looked at the blond again. What was her name? Lisa. It came to him in a flash. Yes. She’d been good to party with.

“You’re right,” he said. “We could finish that party. Maybe this time without any interruption?” She giggled and Gage had to swallow down the irritation that rose up within him. He took a quick glance back towards the restaurant. Truth be told, he’d far rather be nursing another beer and reliving the climb again with Bo. But that was too easy, and that would mean Megan. And besides the fact that she knew too much, just being near her would make everything far too real.

“Well, come on then,” Lisa purred. She grabbed his hand and led him down the hall.

No, he thought. The last thing he needed was reality sneaking in.

Megan woke the next morning with a start. She’d been surprised when the night before, after her confrontation with Gage, and then watching him being led off by that blond fame monger, that when she’d finally returned to the suite, he was asleep on the couch with the TV on. She wouldn’t admit to anyone that she’d stalked around his room, making sure there was no one hiding in his bed or a stash of empty bottles anywhere. There was nothing. He was alone. And by all accounts, he hadn’t been drinking to excess. It was strange behavior for sure, especially after seeing him so angry. She felt guilty for snooping around after him, but she was just doing her job, Megan reminded herself, and not for the first time.

She flipped back the covers of her bed and mentally chastised herself because if she’d been doing her job instead of getting herself personally involved with her client, Gage wouldn’t have even had the chance to go off alone with Lisa in the first place. After all, wasn’t she supposed to keep him out of trouble? And if there was one thing Megan knew by instinct alone, Lisa was trouble.

By the time she’d showered and dressed, she was still on edge about what the morning would bring. She opened her door a crack and slipped into the hall. Gage’s door was still closed, which she knew it would be. He didn’t seem like an early riser. At least it would buy her a little bit of time to figure things out before he got up. And for that she’d need coffee. Strong coffee.

Before she could even get the filters out of the drawer, her cell phone started ringing. She looked at the screen and the caller ID. Perfect. The California office. And it was only nine, which meant it was only eight on the coast. Which meant only one thing; trouble.

With a sigh, she touched her screen. “Lois?”

“It’s Ryan.”

Megan’s heart stopped for a second and she sucked in a breath.

“Megan? Are you there?”

“Yes.” She swallowed hard. “I’m here. Sorry, I wasn’t expecting you…”

“To call?” Ryan’s voice was neutral but there was no way Megan could have missed the underlying tension. “Well, I thought maybe it was time we talked. Don’t you?”

Did she? The answer was no. She didn’t think it was time to talk to Ryan. What would she say to him?
Sorry I broke your heart and left you because I couldn’t stand the thought of being with one man for the rest of my life
. Especially when that man never once made me feel the way Gage Mitchell did with a simple touch.

Megan shook her head and frantically tried to clear her thoughts.

“Megan? Is it a bad connection?”

“Yes,” she said. “I mean, no. I just…I have a lot going on here and I—“

“That’s right,” he said. His voice had an edge to it. “You have to keep Gage Mitchell out of trouble. That’s quite a job.”

There was something in the way he said it that sparked Megan’s attention, but she ignored it. “Why did you call, Ryan? I don’t know what else there is to say.” Abandoning the coffee, she walked towards the window and stared outside. The mountains were reflecting an ethereal glow from the sun. It was stunning, and she lost herself in it for a moment.

He sighed, and she could imagine him at his desk, doodling circles all over the notepad he kept in front of him. It was his nervous habit, and she would bet money on the fact that he was nervous.

“I’m calling to get a status report,” he said after a moment. “There hasn’t been any mention in the tabloids about Mitchell being at the Lodge, so we can only assume they haven’t gotten wind of it yet.”

“Not that I know of,” she said.

“That’s good.” There was a pause. “So, he hasn’t spoken to anyone?” he asked.

It seemed like an odd question. Why would Ryan care? “Only his manager and sister,” she said, remembering the conversation from the night before. “But we don’t have him on lockdown, Ryan. Why would it matter who he talks to? Besides, his mother is sick. I’m not going to patrol his phone conversations.”

There was a pause and then, Ryan said, “Well, it’s pretty much an impossible job, Megan. It would have been hard for Brent to handle it, but—“

“Wait.” She stopped him. “What do you mean, it would have been hard for Brent?” Brent was the best damage control expert at the Grace Agency and the obvious choice for such a job. “Why isn’t Brent here?” she asked him after a few seconds. “Why me, Ryan? What do you know about Lois sending me up here?”

His silence was all the confirmation she needed. Ryan was never a good liar and his skills weren’t improved by long-distance telephone calls.

“What do you know, Ryan?”

“Megan, it’s not like I told her to do it.”

“Told her to do what?”

“But I was upset and she’s my mother and—“

“What, Ryan?” Megan was losing patience quickly. “Why did Lois send me up here? This isn’t normally the type of thing I do. There are a dozen people who’d be better suited to this.” The realization of it slammed into her, before Ryan even had to say it aloud. “Oh my God.”

“I didn’t realize she was going to…look, I was mad. I mean, you just left with no explanation.”

“First of all, I can’t believe she sent me here because you were mad at me. I told you why,” Megan said, her voice barely more than a whisper. “I couldn’t marry you. It wouldn’t have been fair.” She walked to the window and stared outside.

“It wouldn’t be fair to who? To you?”

Megan nodded, even though he couldn’t see her. That was exactly it. If she’d married him, she would’ve sacrificed herself. And wouldn’t it be worse for everyone involved?

“For you,” she said. “Ryan, it wouldn’t have been fair for me to pretend I could be happy forever. It wouldn’t have been right.”

“We could’ve been happy, Megan.” He pleaded with her. “We still can.”

She glanced towards the hall where Gage’s door was still closed. “No,” she said. “No, Ryan. We can’t. I’m sorry.” She meant it. She cared about Ryan; he was a good friend and she’d never meant to hurt him. Her mind raced back to what he’d said earlier. “What do you mean she sent me here to fail? What does that mean?”

Ryan laughed on the other end of the line. “Come on, Megan. It’s Gage Mitchell. She sent you to keep him out of trouble. Why would she send you? He’s one of the biggest stars on the planet right now. At least until some new scandal is uncovered and his production company drops him from
Tumbleweed
. Word is they’re even more nervous that his reputation is going to tarnish their squeaky-clean image.”

“Any publicity is—“

“Not in this case,” he interrupted her. “They want the focus on the show and the other stars are complaining that Mitchell is stealing the limelight. It’s not going to fly, Megan. As soon as he screws up again, he’s out. And he’ll take out everyone around him.”

“He’s not going to screw up.”

Ryan laughed and the sound grated Megan’s nerves. “Yeah, right. He’s a train wreck. It’s pretty much a guarantee that he’ll self-implode. It’s a total suicide mission.”

“A suicide mission?” She sounded like an idiot repeating him, but she needed to be perfectly clear on what he was saying and even though she knew the answer before she asked the question, she asked it anyway. “Why would Lois send me instead of Brent if she thought it was hopeless?”

“You know why.”

Her stomach churned at his words, because hadn’t she suspected there was something else behind her trip to the Lodge? She didn’t say anything, though, because right then she noticed Gage standing in the hallway. “I have to go,” she said into the phone. Without waiting for a response, she hung up the phone and tossed it on the coffee table.

“You didn’t have to do that on my account,” Gage said. He walked into the room, and her senses filled with the smell of his aftershave mingled with the sharp tang of soap. At least he was wearing a shirt, she thought as he came to stand directly in front of her.

She stared at him for a moment. “I was done talking.”

“What’s a suicide mission?”

She silently cursed herself for not being more discreet on the phone, but didn’t say anything.

“What?” he asked. “It’s only fair. You heard my private call last night.”

“About that, Gage.” Thankful for the distraction, she quickly changed the topic. “I think we should talk about that. If your mom is—“

“We are not talking about that.” He held up his hand but it was the look in his dark eyes that stopped her. “Now tell me, what’s a suicide mission? You were talking about me, right?” He was asking, but there was no question in his voice.

Megan shook her head, and turned away. “It was a business call.” She needed a coffee. There was no way she was talking about her work dramas, or personal dramas, or whatever they were, with Gage.

“It was a call about me.” He was right behind her.

“No it wasn’t.”

“You’re a terrible liar.” He laughed, and she spun around so sharply she ran into his chest.

Gage grabbed her arms, and for a second, Megan forgot how to breathe. He was too close; she couldn’t think. Her senses returning, she took a deep breath and instantly realized her mistake as she inhaled his masculine scent. If he hadn’t been gripping her tightly, she might have fallen over.

“Megan?” Gage shook her gently, which is exactly what she needed to bring her back to reality. She shoved away from him and tried to compose herself.

“It doesn’t matter what I was talking about,” she said with as much authority as she could muster and walked into the kitchen to make coffee. “It was a personal call.”

He grinned and shrugged. “Well, personal or not,” he said. “They were right. It’s a suicide mission and you know it, too.”

“What are you talking about?” The coffee filter slipped from her fingers and she fiddled with it a moment before shoving it into the machine.

“Megan.” He pulled out a bench and crossed one leg over his knee. “You know as well as I do that there’s no point. I’m going to screw up. I always do.”

“Why would you say that?” She poured a random amount of grounds into the filter and added water to the machine before flicking it on. “You didn’t mess up last night.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she wanted to pull them back in.

“You were checking up on me, were you?” He looked amused. They both knew damn well she was checking up on him. “And what did you find?”

Megan sighed in defeat. It’d been an exhausting morning already and she hadn’t even had a cup of coffee yet. “Look, it’s my job to make sure you’re behaving yourself, okay?”

Gage got up slowly from the bench and stalked towards her like a cat to his prey. His eyes were dark and dangerous and heat flared there. “And what if I don’t want to behave myself?”

Megan reflexively backed up until she bumped against the counter. He was so close she could feel the heat from his body radiate off him. Her body reacted instantly to his nearness. Her nipples peaked against the blouse she wore, and her panties grew damp. No. She could not react to him. He was her client and more than that, she was irritated with him. Not turned on.

That was a lie. A very big lie. “Gage.” Her voice came out as a lust filled whisper. “You have to…” Her words trailed away as he closed what little gap was left between them and pressed his lips to hers in a hard kiss full of promise.

“I really don’t want to behave anymore,” he whispered roughly.

Keeping her pinned to the counter with his hips, one hand found her breast and tweaked her hard nipple through the cotton of her blouse. His other thumb moved back and forth lazily over her other nipple; shock waves sizzled through her, directly to her core. Megan knew she was putting her job at risk, but in that moment she really didn’t care. All she cared about was feeling Gage’s skillful touch on her body and the way it was making her feel. Because, damn, she hadn’t felt like that before. Not in a very long time.

“Tell me you don’t want me to behave.” Gage continued his merciless assault on her nipples, and the tension in her belly grew stronger. Damn, if she didn’t know herself so well, she might think she could climax just from his touch alone. But…no. She’d never…