Read Online If Not For You by Jennifer Rose - Free Book Online

are we doing here?” I demanded. The man had just kissed me, then told me he shouldn’t have then dragged me away to the Lido deck.
    “We’re going to play golf, mini golf,” he said like nothing had happened, like he hadn’t nearly set me a blaze, like there wasn’t a puddle formed in my panties. It had to be a male thing. He was crazy.
    “Okay.”
    This guy was so trying to cover up what had happened, I guessed it would be my job not to let him.
    We were handed golf clubs and balls and given a brief outline of the mini course. A flip of a coin gave Gage the first putt, I watched as he hit his ball and it disappeared into the hole, now it was my turn.
    “Are you going to tell me why you kissed me?” I asked, as I leisurely lined up my shot.
    “I thought we were going to forget that happened,” he said as I tapped my ball into the hole and we moved on to the next.
    “Can’t do that, I’m like an elephant I never forget. You may want me to, but I won’t,” I said, just as he tapped his ball and it bounced off in the wrong direction, to my delight he seemed to be somewhat distracted.
    “Did you want to try that again, Gage? I think I may have thrown you off,” I said a little on the sarcastic side. I was angry, stupid angry, like women tended to get. I wanted him to kiss me again and again until he couldn’t get enough of me.
    “No, it’s your shot,” he said, dismissing me yet again. I lined up my shot and my ball rolled over the tiny incline and into the hole. He stepped in front of me as I was about to move along.
    “Tandy, I shouldn’t have kissed you, it was wrong just leave it at that.” He looked at me and I could see torment tearing at him. I almost felt sorry for him, almost.
    “Well it sure as hell didn’t feel wrong to me,” I blurted out.
    He tugged at the neck of his t-shirt as if it were too tight. “Look it’s been a really long time…I can’t let it happen, that’s not why I’m here… I mean…you just looked so fucking good…it can’t happen again, it won’t happen again.” He stumbled over his words but never took his eyes off mine, he was intent on making me comprehend what he was saying.
    I looked good to him? I looked good to him. That was a nice thought but I understood what he was saying, that there just wasn’t going to be anything between us. He got carried away in the moment, perhaps it was heat stroke or something. Sure I was disappointed, but disappointment was a part of me, I could deal. I had in the past and I would again in the future.
    “Friends?” I put my hand out to him like some kind of contract negotiation and he smiled taking my hand in his and shook.
    “Friends.”
    “Well friend, I don’t know about you but I could use a drink…come on I’ll let you buy me one,” I said, trying my best to pull off that not-a-big-deal façade.
    “What about the game?” he asked, as I walked away, abandoning my club and ball at the third hole and he did the same looking at the attendant with a shrug and smile.
    “Oh, honey, you know as well as I do, that I was going to kick your ass anyway. Why prolong the inevitable?” I teased, peering over my shoulder at Gage, with a pitiful look on my face and he laughed.
    I’d never get enough of those dimples.
    “You weren’t going to kick my ass, sweetheart, I was letting you win.”
    “Bullshit!” I laughed out loud and he had to join me, knowing too well that I would have wiped the floor clean with him.
    “If we go down to the Riviera Grill, we can have dinner with that drink,” Gage suggested, I was very much in agreement, steak and a cold beer suited me just fine.
    The grill was busy. We waited for a table while enjoying a beer at the bar.
    “What do you do for a living?” I asked, interested to know all about my new friend.
    “Um…security,” his answer was vague, not unlike his answers at our first meeting during dinner.
    “What kind of security?”
    “Private security,” he revealed.
    I