Page 82 of Forty, Flirty & Fall Inn

"She has refined taste."Sage grins, then her expression shifts to something warmer."Luke?"

"Yes?"

"I really want to kiss you, but I probably have morning breath, and I'm trying to be sexy here."

"Sage?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up and kiss me."

She does, morning breath and all, and it's perfect.We're just starting to get interesting when my phone explodes.

Not literally, though given our track record with technology, that wouldn't surprise me.But it buzzes with the specific pattern that means Daniella is trying to reach me, which she only does for actual emergencies.

"Ignore it," Sage mumbles against my neck.

"I can't.That's my—" The phone stops, then immediately starts again."Shit."

I fumble for it, nearly knocking over a tower of coffee cups in the process.

"Sterling."

“Excuse my language, boss, but…where the hell are you?"Daniella's voice could strip paint."The board called an emergency meeting.They're here.Now.Waiting."

I bolt upright, dislodging Sage with an undignified "oof."

"What emergency meeting?"

"The one about SafeStay's latest bug causing a minor international incident?The one where our biggest beta site in Tokyo locked the ambassador in a bathroom for three hours?"

"The ambassador of what?"

"Japan.To France.It's complicated."I hear her typing furiously."How fast can you get here?"

I look at Sage, who's now wearing the sheet wrapped around her lithe, sexy body, and looking concerned.Then I look at the window, where Alder Ridge is definitely not Seattle.

"Forty minutes if I break several traffic laws."

"Break them.I'll have legal on standby."

She hangs up, and I'm already moving, trying to find my clothes in the disaster zone of Sage's floor.

"What's wrong?"Sage asks.

"SafeStay apparently took an ambassador hostage."I find my shirt under a stack of inn invoices."I have to go."

"Oh."She pulls the sheet tighter."Of course.Yes.You should go."

Something in her voice makes me pause."Sage?—"

"No, it's fine.You have a company.Responsibilities.I get it."She's smiling, but it doesn't reach her eyes."I have inn stuff anyway.Buttercup probably needs milking."

"Goats don't—you're joking."

"Little bit."She slides out of bed, wrapping the sheet around herself more securely."Let me find you a shirt that doesn't look like it survived a tornado."

"This shirt is fine."