People.

In Honor of kicking an idiot out of the pub at work tonite…I figured I’d post this scene from GYPSY HEART for you all.

SETUP; Even though Gage is still fighting his attraction to Sable he finds himself visiting her at work, late one night.

Sable placed another glass in the dishwasher and looked around the near empty pub. Jake sat at the bar playing the video trivia game, Katie was wiping down the last of her tables, and there was a couple in the back area doing more kissing and cuddling than pool playing. It had been a very quiet night and Sable was ready to lock up, as soon as the couple left, which would be soon or she’d have to tell them to get a room.

With Klondike Days, a ten-day carnival that livened up the city every July, starting the next morning, Sable expected a few slow nights over the coming week. Even Jim and Bruce, regulars she usually had to kick out after last call, had left early so they’d make it for the opening parade in the morning.
She tried to keep busy. To not dwell on the disappointment that another night had passed with no sign of Gage. It was Thursday night and she was forced to acknowledge that her challenge hadn’t worked any better at getting her what, or who, she wanted than her blatant invitations had.

Garret and his buddies had been in again Monday night before heading back up north for another work stint, but Gage hadn’t been with them. Maybe it was for the best. Her first instinct had warned her that he was trouble, anyway.

“Hey! What’s a guy got to do to get a drink around here?”

Sable glanced up from the glasses she was stacking as the loud voice cut through the quiet. She strolled over to the man who had just walked in. He hadn’t even reached the bar when he’d yelled out his question and she tamped down her irritation at his rudeness.

“Asking nicely is a start.”

She smiled to take the sting out of her words. After all, he was a customer and on a night like this a sale was a sale.

“I’ll take a pint then, sugar.”

She winced inwardly at the tacky endearment and poured his pint. Placing a cardboard coaster on the bar, she slid the full mug in front of him. She was close enough to smell the alcoholic fumes coming off him and made the decision right then that one beer was all he would get from her.

“Can I have anything if I ask nicely?” He leered at her cleavage.

“Depends on what you want.”

Sable recognized his type immediately, and while a smile stayed plastered on her face, she knew it didn’t reach her eyes. Smiling, and meaning it, had gotten harder as the week had gone on.

“I’m feeling a bit . . . hungry.” Mr. Obnoxious winked at her.

She pretended to misunderstand his question. “Sorry, kitchen’s already closed.” She collected the money for the beer and went back to wiping down the glasses as they came out of the dishwasher. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Jake’s alert posture and knew he was getting into big brother mode.

“I’m not interested in eating, sugar, at least not food.” His eyes crawled over her body as he laughed at his own joke. Sable shook her head at Jake when he made a move to get up, then made her way back to the obnoxious customer. She could handle this idiot by herself.

“Really?” She smiled at him innocently.

She heard the door swing open, saw movement out of the corner of her eye, but kept her focus on the man in front of her. “What else did you want to ask me for then?”

“If I asked you nicely, would you come and sit on my face?”

“Why? Is your nose bigger than your dick?” Sable tilted her head to the side and batted her eyelashes at him guilelessly as he sputtered in shock and Jake let out a loud guffaw.

Mr. Obnoxious flushed with anger at her comeback. “You bitch!”

He stood up so forcefully his stool tipped over behind him, hitting the wooden floor loudly. He braced his hands on the bar and leaned toward her menacingly.

Sable straightened her relaxed pose, wiped all emotion from her face, and looked him straight in the eye. She pulled a bill from the apron around her hips and placed it on the bar. “Here’s your money back. It’s time for you to leave.”

“And if I don’t want to leave?” He glowered at her.

Sable heard the scrape of a barstool from Jake’s direction and held up her hand to stay him but didn’t take her steady gaze from the customers. “I’ve asked you nicely to leave. Now I am telling you, you are going to leave. However you go is up to you.”

He looked at her a moment longer before grabbing the money off the bar and cursing as he stormed out the door. Sable watched the repugnant idiot leave and felt her pulse slow to a normal rate. She turned back to Jake, and was startled to see Gage, fire flashing from his eyes, his rigid body held in place by Jake’s restraining hand.

“Hey, Sexy,” Sable said and flashed a 100-watt grin at him. “About time you dropped in to see me.”

Gage felt his heart thumping in his chest and tried to calm down. His hands opened and closed at his side, and he kept his jaw clenched tight to keep from saying something stupid.

“Grab a seat, Gage. Let me buy you a beer.” Jake pulled him backwards until he was forced to sit, or fall down. The hand that gripped his arm, the same hand that had stopped him from leaping to Sable’s defense, released him and motioned for another beer.

Sable reached into the cooler for a bottle, popped the top, and set it on the bar in front of Gage. “Here you go, Sexy.”

“Thanks.”

Dark tendrils of hair escaped her ponytail, brushing against her fair skin, framing her pretty face. He noticed how her blue eyes flashed with intelligence and playfulness, and felt his anger at the lecherous drunk lurking below the surface.

“Having a good night, I see.”

His sarcasm wasn’t lost on her, but she just chuckled softly and leaned on the bar, her full lips curved into a sexy pout. “It’s getting better every minute.”

“You enjoy it when men talk to you like that?”

“No,” she said slowly and straightened up again. “I was referring to your entrance, not his exit.”

Gage knew he was behaving like an imbecile but he couldn’t help himself. He was a bit out of sorts. All week he’d tried to forget about Sable and her challenge, but he couldn’t seem to control his thoughts. He believed he’d outgrown the wildness of his youth and was ready to settle down. But maybe he’d been too quick to judge both her and himself.

Maybe he wasn’t as settled as he’d thought, and maybe, just maybe his instincts were right, and there was more to Sable than her bad girl behavior.

Work had kept him reasonably distracted during the days but as soon as he left the office his mind would fill with images of her. Every night that week he’d gone into his basement and worked his body to exhaustion with the weights there while he remembered the way she smiled, the way she laughed, and Oh God, the way she kissed.

When he’d stepped out of the shower earlier that night he was still hard, despite the long blast of cold water at the end. Deciding enough was enough; he’d dressed and headed to the pub instead of crawling into bed. He’d hesitated outside the door for a few minutes, unsure about what he was doing. Knowing that his instincts had never let him down before, he’d pulled open the door and walked in just in time to hear that jerk get rude with his lady.

His lady? Where had that come from?

“It’s last call, do you want another beer?” Sable’s voice had lost some of its warmth and he felt like a heel for giving her a hard time.

“Go ahead and close up, Sable.” Jake said from beside him. “If we need another, I’ll grab them.”

Gage watched her walk away and wandered if staying there was the right thing to do.

“I thought you weren’t interested in Sable,” Jake said.

“I thought so, too.” He turned and looked Jake in the eye. “But I can’t get her out of my head.”

“What are you going to do about it? You said the other night that you weren’t looking for a one night stand, or a fling. You said you’d outgrown “˜sex without an emotional connection’, but here you are, showing up at the pub at closing time like you’re on a booty call.”

Gage looked away from Jake and shook his head. He knew Jake was only trying to look out for Sable, but he was asking questions Gage wasn’t sure he could answer.

“I’m not here on a “˜booty call,'” he said firmly, knowing that at least was true. “I was just restless and thought I’d drop by.”

“Uh-huh.”

Gage was starting to get irritated at being questioned like some fifteen-year- old taking a cop’s daughter to the prom. After all, Sable was the one who had been chasing him. Hell, she’d practically dared him to see her again. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means I saw the way you looked at her when we were playing ball, and I also saw that you were ready to beat the crap outta that guy a few minutes ago.”

“Yeah, so?”

Jake looked at Gage and smiled. “She’s got you hooked, buddy, and you know it. Even if you’re not ready to admit it.”