Page 21 of Rough Night

Once Sage and Mia had arrived back in Florida, Sage had to get straight back into work. He had to make sure that everything had gone alright while he had been away and he also had to make sure that they had their steps covered. He couldn’t risk anything else going bad, and because of the mess the Omens had made, he knew he had to be fully aware of things.

Although he had known long before what the Omens did, he knew that it would've looked sketchy from the outside when the Omens stopped being so well known around the area. He just wished it hadn't gotten as far as it had. He wished he could change how things had played out; he would have tried to make the transition less noticeable. The Omens were huge in Florida, which was one of the reasons he was sent there. He had to take care of them, but he had to do it in a less obvious way. He had slipped with a few things, but he couldn't allow that to happen again.

It had been hard on him when he thought about the mess he had made. He felt guilty and ashamed of himself when he remembered that he had caused everyone to get distracted by him being missing. If he hadn't let himself slip up, he wouldn't have been in that well in the first place, and someone would've seen the law enforcement officers sooner. He tried not to linger on the past. There wasn't much anyone could do about it. He just had to try to do better next time which was why he had to make sure he didn't make any more mistakes.

He had been so distracted after he was rescued, he didn’t notice the law enforcement officers until it was too late and he couldn’t risk that happening again. The fact that they had gone unnoticed in the first place sent off warning signs in Sage's mind. He had no idea how long they had been watching them before he had noticed them.

It was lucky that Sage and Mia didn't do much at the house besides leading a normal life. If he had been doing business at the house, things could've been a lot worse than they were. He wondered if they had been sitting outside the house watching Mia when he hadn't been around. He tried his hardest not to picture them possibly harming her when she had been all alone. He wouldn't have been able to live with himself if they had tried to do anything to her, like arrest her forcefully.

He decided to place a few secret cameras around the house. He wished he had done it sooner so he could've watched back the footage but now would still work for future reference. He made sure they were not visible to anyone on the outside, but it gave him a sense of reassurance as he made sure his house was protected. Mia didn't ask him what he was doing when she saw him fiddling around the house. She left him to do what he needed to do, and he was thankful for that as he didn't want to alarm her. He placed a monitor in his office so he could keep a close eye on whatever happened outside. It would help him sleep at night. He also wanted to make sure Mia was protected. She had almost killed a few people trying to get him back, and she had witnessed way too much even before that. Sage didn't want her to go through anything else that could cause her harm.

He knew Mia was curious about what he did late at night when he didn't leave his office to join her for dinner, but she didn't ask him about that. Instead, she just made sure he had food ready and waiting. She was extremely thoughtful, letting him go about his business without bugging him was something he liked about her.

A few days after they got back to Florida, Sage knew he needed to spend some alone time with Mia. He had been extremely busy with work and he had hardly spent any time with her, and he felt terrible about it. She had been trying so hard to make things easy for him, making sure the house was clean and that he was always fed when he didn’t have enough time to cook, which he never did, even to begin with. He remembered a place Adam had told him about once when they had been out on a job. It was a beach just a little bit out of the city. Apparently, it was never really busy, and it had a great view of the sunset. Sage thought it would be the perfect place to go with Mia. He was sure she would appreciate a beautiful sunset. Maybe one day she could paint a picture for him to see.

He really wanted to get to know Mia more. He had learned a lot about her by just being around her, but he wanted the chance to talk to her so they could bond more on a deeper level. She wasn't a hard person to crack as she wore her heart on her sleeve, but she held a certain amount of mystery that he found alluring. He knew he had fought his feelings for her for so long and although there were things about her he had picked up along the way, he wanted to also let her know that he was more open to the idea of them being together. He wasn't sure what he was ready for, but he was willing to give it a shot.

It was early in the morning when he went to find her in her room. She hadn’t slept with him the night before because he had been up late in his office doing work. He had noticed that she had sometimes started to sneak into his room at night to sleep with him. He could half picture her doing it although sometimes he had thought he was dreaming until he would wake up with her there. He honestly loved waking up next to her, her arms wrapped around him while she would press her body as tightly against his as possible. She was definitely a safe haven for him.

He had gotten used to how her skin felt and how her hair smelled, it was almost one of those smells that bring you instant happiness like when you remember what your favorite sweet smelt like growing up. She felt like comfort to him, and he had longed for something like that for a long time.

She looked so peaceful as she was still sleeping, tucked away in her bed with her blanket wrapped around her tightly, clearly missing Sage next to her. He just watched her for a while, taking her in. He wanted to climb into her bed with her and hold her for a while but decided not to. He wanted to spend the day with her awake so he could get to know her better and so their bond could grow.

He walked over to her and gently shook her to wake her up. It wasn’t too early so he didn’t think it would be a problem, although he did notice she liked to sleep in if they didn't have to do anything in the morning.

“Mia, have a shower and get dressed. We’re going out,” he said. She groaned in her sleep as she started to come to. Sage noted that she may not be a morning person at all.

Mia rubbed at her eyes, forcing herself to open them before she was ready to wake up on her own. She didn't seem to be angry or upset at the sudden wake-up call, so he was in the clear of any angry words being thrown around.

“Huh? What time is it?” she asked in a sleepy voice. Sage couldn’t help but think that she could be the cutest person he had ever seen wake up.

He had had his fair share of women before. He wouldn't call himself a man whore, but he had been sexual with a few women in his life. He wasn't exactly young anymore though, and as he looked at Mia, he found himself picturing them waking up together for a long time going forward. It was a picture he rather liked.

He could picture them waking up together for the rest of his life, and although the thought was scary, he couldn't fight it. His feelings for her had grown just by being around her, and because he had stopped trying to push her away, he could see all the great qualities she had.

“It’s 8 am, and it’s time for us to take on the day,” he replied. He was eager to get out of the house as soon as he could. He’d been going a bit stir crazy as the days had passed with all the work he had been doing.

“Hmm, coffee. First coffee,” she said as she sat up and started to stretch. Sage watched as she brought her arms over her head at stretched them upward as if she were trying to touch the ceiling, her eyes still closed.

“Okay, okay. I’ll go do that, and you wake up,” he said as he got up and left the room to make her coffee. He went to the kitchen, and while he made her a cup of coffee, he thought about where he would take her first. He knew a coffee wouldn't do, and he wasn't sure if there would be any places near the beach where they could have breakfast. He knew Mia loved having breakfast, and she would often make him eat with her if he was still around while she would be cooking. He quickly looked up a few cafes that were in the area and decided they would go out for breakfast first before they headed to the beach. He wanted to spend as much time as possible with Mia without there being any distractions.

He took Mia her coffee and told her about the day he had planned. She sat quietly in bed and listened while he spoke, her face completely passive.

"I think it would be good for us to have a bit of downtime together. I've been so busy since we've been back," he said.

Mia finally smiled.

"It would be lovely to spend some time with you. Let me have a shower, and then we can go," she replied.

Sage knew she was likely to agree to the idea, but he had been nervous to ask her, thinking that maybe their time apart had made her feel differently toward him. He was glad to know that he was just overthinking it. He left her room to allow her to get ready while he waited patiently in the lounge.

About 30 minutes later, Mia emerged dressed in a light blue blouse and a pair of jeans that hugged her curves in all the right ways paired with a black pair of boots.

"You look beautiful," Sage said as he looked at her for a while. A slight blush covered Mia's cheeks, and she slightly giggled. The one thing he loved about her was the fact that she hardly wore any makeup. She seemed to embrace her natural beauty all the time, and she definitely was amazingly beautiful.

"Thank you, you look rather handsome yourself," she replied. Sage was dressed in a pair of black jeans and a navy blue shirt. He had tried to make an effort.

"Thank you. Now let's get out of here," he said as he took her hand and led her out of the house. He led her to his bike where he handed over a helmet. He remembered that she hadn't been on his bike since the drive down to Florida and he smiled to himself at the memory.