Tough To Love by Marie Rochelle Read Free Book Online

teased, moving his hand from her arm to the middle of her back.
    “Lord, are you trying to make my butt bigger?” Sage laughed, poking Julian in his washboard stomach with her elbow.
    “I think your ass is as perfect as the rest of you.” Patting her on the butt, Julian pushed opened the door to the stairwell and ushered her out.
     
    ****
     
    Rally stood frozen in the hallway watching as Julian flirted with Sage as they left and went down the stairs. He didn’t like seeing his friend’s hands on Sage’s body. She might be too naive to know what Julian was up to, but he wasn’t. “I don’t know what you’re playing at, Julian,” he mumbled under his breath, “but Sage isn’t yours to toy with. I won’t let you take advantage of her.”

 
     
    Chapter Six
     
     
    “Well, how was your lunch? It must have been pretty good since you are forty-five minutes late. Did it cross your mind to bring me something back? I was the one here answering the phone while you were doing God knows what.”
    Hanging her purse on the coat rack, Sage peeked at Rally from the corner of her eye. Why wasn’t he out having lunch with Vanity? It was usually part of his daily routine. He was never back at the office this time of the day. He could have just left and let the answering service answer any phone calls.
    “Honestly, I didn’t think about bringing you anything back from lunch. You’re usually out with Vanity, so it would have just been a waste of food. The last time I checked, I wasn’t a mind reader or a psychic, sorry.”
    “Sure, you are,” Rally snickered, closing the distance between them. “Did you have fun with Julian or were you going to leave out that you had lunch with my old friend?”
    What was up with Rally? Why was he up in all of her business like this?
    He never cared in the past when she had lunch with Julian. He was coming off like a jealous boyfriend or something. Sage smiled at her thought before quickly wiping it from her face. Rally would never be jealous of her going out with Julian. He was just probably pissed she wasn’t here to answer the phone while he drooled over Vanity.
    “I’m not going to ask how you knew I was with Julian. For someone who keeps finding ways to push me out of his personal life, you sure are in mine all of a sudden. What’s up with that?” Sage demanded, shoving past Rally. She went over to her desk and dug underneath it for a banker’s box.
    Placing it on a small table next to her, she started picking up her personal items and placing them inside. She ignored the stunned look Rally gave her while she worked at getting the space cleared of any reminders of her and ready for the new person. She had been working for a few minutes before Rally actually spoke to her.
    “What are you doing?” Rally questioned. “It’s the middle of the day. I don’t think this is the best time to be redecorating your desk. I need you to take care of some things for me.”
    Is he serious ? Had he really forgotten their argument and what he told her that quickly?
    She looked at him for a spilt second and then went back to working on clearing off her desk again. “I’m not cleaning,” Sage replied, placing the four leaf clover paper weight with a few other items in the banker’s box.
    Sage swallowed down her moan as Rally’s muscular arm brushed against her bare arm as he reached inside the box and picked up the paper weight. Lord, would she ever be able not to want him?
    Rally was like the air she breathed, but she had to get him permanently out of her mind. He wasn’t interested in her. So, it was time she found a deserving man that wanted her.
    “I can’t believe you still have this,” he said, pitching it into the air and catching it. “I gave this to you on your sixteenth birthday. It was such an inexpensive gift, but you loved it so much.”
    Taking the four leaf clover away from Rally, she placed it back into the box. “Yeah, it was for the collection I had in my room,