Better Late Than Never (REDUX)
Chapter 2: Our Song
'Hey, boss," Gage said, stepping away from the photographer's area and addressing his superior directly. Sydney followed a pace behind him as the audience dispersed.
"What's he talking about, Walker?" Gage asked, nodding toward Trivette.
"Oh, a little side bet he and I made when we saw what Sydney was wearing tonight," Walker confessed, quickly adding, "None of which excuses the two of you for your blatantly unprofessional behavior."
"I'm sorry about that, boss. It won't happen again," Gage said. Sydney nodded in agreement, unable to speak for the lump in her throat. Already, her shameless pursuit of him had gotten them into trouble and already he seemed to be regretting the whole thing. Oh, what had she done?
"From what I saw just now, I doubt that very much, Ranger Gage. I think it will continue to happen all the time, but if you can manage to keep it from affecting your work, then you'll get no complaints from me," Walker said, finally cracking a smile.
"You mean it? You approve?" Sydney managed to choke out through her tears, which had gone from sad to happy in an instant.
"Yes I do, despite the fact that I lost the bet because I said you two wouldn't get carried away during an assignment. Because you are such dedicated professionals," he said, emphasizing the last two words by poking Gage in the chest, causing Gage's cheeks to redden for the second time.
"Speaking of the assignment," a young female voice said, "I'd like to get back to dancing with my date, so could at least one of you Rangers please join me in the ballroom?" The birthday girl had come out into the foyer to see what was drawing so much attention away from her and had also witnessed the romantic exchange between the two partners. "You two make a cute couple. Wanna dance?"
Like a pair of school children seeking the teacher's approval, Gage and Sydney turned in unison to Walker, who said, "One song and then it's back to work, got it?"
"Absolutely," Gage said, grabbing Sydney's hand and leading her toward the dance floor, but she skidded to a stop when she heard someone call her name.
"Wait! Ms. Cooke?" It was Rhyme, hurrying toward Sydney with a shiny object in one hand and a slip of bright purple paper in the other. "You forgot your purse and your receipt for your picture. Just bring this with you to my studio next week and you can pick up the prints."
Taking the items from his hands, Sydney placed the paper inside the purse and then reached up and kissed Rhyme on the cheek. "Thank you, Mr. Rhyme, thank you so much," she said, her eyes conveying her gratitude for more than just his expert photography.
"You're very welcome, Ms. Cooke, and if the need should arise, remember I do weddings, too," he said.
"I'll keep that in mind. Thanks again," she said, waving sweetly to him as Gage resumed pulling her into the ballroom.
When they reached the dance floor, almost as if on cue, the opening notes of Toby Keith's song, "You Shouldn't Kiss Me Like This," began to play.
Gage gathered Sydney into his arms and began moving in a slow circle to the music. For someone his size, Sydney noticed, her partner was amazingly graceful. They had only danced together once before, briefly, at his class reunion, but she remembered that he actually knew how to lead, so she surrendered all control to him and let herself be swept along to the chorus of her favorite song.
You shouldn't kiss me like this, unless you mean it like that,
'Cause I'll just close my eyes and I won't know where I'm at.
We'll get lost on this dance floor, spinning around
And around and around and around.
They're all watching us now.
They think we're falling in love.
They'd never believe we're just friends.
When you kiss me like this, I think you mean it like that.
If you do, baby, kiss me again.
As they danced, Gage realized they were living out the words to the song, right down to the part about "just friends" and "falling in love."
"You think maybe this could be our song?" he asked, flashing her a brilliant smile.
"Only if you sing it to me," she said, grinning back at him, doubting he would take her up on the dare. She'd heard him sing before, to the car radio or the occasional CD at one of their apartments, and he had a nice voice, but he rarely did it if he knew she was listening.
"You shouldn't kiss me like this, unless you mean it like that," he sang, continuing note perfect through the entire chorus and the reprise in a rich tenor voice.
"If you do, baby, kiss me again. Kiss me again," he finished on the high note, looking expectantly at his new love. She immediately took the hint and kissed him once again.
"I love you, Sydney," he said, breathlessly, against her ear. "I will always love you."
"Oh, Gage, I love you, too," she whispered back. "Always."
"Do you mean that?" he asked, an ornery glint in his eye.
"Yes, I do."
"Good," he said. Without warning, he dipped her over backwards and stole a long, luxurious kiss. When he pulled her back up again, she appeared to be dazed. "Surprise," he said softly and moved in for another kiss that was every bit as delicious as the last one.
Sydney had the vaguest feeling that something was amiss as she stood there kissing the man of her dreams. Then she realized that her boss was standing right next to them, having snuck up on them while they were lost in each other's arms on the dance floor.
Needing to get Gage's attention quickly, she did the first thing she thought of; she stepped on his foot.
"Ow!" he yelped, breaking the kiss and moving quickly to avoid being stepped on again. "Wha'd you do that for?"
"Sorry, but…" she said, lowering her eyes and jerking her thumb toward Walker.
"Oh, yeah, back to work, huh?" Gage said, not a little dejectedly.
"Hey, we had a deal, remember? Starting now, you do your kissing on your own time, OK?" Walker said, unable to keep from grinning at the moony way the two younger Rangers were staring at each other as they parted and went back to their original posts.
Just before he left the ballroom, Gage turned around one more time and made a sign with his right hand. Sydney recognized it immediately from their time at the Dallas School for the Deaf, where they had learned American Sign Language as a way of coping with Gage's hearing loss, a loss that might have been permanent had it not been for a new surgical procedure and innumerable prayers from Sydney and their friends. She returned the gesture, holding her hand next to her heart until Gage finally turned and headed for the stairs. It was only then that she realized that while both of them had learned the sign for "I love you," they had never shared it with one another until now.
End Chapter 2.