Oceans of Us: An Age Gap Forbidden Romance

A shaky breath escapes Saint as he finishes his story and I feel it right inside my beating heart. It aches for Saint. Completely aches for everything he’s been through, for Lea, for Alexis, for himself, because I know it isn’t easy for him to open up like this. Saint isn’t the type of man to let it all out, so the fact that he’s allowing me into his life tonight more than he ever has means the world to me.

His past explains why he was so cold and closed up from the world when I first met him three years ago. Explains why he never wanted me to call him Santo.

He proposed.

He was cheated on and Lea was expecting a baby that wasn’t his.

He was severely stabbed and witnessed Lea dying right in front of him…

Holy shit.

I feel so bad for all Saint’s been through. Despite the guilt that plagues him, I’m proud of him for being able to grow into the man he is today as a result of Lea’s actions. Wherever she may be tonight in the heavens above watching down on us, I just pray she finally lets him be.

“I’m so sorry, Saint. So sorry that this all happened to you. It must have been so painful,” I murmur, squeezing his hand before kissing the scarred white line softly. The one I now know some of the story behind. “Did you ever find out how she got the gun?”

“Yes, I later found out it was hers. Police found she had a permit for it, but I didn’t know a single thing about it. The more I’ve thought about it over the years, the more I’ve realized I didn’t really know who Lea truly was. It’s as if she had all these secrets… a whole other life. I still don’t understand why. I knew she was in a dark place. I just never thought it would reach where it did. All I wanted to do was help her and make her happy again. I didn’t know she was at the breaking point. I didn’t know I was only making it worse.”

“I’m so sorry. Just know you didn’t make it worse, Saint, you did everything you could for her. So that explains the scar too, hmm?”

“Mmhmm. I eventually got to the ER and the stab was so deep that I had to undergo surgery. Unfortunately, a nerve was too damaged to completely repair, so now whenever I’m stressed or nervous my hand shakes a little… just like you’ve seen before. Professionally boxing probably made it worse, but it is what it is.”

“Our scars make us even more beautiful. They tell our stories without saying a word.”

“I like that.” The second I lift my gaze to his piercing blue eyes, I’m happy to see a glimmer of warmth despite the misery. “Did you think of that right now, babydoll?”

“Something like that, yeah.” I cup his stubbled jaw and rest my forehead against his, a habit I love. “Sometimes, life throws us moments we don’t deserve and at the time all it seems to do is strip us down. Make us vulnerable. Guilty.”

“Yes, vulnerable, and I hate that feeling. I hate the feeling of being completely out of control of my emotions.”

“I understand, but I think what I’ve learned is vulnerability isn’t a bad thing. It makes us human. You once told me to never hide what I truly feel or my emotions, and the same applies to you. You’re allowed to feel broken down and bruised, you’re allowed to search for your healing, it’s our birthright.” I squeeze my eyes shut and breathe in his scent mixed with the ocean. “I thought you went through some type of trauma but never imagined something like this. It must have been so scary, not knowing how to navigate it all… to see Lea like that… having to console Alexis.”

“It was.” Saint nods, pulling me closer into his chest. I straddle his waist. The warm touch his hand provides while slowly rubbing up and down my spine under the Harley T-shirt means something even more special tonight. “I felt as though I had nothing left. Like I was stripped of the type of man I was.”

“Do you have any pictures of Lea or Alexis?”

“Not Lea. She hated photos and I never wanted to push it. I have a couple of Alexis and me together. I used to keep one in my wallet a few years ago. Took it out a couple months later because it hurt to look at her.”

A memory comes back to me. “Oh, I remember that one! Was that Alexis, the one I saw two years ago when you gave me money to plant my flowers? The one where a little girl is kissing your cheek?”

“Yeah, that’s Alexis.”

“Aww, she was adorable. Have you seen her since?”

“No, and that’s what hurts me the most. After Lea passed away, Michael won a court order to take legal guardianship of his daughter, Alexis. It’s been thirteen years and I haven’t seen her since.”

“How did you ease all the pain?”

“Truthfully, I turned to late night drives when I wasn’t even in the present, burning myself out at work, drinking, different women every night, boxing to ease the pain, smoking… they were all such fucking bad habits, but they helped numb the stress for a little while. It’s just so much guilt, you know. I keep on thinking. I could have stopped Lea, even though I know she was too far gone, and I couldn’t have saved her. I don’t think what she did was selfish. She just was in such a dark place that she couldn’t pull herself back up. I wish she’d talked to me before it escalated. It’s fucked up, I know. Lea cheated on me and was pregnant with a child that wasn’t even mine, but I… I still have this guilt.”

“I can imagine, but we can’t be the controllers of our destiny, Saint. You know what happened with Lea is not your fault, right?”

After a long moment, Saint gulps down and nods. “I know. I’m learning to start to believe that too. I haven’t been to a professional, like a therapist, haven’t had the courage to, but part of me thinks I should. I think it’s going to be the only way I can move on, you know?”

“I think you should too. Not because you’re incapable of getting through this on your own, but because you need somebody to help you at a level neither of us can. Somebody to guide you and support you professionally. If you like, when we go back to Sacramento and you set something up, I can wait outside the building for moral support during your sessions. Anything for you to know you’re not going through this alone. Because you’re not alone in this, Saint. Not anymore.”

Our eyes flutter open and I can’t begin to describe the warmth in my chest when the most beautiful smile works up his lips. The same one that rises on mine too.

Saint kisses my forehead.

Home. Home is all I feel when I look at him.

“All these years I’ve been searching for an angel to come save me from hell. Now I know that angel is you. I’ve never met a woman so beautiful and selfless. Never met a woman who cares this deep.” Saint cups my face, brushes my hair behind my ears, and glances lovingly between my eyes. “Never met a woman like you, Paisley Reign, my forever girl.”

If I thought making love with Saint before was incredible, this time it’s so poetically beautiful it takes all my breath away. I’m laid out on his bed with him on top of me and my legs wrapped around his waist, wrapped inside a world of him.

Saint can’t stop kissing me. Touching me. Devouring every inch of me, just like I can’t stop worshiping him. His blue eyes roam across my face, the beautiful smile carved on his lips never dropping as he pumps into me with his hard cock. He feels so good inside me. We feel so good together. In a few hours I’ve gone from virgin to completely being lovesick and addicted to the warm sensation across my entire body as Saint drives me deeper and deeper into a type of pleasure I never want to escape. I love that this isn’t just fucking, that it is deep… raw… intimate… slow… emotional. Honestly, I love that this feels like we’re making love all over again.

Moaning, I tip my head back against the mattress, right on the pillow as he grinds into me so intimately I can barely take it. “Oh, yes. Fuck.”

Saint’s chuckle has me glancing back up at him.

“What?”

“Nothing,” he murmurs, his lips tracing mine. “It’s just that ever since we’ve been closer, you’re swearing like there’s no tomorrow.”

I smirk. “Because you’re a bad influence, Mr. Lisconti.”

My response has him smoldering. “Ohhh, am I now?”

“Mhmmm.”

“Interesting. We’ll see about that.” Saint winks, and then his lips are on mine, hard.

I moan into his mouth in complete ecstasy, feeling my pussy throb faster and faster as his hard cock fills me up over and over and over. I’m on the verge of losing control but want to hold on longer because I want this moment to last forever.

The pitter-patter in my chest hasn’t stopped racing wildly all night. It feels as though it’s bleeding the type of passion I never knew existed with Saint. Because he trusted me with his tragic past, we’re closer than ever before, and as those warm blue eyes glance down at me now, all I see and all I feel is pure adoration. The more our hot stare extends, the deeper I’m falling in love with this man and I swear he can feel it too.

“Paisley… oh, fuuuuck,” Saint pants, burying his head into my shoulder, and sexily biting it with a groan as my hips rock harder to meet his grinds. “Keep. Doing. That.”

His spiky stubble grazes against my skin, and I love it, love the perspiration tracing our bodies and the smell of aromatic flowers, the ocean and sex mixed together, creating an us. The moody pendant light above each nightstand casts such a romantic glow around Saint’s bedroom and projects a perfect darkened shadow on the wall of our bodies together—my long legs wrapped around his waist and locked at the heels, digging into his beautifully toned ass with every passion-filled thrust as he moves in and out of me. Such an erotic visual.

My heart warms with every single moment that passes with us going crazy wild.

Oh, God. This is what heaven must feel like.

Saint always says he isn’t the romantic type, but after spending the past twelve hours with him here on the west coast of California, I beg to differ. He’s a true romantic. So wise and masculine. So strong yet vulnerable. So genuine but kind.

My hands roam across his broad muscles and down his back, knowing I’m tracing over his tattoos and what they represent. My nails seep into his skin and I whisper out his name as he brings a firm hand to my thigh and pumps into me deeper, the headboard continuously hitting the wall behind the bed. Heat rushes across my entire body, continuously, pooling at my sex every time as I clench around him, so close to losing control… so much pleasure. So much Saint.

There’s so much depth between us, so many words within the silence as I cup his stubbled jaw and murmur breathlessly, “You’re such a beautiful man, Saint.”

I hope Saint knows what I mean is much more than just skin-deep. I’m referring to the beauty of his soul, his courage, everything he’s not, everything he is, his past, his present, the man underneath all the tangled rose thorns and vines.

My heart is beating so fast, desperate to tell him how I really feel. This moment couldn’t be more perfect. I owe it to myself and to him to be honest.

Saint and I share such a loving, tender grin. The pleasure builds as he glides in and out of me faster and faster, his forearms and biceps tensing tighter on each side of my head on the pillow.

“I love it when you smile,” Saint whispers darkly. “I love it when you’re happy.”

“Saint?”

“Mhmmm?”

Nerves fizzle away as he increases the pace even more and the urgency to come undone ripples through me. I’m so close. My hands wrap around Saint’s neck to pull him closer and ease my bouncing breasts as they press up against his hard, glistening chest.

“What is it you want to tell me, tesoro?”

“Something that may change everything…”

Saint glances between my eyes. “Tell me, wildflower.”

“I’m…” I part my lips and feel my heart swell at the next words that fall. “I’m so in love with you, Saint. I don’t expect you to say it back. I know this may only be for the summer, but I need you to know I’m so completely and utterly in love with you. With all of you.”

Saint’s lips fall on mine and we come undone together in the same breath, at the exact same moment, swallowing each other’s groans and moans. We give in to that overwhelming urge to fall into desire and my body moves in rhythm with his as we completely get lost in each other as I come hard around him, my body quivering in pure pleasure. Saint’s cock pulses deep inside me, filling me good with his warmth as he continues to pump hard. Right now, I don’t know where I end and he begins. All I know is I have never felt this completely sated in my life and I’ve never loved somebody more.

Our lips detach and Saint’s blue eyes find mine, a darkening desire pooling in them as the thrusts slow until they stop. He smiles in admiration, but I see beyond it. I see the shadowed and silvery patterns of the moon outside cast over his beautifully structured face…

I hear the soft hush of the ocean waves outside…

I feel the first tear string my warm cheeks…

But it isn’t from me… it’s him.

I don’t have enough time to realize that Saint’s crying before he rolls us over and slides us inside the bed. Slipping out of me, Saint reaches to turn off the nightstand lights, only the silvery moonlight casting cut out shapes across the room now. As he lies down on his back against the mattress, I rest on top of him and love how he pulls the bedsheets higher and his arms remain wrapped around my waist, caressing my warm skin.

Definitely feels like home.

Cupping Saint’s jaw, I furrow my brows at my beautiful man and kiss away his wet salty tears, which are so cold and fragile. I want to do everything there is in the world to make Saint feel better. It’s so bittersweet… bittersweet because as much as it breaks my heart that he’s crying, I’m relieved he’s being this emotionally open with me.

“I tried to push you away.” Saint’s eyes shut as soft cries break through him and his voice cracks. “I tried to do everything I could to not fall for you, but I failed.”

I press my lips against Saint’s in comfort and when I pull back, my soul warms at the kiss he presses against my forehead. Gazing down at him, my right thumb traces small comforting circles on his face, just above his stubbled jaw, as I admire how the romantic lights illuminate his entire face.

It can’t be any earlier than 2:30 a.m. and I love that we haven’t stopped for one second since we got to Stinson Beach in Marin County. It’s almost as if sleep means nothing because I don’t want to waste a second with him. Now, as I frown up at my blue-eyed boy, all I can think of is maybe… maybe he doesn’t want the same.

Why else would he be crying?

Oh, shit.

“Tell me what you’re thinking,” I murmur, so low I barely hear the words myself.

It hurts to see Saint like this, but it brings a little solace that he’s wrapped around me so tightly, destined to never let go. “It isn’t really what I’m feeling, it’s more of a realization.”

So many possible scenarios are twirling in my head.

What if he regrets bringing me to Stinson Beach?

What if he’s thinking about Lea?

What if he’s crying because he wants to end this between us before the end of summer?

I inhale a deep breath, telling myself I’m not going to worry about the reason until it falls from his lips. Whatever it is Saint is going to tell me next, we’ll face it together.

“And what is it you’ve realized?”

Saint reaches up his tattooed left arm and begins to slowly run his fingers through my hair, so calming and intimate.

So perfectly us.

“I have never felt like this before.” Saint’s deep ocean eyes flutter open, revealing a rim of tears, and my heart skips a beat at the look in his eyes… it’s not regret, instead complete affection. “Paisley, I have never felt this complete. Ever. I’m emotional right now because I never thought I’d find something as beautiful as this, and here you are… saving me from the fire inside of me. The same fire that wouldn’t stop raging for years, not until right now. Not until you.”

I forget how to breathe. Whoa.

“Saint, that was so beautiful. I thought…” My cheeks burn with just how hard I’m grinning. “I thought you only wanted this for the summer, no?”

“Well…” Saint gives me a slow, sexy smirk. “Turns out I was right, rules do suck.”

I can’t help but break out into laughter and it brightens me to see him chuckling so hard too. His laughter is so damn sexy, so beautiful. I squeal mid-giggle as the sheets rustle around us when Saint turns us so we’re lying down on our sides on the pillowcases, face to face. It brings a new definition to late night pillow talk. His touch revives me as he pulls me even closer, and I glide my hand over his warm shoulder blade. It feels so good feeling his every muscle, being so close to him as his sandalwood cologne mixed with me wraps me in a world of him.

We spend the longest time listening to each other’s heartbeats, never letting go of our heated gaze and tracing each other’s skin. Admiring each other in the moonlight with the ocean swaying outside the window. It feels like a dream. A gift. Such poetic fate that he’s here with me, that it has me tracing his long dimples with my pointer finger. I murmur, “I didn’t you know you felt this way too.”

Saint’s blue eyes sparkle in the moonlight. “To be honest, I’ve felt this way for a long time… since the day all the shit went down with Erik and I realized I cared about you more than I thought. I’ve just been afraid to admit it.”

“Why were you afraid?”

“Aside from your father slaughtering me?”

“Yeah, aside from that.”

“Well, I thought if we took things any further, like a relationship, I’d fuck it up.”

“Why did you think that?”

Saint lets out a soft sigh, his hot breath hitting my skin. “Because fucking it up is all I seem to be good at.”

My heart drops for Saint because straight away I know he’s talking about his past.

“You know that’s not true, blue-eyed boy.” I smile warmly, our lips inches apart as I cup his face and hold him tight. “I wish you could see how special you are through my eyes. Wish you could see how beautiful life is because you’re in it, Santo.”

Santo.

I called him Santo.

I don’t know what I was expecting next, but it certainly isn’t the smile that curls up his full lips. It’s so tender and intimately raw, filled with just the right amount of emotion and passion to make my heart thunder in my chest.

Saint brushes his thumb over my plump lips, slowly tracing the warm skin as we lie here in the early hours of the morning, just us… our thoughts… and our beating hearts. His eyes continue to flicker from my gaze to my lips, drinking up every second as I wait in anticipation of what comes next.

In the past Saint told me that calling him ‘Santo’ was off-limits, and I know it’s because it scars him being the last word he heard come out of Lea’s mouth, and only his mom and Nonna still call him that now. But seeing Saint so placid and content in this moment, it has me not afraid to admit that perhaps… perhaps I’m changing that.

Saint’s touch is so gentle. So pure and delicate that it’s as if he’s strumming a rose with the pad of his fingertips, adamant not to break its velvety petals.

“Say it again,” Saint whispers, all raspy and hot. “Say my name.”

I smile, his finger smoothing my lips. “Santo.”

“Again.”

My heart skips a beat.

“Santo,” I breathe. “I’m so deeply in love with you, Santo.”

“I love the way you say my name. Love the way it slips from your tongue.” Saint shuts his eyes for a moment, and when they reopen, tenderness is all I see. “I’m so in love with you, Paisley Reign. So fuckin’ in love with everything about you. I fell in love, and I wasn’t even trying. All I know is, if you let me, I… I don’t only want one summer with you, wildflower, I want an entire lifetime.”

Electricity pumps through my entire body and I literally forget how to breathe.

He wants this too, with me.

“I want that so badly too. I feel like the luckiest girl alive right now.”

“No, tesoro.” Saint grins. “It’s me who’s feeling lucky. Me who’s thanking the heavens they sent me an angel. I know it isn’t going to be easy with Alaric, but I so desperately want to try to be everything you need. I can’t promise it’ll be perfect, I can’t promise there won’t be times when I tell you that you deserve better than me, but what I can promise you is I’ll never leave your side, not unless you want me to. I’ll never regret the way I feel about you, no matter the costs. I’ll never give up on us, no matter how hard it gets.”

Us. I like the sound of that. Love the sound.

“I promise you this from the bottom of my heart, wildflower.” Saint takes another breath as his fingers slip away from my lips as sparks inside me continue to erupt. “I want to be yours, Paisley Reign, so desperately yours. Only yours.”

Everything inside me explodes into tiny rose petals of joy. I couldn’t be any happier in this moment as my heart warms to pure bliss and I’m not afraid to show it. Grinning at him, I do the one thing I’m craving to do and kiss him wildly. Lovingly. Breathlessly. With everything I have. Saint kisses me back with so much meaning. So much desire. So much purpose. With one kiss alone, I’m able to communicate every single thing I’m feeling and thinking in this exact moment—I want to be yours too, Saint Lisconti. So desperately yours. Only yours.

Saint feels it. I know he does when we pull away and he looks at me with a passionate, darkened gaze that could inspire any poet.

“I want nothing more than to dive into a world full of you, Santo,” I murmur against his lips. “Even if we have to hide it from my father, it’s worth it. It’s worth every second spent with you. I promise, from the bottom of my heart, to be everything you’ve ever deserved too. I promise to be me and let you be you. I promise to never let go because there’s no me without us.”

“That’s so beautiful. You are beautiful.”

My cheeks flush, aching from smiling so hard. “Stop it.”

“Never.” Saint smiles back. “Never going to stop telling you how beautiful you are. Ever.”

“Aww.”

“Got a question for you. What’s your favorite flower? Can’t believe I haven’t asked you this before.”

“Lilies. Blue tiger lilies.”

“Ah, just like the ones I once destroyed, right? What’s so special about them?”

“They were my nana’s favorites and became mine too because they’re extremely rare. They make me happy. It’s just something about them, you know that feeling. What’s your favorite flower?”

“Did you seriously just ask me that?” Saint chuckles, his fingers softly caressing my skin.

I smirk. “Aha.”

“All right. Blue tiger lilies too.”

“Ooo, what’s so special about them?” I ask, impersonating him with a deeper voice.

The dimples on Saint’s stubbled jaw deepen as he laughs hard, his rumbling laughter vibrating right through my body, prompting my own. “Because they remind me of a woman I know. A woman who means a lot to me. A woman who smells like jasmine, tastes like honey, and looks like a dream.”

“Hmm, she must be a lucky woman.”

“No, I’m the lucky one to have stepped on her flowers all those years ago.”

“Aww.” I smile, softly pecking his lips. “I’m the lucky one, baby.”

“All right, we’re both a little lucky then.”

I part my lips to speak, but a wide yawn escapes instead.

Saint chuckles. “As much as I want to talk, we should probably get some rest. We have to get back to Sacramento early tomorrow ahead of your work shift, so sleep is probably a good idea.”

“As much as I want to continue this conversation, you’re right. We need some sleep, despite how thrilled I am that we’re on the same page.”

Saint rolls onto his back and pulls me close. Draping my leg over his naked frame, I rest my head and right hand on his solid chest, while his hands softly caress my hips, back, and ass.

“Good night, Santo. Thank you for everything.”

He kisses my forehead, and I feel him smile against my warm skin. “Buona notte, bella mia. Sognami. Dream of me, wildflower.”

“Always do.”

“God, I’m so fucking in love with you.”

I grin into Saint’s chest, completely exhilarated. “Ditto.”

I’ve never fallen asleep in the arms of a man before. Especially not such a beautiful thirty-six-year-old man who means so much to me. Feeling his warm naked body against mine… it makes me so happy and proud of surviving everything we’ve been through to get to right now.

In the solace of Santo’s strong arms, I know there’s nowhere else I want to be than right here with my blue-eyed boy. Nowhere else but with his heart beating against mine. Nowhere else but so recklessly in love with a man so forbidden to others, but to me… he’s everything I need.

Everything I’ve ever needed and more.

Much, much more.

The bright morning glow and a beautifully tattooed hand intertwined with mine on my pillow are all I see when I flutter my eyes open the next morning. The smile doesn’t fall from my lips as I take in the heavenly sight of Saint sleeping so peacefully beside me. He’s sleeping on his side, his face to me and the other wrapped around my waist so tightly. I don’t think we let go of each other all night. Soft breaths escape him as the sun casts through the window, illuminating the dark whiskers of his stubble, his naturally lightly tanned olive skin against the tattoos, his long lashes I’m jealous of.

I’m so in love with you, Paisley Reign.

I love the way you say my name.

I don’t only want one summer with you, wildflower, I want an entire lifetime.

The memories of last night have me so giddy and grateful. I can’t believe this beautiful man beside me wants me too. It feels like a dream, like an absolute dream to know my love for him isn’t a one-sided thing. That our love for each other will continue to bloom beyond last night and this morning. That it will thrive in a field of sunflowers, and as his favorite things become mine.

I softly brush my fingers across his defined, stubbled jaw, loving the distant sound of birds chirping, ocean waves crashing, and the world around us continuing to go on while it’s just us in this bed, frozen in time. My fingers slowly rake through his tousled sex hair. It’s so hot, seeing Saint so candid like this. Even though we fell right asleep after both confessing to being so in love with each other, remnants of our intimacy linger. Like our hair. Like the hickeys he made along my body. Like my rapidly beating heart as it screams in pure bliss.

Saint’s dark, inky-colored hair is just long enough around to slip the sides behind the ears. I get a vision of his hair a little longer than this and tied up in a sexy man bun as he rides through California with such dominance in a muscle cut tank-top that softly flutters against his skin while his tattoos glisten in the summer sun. Oh, yes, please.

The heat between my thighs throbs in appreciation.

God, I love that thought of him.

Threading my fingers through Saint’s hair now, the warmth of the day caresses our skin as soft ocean waves continue to crash in the distance. It’s such a comforting sound, so calming and stunning. I’ve never woken up to the beach being my backyard. Never woken up beside a man. I’m savoring all my firsts and hope they become forevers.

The sun shining through the picture window hits Saint’s striking blue eyes as he flutters them open. The moment he sees me, the longest grin rises on his lips as he lets out a satisfied hum and recloses his eyes. Then he buries his head into my bare breasts and begins to playfully rub his face against my cleavage. I literally burst out laughing.

“Well, apparently I’m dead because it seems like I’m still in heaven,” Saint murmurs, his morning voice so sexily raspy, and I feel the smirk in it too. “Wanna stay here forever.”

I giggle as he kisses each of my breasts and comes back up, so we’re face to face. Saint leans his head against my pillow and has to squint against the sunshine. It almost looks like he’s smoldering, which I love even more. He’s so beautiful, always with that grin on his lips.

“What I meant to say is I want to stay with you forever, not against your breasts… although, thinking about it now… that’d be pretty nice too.”

I can’t help but giggle even harder. “So, you’re sarcastic from the moment you wake up, huh?”

“I can be.” Saint winks. “I can also be a lot of other things for you… like a gentleman.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Mhmmm.”

“Show me then, Mr. Lisconti.”

Saint rolls us over in the bed so I’m underneath him and he’s on top of me, holding up his weight with his forearms on the mattress on either side of my head. He smiles lovingly as he cups my face, and we share such a heated and intimate extended gaze. It’s our strong emotional and physical connection merging into one. It’s beautiful. It’s us.

“Good morning, wildflower,” he whispers.

“Morning, Santo.”

“You take my breath away, so let me admit one thing before I kiss the hell out of you…” Saint murmurs, glancing between my eyes and my heart melts. “I’m so fucking grateful you exist, Paisley.”

Saint’s words literally take my breath away too.

“I could say the same about you too, my blue-eyed boy.”

We kiss passionately, such a tender morning kiss, and his hardening cock twitches against my lower stomach when our tongues begin to dance to a silent rhythm. So good.

Saint’s eyes darken as we pull away and he lets out a sexy breath. “Hi, there.”

I giggle, knowing exactly what he’s alluding to as we softly grind our hips together and our breaths quicken. As much as I want it too, I’m conscious of the time seeing as I have work in a few hours and we still have to head back to Sacramento. “Do you know what time it is?”

Saint reaches over to the nightstand and taps on his phone. “Just past eight thirty. Why?”

My eyes widen. “Oh, shit! I have a shift at the florist at eleven! I can’t even cancel because Maralyn will literally kill me!”

“So, we have to head back to Sacramento in thirty minutes?”

“If you don’t want me six feet under, yes.”

Saint groans and buries his head in my neck. “Fuck, that’s one way to ruin a man. Maralyn doesn’t even know how much of a cockblocker she is right now.”

I laugh. “I know, I promise to make it up to you tonight.”

“Pretty sure your father doesn’t have a shift at the hospital tonight.”

“Oh, true. Okay then. Thursday night. My father will be at work, so Thursday night I’m all yours.”

“Perfect, it’s date night then.”

My eyes widen in awe. “What? Did Mr. I’m–not–romantic just say date night?”

Saint smirks. “Being in love changes a man, I guess. I just want you all to myself.”

“You’ve got me.”

“Good.” A few seconds pass before he adds, “This is going to stay between us, yeah?”

“Of course. Look, you know my father as well as I do. You know he wouldn’t be happy nor understand what’s going on between us and say that it’s wrong. He’ll try to break us apart, attempt to tell you to walk away and tell me something along those lines too. I just know it. So, I think for now it’s better we concentrate on starting this relationship and keeping it hidden between just us because I’d really prefer my boyfriend not to be annihilated.”

Saint playfully arches his brow. “Boyfriend, huh?”

I bite my lip softly, doing such a shit job at hiding my grin. “Mmhmm.”

Saint keeps going, teasing me with a smirk. “Did you just call me your boyfriend?”

“Maybe…” I giggle. “I know we haven’t spoken labels or anything like that, but…”

“You don’t mean maybe, you mean yes.” Saint grins and pecks my lips once more. “I have twelve hours with you at a time. You bet I’m not going to waste a single second by not calling you my girlfriend.”

“Except for right now, because we’re not going to have time to pass by home before the florist. You probably have to drop me off right there, so I should have a shower now. You could join me, save some water.”

“But no sex?”

“No sex. You know if we do, we’ll probably get carried away and then Maralyn will—”

“Kill you, yeah, I know, I know.” Saint gets off me, jokily rolling his eyes as he sits up in the bed, the sheets slipping away from his body, and I drink up his glorious naked athletic frame… that raging erection that has me rubbing my thighs together to ease my throbbing pussy.

“All right, you’re right, let’s get ready, Paisley… However, we do have some time for me to make us a delicious smoothie.”

I playfully narrow my eyes at Saint because he’s looking at me so heated and what he just said definitely sounds like a sexual innuendo.

Saint stares back at me cluelessly before his eyes widen, and he throws his head back in laughter. “I know exactly what you’re thinking and that’s not what I meant at all. I meant an actual smoothie, you dirty freak. Dio mio. My God, Paisley, what am I going to do with you?”

“I don’t know, draw me like one of your French girls.”

“Did you literally just quote Titanic?”

I nod, scrunching up my nose in laughter, and accidentally snort. That has us laughing even harder and I go to cover my mouth with my hand, but Saint’s too fast and takes my hands, using them to intertwine his fingers through mine as he hovers back on top of me. I’ve never felt this comfortable in my entire life as his dimples deepen and the laughter escaping us comes from a place so wholesome and with such utter affection and compassion.

“God, I’m so in love with you, Paisley.” Saint smiles, resting his forehead against mine as we finally settle down. “So goddamn in love with you.”