Page 103 of The Saint

He closed his eyes. Lowered himself over me, stretching my arms out over my head as his hips rolled against mine like an ocean wave. I watched as he moved inside of me, as he came to me like I was his sandy shore. We may have been different, but there was nothing in the world that could keep the two of us apart.

We were inevitable, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

When I’d fallen to pieces, when Rolly broke in two, he bundled me in his arms and curled his body around mine. His breathing slowed, each breath brushing against my heated skin, and I would have been content to lie there forever in his arms.

Rolly rubbed his thumb against the skin of my hand, coming to rest on my ring. The diamond ring he’d given me the day before, when he’d proposed to me in front of his parents and my brothers and D’Angelo. He’d told me he never wanted to imagine life without me. We’d been apart too long, and nothing had ever felt as right as him and me.

I’d read his poem, back in his apartment a month ago, when I’d been ready to slap him silly and cut him out of my life for good. That declaration of love meant more to me than the painting of me that now hung on our bedroom wall or even the ring on my finger. Because in it, I could finally see the things he’d never said before. And I knew what he said was true, my life wouldn’t be right without him by my side.

“Do we have to go out tonight?”

Rolly’s chest rumbled against my back, and he lifted his head to press a kiss to my cheek. “An hour ago, it was me asking you that same question.”

“I know, I know. But you’ve messed up my hair and my dress and I don’t want to get out of bed.”

“If I knew that’s all it took, I would have saved you the trouble of getting dressed up.”

I jabbed Rolly in the side with my elbow. “Jerk.”

“Hey! I’m just telling the truth.”

“Whatever.”

I knew we should get up, finish getting ready so we could go out. Our friends would be here soon, and I didn’t want to miss out on time with them.

From the hall outside the door, I heard footsteps on the wooden floor. “Ugh. I swear, if you two are having sex again, just kill me now and be done with it!”

“We’re not having sex!” Rolly called back. “You just missed that!”

“Rolly!” I hissed, jabbing him with my elbow again as my cheeks flushed.

“I’m gonna go puke now,” Shaw yelled from the hall. “Probably on the living room rug, so you’ll have something to remember me by when I’m gone.”

“Leave us alone,” he said, laughter rolling through his chest. He tightened his grip around me, then pressed a kiss to my head. “We’ve gotta finish getting dressed.”

I rolled my neck, glancing over my shoulder at the man. At my man. My fiancé.

“I love you.”

“I know,” he said with a wink. Then he slapped my butt. “Now come on, let’s get ready so we can go.”

He climbed out of bed, turning to help me, and that pensive look was on his face again. I stopped him from heading toward the bathroom, tugging him back until he was facing me.

“What is it?”

There was a noticeable flinch, something I wasn’t sure would ever go away. Rolly was trying. Every day, he worked hard to speak to me about the things that were on his mind. His fears. His passions. Nothing was off the table. And I told him everything as well.

But it wasn’t easy for either of us, especially this man who’d spent his life holding everything in. His slate-blue eyes stared down at me and his lips quirked up.

“We need to take Shaw’s key to the apartment away.”

“She doesn’t have a key,” I told him, and his brow furrowed. “She wouldn’t need to use it even if she did.”

Hacking computers wasn’t Shaw’s only forte. She had her own companies, her own little empire on the other side of the world. And her friendship with Mateo Medina had led to a competitiveness that I’d never seen before. Where some friends hung out and went to bars or concerts or maybe even the beach, Shaw and Medina challenged each other to learn to hotwire cars or pick locks or break into the nation's most secure servers to leave a bug that would send a little happy face to military’s top brass.

It’s a wonder they’d never been caught.

Rolly shook his head and tried to turn away. But I stopped him, tugging him back to look at me again. “What is it?” I asked again.