Page 21 of The Saint

“Rolly,” I begged, hands gripping at his shoulders, back arched at the delicious pain coursing through me.

“What is it?”

“I want you,” I told him, sliding my hands down his sides, trying to pull him closer to me.

“You have me, carina,” he said, leaning forward to capture my mouth with his.

This was far from the first time Rolly and I had messed around. After he’d saved me from the falling tree at D’Angelo’s place, after that kiss, my world had shifted. My thoughts disappeared whenever he was around, and the only thing I could think about was him.

His taste.

The feel of his hands in mine, on my body, in my hair.

The way his slim hips fit between my thighs, and the hard ridge of him where he pressed against me.

And he was pressed there now, his length rubbing against the still damp fabric of my swimsuit.

My hands slid lower, and I fought as hard to break our kiss as I did to ensure it would never end.

“I want you, Rolly,” I told him, my fingertips sliding into the waistline of his swim trunks. And he stilled when I tugged.

His lips, swollen from our kisses, fell open as he stared down at me through narrowed, lust-filled eyes. “Jael—”

“I want you.” It was as much a plea as a demand.

We’d had this talk before.

He was ready when I was, but he would never, ever pressure me into it. I had to want it. I had to tell him I wanted it and mean it with everything inside of me.

And right now?

That’s all I wanted.

This boy. The boy I’d been closer to than anyone. This boy who calmed me, turned my world on its head every time he was near, and left me wanting nothing of the future if it wasn’t in his arms.

I tugged again, and Rolly’s damp trunks slid down his hips. Though I kept my eyes locked on his, knowing he had to see the truth of my demand, I could see him bobbing between us as his pants came down. And it filled me with a fuzzy kind of dread, knowing there’d be pain, along with a buzzing desire to have him inside of me for the very first time.

“Are you sure?” he asked, his voice a whisper between us. “You have to be sure.”

“I’m sure,” I promised, giving him a hopeful smile. “I want this with you. Right now.”

Rolly lowered his face to mine, pressing those swollen lips to my own before opening, deepening the kiss as if we’d never stopped to talk. He kept his hands on the bed at my sides, letting me remove his pants, then my swimsuit bottoms. It wasn’t until we were both completely naked that he finally moved, one hand leaving the bed, palming my breast before sliding it down, his thumb strumming at my peaked nipple.

I moaned into his kiss, and he pulled away, only to press his lips to my jaw, moving toward my ear.

“Are you sure?” he asked again before his teeth tugged at my earlobe.

“Yes!” I gasped, sucking in the scent of his body, of the outdoors and the pool and the sun. One hand grabbed his hip, the other slipped between us, taking hold of him and gently tugging him forward. “Yes.”

His mouth lowered along my neck, licking and nipping until he sucked on my breast once more. And the noises that came from me would have been embarrassing if it all didn’t feel so damn good.

With the tip of him lined up between my legs, I loosened my grip. He pushed in just a touch, then stopped, pulling his mouth from my breast and looking up to my face. His lips twitched, those hooded eyes sparkling like the sea.

“Are you really sure?”

“Rolly!” I slapped his shoulder as he laughed. But then that laughter fell away, that smile slipped from his lips, and his intensity stilled my heart.

He pressed in slowly, watching every twitch of my face, seeing all the pain written there, like he was reading it right out of a book. There was a moment where I wanted to cry. Not because it hurt, but because this was finally happening. This boy, my best and only friend, was giving me a gift no one else could ever have.