Page 92 of Tony

And then he releases me and pulls my head up, come spilling past my lips and dripping down onto his bare stomach.

He grabs my arms, urging me to crawl up his body. But I’m already there, Vann. I’m already there.

I kiss his stomach, and his chest, and his neck. And then I whisper right up next to his ear, “We are a love story in the making, Vann Vaughn. And I expect us to get that happy ending.”

He wraps his arms around my back, holding me tight against his chest. “That’s a promise I will keep, Belinda Baker.”

I’m a realist. I had those fears about us getting together for a reason. I know he can’t keep that promise. It’s not empty, but it’s not his to make.

But you know what?

I decide to believe him anyway.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE - TONY

I wake up thoroughly confused, unsure of the day, let alone the time.

I glance around and find a clock. It reads nine oh four. Assuming that’s AM, since there’s a hazy sunshine filtering past all her beaded curtains, I take a moment to process that.

Because… I slept. Like a real fucking sleep.

After nearly three months of tossing and turning and getting just enough sleep to get through a day, I finally slept through the night.

Soshee is next to me. I can feel her body pressing against mine. All soft and warm, and if I’m being honest, comforting. And when I turn my head, I see her face half-hidden by her long, messy, scarlet hair.

I smile and reach for her, pulling her into my arms as I play back the last thing I remember before I passed out.

We had sex. Really good sex. And then… nothing. Did I fall asleep after sex?

Jesus Christ. That was the middle of the afternoon and now it’s morning. I must’ve passed out for… damn. Like eighteen hours.

I should feel great. And I do feel better. But I would not call it great.

It’s not Soshee, who didn’t wake when I pulled her close to me, just hummed a little and snuggled into my embrace. Everything regarding her is fine. At least, it feels fine to me.

So this sense of not-greatness is not related to her. It’s something else.

Maybe I’m nervous because I have to leave soon? I can’t stay here forever. I need to go home and get back to my regularly scheduled life.

But that’s not what I’m unsettled about, either.

I don’t have to do anything. I’m the boss of me. I own my own business and I’m pretty sure Jesse Boston is having the time of his life running that business for me. He loves the ocean. And sailboats. I’m not paying him, but he doesn’t need money anyway. He wants to fit in. He told me that. He likes the Dumas family. Loves us, actually. Handling my clients for me is exactly the kind of job he needs to fill his empty days while Emma’s at work.

So I’m not worried about him and that means the idea of leaving Colorado isn’t what’s bothering me. Jesse might, eventually, start to miss my sister and want to go home. But Emma is in Europe on business again. What the fuck else is Jesse gonna do while she’s making millions of Bright Berry Beach dollars?

I could totally stay here for a while. Soshee only has… what? A month left on this apartment lease? She has to go somewhere after that. And I’m thinking about talking her into taking that crappy car of hers on a road trip to Key West. We could check out shitty tourist attractions, and eat junk food, and break down every other day. She and I could start a brand-new life together.

I smile just picturing it. Then start wondering if I’m insane. I mean, I’ve only known this girl for two full days and I’ve already got her packed up and on a cross-country road trip with me so we can shack up together in my Dumas family cottage.

Then again… Alonzo is living with a girl he virtually dated for two years before he met her. So is this really any stranger than that?

Besides, we’ve already had four dates.

OK, OK, OK. Yes. We spent the first two dates with her lusting over Vann Vaughn and me trying to hate-fuck Belinda out of my life. But they were still pretty cool dates. We had lunch, and dinner, and wine. And we talked. A lot.

They count.

Plus I slept over. And I met her mother. So these two days are like six months in new-relationship years. We jumped in with both feet and didn’t even check the temperature of the water first.