Page 23 of The Saint

He cleaned me, gently, reverently, taking care of me the way he always did. And I so wanted to believe that those words weren’t just platitudes. After tossing the wet cloth back in his bathroom, Rolly laid down behind me on the bed.

“You okay?” he asked, pulling me into his arms, tucking me in close.

I hummed, unable to do anything else.

Rolly had given me a magical experience. One I’d be more than willing to repeat again and again.

But…

Did he expect me to tell him I loved him, too?

“I’m sorry if I hurt you.”

“No.” I twisted in his arms as much as I could, turning my face toward his. “It didn’t hurt.”

“It did,” he told me, dropping a quick kiss to my lips. “Don’t lie.”

My eyes dropped closed; my forehead pressed against one side of his face, while I cupped the other with my hand.

“Only a little,” I whispered as heat rose through me, sparking like electricity across my skin.

He hummed, this quiet laughter in the sound. “Was it good?”

I nodded against him, and he pulled me close. “What about you?” I asked. “Did you like it?”

“I loved it,” he told me, dropping a trail of kisses across my face. “I’ve never felt anything better.”

It was my turn to laugh. I raised my head and found ocean waves crashing down on me, stealing my breath.

“I want to do it again,” he whispered, that crooked smile on his face. “Again and again. You and me, Jael. Forever and ever.”

“Rolly.”

My lips had just touched his when his cell phone buzzed three times on the nightstand. He pressed a quick kiss to my forehead before reaching behind him to grab it. Within seconds, his body stiffened. Then he leaped from the bed.

“Shit,” he muttered. “Shit, shit, shit.”

“What is it?”

Rolly rushed to his dresser, grabbing underwear and pants before turning back toward the bed. He yanked at his hair, his face pinched with worry or fear.

“I need to go.”

“Go where?” I grabbed at his bedsheet, yanking it up to cover my still-naked body. “What’s going on?”

“There’s been an accident,” Rolly called over his shoulder as he rushed around the room, grabbing his shirt and shoes, and throwing them on.

And while his back was turned? I snagged his phone off the corner of the bed.

Natalia: SOS

Natalia: 2 down 1 to go

The last text that came through was an address in the city.

I glanced up just as Rolly rushed out of the bathroom, my pile of folded clothes resting in his hands. He came to me, dropping the clothes on the bed and grabbing my face, pulling me to him.

His kiss was brutal but quick, tongue and mouth and teeth attacking me with such strength he stole my breath straight from my lungs. When he pulled back, he pressed his forehead to mine, rolling his head back and forth, slowly shaking his head.