He rushed to fix it. “I’m only joking. Maya is sending me an autographed photo to give him. All I have to do is meet her for lunch to pick it up when we get back, which I planned to do anyhow.”
Saint rubbed his chest. “Please don’t do that again. I lost five years off my life.” He set the folder aside.
Clover’s shoulders fell. “You don’t like that I bartered for your gift. I was worried about that. At the time, I couldn’t afford to buy you anything special enough to suit my heart. I didn’t know I would get this bonus. If you want, I can turn down his offer and buy you something else. Something more like what you gave me.”
Saint ran his hand down Clover’s arm before linking fingers with him. “No. That’s not what I meant at all. It was you even joking about sleeping with someone else. That would break myheart. As for the gift, it’s perfect. It’s not about the price. You definitely got me something from the heart. No one else has ever considered my wants before. I absolutely love it.”
Clover stared at their joined hands. He swallowed, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t stop the words. “Well, I’m pretty sure I love you, so I needed for you to have—”
Clover found himself on his back with a good three hundred and twenty-five pounds pinning him in place.
Saint’s eyes glowed in a way Saint had never seen before. “Did you just tell me you love me?”
Damn. He had, and apparently, it was the wrong move. Clover knew he was being dumb. It was way too soon, except he couldn’t help how he felt. Saint had slipped beneath his skin faster and harder than anyone had done before. They just felt like a miracle. He couldn’t make himself take it back. Clover cleared his throat. His gaze slid away from Saint’s intensity. He couldn’t watch Saint reject him. “It seems so, but don’t worry. I won’t say it again. I know it’s crazy and you’re not ready to hear all that. Everything about us has been—”
Saint kissed him, cutting off the babbling before it started. Once he had Clover’s attention, Saint held his stare. “Don’t you dare start backtracking now. I’ve been sitting on those words all day, but it seems you’re braver than I am. Yeah. This is something different, like you were purposely set in my path. I love you. It doesn’t seem possible. I definitely can’t explain it, but you’re mine. It’s like you were always meant to be mine.”
A tear slipped from the corner of Clover’s eye and slid back into his hair. “You’re the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me. I can’t stop begging the universe for this to be real.”
“It is. I know it is.” Saint kissed him with all the love and longing Clover always carried in his chest. That was the kicker. Since that very first time their lips touched, Clover had known he would never go back to that one-bedroom apartment where he had suffered so much pain. Saint was his home.
That was the last coherent thought he had once Saint rocked against him. He made love to Clover. It was sweet and so fucking hot. The friction between their bodies increased as their kisses turned more passionate and hungrier. It didn’t take long for that familiar pressure to addle his brain. Everything was focused on what Saint did to his cock. When an orgasm ripped through him, it hit him how real this relationship was. It was so fucking flawless, and all Clover had ever wanted. He wouldn’t stop until Saint married him. Nothing less would do.
Chapter Seven
Saintwasfuckingexhaustedas he dragged their luggage through the door. The cabin was dark except for the Christmas lights. He had sworn he had unplugged them before they left. Since Clover had moved into his mind and set up shop, Saint hadn’t thought straight. A very familiar sound cut through the dark. It had Saint dropping the luggage and tucking Clover behind his back with one arm while the other hand flipped on the lights.
“Oh. You’re home.”
From his back, lounging on Saint’s couch, Jacobe looked totally relaxed with a gun ready to fire pointed at them.
“You’ve really stepped things up a notch,” Saint said as dryly as possible. “Now you’ve decided you’re ready to go to prison instead of just leaving Clover alone.”
Jacobe’s expression changed, turning evil and angry in a way Saint had never seen. That was saying a lot. “There’s no such thing as living without Clover.” The way his face and anger stayed totally focused on Saint meant Saint’s large body kept Clover totally hidden from sight. Or Jacobe saw Saint as the only thing standing between him and the center of his obsession. Jacobe’s rage kept him talking while Saint pulled his cellphone from his back pocket and handed it to Clover on the sly. “You don’t understand! But if I let you live, you’ll see. You’ll see how he lights up every corner of your life and then rips it away, leaving you drowning in the dark. He won’t stay with you. I mean, a boss sleeping with his employee. How cliche can you get? Don’t worry, though. I’ll put you out of your misery so you never have to feel this way.”
Saint searched for a way to keep Jacobe talking while Clover got them help. “How long were you two together? It must’ve been a long time to break you like this.” Saint knew the only thing Jacobe mourned was the control. He just needed Jacobe to stay focused on their conversation.
“Two years, three months, and three days. Three hundred and nighty-eight days.” He took on a dreamy expression and a new horror rose inside Saint. This guy was for real insane. He wasn’t just mean and controlling. The guy had lost his mind. “He smells so good, and his skin is so soft. I couldn’t let him near anyone else. He’s irresistible. Well, you know that. He’s like staring into the face of love and knowing it’s all yours.”
Saint wondered if the “it” in that sentence was the love or Clover. It wasn’t too much of a stretch. Jacobe obviously didn’t consider Clover as a real whole person who existed without him.
“Don’t worry. I’ll set you free before you end up like me when Clover comes home to me.”
Before Saint even had time to react, Clover stepped around him. His anger carried him across the room in a clipped pace. “For fuck’s sake, Jacobe. You’re being fucking ridiculous.”
Saint’s mouth fell open as Clover plucked the gun from his hand like a ninja. His anger obviously outweighed Jacobe’s insanity. He racked the weapon, releasing the unfired shell before waving the butt at Jacobe in obvious frustration. “This is too goddamn far. Why do you think we’re over? Save your breath. It’s for ridiculous shit like this. Not that you have any chance of me ever taking you back, but did you really think breaking into Saint’s cabin and threatening to kill—”
“Our cabin,” Saint said, correcting him.
Clover didn’t miss a beat. “Our cabin, threatening to kill people, would actually get me back? Murder is a damn long prison sentence. Not that any of that matters to you. I’m done with you. I’ve been finished with you for almost nine months and a whole year before I got brave enough to leave, and that’s no one’s fault but yours. Saint didn’t steal me. He didn’t seduce me away. We didn’t even know each other back then. When will you take responsibility for your actions? You lost me. No one else. You.”
Damn, he was sexy with his eyes flashing with fury. Saint was turned on and he couldn’t help it.
Clover didn’t let up on the berating. “Did you really think that tagging me, controlling me, hitting me, and fucking cheating on me was shit that endeared me to stay? You were an awful boyfriend. You’re a terrible person. A waste of oxygen. If you think you deserve me, you’re as insane as you’re acting.”
One of his security teams burst in, armed to the teeth and wearing Kevlar. They all froze as Clover handed Diesel the gun and walked straight into Saint’s arms. For all his fury, he shook hard enough to chip a tooth. “Thank God. I was running out of things to say.”
Even though he was obviously terrified and had handled the situation like a boss, Saint couldn’t hold his tongue. “What were you thinking? He could’ve killed you.”
