And for once, I didn’t want to be anywhere else either.
Saint moved slowly, deliberately, like every inch he closed mattered.His weight anchored me, his hands slid along my thighs, my hips, and held me steady while he leaned down to kiss me again.The kind of kiss that said he wasn’t going anywhere once he started.
I wrapped my legs around him without thinking, pulling him closer, and felt the heat between us build until it was impossible to ignore.He groaned softly against my mouth, a sound that went straight through me, and shifted, pressing closer until my breath broke.
“Easy,” he murmured, more for himself than for me.
I shook my head.“Don’t be.”
That was all it took.
He moved with me, slow at first, letting the sensation stretch and deepen.Letting me feel every change, every breath, and every controlled roll of his body.It wasn’t frantic.It was consuming.Like he wanted me aware of him every second.
My hands slid over his back, and he responded immediately.His pace shifted, and pressure built until my body started to tremble beneath him.He noticed everything.The hitch in my breath.The way my hips moved without asking.The soft sound I couldn’t hold back.
“Belle,” he said, low and rough, like my name belonged in his mouth.
The sound of it undid me.
I clung to him as the sensation crested, heat flooding through me in a slow, overwhelming wave.He stayed with me through it, with his forehead dropping to mine as my body tightened and then finally let go.
Only then did he let himself follow.A groan ripped from his lips, and then his body went still for a moment before thrusting back into me.
For a long second, neither of us moved.
Then he shifted just enough to pull me into his side, one arm wrapped securely around me, my head tucked beneath his chin like it belonged there.
I listened to his breathing slow.To his heartbeat steady beneath my ear.
“That,” I said softly, still catching my breath, “was worth all the gingerbread houses in the world.”
He huffed a quiet laugh and pressed a kiss to my hair.“God damn, Belle.”
“What?”I smiled.
“You’re something else, doll.You’re something else.”
I pressed a kiss to his lips.“I hope that’s a good thing.”
A smirk spread across his lips.“Oh, it sure the hell is.”
Chapter Seven
Saint
I woke up before she did.
That wasn’t unusual for me.Years of early mornings and late nights had wired my body to stay half-alert even when I slept.What was different was the weight against my chest and the way my arm was draped protectively around someone I hadn’t planned on letting this close.
Belle lay curled into me, her hair fanned across my shoulder, and one bare leg hooked over mine like she’d claimed it sometime in the night and decided not to give it back.Her breathing was slow and even, deep in the kind of sleep that only came when exhaustion finally won.
The dogs were sprawled everywhere.
Salt lay stretched out at the foot of the bed like a rug with his ears twitching occasionally.Pepper was pressed against Belle’s side with his head on her pillow, snoring softly like he’d run a marathon in his dreams.
I didn’t move.
I just lay there and let myself feel it.
