“Oh, you know. This. That.” I swallowed down the anxiety taking a dump in my throat with a ‘you shouldn’t have done it’ wrapped around it for good measure. “Hey, Lilo.” I greeted, catching her frown as if she noticed my odd behaviour. Sisters! Sometimes they knew you too well.
“Well, I had such a good time,” she ribbed, sarcasm lending her face an ugly scowl. I grinned, understanding her pain.
“By the way, sweetheart, Saint’s car is out front, where is he?” Dad asked.
Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit. I internally combusted and swallowed several times trying to make up an appropriate excuse. “Um...oh...um...I didn’t know he was here. I was in the shower,” I mumbled.
“That’s strange.” Dad rubbed his jaw, his expression curious. “Maybe I should call him.” He reached inside his pocket for his phone.
Oh, crap. I shifted from one foot to the other, praying for a respite.
And it came, in the form of my beloved sister.
“Hey, dad, I saw Saint chatting to Davien. Maybe he tried ringing the bell and when Levana didn’t answer, he went over,” she said, throwing me ‘I’m so onto you’ look mixed with a ‘details please.’
“Tell him I’ll be down shortly when he comes. I need a shower.” Dad called over his shoulder as he walked off to his bathroom.
As soon as he disappeared behind his door, Eliana grabbed my hand. “You’re fucking Sebastian, aren’t you?”
“Shh, keep it down,” I whispered. “Well, we only did it today.” I laughed.
“And?” Excitement glittered in her eyes. “How was it?”
“Er...” I searched my head for a description.
“Yes, baby, how was it?” I swung around to find a fully dressed Saint, leaning one shoulder pressed into my door frame, his hair wet, lips wide in a smooth smile. “Hi, Eli?”
Instead of greeting him, she neared him and scowled. “Hurt my sister and I’ll kill your precious bike.”
“Eli,” I gasped.
Saint roared with laughter, leaned down to her level and tapped her nose with his index finger. “I have no intention to, Lilo.” He winked.
Eliana gave him the ‘I’m watching you’ gesture before she turned and walked away, leaving a laughing Saint and a baffled me behind.
“She’s never done that before,” I said.
“It’s because she cares for you. I’m glad someone has your back, always.” He ran a thumb over my bottom lip. I sensed something else beneath his words but I couldn’t place it.
“Why won’t you kiss me?” I blurted, unaware it’d been sitting on my mind.
There was no anger or irritation in his expression, just a strange tiredness. “Because the day I do, you’ll feel my lips even after I’m gone.”
I frowned, his cryptic words not making sense. “Gone? Where? Back to England?”
Smiling, he shook his head. “Don’t worry about that for now.”
My insides deflated and my words spilled out before I could stop myself. “You’re not interested in anything more than a one-night stand, are you?”
“Levana,” he sighed my name, then cupped my cheeks. “I don’t want to be your one-night stand or your sometimes. I want to be your all the time. But we don’t always get what we want.”
About to ask what he meant, my father’s door opened and Saint stepped back. I left him to greet my father and slipped back into my room, wondering about his words. I’d swear the man would give CSI a run for its money trying to analyse him. Maybe it was time I stopped too and enjoyed him, while I could.
