“As frustrated as I am, as I think you are, I love you all the more for that.” Saige cupped his bearded jaw and placed a sweet kiss to his lips. “I love you, Quinten Peterson, and I’ve never been more excited about my future as I have been since I met you.”
“God, babe.” Quinten kissed her hard before he pulled back and rested his head against the back of the chair and stared at the ceiling. “Talk to me because you sitting on my erection is killing me.”
Saige felt butterflies fly around in her stomach at his confession. “When?”
Quinten blinked at her but she could see he knew what she meant. “I told you that I already talked to a divorce attorney before I even met you, right?”
Saige nodded.
“I called him at the beginning of last week. I paid the deposit he requested and he’s starting on the paperwork. I quoted irreconcilable differences as to the reason for the divorce. Figured it would be simpler then her adultery.” He sighed. “Jocelyn will be mad as all hell when she finds out that I’m actually going through with divorcing her, so I’m trying to go the easy route instead of accusing her of multiple accounts of adultery.”
He shifted so that she was half on and half off his lap as he loomed over her. “She’s vindictive and I really don’t want her knowing about my feelings for you.” He leaned down and kissed her. “But make no mistake, Saige. Nothing and no one will be able to stop this divorce from happening. I should have listened to Alex, but I didn’t and I’ve paid the price. No more though.” He caressed along her lips with a finger while licking his own lips.
“I love you,” he whispered softly before sealing their lips together.
Saige jumped and her eyes snapped open seconds before she rolled from the sofa with a thump.
“Oomph...ouch,” she moaned but remained on her back while she got her bearings, and slipped back into reality.
Tears seeped from her eyes in a strange mixture of longing and desperation. She wanted to be with Quinten and she wanted to remember all the times they’d spent together.
“Saige?”
Alex.
“Saige, what the fuck?” he stated and stood over her. “Shit. What’s wrong?” he added, obviously noticing her tears.
“I didn’t sleep so well so I decided to lie down on the sofa and I had a dream.” She shrugged, but Alex could see through her confession.
“Let me help you up.” He reached out and, with a tug, had her up and back on the sofa. “What did you dream?”
She paused and then admitted, “About Quinten and our time in the boathouse.” She offered him a shy smile. “I want to hold on to him, Alex. There’s this need inside of me to hold on and never let him go. It scares me. Every night I go to bed with another day behind me. I’m so scared that I’m going to remember everything once it’s too late.”
Saige wiped her tears from her face with the sleeve of her sweater when she got a good look at Alex. Her eyes narrowed. “What’s wrong?”
He laughed but there wasn’t any mirth behind it. “That was my line.”
She nudged him. “We’re a sorry pair.” She grinned. “Spit it out.”
“It bothers me about Fern and Tracy. I’m almost afraid of so much as talking to another woman.”
“I’m alive,” Saige added.
“I think you’re safe. It only seems to happen to women I’ve had, um”—he blushed—“you know with.” He cleared his throat.
“You had sex with Jocelyn?” Saige asked, shocked.
His brother’s wife!
“Fuck, no! She was Quinten’s wife for one thing.” Alex stood and ran his hands through his hair. “I never touched that woman.” He shuddered in revulsion. “Don’t get me wrong, she was one hell of a looker, until you got to know her, or got on her bad side, which I was always on.”
“Then maybe there isn’t a connection,” she commented, hopeful that the killer wasn’t targeting women Alex had slept with.
Alex shook his head. “Sorry to burst your bubble, but I think there is. I’m connected to Jocelyn through Quinten, and Fern and Tracy through sex. There has to be something, or someone, missing from all of this. It’s driving me crazy.”
Saige grabbed a cushion and wrapped her arms around it for comfort, her knees curled under her while she rested her head on another cushion. “I don’t know what to think anymore. But I do know that Quinten is innocent. He didn’t take me. I know that with every fiber of my being. And even though I don’t relish the thought, I wish that I dreamt more about my time in that shack. Maybe if I did, then I’d remember hearing or seeing something that could be added to Coulter’s report for the governor.”
“I don’t know why your dreams are centered around Quinten rather than the shack, but I think with Coulter’s report, and your new statement, Quinten will get a stay. The governor won’t be able to do anything else because if the execution goes ahead, the public will be in an uproar, and he’s up for reelection.” Alex didn’t look worried, he just looked annoyed more than anything.
“I hope you’re right,” Saige whispered.
* * *
7:30pm
* * *