Most of the trip had been done in awkward silence, but nothing had felt awkward about the way she’d touched him. She hadn’t removed her hand from him since they left the prison, and wherever she’d touched had set him on fire for more. She’d always been able to do that to him and he realized that some things never changed.
Saige was still the woman he’d fallen in love with so long ago, and just being with her now was a dream come true. He thought he’d never see her again. They both wore physical and mental scars from the past, and Quinten wasn’t that blind that he didn’t see that, but he believed together they could get past them and start to live again.
A rustling noise behind him drew his attention and when he turned, he caught Saige watching him as he sat on the steps that led down to the beach with a mug of coffee in his hands. His hair was windblown, which made him wonder why he’d bothered leaving it slightly longer on top—it constantly got in his eyes as well. But Saige’s shiny auburn hair had been pulled back into a tie, looking neat and tidy.
At first, he held her gaze, but then she smiled and butterflies took flight in his stomach. Placing his mug down, he held his hand out to her. She hesitated before she slipped her hand into his and straddled his lap.
Quinten gasped, not only in surprise, but at the feel of her being so close to him, and the growing bulge behind his zipper, which he had no chance of controlling. So when she nuzzled into his neck, he did the most natural thing in the world and held her close.
He tried to fight the tears, he really did, but holding the woman he’d missed like crazy over the years had them streaming from beneath his closed eyelids. They made their way down his cheeks and into his beard as more followed. She was finally in his arms and he wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to release her.
“I’ve missed you,” she whispered, the sound of tears in her voice. “I know how that sounds, considering I couldn’t remember you until recently...but I always felt that there was someone there in the background...someone who needed me, except I had no way of finding him—you.” Saige met his gaze, her own eyes as red as his. She offered him a gentle smile and pulled some tissue from her pocket. “They’re clean. I figured I’d need them.” She shrugged and dabbed at his face before seeing to herself.
Sighing, she settled back against him, and seconds turned into minutes as he closed his eyes and listened to the relaxing sound of the ocean—the first time in eight years that he’d heard it. It had been a daily occurrence in Port Jude—listening to the ocean—but until it had been taken away, he hadn’t realized just how much he’d taken it for granted.
Opening his eyes, he kissed Saige on the top of her head and tugged the tie from her hair. She didn’t stir. His fingers caressed through the strands of silk, and he was surprised by how much he loved seeing her with auburn hair. She was still the woman he’d fallen in love with and nothing would change that, he just felt a profound sense of relief that she still felt the same way about him—he’d spent eight years thinking the opposite.
He was finally home.
* * *
7:30am
* * *
For the first time since she’d woken up in the hospital, Saige felt safe, and she knew that it was all down to the man who currently held her. The gentle caresses through her hair were lulling her to sleep, but she didn’t want to sleep. She wanted to go and lie down with him in the large bed that she’d found in the master bedroom. She needed to be as close to him as two people possibly could be.
She had missed something and as soon as her memories of Quinten had started to appear, she’d known it had been him that was missing from her life.
His arms around her as they listened to the ocean felt so familiar, and she ached for more—the more that she’d only ever experienced in Quinten’s arms. She was nervous, because they hadn’t been together since before he’d been arrested, which made her think that maybe he was just as nervous.
With nerves taking flight inside her belly, Saige kissed his cheek and nuzzled into his neck. She wiggled in his lap and smiled when she felt his reaction against her bottom. He gripped her hips and turned his face to meet hers as Saige reached up and gently sealed their lips together. The kiss stayed slow and sensuous as she wound her arms around his neck, the hard buds of her nipples pressed into his chest and arousal flooded her system. “Make love to me,” Saige asked, her breath tickling along his lips.
Quinten’s body trembled in reaction to her words, his hands shook against her face, his thumbs caressing along her cheekbones. Starring into her eyes, all the love he felt for her was there for her to see. “Have you...” He gulped and looked away, which clued Saige in as to what he asked.
She turned his face back to hers. “The only person to ever touch me in this way is you. You’re the only one to have ever been inside of me. I don’t know how else to say it.”
“You said it just fine.” His hands shook. “I’m not sure I have the strength to move from here to the bedroom,” he said on a soft laugh. “I’m nervous,” he admitted.