Page 106 of Saints & Sailors

Being silly, I leaned up and pressed my lips to his cheek and lingered. Seconds ticked by before I pulled back.

“There are⁠—”

My words never made it out before Dreux was on me. His lips claimed mine, his strong arms holding me and bringing me closer, secure and firm.

I melted against Dreux, closing my eyes and getting lost. Nothing felt as right as this, as good as this, as perfect as this.

Neither the first roar of thunder nor the flash of lightning tore us apart.

It wasn’t until a sprinkle of rain hit us that we pulled away and looked up at the sky.

“We gotta go.” Dreux squeezed me close, giving me one last chaste kiss.

I pouted, something that made him flash the cutest smile.

We headed back to shore and I couldn’t let it go. I wasn’t ready to lose the moment. I wasn’t ready to go back to toeing the line.

“Dreux…” We were about to go into the cabana to change. The rain was coming down steady now. And I was probably about to fuck everything up. “Come inside with me.”

Gone was Dreux’s smile as he sobered up, glancing behind me at the women’s changing room.

I tilted my head back toward the door. “I don’t want to stop.”

Dreux took a step forward, still eyeing the room, contemplating. “Saylor.”

I could tell by looking at him that he didn’t want to rush me, didn’t want to pressure me to do anything I didn’t want to do or wasn’t ready for. And that was why I was sure in my decision. He quoted the greats whenever I was feeling down. He touched me tender unlike everyone else. He looked at me like I was something worth seeing. Someone who fascinated him beyond the surface. He made me a playlist because he thought I was a wildflower, a rare beauty too good to pluck. No one had ever described me that way.

I didn’t want to be bad at choosing men, and something in my gut told me Dreux wasn’t wrong.

“Are you going to make me beg?” I teased.

In a blur, Dreux gave in. He lifted me like I weighed nothing. Like it was easy. And I decided I loved that. To be handled as if it wasn’t a chore or a challenge. Like I wasn’t a nuisance or burden.

He kissed me against the wall of the cabana, our bodies pressed together in the pouring rain.

Dreux groaned, trailing kisses along my neck, as if it pained him to touch me. “I can’t stop thinking about you, Saylor.”

Heat rushed between my legs and I angled my head, needing more. “Fascinated with me, are we?”

His grip on my body tightened, like it would take the jaws of life to get him to let me go. “I’m fucking obsessed.”

When he could take no more, he reached for the knob of his room and carried me inside. He set me down on the bench, taking a moment to rake his gaze over my body, making me feel alive.

Dreux pressed his forehead against mine, peering into my eyes. “You sure?”

I had never wanted anything more.

Nodding my head, I said, “Yes.”

Slowly, he peeled his stare from mine before lowering his attention to my body once more. He shook his head. “You and this fucking bikini.” As if annoyed, he yanked the string to my top, undoing my knot. In another pull, he had it off me and cast aside.

“Oh,” I let out breathlessly as he reached out and cupped my right breast.

Dreux tore his gaze away from his staring. “I love it when you blush for me.”

I squeezed my thighs together. Maybe I would beg. It felt like I needed him I was so worked up.

“Lie back,” Dreux instructed.