Page 96 of Broken Hearts

“Yeah,” she replies, pushing up on her toes to brush her lips against mine. “But not too drunk, you have a promise to keep, remember?”

Chuckling, I kiss her again. “Babe, how could I forget.”

“Are you really sure about this?” I ask a week later, as Sage taps away at her laptop.

We’re sitting on her bed, well, our bed now I guess, Sage with her laptop in front of her and me sitting behind her, an arm wrapped around her shoulders as I watch her work.

“Yeah, why not?” she asks, glancing back over her shoulder at me.

“Um, because we could get a total random in there,” I say, nodding at the screen. “Or a fucking weirdo.”

Sage laughs, turning back to her computer. “We get to veto them, Nate.”

I gently bite her shoulder. “Oh, and you think weirdos put that they’re weirdos in their profile?”

She bursts out laughing, clicking through the pictures of what is now my old house. We’ve officially been living together in the apartment for the past week, all of my stuff now here. It’s kind of crowded, but neither of us seems to care, loving just being together.

For me, I love the permanence of it. Love that I get to wake up to Sage every morning and fall asleep beside her every night. Love that I get to share all these little moments with her. It wouldn’t matter if we did that here or on a patch of sand on the beach, as long as she was with me.

Sage is home to me, not a place.

“No, obviously,” she says, jabbing her elbow softly into my stomach. “But we can check their reviews and shit. Airbnbs are like the new thing, Nate,” she adds, turning to give me a quick kiss. “It’ll give The Pipe Dream even more publicity and make you even more money.”

“I don’t care about the money,” I say, narrowing my brow when I spy one of my drawings hanging on the wall of my old living room. “What is that?” I ask, pointing at the screen.

Sage turns to me again, one hand on my cheek. “I asked Tanner for your old board sketches,” she says, her eyes soft as she watches me. “I wanted to showcase your work, and he said he was happy to give them to me. You don’t mind, do you?” she now asks. “You’re crazy talented, Nate, and I?—”

The rest of her words are cut off as I crush my mouth against hers in a hard kiss.

Sage smiles, her mumbled, “I guess you don’t,” buried in our kisses.

I cannot believe this woman, cannot believe I got so lucky with her. Every fucking day, she surprises me, and I don’t think I can ever thank Mitch enough for bringing her into my life.

“I fucking love you,” I say, resting my forehead against hers.

She cups my jaw in her hand. “I know, and I love you,” she whispers. “So can we list it? If we get any weirdos, I promise we’ll take it down, call it done.”

I smile, lifting my gaze to hers. “Let’s do it,” I say. “I trust you.”

She smiles at that, leaning in to give me another quick kiss before she hits post on the listing she’s created. We both watch as the page reloads, the new listing of a one-bedroom cottage in a beachside town on Maui now live.

“Okay, so I guess we just wait,” Sage says, blowing out a breath.

I scoff, picking up the laptop and moving it to the nightstand before pulling Sage back onto the bed so she’s lying on top of me. It’s late in the afternoon, the shop is closed, and we have nowhere else we need to be.

“Oh, I think we can think of something to do in the meantime.”

She giggles, pushing the hair back from my face. “Oh yeah, such as?”

Grinning, I slide my hands up her side, pulling her tank top up and over her head before throwing it on the floor. I unclasp her bra next, my mouth going dry at the sight of her naked chest. Moving my hands to her hips, I hoist her up my body so I can suck one of her nipples into my mouth.

“I don’t know, maybe something that involves both of us being naked,” I murmur, gently biting the hardened peak.

Sage rests her hands on either side of me, pushing herself up so she can straddle my hips. I’m already fucking hard, and when she discovers this, she smirks. “What like taking a shower?” she teases.

My hands move to her ass as hers now rest on my bare chest, her fingers gliding down to trace the ridges of muscle on my stomach. “I was thinking more along the lines of me making you come with my mouth and then my dick,” I say, grinding her against me. “But we can make that happen in the shower too.”

Sage laughs, leaning in to kiss me. “No, I’m happy with your suggestion,” she whispers.

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