Page 153 of Only Mine
He stands, still holding me, and deposits me on the bed, then disappears into the bathroom and turns the shower on.
I’m too busy admiring his bare ass to notice when he glances over his shoulder and crooks a finger. “You coming?”
THIRTY-FIVE
WRENLEY
By the time Saint and I make it out of his house and to C’est Trois, Ivy’s sitting at a corner table in the crowded restaurant, a line of Barbies placed on the pristine linen and a single pink shoe half on, half off her foot. She doesn’t look up when we come in, much too focused, her tongue poking from the corner of her mouth as she positions each doll in perfect rows while Noa looks on.
But the second she hears my voice, just a soft “Hey, bug,” she drops everything and barrels into me like a heat-seeking missile.
She hits me hard enough that I stumble, laugh, and crouch down to hold her close.
“You came back,” she says into my shoulder.
I press my face into her hair.
“I did. Couldn’t stay away from you.”
Ivy’s arms squeeze tighter, little hands digging into my back.
Saint stands above us, watching with a look I’ve never seen him wear in public, unguarded and proud.
Noa elbows him, not delicately, and jerks her head toward me and Ivy as if to say,See? The world didn’t end.
Ivy pulls back, her nose inches from mine. “Can we eat yet?”
“Absolutely,” I say with a laugh.
Saint pulls out a chair for me, his hand a heavy, sure presence at my waist. The restaurant is packed, louder than I’ve ever seen it, the energy rolling off the walls in a way that would have made me twitchy a month ago.
But tonight, I feel curiously steady, like the three of us could hold against any noise the world throws at us.
The host brings menus, but Saint waves them off.
“We’re getting the chef’s menu,” he tells Ivy, who grins, because she knows that means tiny plates of everything and at least three kinds of bread.
Noa slides her purse over her shoulder and grins at us. “You know what? Now that you’re officially together, Stone and I should totally double-date with you two. We could go mini golfing. Saint would love that.”
Saint’s face goes carefully blank. “Absolutely not.”
“Oh come on, it’ll be fun. We can get matching T-shirts. Maybe do one of those escape rooms where you have to work together as a team.” Noa’s eyes gleam with mischief. “Stone’s really into trust exercises.”
“Noa.”
“What? I’m just saying, now that you’re all domesticated and posting feelings on the internet, you might as well lean into it.” She winks at me. “Fair warning, Saint gets really competitive at mini golf. Like, scary competitive.”
Saint’s jaw ticks. “Get out of my restaurant.”
“Already leaving!” Noa calls over her shoulder, blowing Ivy a kiss before she heads for the door.
Ivy looks up from arranging her Barbies, and when shesees me really looking at her, she sets down the doll in her hand.
“Miss Wrenley,” she says quietly, “I missed you.”
The simplicity of it hits me harder than any elaborate explanation could. “I missed you too, Ivy.”
“Are you going to go away again?”
