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I feel my face heat. I don’t know how he sees my reaction in the darkness, but his eyes move to my cheeks. “As does blushing.”

Tentatively I reach out and run my hand through Des’s white locks. “Tell me another secret,” I say.

His mouth twitches. “You give a siren a secret … and she asks for another.”

“You have so many of them,” I say. “Don’t be a Grinch.”

He lets out a long-suffering sigh, but the effect is ruined by the smile spreading across his lips.

He leans in close. “I wasn’t going to tell you this, but if you want a secret …”

I wait.

“You drooled all over my chest during the second movie,” he confesses. “To be honest, I thought you were crying again.”

I push at him, laughing in spite of myself. “That’snotwhat I meant when I asked for a secret!”

He rolls onto his back, hooking an arm around my waist and taking me with him. And now he’s beginning to laugh as well. “I don’t make the rules, cherub, I just bend them.”

I straddle him, leaning in close. “I should be an exception.” I don’t even know what makes me say it, but it’s too late to take it back.

I expect Des to raise an eyebrow and spin my words with that silver tongue of his.

Instead, his face sobers, his expression turning serious. “You are.” His eyes drop to my mouth, his fingers pressing into my skin.

Most of the time this man leaves me confused. But not right now. Right now he and I are on the exact same page.

Slowly, I lower my head, and I press my mouth to his.

What’s better than waking up with Des in the morning?

Kissing Des in the morning.

My lips skim over his, savoring the taste of him. He pulls me closer, making a guttural noise as he deepens the kiss, working his tongue into my mouth.

This feels like unfinished business. He and I are that storm on the horizon, but now, finally, that storm is rolling in.

I move against him, wanting more, impatient for it.

“Callie,” he says, his voice strained, “can’t do that, love.”

There it is again.

Love.

“Say that again.”

“Love?”

I nod, pressing myself tighter to him. “I like the endearment.” I move against him again despite his warnings.

He makes a pained sound.

“So do I,” he breathes.

Slipping a hand between us, I unbutton his pants and dip a hand in.

“Ireallylike it.”