Page 20 of Broken Hearts (Hibiscus Hearts #1)

The second my lips touch hers, Sage lets out a sexy as fuck groan that has my grip on the back of her neck tightening.

Doesn’t seem to matter that we constantly seem to fight or that we shouldn’t be doing this because I’m powerless to stop it. I want her. Want her in a way I’ve never wanted anyone. Even if it does freak the hell out of me.

Sage’s tongue traces along my bottom lip and this time it’s me groaning as I hold her close, deepening the kiss. Our boards are bobbing together, rocking in the swell as we sit out here and kiss for what feels like forever.

Eventually I pull back, smiling as Sage blinks her eyes open. “Wanna try again?” I ask.

I’m not just asking about surfing and I’m pretty sure Sage knows this as she hits me with a soft smile and says, “Yeah.”

Reluctantly, I let her go, spinning her board around as I give her instructions again on what to look for and how to catch the best wave. And to her credit, she keeps trying, even though she falls more often than she stands.

She’s clearly a beginner, but I kind of think there might be some of Mitch’s talent running through her veins because she’s doing better than I ever did when I first got taught.

“You wanna take a break?”

I ask as she paddles out to me again, her breathing hard.

“I mean, yeah, but also no,”

she says, sucking in a deep breath.

Laughing, I reach over and squeeze her thigh. “Addicted already, huh?”

Sage shrugs, but she’s smiling. “Come on, let’s catch one more and then head in for a break.”

We ride the next wave together, me laughing at the look of extreme concentration on Sage’s face. She manages to stand this time and rides the wave to the shore, actually hopping off her surfboard, as opposed to getting dumped like she usually does.

“Nice,”

I say, grinning as we pick up our boards and head to the shore.

We drop the boards, and I smile at how Sage puts hers down on the sand fin up like I told her to. As I lay out the towels, she pulls off the rash guard and I swallow hard at the view that’s now standing in front of me. The ocean isn’t cold, but it still affects her like it is, her nipples peaking under the tiny triangles of her bikini.

Clearing my throat, I turn and sit on my towel, resting my elbows on my knees as I stare out at the water. Sage mirrors my position, pulling her hair loose and running her fingers through it.

“Is this where Mitch taught you to surf?” she asks.

“Yeah,”

I reply, chuckling. “I was really shit when I first started.”

From the corner of my eye, I see Sage look over at me. “How old were you?”

I lick my lips, tasting the saltiness of the sea. “I was fifteen when I first met him.”

“How old are you now?”

Smiling, I turn to her, chuckling at her narrowed brow, as though she’s trying to figure it out for herself. “I’m twenty-four. How old are you?”

“Twenty-two.”

“And you’re what, in school?” I ask.

Sage nods as she says, “Yeah, my final semester.”

“Whatcha studying?”

She tucks her hair behind her ears, before gathering it together and wringing the water from it. My gaze drops to her thigh, to where the water droplets fall, watching as they slowly slide over her skin.

Fuck.

“Education,”

she says. “I want to be a teacher.”

My eyes snap back to hers as a slow smile pulls at my mouth. “Fuck, if I’d had you as my teacher, I might have stayed in school more.”

Sage smirks, even as a blush colors her cheeks. “You finished high school though, right?”

“Just,”

I say with a laugh. “And really only because of Mitch.”

She tilts her head to the side, still watching me. I know this is her way of wanting me to elaborate, to tell her more about the things I blurted out this morning, about how Mitch saved my life and shit. And even though I don’t owe her, or really anyone, an explanation, I find myself wanting to tell her. Or at least wishing I could.

“I met Mitch when I was fifteen,”

I say again, blowing out a breath as I turn back to the ocean. “First with my counselor after I skipped school, and then again when he found me sleeping on the beach.”

“Because…?”

“Because I’d run away,”

I reply, still staring straight ahead.

“From your foster parents?”

Sage asks.

I nod. “Yep.”

“Is that…is that when he took you in?”

she now asks, a nervous edge to her question probably because we are veering back into territory that usually results in us fighting.

“No,”

I reply, shaking my head. “I didn’t end up with Mitch until I was sixteen. It um…it took a few more times before he stopped being okay with me running away to sleep on the beach.”

Sage is silent, and eventually, I turn to find her watching me, an unreadable expression on her face. My gaze locks with hers as my heart pounds in my chest, my hands clenching into fists as I try to stop them from shaking. “That time when he found me, I had a black eye, a broken arm, and three broken ribs.”

Sage’s eyes widen as she lets out a shocked gasp, her hand moving to rest on my arm. “Nate, that’s awful. I’m so?—”

“Don’t,”

I say, cutting her off. “You don’t need to apologize for shit that happened to me.”

“I’m not,”

she breathes out. “Well, I mean, I am, but I’m also apologizing that you had to go through that.”

Smiling, I ask, “Isn’t that kinda the same thing?”

Sage pouts, gently shoving me a little. “Whatever,”

she says, rolling her eyes. “So what, did Mitch foster you then?”

I turn back to the ocean, scrubbing a hand down my face before pushing it back through my hair. “No, not exactly,”

I say. “He petitioned to become my guardian. I hadn’t realized, but he’d been keeping a record of all the shit that had happened to me and of course, Mitch being Mitch, he knew the right people to talk to. So I moved into the house at the back of the shop, started working for him and now, here I am.”

I hold my arms out, my hands up as though it’s as simple as that.

It's not of course.

But that’s about all I can bear to talk about right now.

Sage doesn’t say anything now, as she too turns back to face the water. Eventually, I ask, “So you wanna surf some more or head back?”

She smiles, her eyes lighting up as she says, “Can we surf some more?”

Standing, I hold out my hand to pull her up. “You never need to ask me twice.”

We spend another hour or so surfing before calling it quits. It’s late in the afternoon, and as we head back to the car in silence, I can’t help but feel like things are different between us now. Better. Even if that lingering tension and wants still hangs between us.

“You want to grab some dinner?”

Sage asks, sliding into the passenger seat.

Smiling, I glance over. “Sure,”

I say. “Let’s go home and shower first, yeah?”

She nods, and we spend the drive back in a comfortable silence, my mind racing with all the things I’d like to do to her when we get home. When I pull into the garage, I can see that the shop is closed and I’m grateful. Grateful we won’t run into Alana and have to face her million questions on where we’ve been or why I couldn’t work today. Grateful I might be able to do all the things I’ve been fantasizing about.

“I’m just gonna run up?—”

Sage’s words are cut off when I slide my hand into hers and pull her toward the outdoor shower, intent on doing exactly that. It’s closed in on three sides, the fourth half open to the backyard. Without saying a word, I turn on the water, smiling at the yelp Sage lets out. Then, without waiting for it to warm up, I push her back against the wall, my hands on her hips as I crush my mouth against hers.

Sage lets out that sexy moan that undoes me as her arms loop around my neck, pulling me closer. My body presses against hers, my dick already hard against her stomach as we kiss; hurried and urgent, almost desperate, as our lips and teeth and tongues clash.

I feel like I’m unraveling, like I can’t get enough of her, as my hands slide around to her ass, grabbing it hard as I lift her up against the wall.

“Nate,”

she murmurs, her legs wrapping around my waist, her arms around my neck tightening.

I’m still wearing just my boardshorts, but Sage pulled on her shorts before we left, her top half still just covered in that tiny fucking bikini that drove me insane today.

One of my hands slides up her back to the string, itching to undo it. Just as my fingers find the knot, we both freeze at the sound of her name being called.

“Sage?”

“Holy shit,”

Sage breathes out.

“Shhh,”

I say, chuckling softly, as I reach over to turn the water off before pressing my finger to her lips.

Sage’s eyes widen, neither of us moving as we hear Alana’s footsteps on the stairs that lead up to the apartment above the shop. “Sage, are you home?”

The question is followed by a banging on the door, and still, neither Sage nor I move.

Eventually, Alana stomps back down the stairs, walking around the shop and past the outdoor shower. Thankfully, she’s too busy looking at her phone to notice the fresh water or even us, standing here in a very compromising position.

We wait a few moments, both of us holding our breath, even as our hearts beat rapidly in time together.

“You think she’s gone?”

Sage eventually whispers around my finger.

Grinning, I pull my finger away, leaning in to kiss her again, softer this time. “Uh huh, but she’s probably gonna text you next.”

Almost on cue, we both hear Sage’s phone chime out from her purse on the ground with an incoming text. I notice Sage’s body stiffen a little as she holds her breath.

“I don’t think she’s still here,”

I say, reluctantly letting her down. As much as I’d love to continue what we started, I’m not about to push it this time. Especially when I have no idea how Sage feels about something more happening between us. After what happened last night, I don’t want to risk getting into another fight with her.

Sage steadies herself against me, her hand on my chest as she glances at her purse.

“You can check,”

I tell her, stepping back as I turn the water back on.

She turns to me, a smile on her face, her lips all red and puffy from our kiss. “Nah,”

she says, shaking her head. “We already have plans, right?”

We finish up in the shower, both of us controlling ourselves this time before Sage heads up to her apartment to get dressed and I go back to my place to do the same. I’m not exactly sure what happens next, whether we’re going out or she’s coming here or what. But when I head back outside, Sage is waiting at the top of the stairs, a smile on her face.

“You wanna come up?”

I tilt my head to the side, a smile on my face. “You cooking me dinner?”

She laughs, nodding as she says, “As thanks for the surf lesson.”

I push my hand through my hair, knowing she has no fucking idea that she has already thanked me in so many ways. “Can you cook?” I tease.

She smirks at that, straightening as she turns to go back inside. “Guess there’s only one way to find out.”

Grinning, I cross the yard, practically sprinting up the stairs to the apartment that already feels less like Mitch’s and more like her place. She’s only been here for like a week, but somehow it feels longer than that.

She’s going to leave.

I ignore the thought that pops into my head as I walk into the apartment. Sage is in the kitchen, some music playing as she stands at the open fridge.

“Do we need to go food shopping?” I ask.

She grabs two beers, hitting me with a smirk as she says, “No, we don’t. I’ve already done that.”

I take the beers from her, opening them both before I hand one back and say, “Okay, so what’s on the menu then?”

Sage takes a sip of her beer before asking, “Is there anything you don’t eat?”

Our eyes lock and I can’t stop the smile as I lick my lips and say, “Nope.”

I watch as color creeps over her cheeks and she takes another sip of her beer. “Okay,”

she breathes out before turning back to the fridge.

Grinning, I step behind her, my hand sliding onto her hip as I lean in and ask, “Anything I can do to help?”

She glances back at me over her shoulder, her eyes dark. “I’m cooking for you, remember?”

she whispers.

“I can still help,”

I tell her, my grip tightening a little.

She nods, her gaze still locked with mine as she says, “Can you cook the burgers then?”

With a grin, I close the distance, brushing a quick kiss against her mouth. “Yep.”

We work side by side in the kitchen, Sage getting all the ingredients for burgers together as I cook the meat. It’s easy and comfortable and all of the awkwardness and anger from last night has long gone. Now, in its place, it’s like there’s this underlying current between us, but it’s not animosity; it’s something different – heated and electric, almost.

When the burgers are done, we grab our plates and another beer each before heading out to the balcony to eat. We sit, both of us taking a bite as we stare out at the setting sun.

“So,”

I eventually start, “thoughts on your first surf lesson?”

Sage laughs. “I loved it. I can’t actually believe I could do it, but yeah, I really loved it.”

Chuckling, I reach over and squeeze her thigh. “I wouldn’t say you could do it,”

I tease. “But it was a pretty good effort.”

Sage’s mouth drops open as she lets out a scoff that only makes me laugh harder. “Well, maybe I’ll just have to keep practicing,”

she says, almost indignantly.

My grin widens as I take another bite, chewing slowly, before I say, “I mean, yeah, that would help.”

Sage reaches over and slaps my arm at that, and I burst out laughing, shaking my head as I concede, “Okay, fine, you were pretty good, actually. Much better than me when I first started.”

Sage smirks at that, a proud look on her face as she nods once and says quietly, “Well, I did have a good teacher.”

I swallow hard, my heart once again pounding in my chest as we sit side by side, staring at each other, our half-eaten burgers in our laps. “I mean, you’re a pretty good student,”

I whisper.

She smiles, a cheeky grin on her face as she says, “I believe the exact words were ‘natural talent’.”

I burst out laughing now, the tension dissipating a little. I don’t know what this is between us, how we can so rapidly swing from fighting to being friends to kissing to me wanting to tear her clothes off, but I know I want more of it.

More of her.

“What are we doing here, Nate?”

she asks, reading my mind almost, her words a whisper.

I lick my lips, not missing the way Sage’s gaze drops to my mouth. “I don’t know, Sage.”

She nods once as she murmurs, “I know today was fun.”

“It was.”

She smiles. “Not just the surfing part.”

My heart, which was pounding before, now feels like it’s about to smash through my chest. “Not just the surfing part,” I repeat.

I have no idea what’s happening in this moment. If Sage’s words mean what I think they mean, what I want them to mean, but I know I have to wait to find out. That this time, it has to be her that makes the next move. Her that pushes for something more to happen.

I want her. I’m pretty sure that’s obvious.

But every time we go there, it’s Sage who puts a stop to things.

So this time, I’m going to wait.

And hope like fuck that she wants this as much as I do.