Parker stared into her eyes, begging her to see who he really was—a man capable of great things, a man with good intentions, a man who sometimes needed to be shown that he was worthy and wanted.

Sage held his gaze until he nodded, then, she lowered her legs and let her body slide slowly back to the ground. “Parker.” She held out her hand.

He grabbed it, trying to pull her to him, but she resisted.

“This way.”

The heat in his eyes was like a switch going off inside her. She was suddenly beautiful, powerful, and capable of taking what she wanted. And dammit, she wanted him. He wasn’t the right decision for her future, because he’d never be interested in staying in her small town—in staying with her. But he was the right decision for today simply because she was tired of fighting how she felt about him, tired of dreaming about a happily ever after that might never come, and all along, she’d have missed out on some mighty fine happy for right nows.

But deep in her heart, she felt the kernel of hope bloom just from the look in his eyes. She felt the swelling of love in her chest at the sight of his need.

For her.

She was helpless against her internal romantic, the side that hoped for what couldn’t be. The side that dreamed when she stared at the endless waves of the Atlantic or ran her fingers along the hundred-year-old stone of the Fountain of Youth in Van Buren Square.

He needed her, and she wanted to be there for him until the time came when she had to say goodbye and watch him leave Cape Van Buren.

At least, with an ass like his, the watching would still be a pleasure.

She walked him back to her sanctuary. Her room was lush and bright in tones of white, and she’d never look at it the same way again. Pushing him back to the bed, she skimmed her eyes over his body. He was built like the foundation of the damn lighthouse out on the Cape—a broad chest and broader shoulders, supporting the weight of muscles that he’d fed and fed well, and all of the deliciousness tapered down to a V that boggled the mind and made her go dumb because, when she looked at the length of him waiting for her, all she wanted to do was scream “hellz yeah” and climb on up.

She grabbed a condom from a box under the open shelf of her nightstand, then ripped the foil open. While holding her lower lip between her teeth, she wrapped her hand around his thickness and rolled the condom all the way to the base.

He sucked in a breath, then held it. “Sage, if you don’t hurry up and quit playing around with him, this is going to be over before you get to see my best work.”

She raised a brow, then crawled over him to straddle his waist. Spreading her hands across his chest, she said, “I could have sworn I saw your best work back by the door.”

“Woman, you haven’t seen nothing yet.”

He gripped her hips and slid her back and forth over his length.

She leaned down, then pressed her mouth to his and made demands with her tongue she had never known the language for—until today. With her eyes open, she kissed him, and his full lips curved, revealing a dimple in his cheek that made her want to give him everything he asked for. The intense blue of his eyes pulled her in as if nothing else existed outside of their heated bubble.

“You see me,” he said.

She glanced down between them with intent. “All of you.”

But he didn’t smile, he studied her harder, his hands gripping her hips. “We won’t have forever, Sage. You know I can’t give you that.”

On a nod, she quieted him with her lips. She didn’t want to talk about what couldn’t be; she wanted to feel everything that could.

Holding herself until she was poised at his round, smooth head, she lowered, taking him in, inch by inch. Spirals of pleasure poured out from her center, down the front of her thighs, and over the lower swell of her stomach.

“Goddammit, you feel too good,” he gritted out. “I can’t get you out of my mind.”

He encouraged her to lean forward until he closed his hot mouth over her breast. A low groan of pure satisfaction floated to her ears, and her own joined his in the most sensual duet she’d ever heard. As she moved, hearts floated about her once again.

She tried to shake them off, but they stubbornly remained, and he felt so good she didn’t care.

His movements slowed from sizzle to savor, and she followed, happy to eke out the experience as long as possible. Long strokes of skin on skin, fevered whispers, and promises that would be kept only at the moment.

His mouth was everywhere. “I want more. I need more.” With hot hands, he grabbed fistfuls of her ass in a way that increased every sensation inside her and made her move faster once again. Tension coiled at her center, so tight that she pushed away from his chest until she was bowed backwards over his legs, moving on him without missing a beat.

He massaged her breasts with a gentle squeeze that she felt throughout her whole body, then he trailed the backs of his fingers down the center of her chest, down her stomach, until his thumb found that part of her that was like lighting the wick on a stick of dynamite.

A white-hot ball of energy burst throughout her body until every nerve ending shot off like a sparkler from Fourth of July.

“Parker,” she grated out his name as contraction after contraction demanded she keep moving.

With one smooth push, he rolled her onto her back and threw her legs over his shoulders, then rode out her orgasm until falling over the edge into his own. His eyes squeezed shut, he pushed into her, demanding every last ounce of pleasure she had to give. His solid strokes slowed to easy ones, and their ragged breathing was the only sound left in the still of the night.

Falling to her side, he scooped her to him until his chest was against her back and the hairs of his thighs tickled the sensitive skin of her own. “What was that?” he asked, his arms wrapped around her, trembling in his aftershocks.

“That’s what happens when you care.” It was the wrong thing to say, but sometimes, the hard things were the right things.

He froze behind her, and there was a moment she almost wished she could take back the words. But only a moment, because the truth was, her heart had opened to him the day he’d saved her at Eclectic Finds Kataclysmic Kissing booth. “I think I’m falling for you.”

Silence was her answer, then a slow exhale. “Then, grab onto something, Sage. Because that’s a fall that will only end in you getting hurt.”

Parker cussed like a sailor in his head, telling himself to quit acting like a jackass and tell Sage he had feelings, too. But he was terrified. She was one of the most generous women he’d ever met. She was passionate, intelligent, and sexy as hell. And her body did something to his he’d never felt before—and he’d felt a lot.

But Cape Van Buren was her home. And it was his grandfather’s home. He couldn’t imagine living day to day hoping to avoid the old man. Banon had made it clear Parker wasn’t welcome, wasn’t a part of this community. It was a rejection he’d rather not face again.

Not to mention, though he enjoyed the Cape and the in-your-face community, he missed the busy energy of New York City. and the mix of cultures and the anonymity it allowed that was so often a blessing.

In the end, the truth was…she deserved better.

It was the facts, but it hurt like hell. The idea of leaving town and not staring into her eyes as she talked about her Grandpa Horace, or not tasting her sweet lips whenever he was hungry for dessert, left him feeling hollow.

The board needed their answer. He could increase the paper’s profit hand over fist, which would more than meet their needs and stabilize the infrastructure. By giving up the printing press, not to mention the decrease in overhead, and the rental income from turning portions of the building into offices, the paper would be able to keep Sage and hire five more cartoonists if they wanted to. Cape Van Buren was surprisingly tech savvy, even their more mature sector. With the right promotion to incentivize the readership and the increased ad space, sales would go through the roof. The The Van Buren Tribune would have a long and prosperous life.

At least he could give Sage that. Her grandfather’s memory would be preserved. Maybe not the way she’d hoped, but in a way that would last.

With a measure of self-control, he hadn’t known he possessed, he slid away from her. “I have to make a call.”

She curled up in the comforter of her bed. “Sure.”

Making his way through her apartment, he found his clothes, noticing all the touches that screamed Sage—the art on the walls, the heart-shaped pillows on her sofa, and the welcome mat that read, creativity lives here.

He threw on his briefs and slacks, then sat at her breakfast bar, moving the day’s paper out of his way. Of course, it was open to the comic with Edward the gorilla and his lingerie.

“Mr. Edwards, yes, go ahead and schedule the board meeting. My initial assessment of taking the Tribune online still stands. After seeing what the town has to offer, I’m confident the news will translate as well, if not better, online. The change can happen immediately, I’ve been working on the system, and it’s almost complete.”

“How is Ms. Mathews taking it?”

Surprise skittered down Parker’s back. The last thing he expected from his grandfather was compassion. For anyone.

Caught off guard, his chest tightened at the idea that his grandfather thought Parker and Sage were in a relationship. He down-played the situation to put any rumors to bed.

He cringed at the pun.

“Oh, she’ll be fine. She can easily continue her comic online or take it elsewhere, if that’s what she decides. That’s the nice thing about hobbies. They’re flexible.”

“Parker, I think we need to talk,” Banon said.

“I know…you want me out of town.”

“No, I—”

“So, what time for the meeting?” he asked, cutting his grandfather off.

A heavy sigh floated over the connection.

Parker had no clue what else the man could say to drive his point home, but he was no longer interested in hearing it.

After they settled the time for the board meeting, he set his phone aside, then scrubbed his hands through his hair. But the tension in the back of his neck wouldn’t release, so he lifted his head and tried cracking his neck.

There, in the archway of her bedroom, was Sage—the bedsheets wrapped around her silky skin, her lips swollen from being kissed the right way, and eyes that shone with a mixture of betrayal and sadness.

Wait.

He pushed from the stool. “What happened?”

She swallowed hard. “You happened. A hobby? Did you really just call my life’s work, a hobby?”

“Oh, shit. Sage, that’s not how I meant it, it’s just my grandfather—”

“Save it,” she said, her voice trembling, making his chest squeeze hard around his lungs.

She pulled the sheets tighter about her, walked over to the sofa and picked up a pillow. “Get out of my apartment. I wouldn’t want to bore you any longer with my hobby or my lame tendency toward love.”

“I never said—”

She threw him a look, and it was a side of her he never wanted to see again—a combination of disgust and acceptance. “Please, you don’t think I saw it on your face the day you walked into the Tribune? And every time since when I’d try and make you understand how integral this paper is to the homes of our community?”

A sick feeling twisted in his gut and seared through his spine. Even though he’d been talking a good game about leaving town and leaving Sage, being faced with the end was now an impossibility.

And he didn’t know how he could fix it. “Listen, let’s talk about this. I didn’t mean anything by what I said. My grandfather caught me off guard, and I spoke without thinking.”

“It’s fine. Really.”

Walking to the door, she shook her head, then opened it for him to leave. A warm, watery smile curved her lips. “Just go. It’s clear now what the problem is.”

With an ache spreading like wildfire across his chest, he grabbed his things. “What’s that?”

“I see you, but you don’t see me.”