Page 17 of Juno

Saint

Saint had convinced Juno to give up her apartment to help save money. Her insurance company had sent her a few thousand dollars for her car, which surprised the hell out of him. He was sure that she’d owe them money for that hunk of junk. For now, she was trying to save every penny and even though he could drive again, he chose to lie and tell her that he needed her to drive him around still. He told her that the doctors were worried that his arm needed more time to heal and that they advised him not to drive or do anything strenuous for at least another month. Juno seemed to buy it and moved in with him to get her funds to stretch. She also decided to hold off on finding a car until she found another job. He wanted to tell her that she could stay for as long as she wanted, every time she talked about finding a job and getting herself another place to live. Saint was sure that she wouldn’t want to put him out, but he had already gotten used to having her around.

The problem was, that he was a chicken and didn’t want to spook Juno and have her run off. Saint hadn’t kissed her again after the first time that he got a taste of her while all their friends watched. She had dropped a bunch of hints, letting him know that she wanted him to kiss her again, just as she had admitted in his truck, weeks ago, but he wasn’t sure if that was a good idea or not. Well, not until Juno agreed to move in with him. Saint worried that she’d eventually leave him for a new life, and even though he tried to fight them, his feelings for her were evident—at least to him. Juno seemed oblivious to the fact that he was falling for her. She had him wanting things that he never thought he’d want with a woman—starting with a long-term relationship.

Juno had been out job hunting all day and Saint had decided to do something nice for her and make dinner before he told her that he had feelings for her. Sure, he was buttering her up, feeding her well, hoping like hell that she’d admit that she felt the same way. He had his hopes up, and all he could think about was moving her into his room—permanently.

When she moved her stuff into his house, he promised that she could have her own room, and she agreed. She brought her bedroom furniture with her and set up the bedroom across the hallway from him. He hated not moving her into his room up front, but he wanted Juno to come to him on her own terms. She told him that she wanted him to kiss her again, and yet, she made no move and sent him no signals. He was so damned confused by Juno that he wanted to yank his hair out. But tonight, he planned on that all changing. Tonight, he was going to stop being a chicken and tell Juno what he wanted from her. Hopefully, she’d feel the same way, but he wasn’t holding his breath.

Juno had taken his truck to run to the police station because they had more questions for her. Plus, she wanted to put a restraining order against Bruno. He offered to go with her, but Phoenix and Vixen had already volunteered to tag along with Juno. The three of them walked through the front door and stood in the entryway saying their goodbyes as though they wouldn’t see each other tomorrow night down at the Harlots. Sprite and Phoenix stuck their heads in to tell him hello before they headed out. He liked the way that Juno’s friends accepted the two of them living in the same house, but he was sure that she had told them all that it was strictly platonic. He hated that because all he could think about doing was claiming Juno as his and never looking back.

Juno walked into the living room and plopped down on the sofa next to him. “Did you have any trouble down at the station?” Saint asked.

“Nope,” Juno admitted. “It went smoothly.”

“Great,” he said.

“What smells so good?” she asked. Straining her neck to peek into the kitchen.

“I made us some dinner,” he said, feeling pretty proud of himself.

“That’s so nice,” she said.

“Don’t get too excited,” Saint insisted. “I’m not much of a cook, but I’m pretty good at winging it.”

She nodded, “Winging it sounds good to me,” she said. “Hell, any food sounds good to me today. It’s been a long fucking day and I’m ready for a shower and a bed. I was up most of the night worrying about the questions that they wanted to ask me at the precinct.”

“You should have told me,” he insisted, “I could have kept you company while you worried.”

“There was no sense for the both of us to be up all night. Plus, you need your sleep to heal. You don’t want to take a chance that you’ll have to have surgery.” Every time she brought that up, he felt like an ass. His doctor cleared him a couple of weeks ago from the possibility of having surgery, but in order to keep Juno with him, he had to lie to her.

“I’m feeling pretty good,” he said. That part was true at least. Saint didn’t have to take prescription painkillers in a while and his pain was manageable with over-the-counter pain relievers. “Come in the kitchen and we can eat.” She followed him into the kitchen, and he pulled out the chair for her, trying to be a gentleman.

“This is really nice,” she breathed. “Is there a special occasion you’re celebrating? Is it your birthday and I missed it?”

He chuckled, “No,” he said, “I just thought that we needed to do something nice. It’s been a rough few weeks for you having to lay low from Bruno and everything. I decided to make you a nice dinner and hopefully, we can talk.”

“Talk,” she squeaked, “what’s there to talk about?” He could tell that Juno knew exactly what he wanted to talk about with her. She was a bigger chicken than he was and that made him want to laugh. Weren’t they a pair?

“I think that we need to talk about that kiss,” he said.

“What kiss?” Juno asked, still playing dumb.

He sighed, “The only kiss that we shared, Juno. You said that you wanted me to kiss you again. Is that still true?” He asked.

Juno shyly nodded her head, “Yes, but I just assumed that you didn’t want to, or that you changed your mind.” He was an idiot. Here she had been waiting all this time for him to make a move, and he was too scared to do it.

“I haven’t changed my mind,” he admitted. “I was just being a chicken, and I’m sorry that you thought that I didn’t want to kiss you.”

“So, what now?” Juno asked. He knew what he wanted to do, but he had promised her dinner. None of that mattered to him now. Saint wanted his chance with her and if he let it pass him by again, he might not get a third chance with Juno.

He stood and pulled her up from her chair, wrapping his arms around her waist, and sealing his lips over hers. She tasted like sunshine and honey, just the way she did the last time he stole a kiss from her. But this time, he was going to take his time and thoroughly kiss her. And from the way Juno moaned into his mouth, she didn’t seem to mind.

He broke their kiss, leaving them both breathless. “Wow,” she breathed. “I’m pretty sure that I’ve never been kissed that way before.”

“Surely, you’ve been kissed before,” Saint insisted. “You are twenty-two, right?” He asked.

“Yep, I’ll be twenty-three next month,” she admitted. “And I’ve been kissed before, but it was more like our first kiss. No boy has ever kissed me like you just did.”

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