Sinner and Saint

Chapter Eight

Six months later...

Oxford, England

I really shouldn't be here.

I had a thin red scarf wrapped tightly around my hair and my chunkiest pair of non-prescription glasses on. Plus, I had a shapeless black sweater dress which should hide enough of my curves. I shouldn't be easy to detect.

But then, college guys make a big wedge of my market pie. They would buy or click on anything that had my scantily-dressed body plastered on it. So they might just recognize me.

And that's part of the fun.

I suppressed a smile as I scooted lower in my seat in the back row of the lecture hall.

I bit the end of my pen and wondered at the variety of ways I was going to put my mouth on Stellan's body later.

Unfortunately, it was all properly covered up in his usual tweedy jacket-sweater-glasses ensemble. Kinda had to be for anyone to pay attention to his talk on data science—I think that's what he's talking about anyway. I usually paid attention when he would talk science-y to me but I have to admit, I barely glanced at the description of his Oxford headliner. For the most part, all of this stuff still just goes over my head. And Stellan knows it. And whether he cares one way or another, he hasn't shown it.

It's probably the sex. It's still too good.

The sex just keeps getting better actually. My cheeks warmed at the reminder of the last time we were together—about three weeks ago, for three nights in a hotel by the Niagara area. I had work in Toronto and he had a conference in New York. He detoured on his way back just as my week was wrapping up and we left separately on Monday morning.

Maybe it's all this sneaking around like you're a pair of secret lovers.

Well, we were technically that. And it definitely kept things fresh. We survived the last six months on hastily planned meet-ups, squeezing time where we could between his work trips and the handful of modelling projects I was still doing. We spent more time together when we were both back in Cobalt Bay but it was all very much under the radar.

It was never a black-and-white decision from the beginning. And even though Stellan is definitely the kind of person who likes things to add up, he hadn't pressed me to define anything. He was there when I needed him and when he needed me, he let me know.

And sometimes, I surprise him with what he didn't know he needed.

As if he somehow heard that, Stellan tilted his head up in my direction and even from across the hall, I could see his gaze lock in on me mid-sentence. He trailed off, his jaw shifting slightly as he took in what he could see of me. It wasn't more than ten seconds maybe but it was long enough to feel that tingle down my spine. Then he swallowed hard before turning with a grin across the room, apologizing for losing his train of thought.

I inwardly sighed and then thought I must've done it out loud.

No, wait.

I glanced sideways and the woman next to me had a dreamy look on her face. She had her hands tucked under her chin, making moony eyes at Stellan. I hadn't noticed her at all when I slipped in halfway into the talk.

"Are you okay?" I asked in a low voice because I just couldn't help it. I was annoyed but couldn't really come out and tell her to stop looking at him.

She turned to me as if just realizing I was there, and paired her blush with an apologetic smile. "Yes, sorry. He's just... He's brilliant. And a lovely person. He honestly can't be more perfect."