Page 119 of Defiant Beta

“And its purpose was?” Curious what he looks like under that beard, I get to my feet.

“Disguise.”

I hum. “I thought you were using it to store snacks while you worked. It’s bushy enough.”

“Woman, you cut me deep.” He chuckles, wrapping his arm around me and squeezing slightly.

I breathe in his salted caramel and pumpkin scent, and ask myself how it can feel so good to be snuggled up against him.

I feel Levi’s stare burning a hole into my back, but he doesn’t follow along or say a word.

Xavier leads me upstairs to the third door down the hallway from mine and into a light gray room, likely his, given the men’s clothes messily folded on top of a dresser and the scent that permeates the room.

We walk past his unmade king-size bed on the way to a white and gray stone bathroom.

He points his bearded chin at the gray stone counter. “Sit.”

I arch an eyebrow, and I don’t move.

“I should’ve known.” He grins boyishly at me. “Don’t mind my caveman ways. It’s the beard. Please sit and help a man out. Maybe with it gone, I’ll be a little more civilized.”

I snort, suppressing my smile. “I wouldn’t hold out hope for that.”

I jump onto the counter while he searches through a drawer, retrieves a pair of short, sharp metal scissors, and hands them to me. “Here.”

I take the scissors with a raised eyebrow. “You want me to hack it off? Don’t you have an electric shaver?”

“I do. But this is too thick to start with a razor. I need most of it off or I’ll be up here for hours and wind up with more cuts than chin at the end of it.”

“If you trust me not to cut your nose off, the least I can do is try not to.”

Xavier chuckles and steps closer. I prepare to snip, but at the last second, he retreats. “Ah, one thing.”

He grips the bottom of his shirt and pulls it off, tossing the white material on the floor. Suddenly I have a more interesting view than I had a moment a go.

He may be a shit gardener, but he doesn’t laze around in the gym with the muscles he’s packing.

I pretend to be disinterested in his hot body. “Was that really necessary?”

“Just saving on the laundry.”

His thick beard hides it well, but the guy is honest to god smirking under that thing. If I’m not careful, he might have brought me up here for nefarious purposes.

“Come on. Let's get this over with.” I keep my eyes on his face instead of the rock-solid pecs just inches away. He smells so good it’s hard to focus.

He bends his taller, bigger frame and rests his palms on the counter on either side of me, caging me in. I feel him watching me as I trim the thick beard away, and occasionally my knees press against the front of his muscled thighs.

“I gather you’re pissed at Levi,” he says.

“Ah. The true reason for dragging me up here. Gossiping.” I trim a bit more of his dark brown beard, grip his chin, and angle his head slightly to the left. “I should cut your nose off for tricking me.”

He snorts. “I don’t think a bit of deception calls for losing my nose. And that wasn’t the only reason I brought you up here.”

“Quit flirting. If the trip to Paris didn’t work, that certainly won’t. Lift your head. I need to see under your chin.”

He lifts his head.

Despite him bringing me up here to talk, he’s quiet for the next couple of minutes as I hack away at the thick beard, but always, I feel him watching me.

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