Page 170 of Defiant Beta

She stops walking. “Paris? That was a joke. You didn’t mean it.”

I tug on her hand to get her moving again. “I didn’t mean it before, but I mean it now. Your boss might not mind you going on vacation for a week or two, but they might have a problem with you gone for a month.”

“Amonth?”

“There’s a lot to see.” I squeeze her hand. “It’s something I always wanted to do. More than that, I want to showyouthe world.”

She stares up at me as if she can’t believe it. “You want to take me to Paris? For real?”

“Paris for real.”

Laughing, she leaps into my arms, and I squeeze her, breathing in the scent of her hair.

Arms around my shoulders, she leans back to meet my gaze. “I hate my job and have no clue what I want to do instead, but I can’t live off of you, Xavier.”

I kiss her. “Who says you have to figure any of that out now?”

“But I need to work.”

“No, you don’t. Not if you don’t want to.” I explain. “Vincent earned a lot of money at his job. Like millions. None of us could work for the next ten years, and we wouldn’t starve. And none of us knows what we want to do next. We can figure it out together.”

Her arms tighten around me. “I’ll think about it.” She averts her gaze. “I’m not used to someone taking care of me.”

“Start getting used to it. Whenever you’re ready, say the word. We’ll run away to Paris and figure out what comes next.” I kiss her again. “Come on. You’ve made us late.”

“What’s the hurry?” she asks as I set her down, reclaim her hand, and tug her to move faster. “It’s just lunch.”

“Don’t want them to give away our table,” I lie.

She eyes me curiously, suspicious.

We arrive at the café ten minutes later, and I pretend not to notice Della’s surprise when the server tells us that our party has arrived.

“Xavier?” Della asks me as we weave through the busy café to a quiet corner booth I specifically requested. "What’s this all about? Who?—”

She squeals and drops my hand, flinging herself at the woman with curly blonde hair, who gets up from the table with a smile.

“River!” Della is probably crushing her.

I can’t help but grin as they hug each other and bounce up and down with excitement.

“This is about giving you something you want,” I whisper to myself.

Their happiness is infectious, prompting other patrons to smile at them.

I’d felt a little guilty not telling Della about speaking to River at Haven Academy, but I didn’t just want to reassure her that her friend was okay. I wanted toshowher.

“Come on, ladies," I say, guiding them to our booth once their excitement has eased a bit. "Lunch is on me."

River asks me, "You weren’t just the gardener, were you?" when I put my arm around Della’s shoulder.

“Nope.”

Her gaze slides to Della. “And you weren’t just a student?”

Della grins. “Nope. I’m not even an omega.”

River laughs. “I should have known. Your scent would appear and disappear. Some days it was so strong, and other days it was barely noticeable."

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