Page 28 of Breaking the Rules
Xavier remained silent, remembering in exact detail how she’d earned that scar. The flash of the knife under streetlights as Ganim wielded it over her head. The impact of the SUV’s tires flying over the curb. Three shots as the knife flew downward.
“Did you ever talk to anyone about it?” Waverly asked, finally looking at him.
Xavier shook his head. He’d never discussed the incident with anyone, not even Micah.
She sighed. “I figured you’d go the stoic hero route. I, however, am a normal human being and had to talk my way through it. I used to wish that I could have talked to you about it,” she said, her fingers plucking at the creamy satin of the duvet. “You’re the only other person in the world who knows what it was like.”
“It’s over now,” he said lamely. He’d never been able to talk about it, never been able to put words to the clawing fear in his throat that he was too late, that the blood spilling on the sidewalk wouldn’t stop until she was gone.
“Yeah. It is,” Waverly agreed. But he knew she wasn’t talking about Ganim. She was talking about them. He decided not to press his luck and to let that remark go. He would find a way to make her see that they were never over. They were just getting started.
He looked at her, really looked at her. Those long, lush lashes over sea witch eyes that avoided his face. The delicate hollows beneath her cheekbones and full, kissable lips. Her hair, the silvery blonde tresses that he still dreamed about, were wrapped in a tight braid. Mile-long legs with a California tan.
If she’d been his dream girl before, Waverly had now grown into something even more desirable. There was a determination, a strength, a confidence about her that hadn’t been there before. He liked it on her. Gone was the delicate princess, and in her place was a capable queen.
He’d never been able to resist her before, and why would he stop now?
Xavier lowered his lips to the scar of the wound that had almost killed her and pressed them gently against it. He felt her heart beat toggle higher, and then she was pushing him away.
“I said no kissing. Have you had your hearing checked lately?”
He wanted to pull her back to him, to hold her. But she was already rolling off the mattress on the other side of the bed. “I’m going to see about dinner,” she told him and left him alone on her bed thinking about how he’d almost lost her.
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They ate salads—with chicken that Xavier grilled to perfection—under Waverly’s pavilion by the fire as the sun went down over the mountain. She’d missed home, but Waverly was annoyed at how easily Xavier fit into the scenery here. She didn’t want him to fit anywhere in her life… except maybe her bed.
Their connection had always been so fiercely physical. And judging from their earlier encounter in the kitchen, the attraction had only sharpened in their long separation.
She wanted him. After all the time and all the pain, she still wanted Xavier, and that pissed her off. She wanted it to be a cleansing, a closure. But things would never be that simple between them. They were complicated people with complicated desires. Mixing them would only lead to devastation. She was stronger now, tougher and edgier. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t still get hurt.Would she be able to walk away if she let him into her bed?
She steered the conversation away from their history and asked him about his family. In the midst of her stalker’s reign of terror, Xavier had spirited her away to his family home in Idle Lake, Colorado, for a weekend. She’d spent two blissful days splashing in the lake with his sisters and crowding around the kitchen table with his smart and sunny parents. The Saints had become her benchmark for normal, and they were still her secret hope for the kind of family she could have someday.
Xavier filled her in on the latest from the Saint family.
“My father has become quite the film buff since he met you,” Xavier told her.
“You’re kidding?” Waverly put down her glass on the table and gaped at him. Emmett Saint hadn’t had a clue who his houseguest was until his wife had educated him.
Xavier shook his head. “He’s seen every one of your movies, multiple times. The whole family goes to opening night at the local theater every time you have a new release.”
It touched her that they remembered her as fondly as she them. “I should get them tickets to the next premiere,” she mused.
“They would love you forever. Especially since it would mean a family vacation to California.”
Waverly laughed. “What would you do with your entire family here?”
“I’d ask my beautiful, generous friend Waverly if they could stay in her house since I don’t have one.”
“Your family is always welcome here.”
“When you say that, I get the feeling I’m not included on that guest list.”
“Well, I never said you were stupid,” she quipped.
Xavier leaned across the table. “Give me time, Angel, and I’ll get back on that list.”
“Yeah, well, you can start with the dishes and see if that softens me up.” She shoved her salad bowl at him.
