Page 11 of Breaking the Rules
Xavier had been prepared for that visceral, physical reaction to seeing her again. He hadn’t planned on kissing her, but then again, he wasn’t surprised that he hadn’t been able to help himself.
Waverly Sinner was even more spectacular now than she had been at twenty. She was stronger. He felt it in the way she pushed him away and in those tight muscles when they bunched under his hands. What had been all soft curves had transitioned into a lean, athletic body that looked and felt capable. She was tougher, too. Gone was the delicate brittleness she’d once protected. He wondered if her panic attacks were gone, too.
There was nothing that was going to keep him from her this time, not even Dante Wrede. She was it for him, and there’d be no more denying it. Xavier didn’t care how dirty the fight got. He was sticking. He’d make her see it, eventually.
“Oh, you’re still here.” Kate’s voice was flat as she made her way into the kitchen.
“Hi, Kate.” He flashed her a grin that wasn’t returned.
She ignored him and pulled a container out of the refrigerator. He watched her pour soup into a pot and light a gas burner on the range.
“Hungry?” he asked. Again there was no response.
Xavier sighed and pushed his laptop aside. “Kate, I know I fucked up.”
She whirled around as if it was the opening she’d waited for. “I’m so mad at you. I can’t even imagine how she feels,” she said pointing up the stairs. “I can’t believe she didn’t shoot you on sight.”
He pushed his barstool back and rounded the peninsula. “I would have deserved it,” he said agreeably.
“You crushed her when she was at her most vulnerable, Saint. I didn’t think she was going to snap out of it.”
Xavier hung his head. The guilt that had ridden his shoulders for years got heavier. “I’m going to fix it, Kate. I won’t hurt her again.”
She whirled on him. “What do you think seeing you is doing? She’s upstairs, laying on her bed wiped out because you showing up here just rocked the world she’s worked so hard to build. You’re fucking everything up!”
“Enough!” Marisol’s tone left no room for argument. She stood next to the stove as if she’d appeared from nowhere. She crossed her arms over her chest, frowning. “And just how do you think your friend would feel about you painting her as a vulnerable little kitten to Mr. Saint.”
Kate blew out a breath. “She would hate it.”
“And you? You expect Waverly to welcome you with open arms after the way you left her?”
“No, I didn’t expect that. I deserve whatever ill will you all hold against me,” Xavier said earnestly. “But I’m going to earn my way back, and I’m not leaving again. She’s in trouble. I know it, and you know it, and I’m here to help.”
He watched Kate and Marisol exchange a glance.
“Whether you can be trusted remains to be seen,” Marisol sniffed in disdain. “But if you can prove that you can keep her safer than that Dante Wrede, you’ll have my support.”
“Where is Wrede?” Xavier asked, his tone even. He wasn’t going to hesitate to fight for Waverly this time around. Even if that meant declaring war against Hollywood’s most famous leading man. And if Waverly’s accident story was bogus, odds were that meant that Dante’s vacation a hemisphere away was also false.
“Maybe you should start there,” Marisol said with an imperious glance. She turned back to Kate. “The soup is boiling. I’ll take it up to her.”
“I’ll help you,” Kate said, lifting her chin.
They left Xavier alone in the kitchen, but unless he was mistaken, Marisol had deliberately given him a starting point. And he’d take whatever he could get from them.
CHAPTER FOUR
He made them dinner, grilled fish and vegetables, under the stars on the patio. Waverly didn’t join them, but Kate grudgingly offered Xavier a cold beer when she took the chair on his left.
“Here,” she said, shoving the bottle at him.
“Thank you, Kate.”
She grunted a response. Marisol stuck to wine and watched him like a hawk as he doled out foil packets of fish and summer vegetables. Conversation was strained and awkward at first. It wasn’t until Xavier handed Kate a second beer and topped off Marisol’s wine glass that he got down to business.
“I imagine you both are wondering why I’m here.”
“Duh,” Kate snorted over her bottle.
