Page 133 of Hunter

RYLEIGH

We spent the day together.

I didn’t know whether he had work. Still, I was thankful he was around because after all we had done in my apartment, I needed him close. After my scare from this morning, I didn’t want to be alone.

And what was more, when nighttime hit, he didn’t go home like I expected. Instead, he returned to his apartment to grab a spare change of clothes and returned to me.

I spent the night in his arms.

There was no nightmare.

I had slept surprisingly well, and for the first time in a very long time, I slept until seven in the morning, when the sun was already up.

I looked around my empty room, my hand coming down on the side of the bed that Xavier had slept in, and found it cold.

Wherever he went, he had been there for a while.

Just when I was about to call him, my front door clicked open, and I heard his footsteps moving across the hardwood floors before he appeared at the threshold of my bedroom door.

He looked wide awake.

No hint of sleep in his eyes, and he was carrying two cups of coffee.

“Is that for me?” I asked.

He smiled. “Of course.”

He came up to the bed, sat down on the side, and handed me a cup.

I took a sip of the sweet coffee, with a good amount of milk and sugar, just the way I liked it.

I wondered how he had guessed it.

I smiled at him, grateful, and he tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear before he dropped something small on my lap.

I looked down at it.

“What is this?”

“A key.”

I rolled my eyes. “I know that. What is this to?”

“My apartment,” he answered.

I frowned up at him.

“Your apartment?” I asked.

I didn’t realize we were at the point to be exchanging keys.

“Seems only fair,” he said casually. “Considering I have a copy of yours.”

One of my eyebrows rose at that. “Don’t you think you should have asked me first?”

I couldn’t decide if I was mad about that.

After the emotional turmoil I’d been in the day before, I didn’t think I was in the right mindset to react to anything.

---