Page 277 of Tease Me

“What is it?” she asked. “You’ve already done so much, I don’t need—” Roxie brought it around and… “A passport.”

“Your passport,” Roxie said, showing her the last page. “Now you’re unrestricted. You can go anywhere in the world.”

And Sydney was the first place that came to mind. She wouldn’t really go jetting over there, but it had something she craved.

“This is amazing. How did you do this so fast?”

Roxie shrugged. “We know people. And money gets you about anything you want in this world.”

She paled. “Did it cost a lot? I’m so sorry. God, I tell Xander I’m not interested in money and then spend his best friend’s money instead.”

“You get used to it,” Roxie said on an exhale. “I was the same. I spent so much time obsessing about the money, about how I didn’t want the lifestyle, about how I wouldn’t use Zairn’s means.”

“And…?”

“Then I realized you just have to go with it.”

“Go with it?”

“Go with it. The money is there. It’s a part of their lives. Providing they value us more than the dollar signs, that’s what really counts. Does Gauge value you more than the dollar signs?”

“Yes.”

“Then that’s it. Just think about it as another quality. If he was a football nut, you’d go along to games in support. A concert pianist, you’d clap the loudest even if you couldn’t play a note. They embrace what we are and the baggage we come with. We have to do the same. You can do good with it too,” Roxie said, her lips curling again as she gestured at the passport. “Like this. Sometimes it’s the little things that matter most.”

She’d never thought of a passport as something freeing, but that was how it felt. Now if she needed to get to Xander, or he wanted to whisk her away, she wouldn’t hold him back.

“I guess this means I’ll be able to come to your wedding, no matter where in the world it is,” she said, flicking through the pages and peeking up at her friend. “You know I’ll expect an invitation now.”

“At this juncture, you know as much about the wedding as I do,” Roxie said and looped their arms together.

“Doesn’t that worry you?”

“Not with Jane at the helm.” Roxie started across the club. “She’s wedding crazy. It’ll be bigger than anything Zairn or I would ever plan, but we can handle the spectacle.”

“It’s weird, isn’t it? If she’s so into weddings, why was hers so low-key? She and Knox did it in the Bahamas, didn’t they? Were any of her family there?”

Roxie rolled her lips into her mouth, taking a second to subdue the apparent amusement behind them. “Z is going to like you,” she said, pulling their linked arms tighter against her body. “He’s definitely going to like you.”

34

“Rainie Tait, Crimson Manager” had a nice ring to it.

She shouldn’t still be lounging in bed mid-morning, but it had been a crazy few days and she needed the rest. Gwen was at work. Her friend got no extra rest, but she hadn’t been clubbing in New York all weekend or fired after a slog of work.

The Crimson job could be something to build on. A foundation that would show her just what she was capable of. Was it possible for her to take on such a mammoth task and not fail miserably?

The bedroom door handle moved. Roxie must—Xander.

She sat up, her mouth opening. Was that…? Was he really standing there?

“Alex,” she gasped as he tossed the door back into its frame. “Oh my God, what are you doing here?” He toed off his shoes, threw a leather binder to the end of the bed, and took off his jacket. “What happened? Oh my God, what was it? Is it business? Seven? Did you and Lance fight? Did you fire him? Did you do something crazy? Please tell me you didn’t fire your friend for me.” He came onto the bed beside her, sitting close, propping his weight on a fist at the other side of her legs. “How are you here…? I mean, I know how you’re here, you have a plane. Your own plane. I guess that means you can go wherever you want whenever you want? Oh, God, please tell me. Are you going to break up with me now? Did you change your mind? I’m more trouble than I’m worth, I get it—”

“We go through this shit together,” he murmured, sweeping her hair from her face.

Leaning in, his mouth found hers. Everything slowed down. Or maybe it did. He cupped her cheek, tilting it higher to deepen the kiss. Whatever shit was happening in their lives, they should go through it together. But she hadn’t in a million years expected he’d come back. Just yesterday morning, she’d been in roughly the same place talking to him on the phone with half the planet between them. Now he was with her. The real, true, flesh and blood Xander Gauge, there at her side.

She pushed back. “What happened with Bingham Bright?”

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