Page 15 of Dark Temptations

But his thoughts went to another reason she didn’t fit. His need for dominance in the bedroom and the fact he liked fucking a bit rough at times was a major issue. He’d never hurt a woman, but he couldn’t see sweet innocent Ariana being able to deal with any of it.

Could he handle having an unexciting sex life in order to have her? Or would he end up resenting her in the end?

That’s what it kept coming back to. To have the woman he was obsessed with but give up a big part of his personality. He just didn’t know if he could.

Fuck. He slammed the rest of the bourbon down his throat before heading off to bed. He hadn’t gotten a lot of sleep the night before because of Ariana, and he didn’t think he would tonight either. But he had to try, at least.

Chapter Seven

The next several weeks flew by. Ariana expected Xavier to fade from her mind, but he didn’t. He was stuck, and nothing she did helped to get him out of her head.

Her friends tried their best to help, and Ariana was fine if she was with them, but late at night, when she was in bed alone, thoughts of Xavier consumed her.

Ariana pulled into her parents’ driveway and parked. Her mother had called and asked for a visit because it had been a few weeks. She was also hoping to take her mind off certain people. It was in the back of her mind to discuss it with her mother, but she hadn’t decided yet.

She looked around at the spacious house she’d grown up in. She and her friends had so much fun in the pool out back, and she’d spent hours in the TV room with them. Her childhood couldn’t have been better. Both her parents loved her unconditionally.

She walked in the front door and bellowed. “Mama, Daddy, I’m here.”

She heard her father laugh.

“Girl, come see your father,” Daniel yelled.

Ariana grinned as she walked toward her father’s office. He was standing by his desk with his arms open. She laughed, ran to him, and jumped into his arms to get a bear hug.

“Daddy, that’s too tight. You’re going to break my ribs.”

“Bullshit, I raised you to be tougher than that.”

She chuckled and smacked her father’s arm. “Do you want me to tell?”

Her father scowled and sat back in his desk chair. “You never let me get away with anything.”

Ariana shrugged, turned, and thought she saw a ghost. “What are you doing here?” she asked Xavier. The one person she’d been trying hard to forget.

Xavier looked just as shocked. “I do business with your father.”

“Oh, I didn’t know that.”

“That makes us even, because I didn’t know Daniel was your dad.”

“You never asked. Besides, you wouldn’t let us be together for more than a few minutes. A person can’t do much with that amount of time.”

“Except kiss,” Xavier said and smirked.

Ariana glanced at her father to see his eyebrows rise. Great, now she was going to get the third degree about this.

When she turned back to Xavier, it was to see a predatory glimmer in his eyes.

She crossed her arms over her chest and lifted her chin. “I’m sorry. I don’t really remember that.”

Xavier’s face darkened, and he stood and took a step toward her. “How about I remind you.”

Ariana took a step back and held her hands out. “No. That’s okay.”

She smoothed out her shirt when he stopped advancing on her. “I’m going to visit Mama, Daddy.” She turned to Xavier. “It was n-nice to see you again. Stay safe.”

She turned and started to walk out.

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