Leaning down to drop a kiss on his lips, I said, “We’re not going to break. You just have to promise to focus on what’s important. When I met you, you were so extra. You seemed to have it all under control, but you were hiding a lot. I don’t want you to mask your pain with alcohol, while pretending to be happy on the outside, Xander. ”
“Okay, but I am not extra. I’m just fun to be around.”
“Oh, you’re extra at times, Xander. Everyone wants you around to be the party starter. There’s not really a party if you’re not there because you are so extra!” I teased him, and he pumped his fists in the air as if soaking up a compliment.
“I’m not extra with you, though. With you, I’m just me. The real me is everything that I have shown you—a guy who’s skeptical of building relationships because I’ve lost so much already. I can’t afford to lose again.”
He looked intently into my eyes.
“Jayne, when I was out at the club doing all the latest dance moves, heading up the drinking games, and flirting with every girl in a tight skirt, that was a man who was seeking inclusion. I had lost everything when I was young—my mother, my father, my Nana, so it didn’t matter what I was included in, as long as I was included. Now, I don’t have to be included in everybody’s circle. I only need to be in the circle that belongs to me.”
I touched the side of his face. “Am I in that circle, Xander?”
“You’re the main one in it. You better believe it.”
“What your father did to your mother was inexcusable, but your strength is unbelievable. I’m proud of you.”
“I haven’t always been strong. Before I met you, I drank my misery away. I chased demons from my dreams to reality every night. Now, I only drink socially, but not much because I have something to look forward to that’s not in a beer bottle.”
I shed a tear. “Oh, Xander.” “This did a number on you, and what he did to your mother…” Damn.
“It’s fucked up. I know, but I’m coming to terms with it.”
This was making me emotional. I’d have to remember to call my mother tomorrow. Listening to Xander's talk about his parents made me remember I had one living parent, and I hadn’t visited her in far too long.
“Have you talked to him about it?” I asked.
“No, I plan to do that when I get home next week. Right now, I’m just so thankful to Bruiser and Alise for bringing us together like this. They were right. It was what we needed.”
“We have great friends, don’t we?”
“The best!”
Xander placed two fingers under my chin and hauled my lips to his for a kiss.
“I love you, Jayne.”
“Xander, I love you more.”
“Wreck him, sis. Make him feel you!” That was the enthusiastic advice I gave Astalia yesterday. Now, Xander was wrecking me, one kiss at a time. And, his ‘I love yous’ were demolishing what was left of me.
Snapping out of his trance, I said, “We need to get out of here. Are you hungry?”
“I’m starving, but I don’t want food,” Xander replied, gripping my thighs with his hands. “I want something much better.”
“Xander, we have to eat.” I climbed out of bed and went into the bathroom to take a shower. The doorknob jiggled a few minutes later, and I was glad I locked it. If Xander hemmed me up in this bathroom, we would never make it out of here.
When I returned to the bedroom, he was sitting on the bed with his arms folded. “Why did you lock me out?” he asked.
“So we can get out of here.”
He eyed me like I was a snack that he wasn’t going to let get away. “I have everything I need right here in this room.”
“Come on. We’re at a resort. There’s so much to see besides this bedroom. There’s a nice restaurant at the Mountain Creek Inn that I want to try, and tomorrow we can go to the gardens.”
“I’m sure the restaurant is nice, but I’m willing to bet there’s nothing more exciting for us than this bedroom. I waited too long for this.”
“Well, you’re probably right about this room being the most fun place here. And yes, you did wait too long.” I chuckled. “Now, you’re going to have to wait a little bit longer. Let’s just go eat, and as soon as we get back, I’ll put on the lingerie Alise tricked me into buying for you.”
I thought about my friend, who had me out searching for all the ingredients for a thotcation. All along, it was for Xander and me. I couldn’t wait to wring her neck and then thank her.
“Sexy lingerie when we get back. Hmmm. This is bribery. You know that, right?”
I walked over and placed a quick kiss on his lips. “I know it. Do I look cute in this?” I was wearing a pair of black yoga pants and a long pink and silky black shirt with a flower pattern. Pink slide-ins and a light-colored pink lipstick accented the outfit.
“You are beautiful in whatever you wear, baby.”
Laughing, I said, “That doesn’t answer my question, Xander.”
“You look beautiful, baby.”
“Thanks. Now, go take a shower so we can go eat.”
I was standing in front of the mirror, applying some eye shadow when Xander walked over to me. Standing behind me, he nudged the side of my neck with his nose, inhaling my scent with his kiss. “You smell so damn good. I bet you taste even better.”
“Xander…” I moaned as he tickled my ear with his breath. Grabbing ahold of my waist, he moved his hips, positioning his erection on the softness of my backside. “Go…” I managed to choke out. If he kept rocking us like that, I would give cave.
After spinning me around and kissing me until my knees buckled, Xander said, “Fine. I’ll get dressed.”
An hour later, we were seated in the Creek Inn restaurant enjoying steaks, potatoes, and broccoli.
I bit down on the tender steak, and my eyes rolled to the back of my head. “This is so good. I was starving.”
Xander smiled. “I’m glad I brought you to eat, baby. You’re going to make the other people in here think that I starve you.”
I laughed. “You were trying to starve me.”
“Well, I’m sure you’ll work up another appetite tonight,” he hinted, biting down on his lower lip.
A xing of sexual energy rushed through my body. I couldn’t wait to get back to the cabin and spend the night with Xander. This would be our first night together, and I wanted it to be perfect.
My thoughts were interrupted by Xander’s phone ringing. He declined the call. I picked up a forkful of broccoli and bit into it when his phone sounded off again.
“Who’s Mandi?” I asked, reading the name on the screen.
“No one important,” he stated as he declined the call again.
“Oh, yeah?”
Mandi called back yet again.
“Why don’t you answer it and let her know that you’re out having dinner with your girlfriend?” That’s an idea.
“Well, I want to respect you and not answer her call during our date, but I will answer it and tell her not to call me again,” he said.
“I think you should do that so she’ll know not to interrupt us anymore this week. I don’t want to share your attention with your phone, but you can do what you want.” I humped my shoulders as if I was unbothered, but deep down, I was seething.
Who was Mandi to him?
“Hello, Mandi,” Xander answered. “I’m having dinner with my girlfriend, so I’m not going to be able to talk to you… Yes, I have a girlfriend, so I want you to delete my number from your phone. We can no longer be friends, Mandi.”
Friends, huh?
Mandi’s screams could be heard on my side of the table. Even with Xander pressing the phone to his ear, I could hear her yelling. They were more than friends.
“Mandi, we never dated. It was what it was, and now I’m ending it.”
I heard her say, “You use me when you want me, and do me like this when you don’t. Fuck you, Xander!” She ended the call, and Xander ran his hand over hi
s face.
“I’ll go through my phone and delete and block all numbers of women from my past. I want you to be completely comfortable in our relationship. It’s just you and me, Jayne.”
“Okay, I’m willing to do the same thing.” I was done being Ned’s doormat anyway. He would be the first number to go out of my phone.
When we arrived back at the room that night, I kicked my heels off and sat down on the sofa. Xander sat beside me, and we spent some time talking about our exes as we removed their contact information from our phones.
“Is there someone from your past that might pop up like Mandi?” Xander asked.
“Ned and his wife may pop up for a rock-throwing fight at any time. Other than that, no one,” I admitted.
“So, you really were sleeping with a married man?” Xander asked, his expression unreadable.
“Yes, I know I shouldn’t have, but—”
He cut me off. “I’m not judging you, Jayne.”
“Thank you, because it’s more to it than meets the eye. I met Ned in high school, and we dated for eight years. I thought we would be together forever. Hell, I thought he was my fiancé. I was planning our life together, then boom. I looked at social media, and there were pictures of him and another woman’s wedding. I had no warning. Even though he did me like that, I never accepted that he was hers, so I continued in a relationship with him even after he married her. He told me that he only married her because they had a child, not because he loved her. It was foolish to listen to his lies, but the heart does foolish things sometimes.”
“Don’t I know it.”
“I can’t promise that they won’t be a problem, but I will do my best to let them both know that I’m over it because I am,” I assured him.
Xander stood up and reached a hand out to me. “We’ll cross that road when we get there.”
I accepted his hand and stood, looking into his eyes. “I’ve been falling for you for a while now, Xander. Please don’t let me open up to you about all of this if you have no intention of being with me.”
Xander bent, and our mouths met in a mind-numbing kiss. His tongue claimed mine, and I would forever remember the feel and taste of this man’s tongue against mine.
“Please don’t ever stop kissing me like this.”
“Every time will be like this or better.” He groaned as his lips left mine. “Come on.”
Xander led me downstairs. When we reached the bed, he searched hungrily for my chin, neck, any area he could reach as we stood there enraptured. He forced my legs apart with his legs then slipped his hand into my panties. My pelvis rocked, grinding against his hand as he touched my sensitive bud. I held onto him for balance.
“Oh,” I gasped out as shock registered on my face.
“I got you, baby. Let it go.”
“I can’t—wait, I’m going to come.”
“Do it, baby,” Xander groaned into my mouth. “Stop thinking, and just feel.”
He repeatedly massaged my sweet spot, bringing me so much pleasure. When I swallowed his words and let go, my vagina began to pulsate. Then, a powerful orgasm swept through me and left me trembling.
“Xander,” I crooned out. “Oh, my God. What just happened?”
He smirked at me devilishly. “Baby, our first sleepover has officially begun.”
Chapter 7
Xander
Secrets Revealed
The getaway retreat Bruiser and Alise planned was amazing. After clearing up our misunderstandings, Jayne and I had a week of romance, passion, and truth. I did as I told Jayne I would do and deleted all the women’s phone numbers from my phone. The numbers didn’t matter to me. I didn’t keep one contact that wasn’t innocently platonic. I had what I wanted and needed in Jayne, and no other woman could compare.
Jayne did the same and cleaned out her contacts of anyone who could be a distraction. On the night before we were supposed to go home, her phone started ringing with a 334 number flashing on the screen. We’d just finished making love, and she was sound asleep—nothing I said or did brought her out of her slumber.
“Jayne, baby. Your phone is ringing,” I told her when the person called back the third time in a row. I wouldn’t have been persistent in trying to wake her up if they didn’t call so many times. I gently shook her arm. “Baby, wake up.”
When she didn’t wake up on the fifth call, I decided to answer it. Her phone was ringing back-to-back as if there was an emergency. If it was critical, and I didn’t find out what was going on, Jayne would be upset, possibly devastated if it was about her mother.
“Hello?”
“Uh, hey. I’m trying to get in touch with Jayne, but I must have hit the wrong contact,” a man’s voice said.
“Jayne is asleep. She’s a little worn out right now. Do you want to leave a message?”
There was a long pause on the line before the man barked, “Nah. No message. Who is this?”
The possessive snipe in his tone brought up my guard. “I’m Xander Macon. Who is this, Ned?”
“Yeah. How do you know me?”
“Jayne told me about you, and what she said wasn’t very impressive. Since you didn’t get the text she sent earlier, maybe it’ll be better coming from me. It’s over between you and her. I’m her man now.”
“It’s not like Jayne to have a man answering her phone. How do I know you didn’t steal her phone and send that message?”
Was this guy serious?
“She sent the message,” I emphasized.
“She would never do that. Jayne and I have a long history.”
“And that’s what it will stay—history. We’re making new memories now. From now on, I’ll be her late-night dick when she needs it, so no need for any more late-night calls like this. Jayne is not my second choice. She will never have to worry about another woman taking her place with me, and she damn sure won’t log onto social media and find out about another woman. So, run along and be faithful to your wife, Ned. This woman over here is in good hands.”
He chuckled arrogantly. “Yeah, well, we’ll see about that,” he scoffed.
“Oh, you will see. You’ll get to witness me putting her first if you stick around. In the meantime, she has wiped your number out of her phone, and the next step is blocking you. But hey, like I said, you’ll find that out later.”
I hung up.
“Xander, baby. Who were you talking to?” Jayne asked as she tried to focus her eyes on me in the lamp-lit room.
“It was Ned.”
“Ned?” She sat up in the bed, frowning. “What did he want? I texted him earlier and told him not to contact me anymore. I’m blocking his number.”
“Well, he doesn’t think it was you that sent the message to him earlier. He thinks you will always be there because you have always been there. I told him he was wrong this time.”
She blew out a long breath of air. “Good because he is wrong.”
I tilted her chin up so that our eyes met. “You don’t ever have to wait on scraps, Jayne. You deserve so much more.”
She smiled. “I know that now, Xander.”
“I only answered your phone because he called so many times that I thought it was an emergency. I couldn’t get you to wake up.”
“You don’t have to explain. It’s okay. I have nothing to hide. All my secrets are out.”
“Mine too. I’ll always be honest with you, Jayne.”
“Thank you, baby. Now, come over here and lay down. I want to feel your warmth next to me,” she said.
“I can see now that you’re always going to try to steal my heat.”
I moved closer to Jayne in bed. Jayne snuggled in close to me and curled her body into my embrace. “Call me the heat stealer.”
“Baby, we’re packing up and leaving in the morning.”
“Man, I hate to leave. Do we have to? This has been the best week ever.”
“It doesn’t have to stop here,” I told her. “Everything that happened here is just the beginning
of our life together. And a sweet beginning this has been, Jayne.”
“It took us a while to get here, but we made it.”
“And that’s all that matters,” I said and claimed her mouth for a goodnight kiss.
✩ ✩ ✩
Two Weeks Later
Jayne had been back to work for two days. I was officially unemployed, so I called my father and asked him to stop by my apartment after he got off work. I was dreading the conversation we were about to have, but it was long overdue.
When my father walked into my apartment, I could see the distress on his face. “I go out of town for a few weeks, and I come back, and everything is in the air. Why did you quit your position? I made you a vice president of sales because you’re my son, and you need to be the one helping to run the business.”
“Sales is not what I want to do. I only took the job because you wanted me to.”
“Life is not about doing what you want to do all the time. If you’re not working for Tech-Likely, what are you going to do, Xander? You have to think about that because I’m not going to pay your bills when you could be working with me and making your own money.”
I glared at him. “Dad, money is not an issue for me. I have a lot of fucking money in the bank. I can afford to live without your money, which is why I left your company. There are some things, some things I need answers to, that are far more important than money.” How dare he think that I was concerned about his money?
“So you’re just going to turn away from what I built for our family? Every man wants their son to pick up the torch where they left it. One day, you’ll have kids, and you’ll understand.”
I knew leaving Tech-Likely wasn’t going to sit well with him, but that was not the purpose of this visit.
“Dad, you killed her.”
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