by Lucy Score
“Maybe it’s a sign you shouldn’t go,” Kate said, shading in a cartoon super hero’s bulletproof corset.
“If I don’t get away from everything Waverly Sinner-related for a few hours I can’t be held responsible for my actions. Did I tell you what he said to me?” she spun around, sending her ponytail whipping over her shoulder.
“Mmm. The part where he acted all jealous over Dante or the part where he wouldn’t let you have a burrito and told you your business is his business?”
Waverly rolled her eyes. “I can tell that you’re absorbed in your art, so I’m not going to hold your inattention against you.”
“Appreciate that,” Kate said, taking a bite of pizza and selecting another pencil. “I still think you going out tonight is kind of dangerous. We know that that Ganim guy is here in town and looking for you.”
“But he’s not looking for you,” Waverly pointed out. If she didn’t get out, get away, she was going to suffocate. She could feel it creeping over her like a dark cloud.
Kate kicked back in her chair and gave Waverly the once over. “I think with sunglasses you’ll pass on the security feed. Just go now while you still have daylight to enjoy. It makes me nervous when you ride at night anyway.”
Waverly shoved some cash and her license into the back pocket of her jeans. “You’re the best friend slash assistant slash artist a girl could have.”
“Just please don’t get caught…by Creeper or Saint. I’m not sure which one of them scares me more.” Kate scrubbed a hand over her face. “If X Factor finds out I helped you escape your ivory tower, he’ll turn that stern look on me, and I’ll turn into a puddle of fear and lust.”
“You, my friend, are into some weird stuff. But I respect that, and you’re totally getting an amazing present for this.”
“Yeah, yeah. Just don’t get murdered,” Kate called after her as Waverly danced through the door and locked it behind her.
Waverly slid on a pair of sunglasses that hid a good portion of her face and hurried to Kate’s SUV. She slid behind the wheel and turned the key and was battered by the wailing guitars of an eighties rock ballad. Fitting, she grinned.
She put the Explorer in drive and started to ease around the circular drive.
Shit. Shit. Shit. Xavier chose that exact second to walk out the front door. Be cool, she told herself. You’re just Kate headed home.
She raised a hand in a casual wave and held her breath when he returned it as he unlocked his SUV. She wasted no time navigating the curving drive and didn’t breathe again until the gates closed behind her. Her eyes stayed glued to the rearview mirror, but by the time she hit the stop sign at the end of the street with no sign of Xavier speeding after her, she punched the volume on the stereo and rolled down her windows.
She was finally free.
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Xavier’s mood hadn’t improved after his short briefing with the Sinners.
He’d explained the incident with Ganim and also gave them a toned-down version of Waverly’s run-in with Geneva St. Regis. But Sylvia seemed more excited than concerned. It was a measure of her daughter’s success, she had gleefully informed him. Stalkers and public feuds were good for a few gossip site mentions.
Robert, on the other hand, seemed ambivalent to the entire situation. Neither of them seemed to care to grasp the seriousness of the situation. Their daughter had a stalker who was fixated enough that he moved states to get closer to her. If that wasn’t a loud and jarring warning bell, he didn’t know what would be.
He saw Kate in sunglasses and her ball cap guiding her Explorer around the drive. She sent him a wave, which he returned. His hand was on his door handle when he felt the buzz. Something wasn’t right. He watched the taillights on Kate’s SUV as it pulled down the driveway. But that wasn’t Kate behind the wheel.
He took off at a dead sprint around the side of the main house, skirting the pool, to the pool house. The front door was locked and he wasted precious seconds fishing in his pocket for the keys.
“What did you forg—oh fuck.”
Kate stared at him wide-eyed from the kitchen table. She jumped up and pulled her chair in front of her as if facing a lion. It was then that Xavier realized his fury had carried him all the way into the room.
“Where is she?” he demanded.
Kate flinched. “I’ll tell you but you have to promise not to murder her when you get there.”
“Where the fuck is she, Kate?” His shins were touching the front of the chair she wielded.
He stared her down until she wilted like a daisy. “Shit. Fine. Okay. She’s going to my house. It’s no big deal. She does it all the time.”
The glare he shot her was deadly and had her backpedaling against the kitchen counter. “Don’t even think about warning her,” he growled.
“Couldn’t if I wanted to—which I don’t because you’re terrifying,” she inserted quickly. “She left her phone here. She thought you’d track it.” Kate pointed to the phone charging on the counter.
She thought right.
“When I get back I’m murdering you both,” Xavier promised and started for the door. His gaze fell on the empty pizza box. He shot another look at Kate.
“Don’t judge me,” she told him.
“Text me the address,” he said heading for the door.
It was a fifteen-minute drive to Kate’s, and it was more than enough time to have Xavier’s temper spike to heights previously never explored. Waverly had known that Ganim was in town, knew he posed a threat. And yet here she was sneaking out of her house like a rebellious kid.
That’s what she was, he reminded himself. A spoiled, selfish kid.
God knew what she did at Kate’s house. Drank herself into a stupor? Had sex? Whatever stupid, rebellious thing rich, undisciplined kids did. Well, if her parents were incapable of laying down the law, he was happy to step in. Fucking thrilled.
He’d let her push him around all week, giving her time to get used to the idea of him. But that was a mistake. Waverly obviously needed a firmer hand.
His GPS directed him into a cul de sac of pasty townhouses with orange tile roofs and gravel landscape. Kate’s was the third on the right, and her SUV was in the driveway sitting in front of the beige garage door. Xavier parked his Tahoe behind the Explorer, cutting off any possible escape and slammed the door with enough force to send the vehicle rocking.
He was debating the best access point that wouldn’t alert the neighbors but still scare the shit out of Waverly when Lady Luck finally smiled on him and the garage door began a creaky ascent.
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Waverly breathed in the scent of leather and gasoline. It was the smell of happiness and giddy freedom.
She revved the throttle and the BMW sport bike under her purred to life as the garage door opened behind her. She picked up her helmet and prepared to stash her hair up into it when she spotted something in the rearview mirror.
She knew those shoes, those nicely tailored pants, those strong arms and broad shoulders. And hell if she didn’t know that scowl. She was toast.
“How—” She barely got the word out before he pounced.
Xavier stormed in, turned off the bike, and with one arm, plucked her off of the seat. He pinned her against the drywall with enough force that her teeth jarred together.
“What in the ever-living fuck is wrong with you?” he growled.
Waverly struggled against the crushing grip he had on her arms, but he merely lifted her off the ground and held her there so they were eye-to-eye. Fear shifted gears into anger. “Damn it! How the hell did you find me?”
It was the wrong thing to say. She watched his pupils contract to slits. Rage, hot and primal, pumped off of him in waves.
“Are you stupid?”
“What?” She slapped her hands to his chest and shoved with all her might. He didn’t budge.
“Answer the fucking question, Waverly. Are you stupi
d? Or are you having some kind of psychotic break?”
“You’re the one manhandling me like a freaking pro wrestler,” she wheezed, aiming a kick at his shin. “That seems like both to me.”
The kick glanced off of him and resulted in him pinning her to the wall with his body. His hips crushed against hers and she immediately stilled. His hands dug into her upper arms and she could feel the silk of his tie pressed against the skin above the low v of her t-shirt.
The line between his eyes was crater deep and there was a vein in his forehead. Their mouths couldn’t get closer without touching, and there was nowhere to go. She felt his breath, hot and ragged, on her face. And then she felt him go raging hard against her.
“God damn it.” His voice was jagged. “I can’t decide if I want to kiss you or choke you.”
When her jaw dropped, her lower lip scraped his and that was all it took.
His mouth crushed down on hers, claiming, demanding. Teeth scraped, and lips bruised in a violent clash. He gave her no room to breathe, but oxygen was suddenly the last thing she needed. Their tongues met and tangled in an aggressive battle.
She had never been kissed like this before, possessed like this before.
Her breasts were smashed against his rock-hard chest as the edges of their bodies fused. His erection, as powerful and as impressive as the rest of him, flexed into her and she hooked a leg over one of his slim hips desperate to get closer still. He groaned at the friction and fisted a hand in her hair to change the angle of the kiss.
God, yes, her mind chanted. This is what had been missing. This tangle and mess of emotions and need. He forced her to take and take and take.
Xavier fed on her mouth, stealing her breath, robbing her of the will to think. She whimpered against his hard lips, craving more, but the sound tore him out of the fray.
“Damn it, Waverly,” he gasped for air, resting his forehead on hers. “What the hell have you done to me?”
He released her, and she slid bonelessly to the floor, her heart pounding like a drum line. She dragged in a breath and then another one, wondering what had just happened inside her. Xavier bent at the waist, looking like a man destroyed.
Their gazes met and held, and he returned to her and carefully pulled her to her feet. He rubbed a thumb over her swollen lip and swore.
“Angel—” he began.
Waverly slapped his hand away and dug her hands into the lapels of his jacket. “If the words ‘I’m sorry’ come out of your mouth, I will never forgive you. Don’t try to ruin what was the most incredible kiss of my entire life.”
“It never should have happened. I shouldn’t have let it,” Xavier said, his hands reaching for her and then fisting at his side instead. He looked panicked and angry.
“Xavier, just breathe,” Waverly told him. She spotted a camp chair under a shelf of plastic totes against the back wall of the garage and pushed him into it. He dropped his head in his hands, and the vulnerability Waverly saw tugged at her still hammering heart.
“Wait here,” she said.
He lifted his head. “If you make me chase you again, I’m stuffing you in my gym bag and carrying you home.”
“There’s the Saint I love to annoy.” She patted his knee. “I’m getting us some water. The kitchen’s right there. I’ll leave the door open,” she promised. He let her go and she took a moment to calm herself down in Kate’s tan on cream on beige kitchen.
Waverly grabbed two bottles of water from the fridge and pressed one to the overheated skin of her neck. The kiss had melted her from the inside out and she was having trouble recovering. She felt raw, terrified, energized.
She returned to the garage where Xavier was in the same position. She’d finally pushed him over the edge, and now she didn’t want to be free of him. The irony brought a soft smile to her ravaged lips. She handed over a bottle. His fingers lingered on hers for a moment until she met his eyes. In them, she saw concern and questions.
“Did I hurt you?” he asked.
She shook her head and felt her cheeks flush. “More like stunned. Did I hurt you?”
He shoved a hand through his short hair. “You wrecked me.” The words were almost a whisper.
“X,” she began, but Waverly didn’t know where to go from there.
“One second you’re a pain in my ass, and the next you’re hydrating me.”
“I’m co-dependent. Daughter of an alcoholic,” she shrugged. “I’m responsible for causing and healing all pain and discomfort.”
He shook his head at her. “Just go over there so I don’t grab you again,” he pointed at the bike. He couldn’t be feeling too bad if he was back to giving her orders already. Waverly hit the button on the door opener and the garage door creaked down to give them some privacy. She draped a leg over the leather seat of the bike and sat.
“I’m breaking rules left and right,” Xavier said half to himself. “I’ll call Micah. I’ll have someone else assigned to you,” he said flatly, reaching for his phone.
“You’re overreacting.”
“And you’re underreacting. Angel, I grabbed you. I lost control, and I took advantage of you.”
“Okay, now you’re being dramatic,” Waverly rolled her eyes. She leaned her elbows on the bike’s tank.
“I don’t recall you asking me to haul you up against a wall and…”
“Kiss the ever-living crap out of me?” she supplied.
“I can’t get physical with you in any way, violent or otherwise. I’m protecting you. That line can’t be crossed. It puts both of us at risk.”
“Rules are important to you,” she stated.
“Obviously there’s something about you that makes me forget how important those rules are. I’m out of control.”
“I pushed you. Hard. All week I was pushing,” she confessed.
“I know you were, but I’m supposed to be better than that.”
“Above annoyance and physical attraction are we, Saint?” She was teasing him now.
“This is serious shit, Waverly. I mauled you. We can’t work together anymore.”
“Why not?”
“Because you’re making me lose my mind. I’m exhausted. I chase after you all day and half the night and then I go home and think about touching you… or strangling you.” His fingers brushed over the line between his eyes. “You might break me.”
Shit. If she had been hot for the demanding and angry Xavier, the wounded one was going after her heart like a master thief in a gallery. He was being candid, and now it was her turn.
“X, do you know why I was trying to shake you lose?”
Xavier shot her a look that said “duh” through the hands he held over his face. “Because your life is a prison, and there’s no freedom being you,” he said as if by rote.
“It’s a prison on another level, too. I can’t be with you every day and be worried about what kind of information you’re feeding my parents or how you’re manipulating me to get what you need. I can’t have that kind of relationship close to me.”
“You think that because your parents hired me, I’m an extension of them. I’m on their side, which pits me against you. They bought a service, Waverly, not a loyalty.” Xavier rubbed his temples as if he was trying to ward off a migraine.
“You’re so by-the-book I didn’t know that it was possible you could be on my side.”
“I want to keep you safe, Waverly. Not in a prison. And I never had any intention of tattling on you to your parents. You’re an adult. Maybe it’s time you start acting like one.”
“It’s not that easy. There are consequences that I’m still exposed to even as a legal adult. But that’s beside the point. If this is going to be a professional, working relationship, we have to be a team, not two people playing each other.”
He looked up at the ceiling of the garage as if praying for patience. “Christ, Waverly, isn’t that what I said from the beginning?”
&nbs
p; She smiled softly. “Yeah. But now I’m not trying to shake you loose.”
“You mean since I had a complete mental breakdown and tried to throw you through Kate’s drywall before kissing the shit out of you?”
“Since you behaved like a human and not some snooty security robot.”
From the look on his face, Waverly felt certain no one had ever called Xavier Saint snooty before.
“This can’t happen again.” His tone was earnest. “It can’t, Angel. One of us won’t survive it, and it would probably be me.”
“Relax, X. A torrid affair with you is not something that fits into my plans either.” That was an understatement. The last thing she needed was some orgasmic crush. Sex was like all other areas of her life. It needed to be on her terms. If that kiss was a sneak peek, her “terms” would end up on the floor on top of her underwear. She’d get hurt when it ended. Badly hurt. “Let’s just chalk it up to exhaustion and rage-fueled passion. You were kissing me, but you really wanted to strangle me.”
“You make me so irate and so… hard. Sometimes at the same time.”
Waverly laughed. “This new human Xavier Saint is really honest.”
“I think a dam broke,” he said wryly. “Are you seriously okay? I wasn’t exactly gentle.”
“I’m better than okay. In some weird way, I think I needed that.”
He nodded in agreement. “Let’s just make sure neither of us needs it again in the future.”
“Deal. Out of our systems.” If something like that could ever just disappear. “But while we’re making deals, I want to know what’s going on with my security quandaries. I don’t want to have to get information from Kate or wait until you’re done briefing my parents—who probably weren’t too concerned. My safety is my business.”
Xavier sat straighter and took in a breath. “That’s fair. In my defense, I didn’t mean to leave you in the dark like that. I got distracted, first by Kate calling to tell me Ganim messaged you from the museum and then by—”
“A cute production assistant?”
“A source at the network who had been shooting crowd shots from the right angle all afternoon. I wanted the footage of Ganim in the crowd.”