by Lucy Score
“How did you know we were… he and I were…” she couldn’t find a way to end the sentence without tears or awkwardness.
“After he got done putting me in my place on the yacht, I could see how much he cared about you,” Robert told her.
“And so you went to return the favor.” Waverly heaved a heavy sigh.
“That was my intention. Until I saw him. I’ve seen men destroyed before, but nothing like that.” Robert shot her a glance. “He looks worse than you, and you nearly died.”
For some reason it made her want to laugh. The absurdity of it all. She’d almost died, and when she knew she was finally safe, that she once again had that gift of life, she’d lost her will to want it. Could she find it again? Could she grab onto that gift and run with it, finally? Even without Xavier?
“How was he?” she asked, hoping she sounded casual. She wanted to know the details of his suffering, wanted to know that he hurt like she hurt.
“He was so drunk I had to help him to the sofa,” Robert told her. “He hasn’t left his condo since he left you here the day you came home. And, from the smell of it, hasn’t showered either.”
“He’s probably just mourning a near miss with his perfect record. Almost lost a client,” Waverly muttered.
“Oh, he talked about you—well, slurred. But it wasn’t about you being a client. It was about how he wasn’t good enough for you and that you deserved a man who could keep you safe from danger. Someone who wouldn’t fail you like he had.”
“Why is he such an idiot?” Waverly wondered.
“I know how he feels, Waverly,” Robert confessed. “I’ve felt that way about you and your mother for a very long time. I wasn’t good enough, and I did my best to prove just that to both of you.”
“I wasn’t looking for perfect, Dad. I was looking for real.”
“I’m starting to understand that. And maybe someday, so will Xavier,” he sighed. “You have to understand, I owe him. He kept you safe when I couldn’t and wouldn’t. You’re here with me because Xavier Saint was a good man.”
“Whose side are you on here?” Waverly asked him.
“Always yours. From now on, always yours,” Robert told her.
Waverly pulled her hot dogs out of the flames. She tucked them into buns and handed two more to her father.
“I’m going to need you to be on my side for something.”
“Name it,” he said, adding onions to his dogs.
“I’m going to college.”
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The morning sun was promising a sultry L.A. day when Micah made his way out to the Sinner’s pool. Waverly greeted him from her seat on a wide wicker chair. She wore gym shorts and a t-shirt that mostly covered her bandages. Her eyes were still red from days of crying, but now they held something new. Determination.
“Thanks for coming, Micah,” she said, shaking the hand that he offered. She pointed to the chair across from her. “Have a seat.”
Micah folded his long legs under the table and looked around the patio while Waverly poured him coffee into a sturdy mug. “Thanks,” he said, accepting the caffeine. “So what do I owe the pleasure of this meeting?”
Waverly hugged her knee into her chest. “I have a delicate situation that I’d like to address with you.”
At Micah’s uncomfortable throat clear, she knew he was keenly aware of what needed to be discussed.
“As I’m sure you know, Xavier and I are no longer able to work together.”
Micah nodded slowly and chose his words carefully. “I am aware of the situation.”
“However, I see no reason why the reputation of Invictus should suffer based on personal issues. I don’t want anyone to think that after last week’s incident that I am anything but eternally grateful to you and your staff. I’m alive because of… all of you.”
She saw Micah’s broad shoulders relax fractionally. “I’m grateful that you think so,” he said diplomatically.
“So if you wouldn’t see it as a disloyalty to your partner, I’ve discussed this with my father, and we’d like to keep Invictus on board for the remainder of the summer. A driver, alarm system monitoring, and personal protection when I do media events.”
“Of course. We’d be happy to continue working with you,” Micah agreed.
Waverly nodded. “Excellent. The official line will be that Invictus saved my life and, should the question arise, there is and was no personal relationship between myself and Xavier Saint.”
Micah cleared his throat again. “I believe you’ll be fielding that question often. Have you seen the video?”
Waverly shook her head. If she didn’t enjoy watching herself acting on the big screen, she was fairly certain she wouldn’t like watching herself beg for her life before nearly losing it.
“The video is very… emotional,” Micah told her. “We’ve been bombarded with interview requests, and they all want to know if you and Xavier were… involved.”
“I see,” Waverly sighed.
“If you’ll forgive me for saying this, if you can stomach watching the video, maybe you’ll have a better understanding for the reaction that my partner had after the fact.”
“Can we just ditch the politically correct bullshit?” Waverly asked. She was a newly impatient woman who didn’t want to waste time tip-toeing around.
“He’s a fucking mess, Waverly. He thought he lost you, and it nearly killed him. He thought it was his fault that you almost died in front of the entire Internet. I don’t know if he’s going to come back from this.”
She took a steadying breath, forcing the impending storm of tears back. “I can’t do anything to change what happened or how he reacted.”
“I thought we were ditching the bullshit,” Micah said politely.
“I told him I loved him, and he said I was too damaged to love anyone.”
Micah swiped a hand over his face. “He’s an idiot.”
“No argument.”
Micah sat back up. “I’m sorry that he didn’t handle it even remotely well.”
“Me too,” Waverly said, masking the bitterness she felt. Even if what Micah was saying was true, that Xavier did have feelings for her and that he was devastated over ending things, it would only add him to the long list of people who had worked their own agenda on her. And those days of allowing it to happen were over.
“I do have a personal request,” she said, taking a sip of coffee. “I don’t want Xavier to be briefed on anything concerning me or my family.”
Micah nodded. “I understand, and that won’t be a problem. If I can get him sobered up, he’s going to New York. We’ve been kicking around opening an office there and now is probably a good time to get him out of town.”
Waverly nodded and stared into her coffee. A fresh start for both of them—on opposite sides of the country. She hoped it would be enough to eventually numb the pain, for her at least. Xavier deserved to suffer for a while. A long while. She was done forgiving and forgetting.
“Thank you for meeting with me, Micah,” she said, declaring the meeting over.
Micah rose and buttoned his jacket. “Thanks for all of this. I appreciate your professionalism.”
“Thank you for keeping me alive,” she said.
Micah smiled, bright and toothy. “Take care of yourself, Waverly.”
She felt the smile play at the corner of her lips. For once, she was going to do just that.
“Watch the video,” Micah called over his shoulder as he walked toward the drive.
Waverly sat quietly for a few minutes, staring out over the pool, over the hills, over the only world she’d ever known. She pulled out her phone.
“Kate? I need you to set up a meeting with Gwendolyn for today. And how do you feel about doing some house hunting with me in Palo Alto?”
It was time for a new life. One that she chose for herself. One where she would never again allow herself to be blinded by love.
Dear Reader,
I hate cliffhangers. The Harry Potter books tortured my reader’s soul for years, which is why I was angry, terrified, frustrated, and hungry when Sinner & Saint turned from one amazing, action-packed happily ever after to two long books…with a cliffhanger in the middle. In this day and age, writing a cliffhanger in a romance series is career suicide. But writing a 200,000-word tome isn’t an option either.
So please consider this my personal apology to you, my gorgeous reader. I hope that you’ll bear with me through this non-ideal, romance novel ending. I swear to you that the conclusion, Sinner & Saint: Breaking the Rules, will make up for it.
Waverly and Xavier have a lot of ground to cover individually before they can reconcile their history and explore a future together. Breaking the Rules picks up the Sinner & Saint story five years later with them reconnecting for the first time. Waverly is a different person at a very different place in her life, but she’s never forgotten Xavier or how he left her when she needed him the most. She certainly isn’t going to forgive him when he comes waltzing back into her life determined to save her from new danger. Not even if she still craves his touch.
There’s only so much electrifying chemistry a couple can take before they throw good sense out the window and give in to what they both want.
I think you’ll like the new Waverly and Xavier and I hope you’ll be gentle with me should you choose to review Crossing the Line. Or at least wait until you finish Breaking the Rules.
Yours Apologetically,
Lucy Score
P.S. Please enjoy the following excerpt from the conclusion of Waverly and Xavier’s story in Breaking the Rules.
What’s next for Waverly and Xavier?
Breaking the Rules
Coming December 28th
Available for preorder NOW
on AMAZON
Breaking the Rules
A Sinner and Saint Novel
Book 2
Chapter One
The whine of the jet’s engines did nothing to block out the nagging pain in Waverly Sinner’s side or the calamitous thoughts that swirled in her head. She shifted in her seat and grimaced as Lake Tahoe fell away beneath her.
“You’re still bleeding, but it’s slowing down,” her friend and personal assistant Kate York said, probing the gauze.
Waverly set her teeth as Kate prodded a little too hard.
“Did you call in?” she asked.
Kate nodded and let Waverly pull her bloodstained sweater back down.
“Yeah, when the doc was stitching you up.”
“And?”
Kate shook her head. “No bodies.”
“What about Dante?”
“No bodies,” Kate said again. “No Dante.”
Thank God. It meant there was a possibility that he was still alive after the ambush. Waverly would cling to that hope that the man who had given her a chance to change her life could still be among the living. “Okay, so what’s the plan?”
“Belize. They’re flying in a very nice, very discreet plastic surgeon to patch you up so you don’t look like you just got shot. Your orders are to lay low, very low.”
Waverly’s phone signaled in her lap. It was her mother. “What’s the story?” Waverly asked before answering.
“You’re going to hate it,” Kate warned.
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Xavier Saint’s attention was fixed on one of the three TV screens in his office. The one with a publicity shot of Waverly Sinner floated about the ticker that threw out the news casually as if it hadn’t moved the earth under his feet. DUI accident. Injuries. Rehab.
The vulture announcers with their peroxide grins gleefully speculated on the scandal and what it would mean for the actress’s career. There was speculation, of course, that Waverly had been on a downward spiral since her last breakup with leading man Dante Wrede. Their on-again, off-again volatile relationship had been fodder to the gossip sites and tabloids for two years.
Xavier wanted a drink. A cigarette. A coma. Something, anything, to get the need for Waverly out of his system. It had been five years. Five years since they talked, five years since he felt her body under his, five years since she’d nearly died in front of him. And yet it felt like yesterday. He could still remember her scent, that layer of exotic spice and a sweetness that never faded.
He muted the TV and made himself another cup of coffee.
Nothing he’d done in those five years had been able to erase her from his mind. Invictus Security had grown, first from the blood and sweat that he and his partner Micah Ross had put into the start-up and then from the notoriety of the Ganim case. Now they had offices in L.A., New York, D.C., and a brand-new chapter starting in London. He’d long-since retired from fieldwork and instead focused on training, consulting, and the day-to-day of running the top private security firm in the country.
Everything he’d worked for since his time in the Army and Defense Clandestine Service was now his. Except her.
He’d followed Waverly from the safe distance that entertainment news provided. Every movie, every award, hell, even her college graduation. She’d finished a degree in psychology and international relations from Stanford in three years while still managing to release a movie a year. That still lit the spark of pride in him. She’d been smarter than anyone around her gave her credit for. And now the world was taking notice.
The last two years had been one hit after another. The following that she’d earned from being the near victim of serial killer Les Ganim five years ago had grown into a huge, legitimate fan base.
Waverly Sinner was officially a star in her own right now. She pulled in bigger paydays than most of her male co-stars. And comparisons between her and her mother, screen goddess Sylvia Sinner, were now entirely complimentary.
He barely recognized her public persona these days. Gone was the frightened girl who built walls to protect herself. In her place was a ballsy, vivacious woman who didn’t take shit from anyone.
When her publicist announced that Waverly was dating her co-star Dante Wrede, Xavier polished off a bottle of whiskey alone in his apartment, and when he surfaced from his hangover, he vowed that Waverly Sinner was out of his system. He tried to get over her. He’d dated, casually. And even attempted not-so-casually dating. He’d met a nice enough woman who had a busy career of her own. They’d talked marriage a few times—well, she had—but he’d never made a move in that direction. And when she’d ended things, he felt as much relief as he did guilt.
Xavier stared at Waverly’s picture on the muted screen and felt it. The buzz that something wasn’t quite right. He knew her, and despite the last five years of distance, he was sure there was something rotten with this story.
He’d watched her for the last two years as Waverly had put herself in every situation that she’d despised within the Hollywood experience. She’d club-hopped and shopped and gotten into shoving matches with aggressive photographers. Her new best friend, Petra, was the daughter of a Russian billionaire, and the two downed vodka tonics by the gallon as they partied their way around L.A.
Her hair was a little shorter now, a darker honey blonde instead of the silvery Rapunzel tresses he’d had his hands in years ago. But the eyes, those sea witch eyes, were the same.
This wasn’t some rebellion. Not the timeless Hollywood trap that she’d made herself immune to. This was something else.
Xavier punched a number into the phone on his desk.
“I need a favor. I need a police report.”
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Waverly hid her wince as she climbed aboard the private water taxi on the dock in San Pedro. The in-your-face island beauty had never failed to strike her since the first time she visited Ambergris Caye shooting a movie. And this visit, though wounded and exhausted, was no different. The blinding turquoise of the water butted up against sugary sand beaches. On one end of the isl
and was the bustling golf cart hub of San Pedro; on the opposite, endless peace and quiet. She’d bought a home here a year ago, finding the easy commute between L.A. and Belize City irresistible, and made sure to escape here as often as she could. The airy, canary yellow two-story was tucked in between resorts and protected by a thick grove of palms.
There wasn’t a housekeeper or a paparazzo to be seen. Here, she traded Hepplewhite for hammocks and bulletproof SUVs for a golf cart. And hopefully she would heal here.
The water taxi captain must have been under orders to go slow because they clipped along at a far more relaxed pace than the usual break neck speed. The town blurred by in a hodge-podge of colors. The docks became farther apart, the resorts more spectacular. And finally, there was her own little dock, jutting out into the Caribbean waters, a palapa offering shade and a place to swing in a hammock at the end.
They bumped alongside the dock, and Kate helped Waverly out of the boat. Their only luggage, two go bags, was easily hefted over the side. Kate tipped the captain, and with a wave, the taxi zoomed away leaving the two women alone.
They turned their back on the boundless blue of the ocean and slowly made their way down the dock. Palm trees shivered a welcome in the balmy breeze.
Waverly made it up onto the wraparound porch of the first floor before lowering herself onto the rust orange cushion of an outdoor sofa.
“Don’t get blood all over that,” Kate warned her as she jiggled the key in the lock. The side door, a thick wedge of tropical hardwood, opened inward.
Waverly gingerly held herself upright while Kate bustled inside. A moment later, the storm shutters that ran the length of the first floor began their intrepid journey upward. Shutters stowed, Kate shoved open the accordion glass doors until the porch and interior living space became one.