“A towel? Wet hair?”
“Something wrong?” I asked.
He shook his head.
We both walked toward each other.
My heart danced all around my body. Head to toe. Subtle places to not so subtle places. And everywhere in between.
And as if Xavier couldn’t get any hotter, he flicked the button on his jeans and I thought I was going to die.
When we were close enough to touch, my hands went for his shoulders.
His hands went for my sides.
There was a quick pause as we looked at each other.
“Does this feel wrong?” I whispered.
“You tell me,” he said.
“It doesn’t.”
“Then it’s not,” he said.
His mouth lowered down to mine and our kiss picked up where it left off outside.
He kissed with the hint of the way he was going to take me in bed.
Which probably sounded weird, but it made sense to me.
My nails scratched down the front of his body to his jeans and boxers, curling around them, pushing them down.
Xavier groaned and moved his right hand to the top front of my towel.
My body felt… so ready…
Xavier pulled at the towel and it fell to my feet.
I gasped for a breath and was completely exposed to him.
Xavier broke the kiss and moved down to my neck.
I put my head back and closed my eyes.
My hands lost their grip on his boxers and jeans and they just dangled next to me, almost lifeless.
Xavier kept kissing me.
He was such a good kisser.
And his kisses got even better as he moved down to my chest.
His right hand touched my left breast, cupping me tight. At the same time, his mouth moved over my right breast.
I groaned and felt my toes beginning to curl.
Xavier wasn’t done yet.
He kissed away from my breasts and inched down again.
I gasped as his hands touched my sides and moved me toward the bed.
When the back of my legs hit the bed, I fell down.
Xavier flicked his tongue against my belly button.
I cried out and covered my mouth.
I knew what was going to happen next but I was not prepared for it.
As he kissed down even more, Xavier growled between kisses, which made me shiver more and more.
His tongue tasted me.
My hips jumped.
His hands touched the top of my legs and he tasted me again.
“Xavier,” I whispered.
That was really the one word I had left in my mind.
Like I said before…
Xavier was a really good kisser.
He cradled the back of my head with his right hand. His fingers dug into my wet hair. Our mouths were close to touching and we randomly kissed when either of us felt like it.
He had me.
And I had him.
Oh, believe me, I had him.
His body moved with mine and together we created our own rhythm meant for nobody but us.
I hooked my ankles to the back of his legs and pulled, wanting more.
He spoiled me and that left me wanting more.
There wasn’t enough to satisfy the endless need that rippled through my body.
And that was okay.
That just meant we had to keep doing this.
Over and over.
I wanted to live in my bedroom with Xavier and just have each other.
He could protect me.
I could thank him for protecting me without using words.
It would be perfect.
Xavier’s mouth kissed down to my chest again.
The lower half of his body moved perfectly. He knew when to go faster, when to slow, when to even stop for a second. Leaving nothing to my imagination with our bodies as connected as two could possibly be.
But now… he was moving faster.
With each few seconds, he sped up.
He kissed from my right breast to my left breast.
Then back up to my neck.
His hands moved down to my butt and he grabbed me tight.
When his mouth touched my ear, he groaned.
“You’re so fucking perfect and beautiful, Winter,” he whispered. “I’ve wanted you for so long.”
My hands slapped at his muscular back and gripped tight.
I couldn’t reply to Xavier so I just groaned and tried to say his name.
My eyes started to shut again and I felt myself reaching another climax.
Another. That’s right. More than one. I didn’t know that was a real thing…
I opened my mouth and I somehow swallowed my own breath.
Xavier moved forward one last time and we came together.
It was the most perfect moment of my life.
Definitely the hottest moment of my life too.
Both of our bodies having the same reaction at the same time. All the right places pulsing in unison. The two of us trying to take a breath, trying to kiss, trying to figure out what to do next.
We just stayed together.
Slowly regaining our ability to breathe. Slowly kissing when we wanted to.
Until Xavier moved away from me, which made my toes curl again, tighter than ever. It made me suck in a breath and clutch at the sheets because it felt… so good…
But it also made me instantly miss him.
Even though he was next to me.
It wasn’t the same.
I turned to face him and he pulled the covers up over both of us.
We were hot, sweaty and staring at each other.
Xavier moved a piece of hair out of my face.
“You still don’t remember everything, Winter,” he whispered.
“I know,” I said.
“Maybe it’s time for me to tell you the truth.”
Chapter 12
The rest of the rest
We had nothing to worry about.
I had the entire house to myself.
And even if I didn’t, it didn’t matter.
This was my bedroom and it was my business what I did or who I did in the room.
I pulled the covers off our heads to get some fresher air in my lungs.
It had been a few minutes since we finished and my heart was still racing.
I had a feeling my heart wasn’t going to stop racing no matter what I did.
“We didn’t hurt you,” Xavier said. “That wasn’t a lie.”
“Then what happened to me?”
“I’m not sure,” Xavier said. “That night…” He rolled to his back and looked to the ceiling. He took a deep breath. “That night was rough, Winter. We were all kind of fighting each other at that point. Noah was dead set on you and him running away. I was pissed off about that.”
“You mean jealous?” I asked.
“Sure,” he said. “Call it what you want.”
Xavier’s jaw was tight. He didn’t like to admit jealousy.
That made him even sexier somehow.
I moved my right hand and touched his right hand.
We were sort of holding hands.
It felt right.
It made me blush a little.
It also didn’t help I was still drunk and anything to do with Xavier… naked… it was going to make me giddy and blush.
“Easton was just being himself. Sometimes he can focus, sometimes he can’t. You were mad at everyone, Winter. You were actually going to go behind our backs and take off alone.”
“I was?” I asked.
“Yeah. I knew you didn’t like Noah the way he liked you. I knew something happened that set his heart on fire. And that’s Noah. He always finds a way to fall too quick and end up getting hurt. Our plan was moving along, but not fast enough for you. You wanted out. You were in a hurry. So you started to make a plan on your own. I don’t think you were going to take it all. But enough. We confronted
you and you lied to us. Right to our face. You were there that night.”
Xavier looked at me.
“At the shop?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Xavier said. “Then you left. You must have parked and snuck back. Because that was the night you heard us talking. You heard things you shouldn’t have heard. You heard us angry. You heard me angry. I said things I didn’t mean. I was venting to my friends.”
I swallowed hard. “You said all that… and then what happened with the accident…”
“I get it,” Xavier said. “And you woke up with no memory. Then you had some of it. You thought you had it all. I would have assumed the same thing.”
“It was so intense, Xavier,” I said. “The second I saw you three in the hospital room, it all came back to me. It was so vivid. So real. I can’t believe it wasn’t everything.”
He nodded. “I’m sorry about that. I didn’t know. You lied to us again.”
“Yeah,” I said. “I was scared. I thought if you three knew I remembered, you were going to hurt me again.”
“There was never the word again because nothing happened in the first place,” Xavier said. “You have to remember that, Winter.”
“So everything I did was for nothing,” I said. “I plotted against you three. I recruited a Troc…”
Xavier curled his lip. “That’s a whole other conversation we need to have on why you did that.”
“No, it’s not. It’s simple. I was scared out of my mind, Xavier. Because after the accident, you three just showed up. Not just once either. It was… creepy.”
“We did that on purpose,” Xavier said. “Because we needed to know what you remembered and what you didn’t.”
“So, you never believed me at all?” I asked.
“I didn’t say that,” he said.
“You just implied it.”
“Do you feel like arguing with me while we’re in your bed?” Xavier asked.
“I already got what I wanted from you.”
Xavier slowly grinned.
We stopped talking for a moment.
Which I needed.
The words were hitting me hard.
Noah. Easton. Xavier.
They didn’t mess with Tank.
They didn’t try to hurt me. Or kill me.
But someone did.
Who?
Xavier wore jeans and nothing else as he leaned against the railing, staring out into the night and the ocean.
I had never seen such a sight in my life.
All the cliché words danced through my head.
Hot. Sexy. All the muscles. Gorgeous. Handsome. Pretty… as a guy.
I wore a hoodie and a blanket and that was it.
“I’m sure you have a lot of questions for me,” he said.
“That I do,” I said. “But right now I’m just listening to you.”
He looked back at me. “I have no idea who did it to you, Winter. I want to find out. I want to find the person responsible and I want them dead. I want them to suffer and pay. They almost took you from me. When I first saw you after the accident…” Xavier shook his head. “The guys told me about seeing you. What it was like. So I came over myself.”
“You gave me your hoodie that night,” I said.
“I did. And you don’t know what that means, do you?”
“No.”
Xavier pushed from the railing. “Here’s another story then. I can’t believe you don’t remember it.”
“Neither can I, Xavier,” I said. “I thought I had this all figured out.”
“There was a night at the shop,” Xavier said. “It was rainy and cool. We were meeting there to talk about our plan.”
“The whole stealing money thing?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
I swallowed hard.
I haven’t even gotten to that part yet. I don’t even know what to say. Stealing money?
I shivered.
“You got there before everyone else. I was finishing up working on a project. You showed up in a damn t-shirt. And short shorts. Sometimes I wondered…” He smiled. “I wondered if you were flirting with me with your clothes. You knew how beautiful you were. Well, you still are. You get what I’m saying. You stood in the garage and you were hugging yourself. You were shivering. So I took my hoodie off and gave it to you. You told me it was going to make Noah jealous. Again, I swore it was you pushing at me. Tempting me. Wanting to see if I was going to be loyal to Noah as a friend or not.”
“I guess I was a real bitch before the accident,” I said. “I’ve been working on that. I don’t want to be that person.”
“The point is, Winter, I gave you my hoodie. I helped you put it on. And then we were close. So fucking close. And there was this moment where I knew something was going to happen. That’s when the other two showed up. We had our meeting. Went over some plans. Noah kept a hand on you at all times. Your back. Your leg. Trying to hold your hand. I could see that you didn’t want to hold his hand though. You kind of drove me a little crazy. Then when it was time to split, you took the hoodie off and gave it back. I told you to keep it. That it was still rainy and cool outside. You smiled at me and told me if you needed it again you’d come find me.”
Heat rushed to my cheeks. “I’m not a whore, Xavier.”
“I know.”
“That story makes me sound like one.”
“Does it though?”
“I’ve always…” I stepped toward him. “With you. For you. I mean, my feelings for you…”
“I hate to say this,” Xavier said, “but maybe you were who you said you weren’t.”
“I know,” I whispered. “I was a bad person, Xavier. I messed with Noah’s head to mess with your heart.”
“But we’re here now,” he said. “At least I hope so.”
“So what is this?” I asked. “This is us together now? After everything that’s happened…”
“There’s still a lot to do and figure out,” Xavier said.
I got close enough that he put his arm around me.
I shut my eyes and rested the side of my head against his bare chest.
He smelled so good.
I didn’t want the night to end.
I didn’t want anything to end… well, that wasn’t true.
I wanted the madness to end.
I wanted to be alone with Xavier and figure out what we were thinking and feeling.
“Did we really plan on stealing money?” I whispered.
“We really did,” he said.
“I guess I should know the reason why…”
I looked up at Xavier.
He looked down at me. “Are you sure you’re ready for this?”
I grabbed a giant handful of marshmallows and balanced them on top of the mug.
“How in the hell do you drink the hot chocolate then?” Xavier asked.
“Give it a minute and they get gooey,” I said. “Then you just press them down.”
“Weird.”
“You don’t like marshmallows?” I asked.
Xavier lifted his mug and grinned.
He had something different in his hot chocolate.
Even still…
I’m drinking hot chocolate at one in the morning with Xavier. And he’s still shirtless. And I’m still naked under a blanket and a hoodie. And we’re alone in this beach house. And he keeps looking at me like what we did before wasn’t the one and only time for the night…
Heat moved through my body freely.
“You know what you know,” Xavier said. “I’m not discussing anyone’s personal secrets. Okay? I’ll tell you how this all started. You know that half this place is corrupt. Maybe even all of it. You have BFH, East versus West, right? They’re bad down there. Really rich. Always in the mood for a fight. Then you have connections to HCH and even to BC. But us up here… we’re the kings and queens. But we’re not much better. You can figure this out when you’re ready, but your father got involved with Roland and Aldrich. My guess is
your father got tired of being made fun of as the guy who invents useless shit. To me, money is money. If he can come up with some dumb late-night TV product and make big money, go for it. But he took it personally. And Roland and Aldrich took advantage of it. Of him. I’m pretty sure your father is broke, Winter. Because of Roland and Aldrich. They had a scheme of their own. You figured it out. You watched it and cracked it wide open. You’re the one who brought the plan to us.”
I shook my head. “That makes no sense.”
“Yes, it does,” Xavier said. “You wanted to get away from it all. You were let down by your father. You hated your mother. And you had the chance to get some cash and run. And that’s what this was all about. Real cash. Roland and Aldrich have millions hidden. We were going to steal it. And when we took the cash, there was nothing they could do about it. It was already stolen. They would just have to suck it up and move on. And we wanted them to know it was us. Noah hates his father. You know that. The same for Easton. The money isn’t even fun for them. It’s the power. And that’s what you wanted, Winter. You wanted the power. You had the power.”
“Until someone tried to kill me,” I said.
Xavier nodded. “And now we’re all being followed.”
“So it all ties together.”
“Of course it does,” he said.
“Are you scared?” I asked.
“The only time I’ve ever been scared in my life was when you looked me in the eyes and said you didn’t remember me.”
My heart spun around.
Talk about hitting my heart…
“So what are we going to do?” I asked.
Xavier pointed to my mug. “How’s your gooey hot chocolate coming along?”
I pushed at the top of the marshmallows and they sank into the mug.
I smiled.
“See? Now it’s perfect.”
I lifted the mug and took a sip.
It was warm, gooey, and tasted like nothing but sugar.
I smacked my lips together.
“Ahh,” I said. “That’s how you drink hot chocolate.”
“You have a…”
Xavier moved around the island in the kitchen and came toward me.
He reached with his right hand and wiped my upper lip with his thumb.
“You made a mess,” he whispered.
“Then clean it up,” I said.
Devious Love (Bay Falls High NEXT Book 3) Page 11