Текст книги "Aurora James"

Автор книги: Jessica Ingro

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Текущая страница: 13 (всего у книги 16 страниц)

“Can you come in here?” Trixie asked from where she stood in the doorway to her office. I looked down the hall and saw no one else there. Figuring she meant me, I shrugged and said, “Sure.”

Once inside her office, she shut the door and moved behind her desk. I settled in a chair across from her and waited somewhat patiently to see what she needed.

I had been on my way in for a shift when she stopped me, so I was still in my street clothes with hardly any makeup on. If I was going to start on time, I needed to get the lead out and start gussying myself up.

The last week had been crazy with Sophie starting preschool. Her first day, I’d broken down and cried while saying goodbye to her and then again when I picked her up and she told me how much she loved it. It was then I’d realized my little girl didn’t need me like she used to. The thought was unsettling.

With Sophie in school, I found I had more free time, so I opted to work during the day at The Den. Most girls preferred to be there in the evening when there was a stronger stream of clientele, and since I wasn’t allowed to do anything with the men anyway, I figured this would help out the girls who needed it.

Surprisingly, even with the lighter patronage, my tips were still comparable to what they had been when I’d first started there, so I couldn’t complain. I just hoped Xavier hadn’t forgotten his promise to find something else that would make me money. Maybe I’d see about getting as many Girlfriend Experiences booked as possible. Surely Xavier couldn’t argue with me going on dates with men and a little light petting if any.

“You know how I told you about my daughter?” Trixie asked, her fingers fidgeting with a pen.

“Yes. How is she after her surgery last week?” I felt guilty for not asking sooner. It was like I had Xavier on the brain these days and most everything else didn’t factor.

“Sore, which is to be expected. Her husband travels a lot for work and with a two-year-old running around the house, she needs help.”

“I can imagine,” I mumbled. I was having enough trouble raising Sophie on my own. If I were to get sick, I don’t know what I would do.

“What I’m saying is, I need to spend more time over there helping her out, which means I need someone to step in here to help run things.”

“Okay…” I trailed off, wondering why she was telling me this. I didn’t have to wonder long.

“Xavier thinks you’ll be good at it. I only have three days to get you up to speed, so starting tomorrow when you come in you’ll be working with me.”

“Holy shit,” I breathed. This was more than a Girlfriend Experience. This was completely moving away from flaunting my body in front of strange men to being behind a desk.

He certainly knows how to come through, my mind screamed in delight.

“Don’t let me down,” she warned with a stern look on her face. “This is important to me and I expect you to take it seriously.”

“I won’t,” I said in an eager voice. “Promise.”

“Good. Now go get ready. Whitney called in sick today, so it’s just you and one other girl.”

“Thanks, Trixie. I won’t let you down,” I assured her.

With a quick hug that had the other woman bemused, I left the room and went to get ready thinking that maybe… finally… things were starting to go my way.

And I had Xavier to thank for it.

“Where’d you go?” I called out anxiously to Sophie when I came back from the laundry room and saw she wasn’t in the living room where I’d left her.

When I heard a giggle coming from down the hall, the lump in my throat that had immediately formed when I thought my daughter was missing eased up. Dropping the basket with the folded clothes onto the coffee table, I headed towards her room, stopping dead in my tracks at the picture I saw through the open door.

Xavier was on the floor, his back to the wall, his long legs stretched out in front of him and his feet crossed at the ankles.

Sophie lay perpendicular to his body, her tiny head resting on his massive thigh, her short legs stretched out in front of her a mirror image of Xavier’s.

“You missed the part where the prince kisses the princess,” Sophie informed him.

Xavier’s eyes moved from the book he was holding to her face at the same time he lowered one of his hands to run it over her head in a tender gesture. The expression on his face as he looked at her was like a sucker punch to my gut.

My hand went out, landing on the wall to hold me upright when my knees threatened to buckle under my weight. It was then I felt my life alter in a way that I knew it would never be the same again.

I once read that it takes just four minutes to fall in love. I knew without a doubt that was false. Because in less than a minute, I fell head over heels, crazy in love with Xavier. That’s all it took—thirty seconds of him giving my daughter the kind of affection she only got from me since her father went to jail.

“I know all the words,” she announced.

“I see that. I just wanted to make sure you were listening,” he murmured to her.

“Mommy says good girls listen and I’m a good girl,” she informed like it was crazy to think she might be anything but.

“Good girls wouldn’t have opened the door to a stranger when Mommy said to keep it shut while she was gone,” I interrupted them even though I could have stayed watching them for hours.

Sophie brought her little arm around Xavier’s thigh and squeezed him tightly. “He isn’t a stranger. He’s my knight!”

Xavier made a choking noise, his face saying he thought he was anything but. Wisely, he didn’t make the mistake of telling her knights in shining armor didn’t exist again.

“You know what I mean, Sophie. When I go to do laundry, you need to keep the doors locked and you shouldn’t answer it for anybody. You got that?” I gave her my stern face, hoping she would get how very important this rule was.

“Mmm hmm,” she said, her head nodding and a repentant look on her face.

“You need in-apartment laundry,” Xavier chimed in and my eyes shot to his.

“Don’t start,” I warned.

“You know I’m right,” the dumb man kept going.

Not wanting to fight after the beautiful scene I had just witnessed, and still riding the high of knowing I didn’t have to dance anymore, I decided to let it go. I had a feeling if I didn’t learn to pick my battles, he and I would be going head to head frequently.

“I wasn’t expecting you.” I changed the subject, which made him look amused.

“Was in the neighborhood,” was his only explanation.

“Did you want to do dinner with us? I was going to make tacos.”

“My favorite!” Sophie exclaimed with a clap of her hands.

“Well, I couldn’t miss your favorite meal, now could I?” He gave her a grin and flicked his finger on the tip of her nose as she looked up at him.

My heart melted all over again.

“Can Avier help?” Sophie asked me.

“It’s Xavier,” I corrected her, to which he said, “Why don’t you call me X?”

“Okay. What will you call me?” She tilted her head, her curls falling to the side and a sweet, expectant look on her face making her look angelic.

“What do you want me to call you?”

“I don’t know.”

He thought about it for a moment before saying, “How about bug?”

“Bug?” She scrunched her nose up in disgust. “Bugs are gross.”

“Ladybugs aren’t. They’re the most beautiful bug,” he told her. “You could be my ladybug. How’s that?”

“Yes!” She jumped up and pumped her fist. “Mommy, I’m a ladybug!”

“I heard.” I picked her up and spun her around. “And to answer your question, yes, Xavier can help us with the tacos. It’s going to be all hands on deck.”

I started to walk towards the door but stopped when I realized Xavier wasn’t following. I turned to see him with a guarded yet warm look on his face as he studied me with Sophie in my arms.

“You okay?” I asked him with concern.

“Perfect,” he spoke quietly, and I felt somewhere deep in my soul that what he was feeling was exactly what I’d felt earlier that day in my hallway.

The thought was as thrilling as it was terrifying.

“God,” I breathed. Xavier’s mouth was between my legs, and at that moment I could swear I saw the big man as my orgasm slammed into me like a freight train.

With no time to recover, I found myself flipped over onto my stomach and my hips roughly hiked up. He positioned himself and then with one hard thrust was inside me. My head flew back, my hair going with it. My mouth opened and a loud moan vibrated from my throat.

Xavier pulled out and then slammed back in again, and I nearly came on the spot. I was so primed and ready to go. With all the time he spent playing with me, using both his fingers and his mouth to do so, I wasn’t surprised. In just a week, he had discovered things out about my body that my husband failed to figure out after years of being together.

He pulled out all the way just to thrust himself back inside me, bottoming out against my ass. His fingers bit into the skin at my hips as he fucked me with an almost brutal intensity, his grunts spurring on my second orgasm of the night.

“That’s it,” he encouraged as I tightened around him and cried out in pleasure.

“Honey,” I moaned as he took me through it.

“Fuck. So sweet. So damn beautiful.” His arm snaked around my chest and pulled my upper body up so my back was to his chest and I was straddling his legs. With a possessive hand cupping my breast, he held me to him as his hips reared up into me. “My sweet féileacán.”

My fingers tightened on his forearm and I turned my head to bury it in his neck and whispered, “Honey.”

That’s when he thrust into me one last time and came inside me. As the last of the tremors left his body, he kept me close, his hand still cupping my breast, his breath harsh and his skin slick with sweat.

As with every other time I had spent with him, this was as close to perfection as anything could possibly get.

“Go clean up, baby,” he murmured against my mouth, placing a light kiss there before pulling me off him. I shuffled out of bed and threw a robe on before walking out into the hall and to the bathroom.

After cleaning up, I checked in on Sophie, who was still out like a light, just as I knew she would be after the eventful evening she’d had.

The three of us had made tacos side by side, which was strangely comfortable and domestic. Xavier knew his way around a kitchen better than I had anticipated and had been instrumental in teaching Sophie how to brown the meat and dish out the condiments into the little bowls I had for them.

Done with cooking, we’d all eaten around the table almost like a family. Sophie had babbled about her day at school while Xavier nodded in all the right places. Even though his attention had been on Sophie, I knew without a doubt that it was also on me. Several times I’d looked up and found him watching me with hungry eyes.

After dinner, we’d played her favorite board game followed by watching her favorite movie. Xavier had been a good sport about it, but I could tell by the way his looks grew more and more heated that he was ready for us to be alone.

The memory of him practically ripping my clothes off when he had finally gotten me alone had me smiling, which was what I was doing when I walked back into my bedroom.

“That’s quite a smile,” he noted, and I looked over at him on my bed, back to the headboard and sheets to his waist. How the hell did I ever get so lucky to have a man like him in my life?

“As it should be. I just came three times,” I gloated as I crawled into bed beside him. “I take it you’re staying tonight?”

“And miss fucking you when I wake up? Besides, Sophie said you were making pancakes tomorrow.” I nestled into the crook of his arm, my head on his shoulder, and placed my hand on his chest.

“I am. By the way, I never got to thank you for giving Trixie the idea to train me. I can’t wait to start working under her tomorrow.”

His arms gave me a squeeze and his hand came up so his fingers could play with a few residual curls that were in my hair from earlier. “Told you I would find a way to make it work.”

“Well, you did,” I assured him. “I was so dang happy today when she told me.”

His chin dipped down and his finger curled under my chin to tilt my face up to his. His mouth brushed mine in a sweet kiss. When he pulled back, his eyes moved over my face. “I’d do just about anything to see you happy, féileacán.”

“I like when you call me that,” I whispered.

“Good.”

“Xavier?”

“Yeah, baby?”

“Thank you.” I wrapped my arm around his stomach and squeezed tightly

“You already thanked me and it wasn’t necessary then,” he told me gently.

“I know, but I wanted to say it again.”

He chuckled lightly and then reached over to turn off the light, settling himself on his back with me still tucked to his side, my leg thrown over his thigh and my arm around his stomach.

“Goodnight, Xavier,” I whispered into the dark.

“Night, féileacán.”

That’s when I shut my eyes and fell asleep with a smile on my lips. Funny thing was, Xavier did the same.

“Who’s Leo?” Candy asked, and I came out of the bathroom to see she had my phone in her hand. Guess it was a good thing I’d changed Xavier’s name in my address book.

“Just someone I’m seeing,” I said, leaving out the fact that his name wasn’t really Leo.

“How come I haven’t heard of him before now?”

I put my hand out and she grudgingly gave the phone back to me. Instead of looking at the screen, I slid it into my back pocket and played it off.

“It’s new. There hasn’t been much to talk about.” I shrugged and walked down the hall into the living room, grabbing stray toys and then throwing them into the toy bin on the way.

“Well, judging from the text you just received, I’m guessing it’s a little more than that. You’re obviously porking him,” she teased, understandably wanting details. I couldn’t fault her for that. Problem was I didn’t want to share them. They seemed too personal and if word ever did get out about Xavier and me, she would know more about him than I think he’d be comfortable with.

“You got me there,” I mumbled while digging through my purse for my car keys.

“What’s going on with you?” she asked, suddenly serious.

“What do you mean?” I evaded, having a good idea what she was talking about.

“Well, let’s see.” She held up her fingers and ticked each item off as she went. “First you go out with Marx, but you won’t say a word about what happened even though you’ve alluded to the fact that it won’t happen again. Then you piss off Daisy with a holier than thou attitude, which isn’t like you. Then you suddenly stop taking clients after you worked so hard to get to where you are. And now you’re working Trixie’s job? I don’t get it.”

“I told you, Xavier thought it would be good to train someone as a backup to Trixie.” The fact that her daughter was ill was something the woman hadn’t been comfortable sharing for some unknown reason. Because of this, the girls were feeling a little antsy having to deal with me and not her. Especially since they thought I was edging Trixie out when she failed to show up on a regular basis. The whole thing was the farthest from the truth.

“It doesn’t add up. Just promise me you’ll talk to me if you need to. Whatever’s going on, promise me if you need a shoulder to lean on or an ear to bend that you’ll come find me.”

“I promise,” I whispered, floored by the passion in her plea.

“I’ve seen too many girls come and go, A. Too much shit swirling around them and they lose their head. I haven’t wrapped my head around what’s swirling around you, and until I do, I want to make sure you know I’m here for you.”

“Honey, it’s nothing like that. I swear to you,” I murmured. I so wanted to tell her all the wonderful things happening to me, but I knew I couldn’t. So instead of openly embracing my new friendship and spilling my guts to her, I bit my tongue and gave her a hug to show my appreciation.

“Right. Well, now that that’s settled, I’ll let you go meet your friend for coffee.”

“I’ll walk you out.”

She threw her arm around my shoulder as we walked out of my apartment and down to the parking lot. I watched as she drove away and then got into my car to go meet Spencer.

Before I drove away, I pulled my phone out and finally read my text message.

Want to take me for a ride?

I smiled a secret smile, knowing exactly what it was like to ride a beast like Xavier before replying with a text of my own.

I’d rather ride your Aston Martin.

His reply back was immediate.

Harsh.

I couldn’t help it. I laughed loudly, knowing he was probably going to find a creative way to punish me for that joke later and I could not wait.

Thirty minutes later, I was sipping a mocha-flavored coffee and listening to Spence, who had just started reminiscing about the first time we met each other.

When an unknown number showed up on my cell phone a few days before, I had debated answering it. In the end, I was glad I had since it had been Spencer wanting to get together after the epically strange way our reunion had ended.

How he got my number I didn’t know, and I never thought to ask.

“So, how are things over at The Den?” he casually asked and then sipped his drink.

“Good. Real good, actually. Sorry about the way things ended that night at Bradley’s house. Ghost is a little overprotective sometimes.” I tried to explain the situation without giving away too much information. All us girls knew not to talk about what happened while we were working.

“My guess is Xavier is the overprotective one when it comes to you.” He eluded to something with that statement.

My eyes narrowed and I fought going on the defensive as that would surely give away more than me being cool and collected about it.

“I guess.” I shrugged noncommittally. “We all enjoy the perks of having a good man at our backs.”

“Good man!” Spencer laughed loudly at that. “We are still talking about the same guy, right? Xavier O’Brien?”

“Well, yeah,” I said in a tone that told him I thought he was stupid and didn’t appreciate him laughing at me.

“Xavier O’Brien is a coldhearted snake. He’d wrap around your neck and kill you without even blinking.”

While I didn’t argue with the fact that he might kill someone without blinking, that wasn’t the Xavier I knew. My Xavier was sweet and tender and caring. I believed the cold exterior everyone saw was a byproduct of being in the world he was in.

There was always someone who thought they were bigger and badder that wanted to take your place. He had to be ruthless to keep his enemies from taking over. Or at least that was what he had told me, anyway. And I had no reason to believe he was lying.

“Look, Spence. I didn’t come here to have you badmouth the man I work for. I came here to catch up with an old friend, but I’m beginning to think you aren’t that after all.” I set my coffee mug down and grabbed my purse. When I went to stand up from the table, he grabbed my hand and pulled me back down.

“I’m sorry. It’s just, I know this guy, Alyssa, and he’s bad news. You need to stay the fuck away from him before you get caught in the crossfire. I can help you.”

I yanked my hand from him and looked him dead in the eyes. “What I need to do is leave. If and when you decide you’d like to catch up with me and actually do that, then call me. If you only want to give me the third degree and try to fill my head with garbage, then don’t bother.”

Before he could retort, I pushed my chair back from the table so I had a wide path away from him. The last thought on my mind when the coffee shop door shut behind me was that it was too bad Spencer turned out to be a prick.

I pulled into Xavier’s driveway and parked my car. With my arms full of grocery bags so I could make him my grandmother’s famous homemade spaghetti and meatballs, I climbed the steps on the front porch and shouldered the door open.

Heading straight for the kitchen, I dropped the bags on the island, vaguely noting a jazz singer crooning in the background.

“Honey, I’m here,” I called out, rummaging through the bags and organizing my ingredients on the counter. “Sophie says hi. She’s staying at Ruth’s tonight, so we have all night. I thought that would excite you.”

Turning my back, I faced the sink and began washing the salad lettuce. I was just turning the water off when an oppressive feeling hit the room.

I spun around to see Xavier standing next to the island with his arms crossed over his chest. He had on a pair of faded jeans and a t-shirt, and a face full of thunder. It had been a while since I had this feeling with regards to him, but right then I was terrified out of my mind with how angry he looked.

“What’s wrong?” I finally worked up the courage to ask him.

“Drop the lettuce,” he demanded.

“What? Why?”

“Drop the fucking lettuce, Aurora,” he bellowed, and the lettuce fell to the ground at my feet.

“You’re scaring me,” I whispered.

“Good. Now tell me what the fuck you were doing meeting with Spencer Davis earlier today.” The edge of his voice felt like a knife against my skin, sharp and biting in a way that did not feel good at all.

“How’d you know?”

“It doesn’t matter how the fuck I know. Answer the damn question before I make you answer it,” he hollered and then took a menacing step towards me that had me instinctively stepping back, only to be met with the edge of the sink.

“He asked me for coffee,” I spoke quickly, scared out of my ever loving mind. “We were in foster care together and he wanted to catch up.”

“So when I assigned you to that party, it wasn’t your first time meeting him?”

“No,” I whispered, afraid that was the wrong answer.

“Fuck,” he bit out and grabbed my biceps, roughly pulling me up onto my tiptoes. “What the fuck did you tell him?”

I swallowed, tears filling my eyes. What I didn’t do was answer his ludicrous question.

“Tell me,” he shouted in my face, shaking my body.

“Nothing,” I whispered, my heart breaking that he could think I would do that to him. “I didn’t tell him anything. I’d never do that to you.”

“Fuck,” he whispered under his breath this time. “Does he know about us?”

“No,” I whimpered. “Please let me go.”

“Don’t lie to me. I need to know if he fucking knows.”

“He doesn’t know,” I cried out, the pressure of his thumbs on my biceps making it hard not to scream bloody murder. He didn’t know his own strength on a good day. Don’t even get me going when he was this visibly upset.

“Promise me,” he whispered fiercely.

“I promise,” I whimpered on a sob, causing him to release me and run a frustrated hand through his hair.

“You don’t know what he’s capable of. He works for my biggest enemy,” he finally told me when he looked at my tear-stained face.

“Maybe not, but I have known him a long time. We were just talking,” I snapped, upset when, without any warning, things had escalated so out of control between us.

“No more talking, Aurora. Do you hear me? You won’t speak to that piece of shit ever again.”

I nodded even though I wanted to call Spencer right then and ask him out on a date just to spite Xavier. Even in my chaotic brain, I knew that wouldn’t solve anything, and clearly something about Spencer was not right if Xavier was this concerned about it. And it did make sense that we had barely talked at all before Spencer started grilling me about The Den.

“I hurt you,” Xavier whispered in horror, his eyes scanning the vicious marks he’d left on my arms. “I’m so sorry, baby.”

“It’s fine,” I murmured. His contrition helped ease my ravaged soul, but I was still reeling from everything that had happened.

“No, it’s not. You deserve better than that.” His hand cupped my cheek and brought my eyes up to his. “I’ll never let things get out of control like that again. I promise you that.”

My heart tripped at his vow. Deep down I knew Xavier would never do anything to hurt me intentionally, but it still hurt like hell to know he had.

“Come.” He held his hand out to me. “Let me make it up to you.”

“I was going to make you dinner.” I gestured to all the forgotten food.

“Forget it. We’ll order in and you can make it another night.” He jerked his hand in a silent reminder he wanted me to take it.

Knowing in my gut that being with him was the right thing, regardless of any shit we shoveled each other’s ways, I reached out and wrapped my hand around his and let him lead me down the hall to his bedroom. Once there, we strode right through and into the large bathroom complete with marble countertops, soaker tub and glass shower large enough for at least six people to stand in.

Stripping us both down to our birthday suits, he turned the shower on and pulled me into the stall where he proceeded to show me just how sorry he was. Twice.