Chapter 52: Chapter 52

MELODY

“Stop staring at my tits,” I whisper-hissed. He hadn’t taken his eyes off my chest since we’d come to the restaurant for lunch.

He shrugged, still staring shamelessly. “I’m trying to figure it out.”

“Figure out what?”

“If you have piercings on your nipples or not.” He gave me a heated glance.

My skin was becoming more flushed by the second. “Why would you think that?”

“I felt something when we kissed that night.” He mused. “I thought you were wearing some shit called a wired bra when I felt something hard on my chest.”

I widened my eyes in mock shock. “It’s called an underwire bra.”

“Whatever. All I want to know is about your piercing.” His eyes were on my chest.

~Typical man.~

~

I smirked and leaned closer, placing my elbow on the table. “How about I show you?” I smirked.

His eyes narrowed.

“We can go back to my hotel room, and you can pull my top over my head and unhook my bra and see if I have a piercing or not.” I grinned.

“Oh yes, I’m wearing a front-hook bra. You like that, don’t you?” I said, suppressing a giggle.

Xavier’s eyes darkened, and he swallowed. I couldn’t help but bite my lip at the way his throat moved. “You know I won’t touch you,” he groaned as he shifted a few times.

“Who said anything about touching? You want to see if I have my nipples pierced or not. You can see, but no touching.” I shrugged innocently.

“Fucking tease,” he growled. We were interrupted as our order arrived, and the waitress placed our food on the table, leaning too close to Xavier.

After the waitress left, he cleared his throat and smirked, his gaze meeting mine. “On second thought, I would like to see.”

My pulse thundered through me. I felt my cheeks reddening, the blood rushing to them. My skin tingled with anticipation and excitement.

He was peering up at me over his mug, with his green eyes all mischievous.

Instead of replying, I put the fork full of omelette in my mouth and chewed slowly. “How is working with Carter?” he asked.

I shrugged. “It’s good, actually. I enjoy working with him and my colleagues, Jenny and Cari.” I shrugged.

“So you want to write novels?”

I shrugged and took another bite of food. It wasn’t a topic I wanted to talk about now. Mostly because I hadn’t thought much about publishing. It was all Jenny and her being nosy and stubborn.

There were a few manuscripts I didn’t think of publishing ever. They were all personal like ~The Stranger~. I’d written it soon after meeting Xavier in New York. It was rough and unpolished.

It was about my personal experience. I’d wanted to remember, not that I could ever have forgotten, but I loved to write and create the memories that only belonged to me.

~The Stranger~ was about Xavier and me and our sinful night we’d spent together. After lots of begging, I’d caved in and asked Jenny to change the names of the characters.

“How is Gunner?” I asked, changing the topic.

He thought for a few seconds, wondering if there was something I was hiding. Ignoring his intense look, I took the time to savor my food.

“He’s good, better than good, actually,” he replied.

“And your other two friends? Sorry, I forgot their names,” I said, biting my lower lip.

He frowned. “Stefan and Cole.”

I nodded and laughed. “Do you remember the looks on their faces when they realized we were together? I asked.

“Of course.” He laughed. For the next few minutes, we fell into a comfortable silence and ate our food.

Our silence was interrupted by the sound of my ringtone. The name on the screen brought the moisture back to my eyes. I let it go to voicemail and continued eating my lunch without looking up.

I could feel his eyes on mine. “I know I’ve no right to ask but—”

“It was Jake,” I told him before he could finish.

“Oh. I thought…” He trailed off.

“Thought?”

“I thought it was Matt.” I watched his throat work as he swallowed.

I sighed and placed my hand over his on the table.

“Xavier, he is an important part of my life. I can’t and I won’t throw him out of my life just because we broke up. He is my closest friend and always will be.

“There were only a few people who loved me, who cared about me when everyone I loved left me without even looking back like I didn’t even exist,” I said softly, not in a way to hurt him, but he winced, because no matter what, the truth always hurt.

“And of those few people, Matt was one. So yeah, he will always be part of my life as a friend,” I told him.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry for everything.” I hated hearing the pain in his voice when he said it.

“It was the past. We can’t change it.” I shrugged.

He opened his mouth as if he was going to say something, but he closed it before he could. “Does he know about us?”

I laughed. “Everyone knows, Xavier.”

He looked confused. I unlocked my phone and opened social networking sites and passed it to him so he could look at the picture of us snapped outside the diner.

It had been clicked on the first night I’d gone out with him. It said I’d found a new man in my life after Matthew Davis.

Over the years, I had gotten used to the publicity and the things they wrote. First, I’d been linked up with Dan when he’d won the Businessman of the Year award.

After that, they’d seen me with Matt. There had been many videos and pictures of us on the internet.

Xavier didn’t stop there. He looked at a few more articles about me and Matt.

I looked away, trying to hide my cringe when he started playing a video in my profile, and after my profile, he dove into my gallery.

“Hey, those are private.” I snatched my phone from his hand.

His jaw clenched, and he took a few deep breaths. “Dessert?”

I shook my head. “I’m full.”

He nodded and asked for the check when the waitress came to clear our plates.

“Sir, your check,” she purred, leaning down and showing her cleavage.

My hands clenched as I gritted my teeth to the point I thought I would break my molars. She had been doing it since she’d come to take our orders.

I looked down, pretending to do something on my phone. She put the check on the table and left. I sat there, fuming silently.

“You look cute when you’re jealous.” His lips twitched knowingly as he leaned forward.

“I’m not jealous,” I whisper-hissed.

“So if I take her up on her offer, you won’t be jealous?” He cocked his head.

“What offer?” I literally snarled. I could feel the anger building up in my chest, climbing up my body until it reached the top of my head.

He slid the check to me. ~Up for a good time? Call me~, was written on the paper with a number.

~What the fuck?~

~

“Seriously?” I fumed.

He shrugged.

I stood and walked to the waitress. She was taking an order from another couple. I tapped on her shoulder lightly. She turned, and before she knew what was happening, I struck her on her cheek. Hard.

My palm started throbbing. Ignoring the pain, I raised my hand and slapped her again. Her notepad and pen fell to the floor.

“How dare you?” I hissed.

“That’s my man you’re passing your number to. Look at him one more time, and you will never have eyes to see anyone else,” I said, practically screaming at her through my teeth.

“Excuse me, miss. Is there a problem?” A man with blond hair came forward.

“Who are you?” I snapped.

“I’m the manager.”

I faced the manager and hissed, “Your employee is passing her number to my”—I paused and took a deep breath—“my date for sex.”

The manager turned to the waitress and glared at her.

“Baby, calm down.” Xavier wrapped his arm around me.

I had to grit my teeth before I continued, spitting every single word out. “You want me to calm down. She fucking offered you sex.” I glared at her.

I looked at the couple sitting with a check on the table. “Did she make an offer to you too?” I asked.

He nodded and passed the paper to the manager.

“I’m sorry, ma’am, sir.” He bowed his head.

I opened my mouth to answer Xavier, but he squeezed my waist and led me out of the diner.

He turned and smirked. “‘My man,’ huh?”

A blush heated my cheeks, but I steeled my features, pretending his comment didn’t make me want to hide my face in his chest. Placing his hand on my back, he led me to a narrow alley.

I gasped, “Xavier, what are you doing?”

It all happened so fast that I had no time or chance to resist. He gripped my wrist and flipped our positions so I was pressed to the wall with my hands pinned above my head.

My heart pounded as I felt his hot and hard body pressed up against mine. “Do you know how hard I am right now?” he growled.

I gasped at the immediate reaction in my pussy as it clenched in lust. “How I want to sink my cock in your warm cunt to remember once again what sex feels like.”

He leaned forward and ran his nose down the length of my neck, breathing me in.

“Let me see how hard you are,” I whispered and tried to fight his grip on my wrist. “I can make you feel so good, and I might let you cum in my mouth,” I said, my voice still hoarse.

His lips connected softly with the base of my neck, sending goosebumps across my heated flesh.

I yelped as I felt his teeth on the base of my neck. “Baby, don’t tease me,” he groaned.

“Xavier,” I pleaded for more as he continued running gentle kisses across my neck, driving me crazy with his softness.

“Hearing you saying ‘My man’ is making it hard to control myself, and I wanted nothing more than to fuck you there on the table so hard you won’t be able to walk straight for a week.”

He licked, tasting my skin and soothing the area he’d bitten. His words sent tingles straight to my clit. I squeezed my thighs together to try to stop it.

“Who’s stopping you?” I challenged, grinding my crotch against his erection.

He growled. “I’m a man of my word. If I said I won’t touch you until it means everything, then I won’t.” His face was still buried in my neck. His breath skated across my skin, making me shiver.

“What if I say it means something?” I whispered, yearning to feel his touch, his lips on mine, his hands exploring every inch of my body. True to his word, he hadn’t touched me since that night.

He shook his head, leaning his forehead against mine, and looked into my eyes. “I don’t want something, baby. I want all of you. I want you to accept me with your whole heart, soul, and body.”

He stepped back and kissed my forehead. “I will wait until you are ready to give yourself to me completely, wholly. Until you trust me. Until you want your future with me.”

My heart started beating faster. I swallowed hard and nodded, still holding his gaze. He dragged his teeth over his bottom lip and inhaled.

He looked at me like I was a queen, his eyes full of something I’d never seen before.

“Melody,” he whispered, those big hands reaching to cup my face gently. I could see the hesitation in that massive form, his eyes flickering slightly.

“Never mind.” He shook his head and tried to step back.

I grabbed his wrist. “What is it?” I asked encouragingly. He looked away, pulling me back into his strong arms.

“I don’t want to lose you again,” he rasped hoarsely.

I looked down to hide how desperately I wanted to tell him he wouldn’t lose me. Not now, not ever, but only one thing was stopping me.

Mila. What if she hated me like her mother? I sighed and leaned forward to kiss him gently on his lips.

“I love you,” he whispered against my mouth. His hand was on the back of my neck, and he pressed me into him as he kissed me again, more urgently this time.

~I love you more~, I wanted to say. Instead, I kissed him harder. He sighed heavily and stepped back when I didn’t reciprocate his feelings.

***

XAVIER

We walked back to our resort hand in hand. She glanced at me and smiled, squeezing my hand. I knew we were getting somewhere. She was lowering her guard little by little.

All I could do was pray I wouldn’t hurt her again.

I squeezed back and pulled her closer. But the doubt settled on my chest heavily. I only had two more days with her.

What if she wasn’t ready to give me another chance by the end? Should I walk away for good, or was I going to chase her until she was ready?

I’d go with the latter. Nothing could stop me now.

The silence stretched out for a couple of minutes as we both walked, lost in our thoughts. I cleared my throat before speaking. “You’re not talking to them?” I asked.

She shook her head and sighed. “I’m not ready for them yet, and it doesn’t matter if I talk to them or not, because they chose the daughter they wanted. End of the story.” She sighed again.

“They only started calling me after finding out what Lisa did. Would they have called me if they’d never found out about everything? No. They never called me to see if I’m alive or not. So why now?”

I nodded. “Have you always known you were adopted?” I asked. This had been bothering me since she’d told me she’d known but had never mentioned it to me.

“No.” She shook her head. “On my eighteenth birthday. The day I turned eighteen, the lawyer came to tell me I had full access to my trust fund.”

“Trust fund?”

She shrugged. “Apparently, my parents were rich.”

She cocked her head and smiled, which I didn’t like, not even a bit. “Now you realize how little we know about each other.”

“Who else knows?” I asked.

“Dan, Matt, and Mia,” she said shortly, and I gritted my teeth at hearing his name. He knew everything about her, and they’d been fucking engaged. She still wanted him in her life. In our life.

~I’m damn sure he is regretting letting go of a girl like her.~

~

As we got closer to the resort, I could feel her close off. She took a step away from me and twirled to face me.

“You go. I need to talk with Dan,” she whispered and gazed over at the pool, where Dan was lounging. He was laughing and talking with Asher and the others.

Feeling our gaze, his head snapped toward us, and his eyes halted at our joined hands. His jaw tensed, and Melody started to shift from one foot to another, trying to free her hands from mine.

Instead of letting her go, I tugged her closer until she was pressed against my chest. She looked up and saw my blunt desire for her. “Xavier,” she whispered, adding fuel to my desire.

I crushed my lips against hers, claiming her deeply, hungrily, and she responded fully. Her arms encircled my neck, pulling me closer.

I opened my eyes while kissing her as if my life depended on this single kiss and met Dan’s gaze, telling him to back the fuck off.

I was so tempted to slide my hands up to her tits and feel if what I was thinking was right. She definitely had a piercing. I felt something on my chest every time I pulled her closer.

I didn’t know what or how I should feel about it. Sure, I’d had many women before, but never with piercings because I’d never bedded women under thirty.

I’d never had young women, but one look at Melody in the club that night, and I’d thrown all my rules in the toilet and flushed it because I’d wanted her like I had never wanted any woman.

We pulled back and looked at each other. Placing my palm on her cheek, I caressed it with my thumb. We stared at each other, the tension crackling around us.

I knew I needed to leave before I dragged her with me to my room and fucked her like I had been wanting to for so long. “See you at dinner,” I whispered, placing a kiss on her temple.

I headed back to my room to deal with my hard-on.