t w e n t y o n e

Aurora's heels clicked across the lobby, holding the bouquet of flowers close to her.

She stepped through the revolving doors, immediately spotting Xavier's car and like he had said, 6 on the dot.

The door was already unlocked when she pulled it open. She gave him a happy grin as she slipped into the car. She placed her purse next to her, while he took the flowers from her and placed them in the back seat.

"Hi," she greeted after placing a kiss on his lips. Unlike earlier, he had gotten rid of his suit jacket, which was now laying across the backseats.

"Hey," He started the car and began to pull away from the curb. "How was your day, love?"

"Good, especially after a special someone surprised me," she replied sweetly, leaning over to place another kiss on his cheek. "Thank you again by the way."

As the car rolled to a stop in front of a red light, he turned his head to look at her with a soft smile. "Of course. I'm glad you liked it."

"Did you yell at people again at work?" She teasingly asked, leaning closer to him. Like usual, his hair was now slightly messy compared to the perfect styling he had that morning.

She leaned back when he stepped on the gas, just as the light turned green. With his left hand on the wheel, his right hand grabbed her's, lacing their fingers together.

He brought their hands up to his mouth and placed a kiss on the back of her hand before letting their hands drop back onto her lap. "Just a few. Maybe a dozen—or two."

"No," exclaimed Aurora, turning to look at him with a shocked expression on her face. "Did you really?"

"I'm joking," He chuckled, squeezing her hand with reassurance.

"Oh good, they probably did nothing wrong," she muttered, absentmindedly staring at his exposed arm, where the sleeves were rolled up to his elbows. She could see his tattoos peak out from under the rolled up sleeve.

"I may have been a little less mean after our FaceTime," he added.

"I guess as the protector of your employees, we need to FaceTime more often," she hummed, trying to get her phone out from her purse with her free hand. When she couldn't, she attempted to untangle her fingers from Xavier's, but of course, he wouldn't let go.

"I would rather see you in person," he uttered truthfully as she continued to struggle. After a couple more seconds, she gave up and went back to trying to grab her phone with one hand. She playfully glared at him when she finally succeeded.

"I guess that could be arranged," she shrugged, causing him to look at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Could be?" He repeated.

"Depends if you behave or not."

"I can show you just how well I could behave," his voice was deep and suggesting. She slapped his arm, rolling her eyes at him as he let out a deep chuckle. "I'm just giving you what you want, love."

"That's what you want," She snorted as she bit back her lip to stop herself from laughing. She began to touch the screen, looking through the different options, wanting to listen to music as they drove through traffic.

He noticed from the corner of his eyes and tapped the bluetooth button on the screen, inviting her to add her phone to his car. "You can connect your phone."

"Really?" She looked at him with wide eyes.

He nodded.

"Hell yea," she muttered a cheer from under her breath, which had not gone unheard by Xavier. He smiled at how cute she was as he watched her open the settings on her phone, connecting her phone to his car.

After successfully pairing, she opened Spotify and chose one of her throwback playlists. Nodding her head to the beat, she looked out the window at the cars that were slowly passing by. They were now on the freeway with Aurora still not knowing where they were headed. "Where are we going?"

"Well, I was thinking," he began, slowly switching lanes. "Since I showed up unannounced at your apartment last night and you had graciously provided me with dinner, I thought maybe I could make you dinner tonight."

Aurora ignored the little sarcastic bit, pinching the back of his hand before rubbing it soothingly. "You're going to make dinner?"

He nodded.

"Where?"

"What do you mean where?" He chuckled, eyes switching between the road and her. "At my house."

"Oh," she said quietly. "Well then, hopefully, you don't attempt to burn down your kitchen like you did with mine."

"I'm pretty sure that was you, love," he retorted. "We're just going to stop by the grocery store real quick."

She nodded amusingly as he continued to maneuver through traffic. It was the height of rush hour, so there was no escaping traffic.

Usually he would try to make it home as soon as possible with Jackson on the wheel since he hated driving through traffic. Yet, he found himself enjoying the drive with Aurora.

He continued to subtly glance at her throughout the drive. She bobbed her head, mouthing the lyrics to whatever songs were playing through the speaker, while she played with his fingers.

He could get use to this.

❤︎ ❤︎ ❤︎

"Wow."

Aurora stared wide eyed as Xavier's car pulled through the long driveway, that led into an underground parking lot. Although she had worked on plenty of homes before, Xavier's home was magnificent.

When they drove through the front gates, which of course had security detail posted, they passed by a separate smaller, but still fairly large modern looking house. He had explained that it was where some of his security team lived— mainly the younger single ones, which included Jackson.

There were cars parked around as it seemed like Xavier provided them both with housing and transportation for their work. In return, they were loyal and guarded him, his company, and his home.

As he parked, she took a look around the space. Although she knew nothing about cars, she could tell they were all expensive. The only car she recognized was a white Tesla, which had always been one of her dream cars.

"What do you think?" He asked as they stepped through the door that connected the rest of the house to the garage.

He led her through a long hallway, passing by a set of stairs that led to the second floor. It then opened up a magnificent double-height living room space that directly connected to an open kitchen. The floor to ceiling windows provided a beautiful view of the front yard.

"Your house is gorgeous," she looked around with awe, noting that most of his furniture was a darker scheme.

"I'm glad you like it. I was kind of nervous since I'm with Miss Architect here."

"Oh, shut up," She shook her head, stifling a small chuckle. "This is one of the most beautiful homes I've ever seen."

"Really? I'll give you a tour after dinner," He placed the grocery bags onto the large marble island in the middle of the grand kitchen.

They had gone to the grocery store, and of course, like a little child, she had gone straight to the snack and sweets aisle with Xavier in tow. But being the responsible one, Xavier had made sure she didn't get too carried away. He pushed the cart, getting everything he needed for dinner while she followed along, keeping her arm looped around his. She was happy though, since he had given into ice cream as well as a couple snacks.

"It's really big though," she said as she looked up at the double height ceiling. "Do you live here alone?"

She placed her purse on the couch and the bouquet on the table before making her way over to help Xavier.

"Most of the time," he replied, as he continued to get out the ingredients. "But since I have a lot of spare rooms, Elijah and Megan stay over when they're on break from school. Damien will come over sometimes as well. Lucas stays over whenever Maddie kicks him out and Liam is— well, he's over too often."

Aurora nodded absentmindedly, eyeing the tub ice cream that seemed to be calling her name. She pouted when Xavier quickly snatched it away, placing it into the freezer. "Well, this is a really beautiful house."

"I wouldn't mind if you stayed here whenever you'd like," he invited, hoping she would agree. He had to admit— it did get lonely sometimes when he would come home to an empty house.

"Really?" She gave him a promising look. "I'd take you up on that."

He smiled before shooing her away. "Go watch TV in the living room. My Netflix and Hulu accounts should already be logged in."

"You don't need any help?" She asked.

He gave her a 'really?' look. "I'm sure I'll be fine, love. Now, go watch something."

Aurora pouted, muttering under her breath. "Alright, if you say so."

She reluctantly made her way to the living room, slipping off her heels as she got comfortable. Turning on the TV, she watched as the Netflix homepage popped up on the screen.

She had to stifle her laugh as she looked at the shows he had recently watched. They were mainly shows she had never even heard of.

Around 15 minutes into an episode of 'Lucifer', she decided to "check up" on Xavier to you know, make sure he wasn't burning anything.

She wandered barefoot into the large kitchen. Ingredients were spread out on the kitchen island, as he stood with his back to her, grilling two steaks in one pan and opening the lid to a pot of water that was beginning to boil.

"It smells so good," She exclaimed, coming up to him, before peering down at the pan. Just the smell alone made her mouth water.

He turned around to grab the already peeled potatoes, swiftly putting it into the pot without hesitation. If it were her, she would've jumped back from fear of hot water splashing out. "I thought you were watching TV?"

"Even though Tom Ellis is really hot, I'd rather watch you cook," she replied cheekily.

He gave her an unimpressed look. "Who the fuck is Tom Ellis?"

"Only like the hottest Lucifer," She muttered under her breath, clucking her tongue. She giggled, waving him off as he grumbled. "Are you sure you don't need any help? I can help chop those onions."

Back in the grocery store, she had expressed her love for onions, whether they be eaten raw or cooked. He had never met anyone who enjoyed eating onions, especially raw ones. She liked the spicy taste it gave, enjoying the bit of stinging pain it brought.

So, he decided to grill some onions. He figured he would take this time to earn brownie points.

"Are you sure?" He asked uncertainly, glancing hesitantly between the already washed onions and her.

"Of course," she picked up the knife Xavier had been using. "I'm a master at chopping."

Less than 5 minutes later, turns out she was indeed not a master at chopping. In fear of her accidentally slicing her finger open, Xavier took over. He gave her the task of stirring the potatoes and just prayed she wouldn't burn herself.

"Do you cook often?" She asked after successfully completing her task. She sat on the counter, watching as Xavier flipped the steaks.

"When I have the time," he answered, sneaking a quick kiss before turning around to grab the chopped onions.

After little kisses and touches here and there, dinner was finally served. He led her to the large dining table that was only ever used when his family and friends were over.

Aurora looked down at her plate, and stared in awe at how delicious dinner looked. The big juicy steak was complimented with grilled onions and sliced potatoes on the side. The potatoes were slightly boiled and then fried on a pan with garlic salt and pepper.

Xavier walked over with a bottle of expensive looking red wine, pouring it into two glasses.

She raised her eyebrow. "Trying to get us both drunk, so you can't drive me home?"

"Something like that."

His reply made her tilt her head back and laugh at she thought of what had happened just the previous night.

He placed the bottle to the side, taking a seat across from her. "Did you try it yet?"

"Not yet," she cut a piece of the steak and placed it into her mouth. Immediately, the juice from the meat exploded into her mouth, her eyes widening at how delicious and well cooked it was. "This is so good?"

She looked at him with an impressed look and she placed slice of potato in her mouth. This was definitely better than the ones you would order at fancy restaurants.

Xavier let out a small sigh of relief. He began to eat and thanked the gods he didn't overdo it with the salt.

"How is this for date night?" He asked. He had wanted to keep it simple, not wanting to go overboard.

"I like it. It feels homey somehow."

"Homey?"

"I don't know— just a feeling of warmth," she tried to explain her words unsuccessfully.  She could see how much effort he put into the idea of wanting to cook for her and it really was one of the best meals she's ever had. "And, I'm really comfortable and barefoot."

She stuck out her foot from the side of the table, causing him to chuckle. "I wasn't sure what to do for our date and we've been eating out since we've met, so I wanted to make you something. I figured you didn't want anything too flashy."

"Well, I really like these kinds of simple dates. I just liked spending time with you. But, how are you so good at cooking?" She asked with a bewildered expression. How was he so good at everything?

"Ma made sure all the boys in the house knew how to cook," he said, slightly smiling with a proud expression on his face. "So, our women could be treated like queens."

"Like I said last night, she is an amazing woman," she nodded. Even the onions had been perfectly grilled. "Without her, we would be starving."

Xavier chuckled in agreement, holding up his glass.

With a sudden bright idea, she cheekily smiled, clinking her glass with his.

"To Tom Ellis!" She cheered, causing Xavier to grumble with distaste. The same unamused expression appeared on his face once again, causing her to burst into a fit of giggles.

"Aurora."

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Happy Update Day!! This was kind of a long chapter, but it was because I couldn't stop writing. I was looking at the demographics of who reads my story and there are so many of you from all around the world. I just find that no matter where you are from, it's just so crazy that you're giving me a chance and yeah I really appreciate you all^^ I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please let me know what you think!

Oh, and before I forget, I think Wattpad was having an issue with delayed notifications. On Tuesday, I was having an issue with my notification being sent out really late when I updated. I emailed Wattpad and they said it should be fixed. I'm not really sure if it'll work today, but if it does get sent out late, I apologize first.

Remember to stay safe where you are and to stay hydrated! Have a lovely day and I'm sending lots of love to you <3