CHAPTER 29

Alexa's POV

A yawn breaks out of my mouth as I sit up in bed, nestling my untied hair. Stretching, I look around the room and notice that the shower is running. Xander is inside then.

I  climb out of bed and head for the bathroom without second thoughts. The showers cubicle is closed, so I can see nothing, but I make conscious efforts not to look over there as I quickly brush my teeth.

When I finish, Xander still hasn't stepped out of the shower and I contemplated going to knock on the door just to ruffle him a little bit. But I don't. Instead, I turn around and head out of the room, down the stairs and toward the kitchen.

It's been a very enjoyable and eventful past few days and I'm slowly starting to lean into the experience.

One can't hope for too much in life. I didn't dare to hope but here I am with almost everything I would ever need.

Better not to mess it up by knocking on the husband's shower stall and crossing the marked lines.

The maids are already waiting for me when I walk in. With a smile on my face, I greet every one of them by their names before I get around to making breakfast.

I am not sure what Xander would like to have for breakfast so I go all out to make food in just enough quantity as I had done last night.

Last night, after checking with him to be sure that it is okay for me to make our meal, I made us spaghetti and meatballs with some delicious sauce.

For a few seconds after the first taste, Xander had sat in his seat staring at me making my nerves sputter all over the place.

But when he blew me a kiss and smiled, I realized that i had absolutely nothing to worry about at all.

I am almost finished in the kitchen when the maids scurry out as Xander walk in. I look up with a small smile on my face as I watch him walk up to me slowly.

“Good morning,” I mumble, willing my eyes not to stray away from his magnetic piercing eyes to the slope of his hard chest which I'd ran my hands over last night.

“Hi, pretty woman.” Xander smiles back.

And then he does something totally unexpected

Xander leans in closer, bringing with him that irreplaceable manly scent I am starting to associate with him.

His hand wraps around the curve of my waist as he presses a kiss to my cheeks, leaving me dazed.

When he pulls back, it takes all of me not to lose my stamina, stagger and fall to the ground.

“Uhm,” I start as I blink rapidly and look away from him toward the pancake, which is ready to be flipped. “Breakfast is ready. I just need to dish this set.” I tell him.

“I don't mind.” Xander shrugs, and I feel myself flush more. “Do you have any plans to go out today?” He asks.

“I'm not sure. If turning me into a home buddy was your plan, then you might be succeeding. I only walked the streets of NY yesterday because I missed it.” I explain.

“Unbelievable.” Xander scoff, teasing me. “Most people would do anything not to walk under the harsh sun.”

“Maybe,” I shrug as I finally dish the pancakes.

I top off the pancakes and waffles with fruits of our picking and cream.

The maids with a signal from me comes back in to help serve our portion of the food to us.

They smile appreciatively when I tell them ti help themselves to the rest of the meal.

“You know,  you make for an excellent lady of the house.” Xander tells me as I settle down in my chair at the patio where we have resulted to eating now.

“Why? Because I feed them.” I ask. His comment is certainly doing some things to me.

“That's part of it. It's because you are so welcoming. Accommodating.” He tells me.

I shrug, smiling as I dig into my food. Something occurs to me then, and after I have plunge pieces of bacon and sausages into my mouth, I turn to Xander.

“When are your friends arriving from London?” I ask him.

Xander puts down his fork while he slowly chews his food. “That's kind of one of the things I want to talk to you about this morning.” He tells me.

“Oh, really?” I ask.

“Yeah. They will be here in five days. Yes, on a Saturday.” He explains.

“Okay. Where will you be receiving them?” I ask him because I know they ought to have been here but delayed for whatever reasons known to them.

“Most of them have accommodations here in New York. The ones who don't can of course afford hotels. But on the one night when they will be having dinner with us, it's going to be a really long night. I'm talking dinner to about 2 AM.” He explains.

I begin to nod. “Is this some kind of tradition?”

“Yes. Some inner circle thing we've been practicing for years. Every year, we rotate who gets to play host or hostess and it's usually fun. Most of the time.” He explains.

I nod even more, soaking every bit of information in.

“How many are you all?” I ask.

“Five including me. I believe you've met my best friend, Dave Lorenzo with his wife Sofia on our wedding day.  There's  Reed Patterson, Sawyer Johnson and Lane Russell. Although the last one has not been to any of our meet-up in the past two years, I believe he will be around this time.”

I nod again, slowly willing my brain to remember the names.

“They always come with their partners or dates. Whoever they deem fit. It's not always an issue but we've been married for a few weeks now. They've never met you except from Dave. They don't believe that I've gotten married so they are going to quiz you a lot. Anything goes wrong and they might deem you unworthy of being married to me.”

I frown, hating the sound of that. Why do they get to have a say?

“Can they really?” I ask.

“Some of my friends are assholes. I'm going to step in of course but it won't stop them.” He explains, trying to assure me.

Exhaling, I sit up to continue eating and he does the same. I try to put a face to all those names, knowing they are multi billionaires like Xander too and might be more of an asshole than he was to me.

“Where do you plan on hosting them? A restaurant? Establishment or here at the house?” I ask after a few minutes of silence.

“Where do you want me to have them? Do you feel comfortable inviting them over?” He asks instead rather than answering my question.

I chuckle softly as I pick up my iced coffee to take a sip. “Xander, this is your ho—”

“Our house,” he cuts in, swiftly.

Nodding, I sip my coffee, my eyes suddenly burning with some intense tears. “If you want them here, it won't be an issue. I think it will make them more comfortable. This place is certainly large enough to accommodate more than five couples.” I mutter.

Xander nods but leans in closer toward me. “But are you okay with them coming here? Will you be comfortable, fine?” He asks.

Again, the need to cry presses at me with demanding urgency that I have to blink a few times to stop myself from embarrassing myself. “Yes,” I nod.

Xander exhales and nods, his eyes soften at me like he can see that I'm struggling. It makes me feel seen. Naked. Bare.

And it's suddenly not a bad thing.

“I want to take you dress shopping today. More like clothes shopping but I also have a few meetings to attend to.” He explains, his face tightening.

I look at him, wondering whether if I ask him to stay back and not go to work, he would oblige my request. I almost ask before I catch myself and stop.

“I want to handle the menu.” I blurt instead.

“Huh?” Xander blinks.

“Your friends. I want to be the one to cook the meals.” I tell him, wringing my fingers in my lap.

Xander doesn't ask questions or hesitate like I think he will. Instead, he just nods with a smile on his face. “Okay,”

I go back to eating knowing that he is quietly watching me but I don't fret. Usually in cases like this, I would glare at the staring party but this time I don't.

I only look down at wrinkled pajamas I have on which I still haven't changed from knowing fully well that I look a mess.

I bet that is what he sees when he looks at me.

“What will we say if they ask how we met?” I ask, cutting into the rising tension.

“What did we tell my mother?” he asks, chewing quietly.

“I think that boat has sailed. Whatever we told your mother won't really work, you know.” I shrug while he nods in agreement. We take a few minutes to ourselves to think about it.

I sip my iced coffee in the mean time, thinking. Any over the top story would not be bought judging by what he has said about his friends so we have to keep it as simple as possible. Promising. Yet very believable.

“Anything yet?” He asks after a few minutes.

“How about the truth?” I ask.

“Go on,” he urges me.

“From what you've mentioned about your friends, I believe they are the types that won't believe a lie. Which is why we have to stick to the truth as much as possible. Just more believable.” I explain. He nods to say he understands so I go on.

“I am thinking we tell them that I work in one of your restaurants. You already know that I worked there. And you have been noticing me for a while. You almost ran me over with your car one night when I didn't feel too well. You take me home and tend to me. And you know, our love story picked up from there.” I suggest.

Xander stares at me for a few seconds while I watch his eyes light up. “Brilliant, Alexa. Brilliant!”

“My pleasure,” I grin as I raise my coffee to drink.

We continue to eat again and this time when I feel him watching me, I look up to stare at him right back. The tension in the air is palpable, thick that even a knife can't slice through it. Xander's eyes are locked with mine and neither of us ate looking away.

“Alexa,” he calls.

“Hmm,” I answer, absentmined. I can't stop my eyes from roaming his perfect body in a suit, the shoulders expanded and molded to fit him perfectly. An empowering, deliciously sexy man is what I see.

And he is my husband.

“A truth for a truth.” He suggests again.

I swallow, wondering if I tell him that I want him to stay home today and don't go to work, would he stay? Or how much I want to peel those clothes of him till I'm riding his dick and moaning in pleasure. I blink, wiling myself to snap out of it.

My goodness.

Those thoughts…

“What's your favorite color?” I ask instead.

“I'm looking at it now. Green.” He tells me.

Green.

The color of my eyes…

Before I can react, Xander's phone starts to ring. He puts down his coffee, rises to his feet and walks to the far end of the room while I'm left a nervous mess. He just said that…No. He didn't mean it like that.

Green  has always been his favorite color. He only said that because he is looking at my eyes.

Xander returns and when hurriedly downs the remainder of his coffee, I know that he is leaving.

“Sofia will be here in ten minutes. She just texted me so you might want to take a bath and get ready for her.” He says while I frown in confusion, taken aback.

“Oh, shit. I didn’t tell you.” Xander face palms for a few seconds before looking at me again. “I invited Sofia to spend the day with you. She is almost here.”

“Oh,” I mutter, not knowing how I feel about that. The woman and I hadn't started on the right foot.

“Yep. I don't want you to be alone today. You two have fun but I really have to go now.” He tells me.

“Of course. I understand,” I nod with a smile that I don't feel.

Xander picks up his briefcase and starts out the door but then he hesitates, turns around and comes to plant a big kiss on my forehead before walking out of the room. Leaving me a trembling mess this time.