“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.