“Okay,” he agrees with a sigh before he turns and hurries out the back exit like he’s running for his life.
On the way to the front, I stop by the employee bathroom to see how I look. And yep, I’m still a hot mess with my hair falling out of my ponytail and my eyes still puffy and red from crying at night because I thought I may have ruined everything with my best friend. But he’s here now, so maybe there’s still hope.
Finally, I take a deep breath and suck it up, ready to hear what he has to say. If he’s come all this way to tell me he’s not moving home, I may tie him up and hold him hostage in the storage room.
On the way back through, I nearly break my neck stretching it to see him over the rows of merchandise. It’s definitely his black hair and wide shoulders standing in front of the front register.
“What are you doing here?” I ask as I approach and ease behind the counter to put some space between us, so I don’t attack him. “I thought you had at least two weeks to work…”
“Turns out more than one of the guys in the firm slept with my soon-to-be ex-wife,” Xavier grits out. “They were kind enough to offer me their unused vacation days as an apology in exchange for me not knocking them out.”
“Seriously?” I ask in disbelief.
“Seriously,” he says as he slips his hands casually into the pockets of his gray pants. And fuck, he looks good in the three-piece suit, like a GQ model on steroids even though I know Xavier has never touched a single drug in his life.
“Wow. I’m sorry,” I tell him, swallowing down my lust and sympathy when I remember I’m still mad at him for lying to me.
“I missed you this week,” he says softly, his tongue wetting his full lips as if he needs to look any hotter. “Did you miss me?”
“Maybe, maybe not,” I answer, shrugging one of my shoulders while pressing random buttons on the register just to have something to do rather than stare at him.
“I called you every day and texted you,” he says as if I wasn’t aware of my phone constantly blowing up. “But you didn’t reply to any of them or call me back.”
“I was mad at you,” I remind him.
“Was, as in the past tense?”
“Was, if, and only if, you can show me the divorce papers…” I trail off.
“Oh! Right!” Xavier exclaims when he reaches in his back pocket of his pants to pull out his cell phone. “It’ll take a few more months to finalize, but I’ve already signed everything for the separation. Here’s a PDF,” he says before he pulls the document up on his phone and turns it around to show me.
“Uh-huh,” I say as I glance at the paperwork.
“So, now that all of that is out of the way, what are your plans tonight?” he asks.
“Not much,” I say when I lean my back against the wall and try to sound nonchalant. “Eddie and Mike are coming over to my place so we can finally try out that threesome idea. Want to join us?”
“Fuck no!” Xavier yells, his sculpted cheeks turning red with his jaw clenched tight.
“I’m joking,” I say with a smile. “I ended things with both men last week.”
“You did?”
“Yes,” I answer. “Apparently, there’s this guy I can’t get over no matter how much of an asshole he is.”
“That’s great,” Xavier says with a sigh. “I mean about the guy, not that he’s an asshole. But in his defense, he didn’t mean to be an asshole…”
“Xavier?”
“Yeah?” he asks, wetting his lips again.
“Are you going to kiss me or what? I’ve been waiting a week. Well, technically years–”
In the blink of an eye, Xavier vaults over the counter smoothly and then cradles my face between his big palms to cover my mouth with his. He tastes like mint and teenage fantasies and… home.
“Are you really moving back here?” I ask when I cover his hands to pull my mouth away because this all seems too good to be true.
“No,” he says, making my stomach drop. “I’ve already moved back. I brought what I could with me on the plane, and the rest is on its way. I knew that once I came back, I wouldn’t want to ever go back to the west coast. So, I broke my lease and packed everything up, even though I have no idea where I’m going to put all my shit or sleep. Maybe with Macy or my parents…”
“I guess you could stay with me,” I tell him as I grab his lapels and flatten them.
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“Great,” he replies with a grin. “I, um, I also signed something else this week – a contract for a fight in five months.”
“You did?” I gasp in surprise, wondering why he didn’t mention that in any of his calls or voicemails.
“I did,” he agrees with a nod. “I couldn’t wait to tell you in person. No one else knows yet except Coach Briggs…”
“That’s amazing, Xavier!” I wrap my arms around his neck to hug him, because this is bigger than our silly fight. He’s going to pursue his dreams. Finally.
“Or it’s insane,” he says into my hair as his strong arms hug me back tightly to his hard body. “Still not sure which. Either way, I start training at Havoc first thing tomorrow morning.”
“You’re going to do great. You’re a natural in the cage,” I tell him, and he finally releases his grip on me to pull back far enough to kiss my lips again.
“Thank you, Cass. You’ve always been in my corner cheering for me. I’m sorry it took so long for me to realize how lucky I am to have you in my life. I love you, baby. Always have, just now I love you a little more because you let me kiss you.” He demonstrates the action again in
