Total pages in book: 21
Estimated words: 19358 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 97(@200wpm)___ 77(@250wpm)___ 65(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 19358 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 97(@200wpm)___ 77(@250wpm)___ 65(@300wpm)
Both men stared at me. As soon as I remembered the two of them had dated in the past, my face ignited, and I wished this booth to open up and swallow me whole.
“Erk,” I said.
“Nice to meet you, Dr. Wilde,” Xavier said dryly. His voice was deeper than usual, and I couldn’t help but watch him for any small indication of what he was thinking.
“You, too, Dr. Rhodes,” West said with a shit-eating grin.
Xavier’s nostrils flared slightly as he looked back at me. “Mr. Baptiste.”
Oh.
Ohhh. I couldn’t breathe. What the fuck was wrong with me?
“Dr. Rhodes,” I said faintly.
I tried to control my breathing so neither of these physicians noticed my increased heart rate and shallow, panicked breaths. And the fact that I was fairly sure I was falling in love with one of them while simultaneously wanting to murder the other.
West muffled a snort. “Hon and I were talking about when to tell his family we’re seeing each other.”
I snapped my head toward him. “We were not!”
Xavier turned to me, his eyes boring into me as if their sole purpose was to laser-beam my heart into an even faster rhythm. “Congratulations.”
“No,” I insisted, not even knowing where to begin. If I protested too much, it would sound like a lie, or worse. It would sound like it mattered to Xavier when it couldn’t possibly matter to him. “West is in love with someone else.”
West squawked. “Am not!”
I ignored him. “He’s covered in tattoos and hot as fuck. Sweet with kids. Pierced everywhere.”
Xavier’s eyes darkened, so I backpedaled. “Not that I would know! I wouldn’t! I just worked with him.”
West sighed. “No, you’re right. He’s pierced everywhere.”
“Congratulations,” Xavier repeated—this time just to West—before placing his hand on my shoulder briefly, squeezing firmly before letting go.
A claiming.
A brand.
“It was nice to see you both,” he said. “I’m picking up a to-go order and heading home.”
Was it just me, or had he put special emphasis on the word home?
“I’m not in love with Nico, but I was joking about us dating,” West said, finally picking up on the strangling tension in the room. “Hon and I are just friends.”
Xavier stared at me for a beat before turning to West. “Then you’re a fucking idiot.” Then he turned and made his way back to the reception area, where the hostess had his order ready.
West and I stared after him.
“What?” I asked.
West chuckled. “Ohhh, he has it bad.”
“What?” I repeated. Had that just happened?
“Sorry,” West said with a sigh after he was gone. “I had no idea the two of you had something going on.”
“We don’t.” I insisted.
“You’re oblivious if you didn’t notice him pissing all over you.”
I stared at the door Xavier had disappeared through. “He’s not interested in dating, and neither am I,” I said faintly. “It’s just sex.”
West let out another huff of laughter. “That must be some damned good sex, Honovi.”
As soon as we were done, I hotfooted it to Xavier’s house to test his theory.
8
XAVIER
I felt like a caged animal. One who was cranky as fuck and ready to claw the eyes out of whoever dared to come near me next.
Unfortunately, that someone ended up being Hon.
“That was awfully cozy,” I snapped as soon as I opened the door. I couldn’t help how my eyes roved over him, devouring the sight of him as if it was rare and precious.
Since when did I care about someone this much? I’d fucking sworn off relationships, for fuck’s sake. And now here was this small-town attorney who turned my head every second of the day, whether he was in front of me or not.
And seeing him with West had seriously messed with my head. A hot snake of toxic jealousy had churned in my gut at the sight of the two of them together.
It hadn’t just fucked with my head. Even though I wasn’t ready to admit it, I had a sneaking suspicion it might have fucked with my heart, too.
For some reason, I really liked this guy, even though there was no rhyme or reason to it. We barely knew each other, and most of the time we’d spent together had been antagonistic.
Or heated in a completely different way.
“My sharing dinner with a previous client was cozy?” Hon asked with a knowing smirk.
I was still angry, even though part of me was relieved as fuck to hear him describe West in such impersonal terms. I reached for his arm and pulled him across the threshold. “Get in here. Since when do you hang out with West Wilde?”
“Since I worked on his daughter’s custody case. Which, by the way, is also when he fell in love with someone who is not me. And since when do you care?”
I yanked him in and held him in a strong hug. “I don’t want to see you hurt,” I murmured into his hair, relishing the familiar scent and silky feel.