Chapter 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.
Hon’s hands moved over my back and ass, clutching and squeezing. “Hurt by West? Hardly. He’s not my type.”
The words were muffled against my throat, but they were clear enough. “Is that right?” I asked, hating the relief I felt.
“I would never date a doctor,” he teased.
“Probably a good strategy,” I admitted, even though my stomach twisted in disappointment. I didn’t know Hon well enough to determine if there was a thread of truth to his jibe.
“The problem is,” he explained, “there’s a doctor I’m currently hot for.”
I pulled his face back and brushed dark strands off his beautiful face. “I thought you hated me,” I said gently.
“I don’t hate your dick,” he pointed out with amusement clear in his eyes.
I leaned in and kissed him tenderly, teasing him with slow, soft kisses before pulling back again. He made a noise of discontent in his throat. “We can start with dick, then,” I said. “And see if the rest follows.”
Hon looked at me skeptically. “You’d agree to a friends-with-benefits situation?”
“No. I’d agree to an exclusive sexual relationship, which seems to be what’s on offer, correct?” I narrowed my eyes at him. “Because if you’re in my bed, you’re not in anyone else’s, Honovi.”
His cheeks did that delicious flush thing that got me right in the chest.
“Tell me you won’t be with anyone else while you’re with me,” I said more softly.
He shook his head. “I don’t… I won’t… I wasn’t anyway. I mean… Fuck, you make me tongue-tied.”
I kissed him again, twisting his tongue with mine before pulling back. “Talk to me.”
“I want this. Want you. I just… I don’t want to tell people. To do the whole ‘dating’ thing. I just want to be with you without… all the small-town bullshit.”
“You want me to be your dirty little secret, huh?”
It took him a moment to realize I was teasing. The quirk of his lip accompanied his body’s relaxation. “It would be mortifying for anyone to find out I’m dating Hobie’s most eligible bachelor,” he said. “Humiliating.”
I grinned. “Is that what I am?”
Hon tucked his fingers into my collar and tugged me closer. “No. Because you’re not eligible at the moment, remember?”
I kissed him again. And again. “Ineligible, huh? Might as well get the benefits I was promised in this little agreement.”
Hon followed me up the stairs to my bedroom, where we spent the rest of the night benefitting each other thoroughly.
Thankfully, over the next several weeks, visits from Hon were fairly regular. And to my surprise, there was a lot more to our new arrangement than just the incredible sex.
We shared long meals filled with laughter and talk of our childhoods, our friends, and our favorite movies.
For all that he made a living arguing, Honovi didn’t make even a token protest when I said I’d prefer he stay the night.
And one time, when he’d been stressed over a case that hadn’t gone his way, we’d spent hours in my bed talking it through before falling asleep wrapped up together.
We hadn’t even gotten to the “benefits” that night, and I’d still walked around with a dopey smile on my face the whole next day.
For the first time since moving to Hobie, I had something in my life I looked forward to as much as my career.
The only problem was, I was apparently not allowed to come to his place or decide when we were to have our… benefits.
I found his email address from when he’d helped on the hospital case and shot off an email asking him for his cell number and address.
The reply had only given me his cell number.
I’d stared at the email in amused surprise before texting him.
I noticed you left off your address.
Hon
Is that right? Hm.
I’d like to stop by later.
Hon
I have a late client meeting.
I’d ignored the frisson of jealousy I felt, reminding myself he’d committed to stay monogamous as long as we were sleeping together.
But he didn’t agree to be anything other than a sex partner.
I’d gritted my teeth against the naysayer in my head.
So, not tonight. How about tomorrow night?
Hon
I’ll be at your place around seven. See you then.
I’d stared at the message in disbelief, but it had been too soon to call him on it.
After three more weeks, I confronted him about it one morning before leaving for work.
“You know I know where you live, right?” I asked when I came back into the bedroom after showering.
Hon was still snuggled up in my bed and had pulled my pillow in to his chest the way he did after I got out of bed. “It’s a small fucking town.”
“Then why do you keep hounding me about it?” he asked sleepily.
His dark, tangled hair was spread out over the rumpled white sheets, making me itch to get back into bed with him. Instead, I walked over to my closet and pulled out clothes for work. “Because you clearly don’t want me showing up there, and I respect your boundaries.”
“Do you?”
“Hon… of course I do, but I can’t help but be a little hurt by it. We’ve been sleeping together for two months. And you’ve never asked me to your place. It would be one thing if you lived with your parents or a roommate. But you live alone. So what’s the deal? Are you a hoarder? Is that it?”
He huffed out a laugh. “Please. Have you met me? I organized your coffee pods the first morning I stayed over.”
“Yes, you did,” I said fondly. After tucking in my shirt and buckling my belt, I moved over and sat on the side of the bed. I reached over and ran fingers through his hair. “I’d like to see where you live.”
“Why?”
“You can learn a lot about a person from their home,” I said, leaning down to kiss his irresistible mouth.
Hon peered at me with only one eye open. “I’ll think about it.”
His serious tone suggested he meant it, so I shot him my best smile. The one that never failed to make his cheeks pink. “Deal. Be a good little lawyer today, m’kay?”
I leaned over and kissed him thoroughly to keep him from saying something snarky. When I finally pulled back and saw him glassy-eyed and pink-cheeked, words of affection stacked up in my throat.
Words about wanting to make a fresh start with him.
About wanting to give a relationship with him a try, though I’d thought I’d sworn off relationships a long time ago.
About wanting to be more than just sex partners.
But Hon clearly wasn’t ready to hear them yet.
So I headed to work… and landed directly in a nightmare.