Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
SAGE
It had been a month since Xander and I had started our thing, and while it hadn’t been perfect, it had been great.
Besides, there was no such thing as perfect, especially when you spent most of your free time with an überalpha male who could be a massive pain in the ass.
It didn’t help that I was somewhat stubborn and a lot wild, and every time he got überalpha on me, I fought right back.
First, because I didn’t take kindly to people telling me what to do, and second, because pushing Xander’s buttons was a whole hell of a lot of fun and more often than not led to some fantastic sex.
There was only one thing that put a damper on this past month.
John’s calls were still coming with increased frequency, and as much as I tried to keep it from Xander, he’d caught me dropping the call and turning the phone off completely more than once.
That led to questions, which led to me lying and saying they were wrong numbers or telemarketers.
Those lies stopped working one night when we were lying on my couch watching TV.
My phone had been on the coffee table when it began to ring, the screen in clear view.
I’d felt his body lock tight beneath mine when he saw John’s name. When he’d asked, I’d turned to him and announced, “It’s the past, and we don’t talk about that.”
That answer started a fight that didn’t lead to something fantastic.
It led to Xander storming out, both of us sleeping alone for the first night in weeks, and me giving him my best silent treatment the next day until he’d eventually gotten so fed up with it he’d grabbed me as I passed him in the hall, dragged me into the electrical room, and kissed me stupid.
And just like that, the fight was over.
The next time Xander saw John’s name flash across the screen, he’d promptly grabbed my phone and engaged the call, bringing it to his ear and barking, “First and only warning. Next time you call my woman’s cell, I hunt you down and rip your spleen out through your asshole.
” Then he’d hung up and tossed the phone aside.
It took a full minute for me to process what had just happened, and once it did, I burst into a fit of laughter that lasted for a while.
It was surprising how easily Xander and I had fallen into rhythm. We’d gone from hating each other to friends to people who couldn’t seem to get enough of each other.
But one thing that hadn’t surprised me was that, by the end of that month, I’d completed a headlong fall straight into love.
I still wasn’t sure whether or not that was smart, but it had been inevitable.
It started a few days after the come-to-Jesus talk we’d had when he’d gone all caveman-jealous about Bryce.
He’d told me he wanted me to crash at the cabin with him that night so he could check on Bear, so after I got off work, I’d gone home to pack a bag.
There was no way his standard, gets-the-job-done-and-that’s-it products would cut it, so I’d loaded up my stuff and driven my baby outside of town to his awesome cabin.
When I got there, he took my bag and made a joke about how heavy it was. When I’d told him what all I had in it, he’d given me a funny look before leading me into his bathroom.
There, on his counter, were a million different products, all of them girly, and all of them familiar since they were the exact same things I had at home.
“Figured if you’d be staying here, you should have what you needed. Now you don’t have to lug all that shit around.”
I’d looked up at him, the burn clawing at my eyes as I whispered, “You bought all this for me?”
He shrugged like it was no big deal, but to me it was everything. I would have told him as much, but I wasn’t sure if that would have freaked him out, so instead, I showed him just how much I appreciated the gesture by putting my all into the blowjob I gave him right there in the bathroom.
He really liked how I showed my gratitude.
The next hit came a week later. Since Xander had already seen me with my face covered in goop once, I didn’t bother hiding my skincare regimen from him and walked around most nights with something slathered all over my face. He’d ask what each mask did, I’d tell him, and that was that.
John expected me to do such things because it just wouldn’t do for his woman to get a pimple or a wrinkle, god forbid, but he didn’t want to see it.
My routine was to be done nightly, but I was to stay behind the closed bathroom door until I was finished, and only come out once I was as fresh and smooth as a flower petal.
Xander didn’t care at all.
One evening after dinner, he simply looked at me and asked, “What color are you givin’ me tonight?” referring to the different colors my clay masks came in. I answered, not giving much thought to his question and went about washing the dishes.
He came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling my back against his chest as he hummed in my ear, “Mmm, I get honey tonight. Love the smell of them all, baby, but the honey’s my favorite.”
The last hit, the one I hadn’t been able to withstand came not long after.
Things at the office were really picking up, and I’d ended up having to bring some work with me to Xander’s place so I didn’t fall too far behind.
I’d been sitting on his couch with my computer in my lap, typing away when he came up behind me.
I hadn’t realized he was there until he reached over the back of the couch and draped something against the cushion beside me. I looked over at the insulated, crazy expensive leather jacket before turning to him with curious eyes. “What’s that?”
“Weather’s turned again. Won’t last long, but right now it’s warm enough that if you have a good jacket, I can take you out on the bike. I looked through your stuff, baby. It’s all cute as hell, but none of it’ll cut it, so I got you somethin’ that does.”
“You . . . you bought me a new jacket so I could go out on your bike?”
I got another shrug. “I know how much you like it. If you can take a break from all that, I’ll take you out now. Keep it short so you can still get your shit done.”
And just like that, I was done for. My heart was his completely.
In response, I launched myself over the couch and into his arms. We had sex right there on the floor behind the sofa, and after that, he took me for a ride on the back of his bike.
It was late, so I didn’t have the sun on my face, but I had the wind in my hair and Xander’s body pressed into my front.
That was all I needed.
He gave me something new every single day, just by being himself, and in return I did everything I could to make sure those shadows stayed locked down whenever I was with him.
There were times they were just too strong to push down, and on those nights he was usually quiet and contemplative, but I never stopped trying.
We didn’t talk about his past, not ever, and he never shared anything about himself outside of the things I’d been able to put together on my own. I knew nothing of his childhood, his early adult life, or his time in the military, and I never asked.
I wasn’t thrilled about it, but I was following my instincts.
He proved to me on a daily basis he was worth it, so I fought back that little voice nagging at me that it wasn’t enough.
On the nights he went silent on me, as hard as it was, I simply sat back and gave him a safe, quiet place to be.
If that didn’t work, I’d crack jokes and act like it was any other day.
Danika’s words remained in the back of my mind, and I held tight to the hope that he’d eventually come to trust me enough to let me help him with whatever it was that haunted him.
Meanwhile, I kept telling myself over and over that this was enough.
And for now, it was, so that nagging voice could kiss my ass.
I was living in a town that was nothing but beauty, I had great friends, I had a job I loved, and I had a man who made me feel amazing on a daily basis.
There wasn’t much more a woman could ask for.
Except cake. Cake made everything even better.
“Hey, darlin’.” I pulled out of my musings and looked up from my computer at the sound of Roxanne’s voice to see her standing in the doorway of my office. “Staff meeting’s about to start.”
I gave her a huge smile and stood from my chair. “Be right there. I just have to grab the cake.”
This week’s birthday celebration was special for me for one reason and one reason only. Xander.
He hadn’t said a word about his birthday, but I knew from being responsible for the calendar that it was today.
When I’d asked him about it, he’d said it was no big deal, just another day, but as far as I was concerned, birthdays were special and needed to be celebrated.
He didn’t like crowds, so keeping a mind to that, I’d decided to go low key, just the two of us, but I’d still gone all out in an effort to show my man he mattered.
I’d gone for chocolate on chocolate today, not wanting to do anything that might look like I was playing favorites, even though I so totally was.
But even going simple, Sugar and Spice added their own spin on everything, so the chocolate cake was layered with what looked and tasted like melted Snickers bars.
In other words, it was freaking delicious.
“Happy Birthday Xander” was piped in white, and there were little white dots of frosting on the chocolate rosettes around the top.
When I walked into the conference room, all eyes shot to the pink box in my hand, and when they did, I got whoops of excitement from everyone.
Everyone, that was, except the birthday boy himself.
“Hell yeah,” Trent said, scooting his chair back to come around my way. “It’s a cake week.”
I’d been at Alpha Omega for two months now, and the staff meetings happened every Friday, but with only eleven employees, the meetings didn’t include cake as often as I’d have liked.
And after the first one, I’d quickly discovered something about the men I worked with: they might have been alpha badasses, but they totally dug cake.
“Hands off,” I snapped when Trent went for the box I’d just placed on the table, earning him a hand slap. “Sit down and wait for me to cut the pieces and pass them out. I swear, you guys are worse than children.”
He shook out his hand and gave me a look that was a cross between a glare and a scowl.
I ignored him and flipped the lid open, pulling the cake from the box. “Happy Birthday, Xander,” I said, giving him a big, beaming smile. His face remained flat, and with the exception of those shadows, his eyes were lifeless.
Doing my best to push down the ache in my chest at his lack of reaction, I began cutting and plating as the guys chatted and ate.
That first cake I brought had been the only one Xander had turned down, proving he’d been full of it when he said he didn’t eat cake, but when I placed the slice in front of him now, all he did was stare at it.
I kept a neutral expression on my face as I took a seat and dug into my own piece, pretending to listen as the meeting progressed, but I kept sneaking peeks my guy’s way throughout the whole thing, waiting for him to eat the cake I’d gotten specifically for him.
The minutes passed, the meeting eventually ended, and as I stood from my chair and started from the conference room, it took a lot to hide the fact that it killed me when Xander got up and walked out, leaving his cake completely untouched.