Chapter 15 #4
“Hang on,” she murmured, pushing against his chest.
Xander immediately stilled and pulled away slightly. She could see the apology in his gaze, and she shook her head. Quickly untangling herself from his arms, she stood.
“Freya, sweetheart,” he began, worry and regret warring on his face. “I’m so sor—”
She pressed her finger against his lips and quickly straddled him.
Her knees sank into the plush couch on either side of his hips, and she replaced her finger with her mouth.
“I’m not going anywhere,” she murmured, nipping at his bottom lip.
“I just needed to get a little more comfortable.” Pressing her chest flush against his, she rocked her hips. “Hope you don’t mind.”
His hands squeezed her hips and rocked her harder. “Not at all.”
She lost track of how long they made out.
Her focus was entirely on Xander and the explosions he set off within her.
His mouth was downright magical, and while his gentle hands explored her, he kept everything over her clothes, not rushing.
The hard bulge she rocked against told her they’d get there in due time.
“I feel like I’m back in high school,” he said when they came up for air.
She tsked. “Naughty, naughty boy.”
“Like you didn’t make out with dudes in high school?”
She scoffed. “I’ll have you know, mister, I never even dated in high school.”
He rolled his eyes. “Yeah, right.”
“It’s true. My brothers didn’t let me date, and besides, I was a late bloomer.” She shrugged. “However, you’re definitely making me reevaluate the merits of a good ole make-out session.”
He laughed. “I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.”
She rocked her hips once more and was rewarded with a deep, throaty groan. She arched a brow.
“A good thing. Definitely a good thing.” He grinned, and for a moment, he simply stared at her. He tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear and murmured, “You’re so damn pretty, Freya.”
She melted at his words. “Thank you.”
“And I hope you don’t think I’m being presumptuous, but I don’t want our first time to be a quickie on the couch before dinner. Hence”—he ran his hands up and down her back—“keeping things above the clothes.”
She desperately wanted to feel his hands on her skin but agreed. Something told her the man would make the wait worth her while. Grinning, she laced her fingers behind his neck and nipped at his lower lip. “That’s fine with me so long as you promise we’ll get there sooner rather than later.”
His hands met her hips, and he lifted up, rocking her against him. His hard bulge hit her in the perfect spot, and she gasped.
“You were saying?” His mouth was back on hers, and he found a spot along her neck that sent shivers tearing through her.
“Don’t remember. Just don’t stop doing that.”
“I want you to get yourself off on me.” His hands cupped her ass as he guided her, grinding her against his hard length. “You feel so good, Frey.”
The heat surging through her grew as she continued to rub herself against him. The tension within her built, and her breaths became erratic.
“That’s it, baby. I want to watch you come.”
His hips pressed up again, and she ground down hard against him. Moments later, she detonated. Spasms rocked her body, and she fused her mouth to his. God, this man . . .
“That was so fucking hot,” he murmured against her lips. “Can’t wait to see that again.”
She met his gaze, and the desire staring back at her had her reaching for the button on his jeans. “I’m sure that can be arranged—”
The oven timer sounded.
She frowned when he covered her hands, stilling her movements. Xander had just bestowed her with her first non-self-administered orgasm in forever, and she was feeling all kinds of good, but the large bulge she’d been rubbing against was still prominent. “But you didn’t—”
He kissed her words away. “Don’t worry about me. You’re fucking beautiful and watching you come was worth every second.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “Dinner first.” Wrapping his arms around her, he quickly stood, making her yelp.
When her feet hit the ground, she chuckled. “Holy moly, you’re strong.”
“It helps that you’re a tiny little thing.” He playfully slapped her on the rear and made his way to the kitchen.
He removed both items from the oven and set them on the stovetop.
He added the marinara and the thinly sliced mozzarella atop the chicken pieces and placed it back into the oven to broil.
While he waited for that, he scooped the perfectly blistered zucchini chunks into a serving dish and topped it with a little of the grated parm.
The savory aroma filling the kitchen made Freya’s mouth water, and her stomach let out an angry growl. Yeah, they could get back to the make-out session after dinner. Something told her she’d need all the energy she could get to keep up with the potent man.
Once Xander pulled the finished chicken parmesan from the oven and plated their food, they settled at the small dining table and dug in.
The chicken had maintained its perfect crispiness while the mozzarella provided just the right amount of gooey goodness.
The parm gave it a kick of saltiness, and the marinara tied it all beautifully together.
“Oh my God, Xander.” She moaned around a bite of food. “This is heaven.”
He chuckled and sent her a heated look. “Not gonna lie, baby, I was hoping to hear those words under different circumstances.”
She grinned and popped another bite of food into her mouth. “You never know,” she teased. “The night is still young.”
“Indeed it is.” He winked at her, and for a few moments, they focused on their food. “So, Freya, tell me about this big family of yours. Are your folks having a packed house this Thanksgiving?”
Her chest squeezed. Even after all these years, there were times it felt like yesterday. “My parents actually passed when I was in middle school.”
“Oh shit, I’m so sorry.”
She shook her head. “Thank you. Even though my parents aren’t with us anymore, it’ll still be a packed house.
I grew up in Blanchard Bay. It’s a little coastal town about a dozen miles south of the Canadian border.
My oldest brother lives in our childhood home with his twin girls.
We all go there for Thanksgiving, and it’s absolute chaos. ”
“I’m sure.” He ate another bite before asking, “Is it okay to ask how they passed?”
Her mind flashed to all those years ago. Being called out of English class and seeing Axel waiting for her in the principal’s office. The devastation on his face. He’d only been a young man himself, and yet he’d been her rock. He’d been the rock for all their siblings.
Xander squeezed her hand, and she swallowed past the lump in her throat. “Plane crash. It was their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary, and they’d chartered one of those little Cessnas over to Victoria.”
“Freya, baby, I’m so sorry.”
She turned her hand and laced her fingers with his.
She wasn’t going to question the comfort she found in his touch.
Instead, she was going to embrace her new mantra and just go with it.
“Somehow, we made it through, but it was a rough few years.” She lowered her voice in an exaggerated whisper.
“Believe it or not, I wasn’t exactly the easiest teenager. ”
Understatement of the century. Her biggest act of rebellion had had devastating consequences. It was something she’d never forgive herself for.
“Even though I know my brothers mean well, they drive me crazy. Especially Axel, the oldest. He was twenty-three when our folks passed. The twins were nineteen, and my other brother was eighteen. Axel became my legal guardian, so I didn’t have to go into foster care.
He took on the father-figure role as best he could, and I’m sure you can imagine how smoothly—or not smoothly in my case—that went.
” The edges of her lips tipped up in a bittersweet smile.
“With hindsight, I can see that Axel sacrificed the most for all of us. Even so, he’s also the one I want to strangle the most. Considering he’s a detective with the Blanchard Bay PD, that would be frowned upon. ”
“I’d say so.” Xander chuckled. “And your other brothers?”
“The twins—Oscar and Jasper—are four years younger than Axel and run the construction company our dad started years ago. Then there’s Finn. He’s an EMT and probably the one I’m closest to.” She smiled. “I’ll be staying with him for Thanksgiving so Axel and I don’t kill each other.”
“Is it that bad?”
“Yes and no. He treats me like I’m an irresponsible teenager, and so I revert to said teenager to piss him off.” She shrugged. “Rinse and repeat.”
It was on the tip of her tongue to tell Xander why Axel treated her the way he did.
That she had, in fact, been the most irresponsible of all teenagers and had hurt so many people.
Destroyed so many lives. But that wasn’t a conversation she wanted to have.
Ever. She enjoyed how Xander treated her—like she was special and good.
If he knew what she’d done all those years ago . . .
She cleared her throat. “What about you? You mentioned joining the Army and then Hudson Security? What about your family? Are they still in Oregon?”
A look flashed over his face before it settled into a carefully blank expression, one that was similar to his work-Xander look.
“No family. Apparently, my mom was a junkie who OD’d when I was three.
I went into foster care and bounced around until I ended up at a group home at fifteen.
I got into a lot of trouble, was a hothead who knew everything.
” He gazed off to the side, as if carefully choosing his words.
“A couple guys I hung with got picked up for robbing a convenience store. I was supposed to be with them but got the meet-up time wrong. One of the guys had just turned eighteen. He was armed and got nine years. That was a big wake-up call.”
Her heart went out to him. “I’m sorry. That must have been tough.”
“It was what it was.” He shrugged. “After that, I did my best to keep my nose clean until I could enlist.”
“Was joining the Army what you’d hoped it was going to be?”
“It was definitely different than what I’d expected.” A small smile lifted the edges of his lips, softening his guarded look. “It was good. It gave me structure I didn’t know I needed. Gave me brothers I didn’t know I wanted.”
Her chest squeezed. The man was remarkable. “Well, you should be proud of yourself.”
His eyes narrowed in question.
“My brothers and I had our folks as role models. We had them for shorter than we wanted, but we saw the kind of people we wanted to be. My brothers are giant pains in the ass, but they’re stand-up guys.
And you, Xander Bonetti, are a good man, and you did it all on your own.
That’s beyond admirable.” She held his gaze and silently dared him to look away.
He didn’t. “I can see in your eyes you don’t believe me.
But trust me, Xander. It’s impressive. You’re impressive. ”
He shook his head and brought their still-joined hands to his lips. He pressed a kiss to the back of her palm and stood. “You’re too sweet. Now, how about that movie?”
He didn’t believe her, but that was okay. She was persistent and could be patient when she wanted to be. And with Xander, she wanted to be. “Sure,” she said, rising. She grabbed their empty plates and brought them to him at the sink. “I can load the dishwasher since you cooked.”
“No way in hell, baby.” He dropped a kiss to her forehead. “Why don’t you go pick a movie, and I’ll clean up here.”
Wrapping her arms around his waist, she pulled him into a hug. His arms went around her, and she propped her chin on his chest, looking up at him. “Thank you again for dinner. For the conversation. For the make-out session. For being so good to me.”
His hands framed her face, and his lips found hers. “Thank you. You make everything easy. Now go find us a good movie.”
It took her a few minutes to figure out Xander’s television.
What was the male obsession with televisions and receivers and countless remote controls?
She was a point-and-click kind of girl. After going through a few different streaming services, she was able to find one of her favorite movies. Aliens.
Grabbing a blanket from the back of the recliner, she curled up on the couch. Her eyes were heavy when Xander approached. “You have room for another?” he asked.
She scooted to the front edge of the couch and patted behind her. “You’re in luck.”
He climbed in, and her heart skipped as she settled against him. His arm wrapped around her waist, and he pulled her close.
This. She could get used to this.
After the movie started, she whispered, “Is it weird that this is a comfort movie for me?”
He chuckled. “Same. Pretty sure I can recite every line.”
She smiled. It was the same for her. She even knew all the words to the director’s cut. The movie had been one of her parents’ favorites.
When Ripley and the Marines were shooting up the aliens, Xander’s phone rang.
“Sorry,” he groaned, reaching over her to the coffee table where he’d left his phone. “I have to take this. It’s the boss.”
“Go ahead,” she said, stifling a yawn. She moved to get up, but he wrapped his arm around her waist, halting her. He tucked her close and brought his phone to his ear. As he answered, he pulled them back down to the couch.
“What’s up, Frazier?”
“Sorry to be calling so late,” Freya heard the other man say. “I just got off the phone with Esme. There’s a problem with one of the candidates we declined.”
Tuning their conversation out, Freya shifted so she was better cocooned against him.
She tried to focus on the movie, but Xander’s cedar-and-soapy scent filled her nose.
As he spoke, his voice was a quiet, soothing rumble.
Each blink became a chore, and with her head against his chest, the vibrations of his deep baritone lulled her to sleep.