Chapter 27
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
The week flew by in a blur. Xander drove her to and from work, and her schedule was jam-packed.
From seven thirty in the morning to five thirty in the evening, it was back-to-back-to-back appointments.
All the while, Xander’s colleague, Bonson, had parked himself in the corner behind the spa’s front desk, much to the delight of Audrey, the other front-desk girls, and many of the spa guests.
To say the man was easy on the eyes was an understatement.
Freya was beginning to think it was a Hudson Security job requirement to be charming, ripped, and stupidly hot.
The only morning she had a light schedule was Wednesday—she didn’t have to start until nine thirty—but she’d met Hazel for coffee at Comfort Food. Xander had discreetly taken a small table by the entrance while she and Hazel had caught up on the opposite side of the café.
Meeting with her friend had been a huge disappointment.
Hazel had talked her ear off, going on and on about her new boyfriend.
How amazing he was, how handsome he was, how rich he was.
Every question Hazel had asked her seemed to be just a segue to the next topic she wanted to talk about, which always had to do with her boyfriend.
Freya was happy for Hazel, she really was.
She knew her friend tended to move from man to man, never quite finding what she wanted.
But this guy seemed to check all of Hazel’s boxes.
However, when Hazel said he was giving her the money to open up her own salon downtown, she couldn’t help but be skeptical, especially since their relationship was still so new.
However, seeing as her own relationship with Xander was also brand spanking new and moving a million miles an hour, she couldn’t say a thing.
As Miriam had warned her, Hazel had asked her if she wanted to work at the new salon. She’d declined, but it was like Hazel hadn’t heard her and just continued to talk about how much fun they would have working together again.
While Hazel had taken a moment to text her boyfriend, she’d discreetly caught Xander’s eye and sent him a pleading look. Within minutes, he’d rescued her from the painful meetup, and she’d given Hazel a vague promise to see her again soon.
It had been go go go since then.
A highlight was that Miriam had made good on her promise for dinner and had upped the ante.
On Wednesday, Mir had treated her and Xander to an amazing dinner at the Orca Moon Lounge, where Mia—on a rare night off—and her boyfriend had joined them.
The following night, her boss had surprised her with reservations to the resort’s uber fancy Watermark Restaurant.
Freya’s days were busy and exhausting, with a nervous edge that hovered over her like a storm cloud, but ending each night in Xander’s arms made it all worth it.
On Saturday, after another long day of work, they headed to Daisy’s birthday party, albeit a little late.
Her feet were killing her, but she was looking forward to a mellow evening celebrating the darling girl.
Apparently, Daisy wanted everyone to come over and watch her newest favorite movie—Tangled—in the backyard.
Though the snowstorm the forecasters had anticipated had never materialized, at least not on Hudson Island, it was still twelve days until Thanksgiving, and the temperatures had dropped.
So if anything, a backyard movie-night party would be interesting.
They pulled into a long driveway that led to an amazing house that overlooked the water, and despite the nerves blooming in her stomach, she chuckled at the number of all-black Range Rovers lined up along the side.
Over the past week, aside from work, she and Xander had spent every waking moment together. Talking, hanging out, making love. In all that time, it had been on the tip of her tongue to invite him to Thanksgiving. Each and every time, she’d chickened out.
Yes, they were together, but a holiday with her family seemed so official. Not that she wasn’t there. She was. But was he? They hadn’t had the official are-we-boyfriend-and-girlfriend talk, but, temporarily or not, she’d moved in with him, and it was fantastic.
Also, she knew her brothers would grill him. She wasn’t sure she wanted to subject him to that. Hell, she didn’t know if he wanted to be subjected to that. After all, they were still so new. So she’d hemmed and hawed all week, and now it felt like it was too late to ask.
Oh my God, you’re spiraling. Stop!
Was she overthinking things? Most likely. Did that make inviting him any less nerve-racking? Nope.
Xander cut the engine, and her pulse picked up speed. Now or never. As he reached for his door handle, she blurted, “Will you come home with me for Thanksgiving?”
He released the door handle and turned to her with questioning eyes.
Oh no. Words spewed from her mouth. “I mean, if you’re not busy. It’s totally okay if you can’t. I mean, Blanchard Bay is a long drive from here. I just thought maybe it would be nice and—”
He kissed her quiet, and some of the built-up tension within her released.
“I’d love to spend Thanksgiving with you. Honest question, Frey,” he began, pushing a lock of hair behind her ear. She held her breath. “Were you thinking about asking me the entire drive here?”
She squirmed and gave him a sheepish smile. “Maybe.”
He exhaled and mimed wiping sweat from his brow. “Well, that makes me feel better. You were so quiet, I’d thought you were having second thoughts about coming to the party. Then I thought maybe you were having second thoughts about us.”
Shaking her head, she chuckled. “If you could have been in my head a few minutes ago, I was going down the rabbit hole of whether we’re together together or just kinda together.”
The smile he flashed her had her insides lighting up.
He leaned over the console and pressed another kiss to her lips.
“Together together. For the record, boyfriend and girlfriend feel a little juvenile to me, and partner feels too formal. And since lover just gives me the creeps, my vote is to go with boyfriend and girlfriend. Thoughts?”
For a second, she could only stare at him in wonder. This amazing man was constantly surprising her. “I’m in agreement on the term lover. It’s . . .” She scrunched her face. “Not a fan. So boyfriend and girlfriend it is.”
“Great.” His gaze darted to the house, and his smile widened. “I see a very excited little girl waving at us. Ready to party?”
Freya glanced at the house and laughed. Sure enough, Daisy was standing on the porch between Matt and Wilson. She was hopping from foot to foot with a giant smile on her face, waving frantically at them.
She patted his shoulder. “Go give the birthday girl a hug, and I’ll grab all the presents.”
His gaze swung to hers. “You sure?”
She glanced at Daisy again and chuckled. “Uh, yeah.”
Freya laughed as she grabbed their gift bags from the back of the SUV, and Xander made his way to the house shouting, “Birthday girl!” Daisy leaped off the porch—fluffy rainbow-sloth dress, sparkly unicorn tiara, and all—and launched herself at Xander with an excited squeal.
“Let me help you with those,” Wilson said, heading her way while Xander carried Daisy inside. He grabbed the bags and then held up the three largest, shaking his head. “I swear, the rest of us don’t stand a chance of ever getting to be that girl’s favorite.”
With a smile, she followed Wilson into the house. Xander, still carrying a beaming Daisy, was immediately beside her.
“Hi, Faya!”
“Happy birthday, sweet girl. Are you having a good birthday so far?”
Daisy nodded. “We’re gonna have cake and ice cream with sprinkles and popcorn and M&M’s! And Xandy’s gonna sit right next to me!”
The little girl wiggled in Xander’s arms, and he set her down. She flew through the great room and out to the back deck.
“In case you can’t tell, Matt already snuck her some ice cream,” a woman who was obviously Daisy’s mother said with a smile. “I’m Scarlet. I’ve seen you around, but it’s nice to officially meet you in person.”
“Same,” she said, shaking the other woman’s hand.
“If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to call the kids in,” Scarlet said, resting her hands on her baby bump. “It’s cake time. We’re doing things out of order since I’m hoping the kids will crash during the movie.”
Xander scoffed. “With all the snacks you have planned, not likely, Scar.”
The other woman grimaced. “I know. I put out some baby carrots and cucumber slices, but Matt put them next to the gummy worms and Nerds Clusters. Let’s just hope they don’t all end up puking by the end of the night.”
As Scarlet went to wrangle the kids, Xander introduced Freya to the handful of people she didn’t know.
She was pleasantly surprised to see one of her local clients, Poppy, at the party.
The woman owned a popular boutique downtown and was apparently very good friends with Scarlet. Gotta love small towns.
The party was controlled chaos. It helped that there were only a handful of kids, but there were a lot of adults, mostly from Hudson Security.
The amount of testosterone in the room was high.
It was telling how everyone had shown up for their colleague’s daughter.
Plus, each and every one of those badasses were wearing light-up unicorn headbands.
After dinner and cake and ice cream, they all moved into the great room for presents.
Freya stood off to the side, taking it all in, and she marveled at the efficiency.
Daisy sat on the couch, flanked by her parents, while Xander and Wilson were in charge of bringing the gifts to her and handling the discarded wrapping and tissue paper.
Esme was perched on the arm of the couch, jotting down who gave Daisy what.
It was quite a well-oiled machine. But considering this was the Hudson Security crew, Freya wasn’t exactly surprised.
She couldn’t help but grin at the slew of pink, purple, and unicorn gifts, and at how Daisy was a wonderful mix of delighted and shy as she thanked each person for their gift.
They were coming to the end of the gifts when Xander handed over all four of their gift bags. “Alright, birthday girl, these are from me and Freya.”
She snickered as the majority of his friends rolled their eyes, but all their smirks were good-natured. The sweet girl politely thanked them for the pajamas and then squealed with delight at the tent playhouse and furniture.
“Hang on, birthday girl,” Xander said, handing Daisy an envelope. “This is also part of your present.”
“Oh good God,” Tash quietly grumbled from beside her. “Of course he got her another present. Do you know what it is?”
Freya shook her head, curiosity clawing at her.
“It’s a mama and baby slothy!” Daisy exclaimed, holding up the photo.
“That’s right, birthday girl,” Xander said, pointing at the picture. “That’s Suzie, the sloth mama, and that’s her baby, Coco. We have to wait a couple months for Coco to get a little bit bigger, and then we can go on an adventure and visit them in person. You can even hold and feed Coco.”
Daisy’s eyes widened, and she gasped. “I can cuddle a real slothy baby?”
He grinned. “You sure can, birthday girl.”
Chuckles sounded when Daisy launched herself at him, practically strangling him.
Freya’s chest squeezed. This sweet, sweet man . . .
“Ugh.” Tash groaned, leaned toward her, and whispered, “I don’t even want kids, but that whole thing just made my ovaries spring to life.”
Freya laughed. “I hear you.”
Was it too early to fall in love?
She’d never been one to believe in love at first sight.
After all, she was the one who’d had the rule of two dates before you kissed and two months of dates before you slept together.
She’d technically kissed Xander before they’d even been introduced.
Then she’d really kissed him after their first dinner.
Then she’d happily jumped into bed with him a few days after that.
Yes, it was fast. And it was most definitely not her norm. But nothing about it felt wrong.
“Xan’s a great guy,” Tash said, her voice low. “But I’m sure you already know that.”
“He is. He’s made me throw every dating rule I had out the window.”
Tash chuckled. “If it’s any consolation, I know for a fact that you’ve done the exact same for him.”
She glanced at the other woman, the woman who was one of Xander’s best friends. “Half the time, I wonder how it’s possible that he’s real.”
“What you see is what you get with Xan. And with you? He’s letting you see more than any of us.
Please be careful with his heart.” Tash looked at the man in question, a soft smile lifting the edges of her lips.
“You’re good for him, Freya. If you give him the chance, he’ll be everything you didn’t know you needed. ”
“I think he already is,” she whispered. Watching Xander as he laughed with Daisy, warmth filled her soul. “His heart’s safe with me. I promise.”