Chapter 24
Xander
I didn’t hate many people, but I hated Maddox.
I hated that he got to have a piece of Penelope’s life.
I hated how viciously jealous it made me.
I hated being reminded that they had a history I couldn’t compete with. Especially after waking up alone this morning. The
faint candied citrus scent on the pillow was the only thing she’d left behind when she scurried out of bed.
“Nothing happened,” Penelope said offhandedly as we walked back inside.
Not that it stopped my mind from going wild thinking of all the things that could have happened.
We stopped at the bar. I didn’t care where we went, I just needed to get her away from Maddox so that my mind would stop creating
mental images of them to torture me.
“I didn’t ask,” I answered curtly, ordering a drink even though I didn’t want one. All I wanted was to keep my mind busy.
She took a step back and turned to look at me squarely.
“Well, I thought you should know.” Penelope took a sip of water and glanced around the room, calmly.
She’d said so many times it was nothing, but he loomed like a shadow. That thought, coupled with the subversive allure of
the deep green dress, made me fucking crazy.
That dress. Practically seamless, the silk draped over her shoulders in thin straps, bared her back all the way down to where
it came together right above where I would have expected her panties to begin.
“Well, thank you for telling me, Poppy.” I tried to rein it all in. Tried to put up a happy face and keep moving. There was
no point in being annoyed or upset over information that was hardly news.
If I could act unbothered, maybe I’d believe I was, and it would hurt less.
I glanced around the room and remembered what we were supposed to look like.
“As a reminder. We’re on our honeymoon,” I murmured. I ran my hand down her waist and kept her close. “We should look like
it.”
Her eyes widened. She shuffled a bit more.
It was petty and juvenile, but the possessiveness seeped into my bloodstream with every passing second. Spurred on by the
fact that she felt so good next to me, the memory of last night flashed in my mind.
“Come on,” she said with a frustrated sigh.
Her warm breath lingered along my neck.
She put her drink down, took my hand and led me away from the bar.
***
Penelope
“Come on,” I said and placed my drink along the bar.
He was annoyed but masked it in cordiality. It would be easier to talk freely where nobody was around, and I didn’t want this
unnecessary tension all night.
I led Xander down the hallway at the side of the staircase, know ing the den was probably empty. We passed the clean lines of the moldings along the wall. Each framed a different patriarch of the Chen family.
I opened the door and he followed, shutting it behind us.
The large, empty room was a den that Olivia used as a staging area. A few card tables, props, and decorations that weren’t
used for the party were strewn about. I didn’t know where to find a light switch, but the moonlight streamed in over the large
windows that looked out onto the gardens, filling the room with light.
“You’re angry,” I noted.
“Why would I be angry?” he asked so plainly, I was almost convinced he wasn’t.
“Because clearly you’re not a fan of my relationship with Maddox.”
That lit a spark in his eyes. His jaw flexed at the mention of Maddox’s name.
“And what relationship is that?” He took a couple steps forward; I matched them with a few steps back.
“My previous relationship with him,” I corrected.
Xander’s lips thinned. He passed a quick glance around the room, then took a slow prowl toward me to close the space between
us.
His voice became stiff as he drew closer. “Why do all of this if Maddox was still—”
“He’s not.” I backed up instinctively until I felt a table behind me. I understood how it looked out there and, given my long
history with Maddox, it wasn’t entirely far-fetched. “There is nothing between us.”
My hands braced back against the soft felt surface.
“Then why are you so close to a man you practically ran away from?” he demanded, his tone was low and heavy, settling deep in my stomach. I wobbled when his arms stretched to either side of me and he leaned in with a look I’d never seen from him before.
He wasn’t hiding behind charm or pleasantness or humor.
He was upset. Hurt.
Avoiding his question, I scoffed. “That’s interesting, coming from you .”
He didn’t have a single ex with a critical thing to say about him. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if he were to be invited
to their future weddings, the great indisputably likable Xander Sutton.
His brows lifted. His shoulders relaxed.
He didn’t move even a centimeter away. “Jealous, Poppy?”
I scoffed again, except this time it got lost in a faltering breath.
He was the one who was jealous.
I didn’t know if it was purely physical or something more, but Maddox and his closeness to me roused something .
His eyes stayed fixed on mine as he tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, his fingers brushing against my earlobe. My heart
roared in my ears.
“I’m pointing out the hypocrisy.” My voice tried to remain steady despite the quiver that ran through every muscle fiber.
Sparks ran along my neck where his fingers had just brushed against it.
“It’s different,” he whispered.
Every nerve ending in my body became aware of just how good his proximity felt. From the hair he gently pushed over my shoulder,
to my legs that began to feel like they were made of jelly.
“How?”
“It’s easy to be civil when the feelings were hollow,” Xander pointed out. It was something I’d known to some degree. Somehow,
hearing it now in that graveled voice made my stomach flip. “I never planned to marry any of them.”
“I’m only saying...” I stammered, trying and failing to remem ber what we were talking about. “You don’t have a reason to be wary of him. It’s unnecessary.”
He passed my dangling earring between his fingers and drew closer. My breath shallowed against his skin.
“Is it?” he whispered. His lips moved to my ear and his fingers released my earring and curled around the back of my neck
instead. “He wants one thing; you want the other. I’m on your team, so I’m going to do what it takes to win.”
His demeanor was serious, but the volley in his tone made me feel like I was part of a game, one he was playing with a smug
assurance of victory. Reducing it to that made me think the jealousy was more physical than something deeper, but either way,
it felt good .
“Not everything is a game, there’s nothing to win here.” My body trembled lightly beneath his touch. “That little competition
with Maddox is some juvenile reaction to him wanting to play with your toy.”
“That’s where you’re wrong.” His hand traveled down my side and slipped through the slit in my dress at my thigh. I flinched
despite the growing ache between my legs.
My breath hitched.
“You can’t be jealous because...” I tried to reason, mostly with myself. I tried to make sense of the feelings that bloomed inside me, the ones
that had been more vocal the last few days; I wasn’t sure what I wanted. The chemistry or more—but in that moment, all I wanted
was him. I swallowed hard as his hand skimmed up my thigh. “You don’t really want me. It’s not real.”
“This doesn’t feel real to you?” His fingers dragged across the lacy panties that lay along the curve of my hip. “If it doesn’t,
say the word. Tell me to stop.”
A slow shudder worked its way down my body.
My hips bucked. God, I wanted to give in. To shut my busy mind off for a moment and drown in how good it all felt. To release some of this pressure.
“I...” The dark room began to blur; the only part of my vision that was clear was him.
His body pressed against mine; an arm wrapped around my waist, keeping me close. His hand moved closer to where I ached for
it as his thumb just barely grazed my clit over the lacy material of my panties a few more times, slowly.
I jerked forward.
He continued with the slow presses against my clit. Each one sending a small shock wave through my muscles, making me arch
my back, but he held me tightly against him.
I closed my eyes. His strokes became more intentional. A slickness began to gather between my thighs.
“Poppy.” His mouth hovered a hair’s breadth from my shoulder, up the curve of my neck. “Tell. Me. To. Stop.”
My hips rolled into him again. “Xander...”
He pushed my panties aside and sank a finger into me slowly, holding me so close I could feel his thick arousal pressed against
my thigh.
“And as far as this game goes,” he groaned roughly in my ear.
My head tipped back, the shudders became more pronounced, and I reached a hand to his shoulder to steady myself.
“You’re not a toy.” He pressed another finger into me.
The roar of the party down the hall was completely muffled by the downright filthy chorus of my breathy moans intermingled
with the slick sounds of his fingers stroking and curling until he found that spot.
I gasped. My leg swung around his waist. Shamelessly grinding against him for more.
My fingernails dug into his shoulders, a static began to move through my legs, concentrating at my core.
“You’re my wife ,” he told me through gritted teeth. “Only I get to play with you.”
My eyes opened momentarily to catch the way he studied me.
He moved faster and deeper, my hips rolled in rhythm with his hand.
“Xander.” I cried out for the release his fingers promised.
He increased his pace to a maddening speed, curling and twisting, all while his thumb stroked my clit firmly. The tightness
along my core finally released. The pleasure burst indiscriminately along my navel, moving through my legs and torso.
With a quiet sob, my body rocked against him. Holding me flush against him, he continued his strokes until every ripple from
my climax subsided.
“This might be a game, but for the next year, we’re a team,” he reminded me, softly. Gently.
His chest rose and fell with swallow breaths.
I nodded slowly; the haze began to lift from his eyes. My hands slid from his shoulders, hanging weakly onto his lapels.
His lips dropped to press a tender kiss along mine.
“And don’t worry, Poppy. Xander Sutton does not lose.”