by Cora Reilly
“Good morning, sunshine,” Xavier said.
My head whirled toward the source of the sound. Xavier was propped up against the counter beside the espresso unit in his underwear, foaming milk.
I untangled myself from the blanket and jerked to my feet. “What time is it?”
“Six forty-five.”
“You woke by yourself,” I said, surprised, as I tugged my shirt back in place, wondering what kind of bird’s nest my hair created at the moment.
“You were sound asleep.”
“Waking yourself, making coffee. Does that mean you will fire me?” I teased.
“No chance in hell am I letting you go.”
My heart did that stupid lurch it had adopted only recently.
Xavier poured the milk foam into the two cups on the counter, then came over to me.
I held up my palm. “Don’t come closer. I haven’t brushed my teeth yet.”
Xavier cocked one eyebrow. “I wasn’t going to kiss you. I’m giving you coffee.”
Keeping my lips shut, I took the cup from him. I’d prefer the kiss.
Oh Evie, you big fool.
“Thanks,” I mumbled then took a deep sip, hoping it would banish the foul taste in my mouth. I could imagine what kind of undignified sight I’d provided lying on the sofa like a stranded whale; I didn’t need to make it worse by smelling like a dumpster.
“Should I write down my number now and delete it later? Since that’s your modus operandi when women spend the night?” I joked.
Xavier flashed me a grin, moving closer, too close, because his manly scent and the sight of all the muscle wreaked havoc with my body. “My usual modus operandi includes hot sex. How about that?”
He was joking, playful and teasing, so I forced out a laugh, even if heat washed down my spine. “Sorry. This coffee is the only hot thing you’ll get.”
After Xavier left for his training, I drove home where I found Fiona in the kitchen. She stood the moment I entered, narrowing her eyes. “Have you lost your mind?”
I blinked, putting my purse down on the table. “Excuse me? What crawled up your ass?”
“Xavier did.”
“Ew. That’s an image I really don’t need so early in the morning, or ever.”
Fiona didn’t crack a smile. “You spent the night.”
“Yes, I did. I’m twenty, Fiona, not twelve.”
“But you’re letting Xavier charm his way into your pants.”
“He isn’t trying to charm his way into my pants, trust me. I’m not his type, as you very well know.”
“Maybe he wants to try something different for once.”
“He doesn’t, Fiona. Xavier doesn’t have the slightest interest in me in that regard. I don’t think he sees me as a woman.”
“And you?”
“I know I’m a woman. I see the proof every time I undress or curse the fact that I can’t pee standing up during a road trip.”
Fiona sighed. “You know what I mean.”
“Yes, and I also know that I can take care of myself. I’m Xavier’s assistant and maybe his friend, but nothing else, okay?”
“Okay,” Fiona conceded, but I knew she didn’t really believe me—and who could blame her when I didn’t believe it myself.
I was supposed to visit home tomorrow and had yet to make the call Evie wanted me to make. I knew how my mother would react if I as much as mentioned bringing a woman with me. I picked up the phone and called her.
“Xavier,” Mom said before I could say a word.
“Hey Mom, just wanted to let you know that I’m bringing someone over tomorrow.”
“Someone? What kind of someone?” she asked curiously.
“A female someone—”
“Oh Xavier! That’s wonderful. I thought you’d never settle down—”
I interrupted her before she started making wedding plans. “Mom, it’s not like that. I’m bringing my assistant Evie.”
“So she’s only your assistant, but you want us to meet her?” Confusion rang clear in her voice.
“Evie is a friend, not just an assistant. “ I paused, realizing it was true. In the past six weeks Evie and I had become friends. She was funny, and kicked my ass in the kindest way possible.
“Okay,” Mom said slowly, trying to sound nonchalant, but I caught the hint of excitement in her voice. I’d never brought a girl home and she would make a big deal out of it, I could just tell, and so would the rest of my family.
Not even thirty minutes later, my mobile rang and Marc’s name appeared on the screen. Here we go. “Mom called you, didn’t she?” I said by way of greeting.
There was a short pause on the other end, then a chuckle. “She did. Can you blame her? It’s the highlight of her year.”
“She doesn’t need to get too excited, all right? Evie is a friend and my assistant.”
“She is. Did the non-disclosure clause come in handy yet?”
I hung up.
Five minutes later my mobile flashed with a message from Milena, Marc’s wife.
I can’t wait to meet your “assistant”. ;-)
I didn’t reply. Maybe introducing Evie to my family gave the wrong message, but I wanted her to come with me even if my family was intent on driving me up the walls.
I was glad for my plans to meet Connor for a kick-ass workout later. I really needed to blow off steam.
Of course, I should have known even my best friend wouldn’t give me a fucking moment of peace.
“You’re spending a lot of time with Evie,” he said twenty minutes into our workout.
“She’s my assistant,” I told him as I put more weight on the barbell for my next set of deadlifts.
Connor shrugged, regarding me curiously. “Sure. But with your previous assistants you didn’t do movie nights.”
“Because they grated on my nerves trying to blow candy up my ass.”
“You didn’t take them to visit your family either.”
“So Evie told you about it?”
“She let it slip. Fiona is a bit suspicious about your motives toward her sister, to be honest.”
I grunted as I pulled the barbell up, then finished the set before I answered Connor. “I don’t have any motives. Evie’s never been outside of the city since she’s come here. She has never even been in a saddle. I want to rectify that.”
“There are other things she hasn’t done. I hope you won’t rectify them as well,” Connor mumbled as he took my place in front of the barbell.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing,” Connor bit out between deadlifts. “I’m not getting involved in this.”
“For not getting involved you’re asking an awful lot of questions, mate.”
He straightened, looking me square in the eye. “I don’t want you to fuck Evie over. Or fuck her at all. Period.”
My eyebrows climbed my forehead. “I have no intention of fucking Evie over.”
Connor’s eyes narrowed. “And fucking her?”
I didn’t say anything because I didn’t like to lie to my best friend. Though the term fucking didn’t sit well with me when I thought of Evie.
Connor touched my shoulder. “Just do me one favor: don’t, okay? Not with her. Keep your dick in your pants for once.”
“Don’t worry. I enjoy being around Evie, that’s all,” I said, and it was the honest truth. She was the first woman except for my mother and sister whose company I enjoyed.
Xavier picked me up that morning from home under the watchful eyes of my sister and Connor. They didn’t say anything, more because of my warning glare than anything else, but Fiona’s expression told me all I needed to know about her thoughts regarding the road trip.
In the car, I asked again, “You asked your mom, right?”
“I did,” Xavier said with a grimace.
“You don’t look very happy. I don’t have to come.”
“You have to come. My family’s already planning the wedding.”
> I choked on a laugh. “Just so you know, if you propose, I expect the full package: falling to your knees, bling, red roses, violins and fireworks.”
Xavier bared his teeth. “I have the full package—what else could you want?”
Heat blasted through my body like a pyroclastic flow. “You are full of yourself, that’s all.”
Xavier shrugged. “I guess you’ll never find out.”
I scowled out of the side window. I guessed he was right.
Despite Xavier’s words, or maybe because of them, I was inexplicably nervous about meeting his family. It felt like being introduced to your boyfriend’s parents for the first time, not that I had any experience in that regard. Not that Xavier was my boyfriend. I was his assistant.
I slanted him a look, still surprised that he’d asked me to come to his family home with him. “Are you really sure your family will be okay with me staying the night as well?”
“Of course,” Xavier said without hesitation. “Maybe with you being there they won’t be on my back all the time about my manwhore ways.”
I snorted. “So I’m your safety shield?”
Xavier gave me a grin. “I fear you will join in their bashing of me. I know what you think of my manwhore ways.”
“You act like a caveman and pig to women, Xavier.”
His fingers around the steering wheel tightened ever so slightly. “They know what they’re getting when they come home with me. I never lie beforehand. They come freely despite what they can read about me in the tabloids.”
I was surprised by the serious note in Xavier’s voice. “I know. They are grown-ups, Xavier.”
He relaxed. “I don’t act all caveman around every woman. I never do around you.”
My lips twisted. That was true, and for some inexplicable reason it bothered me. I was Xavier’s assistant, his friend, and definitely not his type, and that was for the best. Xavier’s eyes flickered to me again. “Or do I?”
The hint of doubt in his voice was almost adorable.
I gave him a small smile. “No, you are surprisingly tolerable around me.”
The corner of his mouth tipped up in that annoying way that made me want to slap and kiss him with equal fervor.
Xavier’s family home was a beautiful white farmhouse with a faded red roof. It was surrounded by pastureland for the family’s horses. Stables spread out to the left of the building, and in the distance I could make out the first signs of the Blue Mountains. “This was my grandparents’ home, but it was pretty desolate before my mother had it renovated a few years back. The stables are new. My grandparents had sheep, not horses.”
Two dogs shot toward the car the moment Xavier turned off the engine, ginormous creatures with reddish fur and slightly darker muzzles. I wasn’t afraid of dogs, but their deep barks made me jump briefly. “Sherlock and Watson are big pussycats. You don’t have to worry.”
“Sherlock and Watson?”
Xavier’s mouth curled in that sexy way. “My sister is obsessed with the series, and she got to name the dogs.”
“What are they?” I asked as I watched the dogs prowl around the car.
“Rhodesian Ridgebacks.” Xavier got out of the car and I followed after a deep breath. The dogs were busy greeting Xavier but the second they were done they trotted toward me, wagging their tails slightly. I stiffened when they nudged me with their muzzles and Xavier stepped up to me, taking my hand. “Come on, Evie. You usually handle me. You can handle two dogs.”
I sent him a look, trying to ignore how good his hand in mine felt. “With you I don’t have to worry about having my fingers chewed off.”
“I wouldn’t mind nibbling at certain parts of you,” he drawled, and we both stiffened at the same time.
My eyes flew up to his, my cheeks flaming. Xavier had never flirted with me like that, not like he meant it, but this had sounded like something he’d say to someone who wasn’t me. From the look on his face, he hadn’t meant for the words to slip out either. I supposed it was habit.
“Do I have to put you on a leash?” I said to lighten the mood.
Xavier winked. “I’m not into that kind of kink, I’m afraid.”
Thankfully, the door opened at that moment and a thin, tall woman in her early fifties opened the door. She was dressed in jeans and a loose checkered shirt, her dark hair pulled up in a messy bun. The dogs rushed back into the house.
Nerves hit me hard, which was ridiculous really. Xavier released me when his mother came down the steps. She didn’t greet him first; instead she pulled me into a tight hug. “It’s so good to meet you, Evie. Xavier hasn’t been very forthcoming with information.” She drew back with a warm smile. “I’ve been waiting for this day for a very long time. Finally Xavier brings a girl home.”
“Doesn’t Xavier get a hug as well?” Xavier muttered.
His mother stepped back from me and up to her son, touching his cheek. He bent down to kiss her cheek, and she gave him a slight clap on the chest, a silent reprimand. “I read that last article in the Daily Mail.”
Xavier frowned. “I told you not to read that bullshit.”
She pursed her lips. “It’s easier to get information about you than from you.” She nodded toward the house. “The rest are already inside, eager to meet your girl.”
“Xavier and I, we aren’t together,” I said hesitantly, worried she might have forgotten that small detail.
She shook her head. “Call me Georgia. Now come in.”
I slanted Xavier a confused look. “They know I’m your assistant, right?”
“They do,” Xavier muttered as he took our bags out of the trunk. “But that doesn’t mean they’ll treat you that way.”
I followed Georgia up the stairs, noticing a ramp leading up to the porch. The moment I stepped inside I knew why it was there.
A teenage girl with dark hair and gray eyes like Xavier’s waited in the entrance hall in a wheelchair. Her face broke into a blinding smile when she spotted Xavier. After dropping our bags, he went straight toward her, leaned down and hugged her before he kissed the top of her head twice and straightened. Sherlock and Watson tiptoed around Xavier and Willow excitedly, wagging their tales.
“This is my sister Willow,” Xavier introduced the petite teenage girl. His voice rang with protectiveness and his eyes held a flicker of apprehension, as if he thought I’d freak out because his sister was disabled.
Willow smiled shyly. I had a feeling she didn’t get visitors very often out here.
I smiled in return, walked up to her and extended my hand. “I’m Evie. It’s so nice to meet you.”
Her gray eyes flitted between Xavier, who stood beside her with a hand on her slender shoulder, and me, then she shook my hand. Her grip was light but her smile brightened. “Nice to meet you too.”
“I love your dress,” I told her. It was a cute, frilly flower dress that fit her slender figure perfectly but would have made me look like an exploded flower bouquet.
Xavier’s eyes softened and his stance relaxed. I sent him a look. He should know me by now. Steps rang out, and a second later a kid barreled into the entrance hall and latched on to Xavier’s leg. It was a little boy of perhaps three years. Shortly after, Marc and a woman with brown wavy hair, carrying an infant, stepped into view. Their eyes zeroed in on me.
Marc’s wife stepped up to me and held out the hand that wasn’t holding the infant. “I’m Milena. Xavier’s sister-in-law. This is Sarah.” She nodded toward the little girl who was staring at me with huge eyes. “And you are Evie, Xavier’s…”
“Assistant,” I provided to prevent any misunderstandings.
“Assistant,” she said with an amused little smile. She squeezed my hand, then moved on to Xavier. He took his niece and kissed her chubby cheek before he gave Milena a one-armed hug.
My ovaries ignited a spectacular firework at the sight. Damn it. Why did he have to be cute with kids, and protective with his sister? I was so done for.
Marc stepped
into my line of view and held out his hand. I shook it, glad for the distraction. “Good to see you again, and for keeping your promise so far.”
I flushed, realizing he meant my comment about the non-disclosure clause.
“What promise?” Willow asked curiously.
“Nothing,” Xavier and I said at the same time.
Willow frowned. “I’m not a little kid.”
Xavier tapped his finger against her nose. “You will always be my little sister.”
She rolled her eyes and wheeled herself into the next room—a combined living and dining room, I realized as I followed the rest of the family inside. The table had been set with rustic stoneware and silver cutlery. A fresh bouquet of what looked like white and pink wildflowers perched in a clay vase in the center.
“I hope you like meat?” Georgia asked me.
I never got the chance to reply because Xavier beat me to it. “Evie loves meat. I’ve never seen a girl who enjoys her steak as rare as she does.”
“The cow died once—it doesn’t need a second death,” I countered.
“True, but if you eat your steaks any rawer, it’ll start mooing.”
“Says the man who’s obsessed with sushi because it’s better for his figure.”
“Keto-sushi,” Xavier corrected.
“Cauliflower doesn’t belong in sushi, Xavier. Take my advice and don’t mention your strange sushi habits in public, or you’ll be taken into custody if you ever try to enter Japan.”
Xavier flashed me a grin. “I know someone who’d bail me out.”
“After a few days to let you rethink your transgressions.”
“A few days won’t be enough for that,” Xavier drawled.
“As if I don’t know it.”
I grinned and Xavier grinned right back.
Suddenly I realized everyone was staring at us as if we’d each grown a second head. Marc and Milena exchanged a meaningful look. Willow’s mouth was slightly agape and Georgia smiled widely.
I cleared my throat, feeling a bit on the spot.
“I made lamb roast and potato bake,” Georgia said, and with a last lingering glance at Xavier and me, she disappeared from view. Watson and Sherlock rushed after her, probably hoping for a treat.
