Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 101758 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 509(@200wpm)___ 407(@250wpm)___ 339(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101758 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 509(@200wpm)___ 407(@250wpm)___ 339(@300wpm)
“Put me down. You can’t be lifting this much weight on that knee. I won’t have it.”
He rolls his eyes and sets me on my feet.
“You’re violent,” he says.
“And don’t you forget it.”
Cally’s curled up on Xander’s chest as we watch the end of Aladdin, and he keeps rubbing her back with his chin whiskers.
I might have taken a secret video of it because it’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. My cat is purring like crazy, and I can’t blame her a bit because same.
“I need a shower,” I announce, and Xander’s eyebrow kicks up. “I didn’t take one this morning. I was worried that my mom would do something to Cally, and it’s driving me nuts.”
“Got it.” Xander kisses Cally one last time, then sets her on the seat next to his, takes my hand, and pulls me out of my chair and doesn’t let go of said hand as he leads me out of the media room—that might as well be a freaking movie theater—and down the hall to a bedroom. He opens the door and gestures for me to go inside.
The whole room is decorated in greens and browns, and there’s a balcony that looks out to the mountains and the pond behind the house.
“Wow, this is nice.”
“There’s a bathroom through there,” Xander says. “It should have everything you need, but let me know if it’s missing anything.”
I blink when I see my bag on the bench at the end of the bed. “When did you bring that in here?”
“When you were making popcorn. Get cozy, Red. I’m gonna go work out on my upper body for a while. I’ll be in the gym if you need me.”
Jesus, I’d like to watch that.
I manage to keep my face neutral as I nod. “Okay. Thanks. The room is great.”
He smiles and then walks out, pulling the door closed behind him, and I let out a breath.
I need a Xander break.
He’s been nothing but sweet today. Amazing. Open and vulnerable and then funny when we watched the movie.
And I need to breathe for a bit because a girl could get way too addicted to him.
I’m on the verge of making a complete fool of myself, when all the poor man has done is be a good friend.
Okay, so we might have felt like more than that earlier on the couch, but it’s not like he’s kissing me and tearing my clothes off.
Damn it.
I walk into the gorgeous en suite bathroom, taking in the amazing green tile in the shower and the stunning marble countertops, and discover that the floor is heated, so my feet won’t get cold.
My feet are always cold.
After I start the shower and let it heat up, I strip out of my clothes and set them aside to wash. I don’t have a ton of clothes with me, so I’ll have to do laundry every couple of days. I was in such a rush to get the hell out of there, I blindly grabbed whatever was handy and shoved it in the bag.
I might only have six pairs of underwear, a sock, and thermal underwear.
I have no idea.
Smirking, I walk back out to the bedroom to open said bag and grab the shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and razor that I know I took from my bathroom, and then return to the shower and let the hot water loosen all the muscles that have been so tense since the fire yesterday morning.
It feels like that was a year ago now.
This bathroom is incredible. It’s warm, and this shower feels so good that I wash my hair twice before I work the conditioner in and then get to work shaving all the things while it sits and does its job.
Finally, when there’s nothing left to rinse and I’m all wrinkled, I turn off the water and reach for a towel.
But there aren’t any towels on the rack.
How did I miss that?
It’s fine. I can just go out to the bedroom and text Xander and ask him where the towels are. No biggie.
I wring out my hair the best I can, twist it up so it doesn’t drip all over the place, and tiptoe—why do we tiptoe when we’re wet, as if that will prevent making puddles on the floor?—to the door and open it, and then squeal when I find Xander on the other side, his hand raised to knock.
“Oh God!”
I dart behind the door and feel my face flame.
Oh God.
“Uh, Red?”
“I’m so sorry, I was going to grab my phone so I could text and ask about towels. I didn’t know you were there. I didn’t mean to flash you.”
“You’re still flashing me, wildcat, I can see you in the mirror.”
“Oh God.” I close my eyes. “If I can’t see you, you can’t see me. Why are you here?”