Page 189 of King of Ruin

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Elise shoved Xavier out of the apartment and slammed the door in his face.

A second later, she yanked it open again, glaring at him with enough fury to set the hallway on fire.

"Don't come back here," she snapped. "It's been a week. Stop coming to my house every single night."

Xavier didn't look offended in the slightest.

He simply leaned one shoulder against the wall, slipped a hand into his pocket, and looked at her with an infuriatingly smug smile, as though being thrown out by her was the most ordinary part of his day.

"Why?" he asked lazily. "Doesn't it feel like we're a happily married couple? I return home every night."

"You force your way in," Elise shot back through gritted teeth.

"And we cuddle in bed."

"You don't let me out of the bed."

"And every morning," he continued without missing a beat, "we have slow, romantic sex."

Heat rushed into Elise's cheeks, but the blush only made the glare she shot him even sharper.

Xavier's smile deepened.

"And then," he said as he took a slow step toward her, "you walk me to the apartment door before I leave for the office, and I kiss you goodbye like this."

Before she could react, he reached out, caught her firmly by the waist, and pulled her into a quick, wet kiss.

Elise shoved against his chest the moment he let her go, then smacked him hard on the arm.

The slap echoed through the hallway.

Xavier winced, rubbing the spot with an exaggerated look of pain while she glared at him.

"Go back to your home and don't come back!" she snapped, her eyes throwing daggers at him. "I told you we have already broken up, but you're still sticking to me. Does that even look good on you? You're the CEO of a company, not some teenage stalker."

Instead of looking offended, Xavier chuckled.

He took another slow step toward her, completely ignoring the warning in her eyes. His hands slid behind his back as he folded them there, standing tall in front of her with the effortless confidence of a man who had never once accepted defeat.

"I can be anything you want," he said with a faint smile. "What do you want? Do you want to see how well I can stalk you?"

Elise let out an angry growl and planted both palms against his chest, pushing him farther away from the doorway.

"Leave."

Xavier barely moved.

He sighed, lifted his gaze back to hers.

"Baby, when are we going back home?" he asked casually. "Your apartment is adorable, but there isn't much space for us to change positions."

His eyes lingered on her for a long moment before he added, his voice dropping into a confident murmur,

"I want to lay you down on the piano in my house... and then make you cum all over it."

Elise looked shell-shocked.