Page 99 of What About Us

“Hmm. I like the movement, and the way your hair feels in my hands. But then again, just having you anywhere near me is soothing.”

“Same.”

He wraps his arms around me and kisses my cheek before returning to the brushing.

Then he sets it aside and scoots so he’s sitting next to me, looking at his watch.

“Ten, nine, eight⁠—”

“What are you doing?”

“—seven, six, five, four, three, two⁠—”

He lowers his arm and leans into me.

“One.”

Xander cups my cheek and covers my lips with his, kissing me so tenderly, so softly that it makes my heart catch. His tongue brushes over my lips and then against my own tongue when I open for him, sending heat through me.

And when he finally pulls back, he drifts his knuckles down my cheek and smiles.

“We needed a New Year’s Eve redo,” he whispers. “So I can remember it.”

“So you kissed me at midnight,” I whisper.

Tell him you love him. Right now.

But instead, I lean into him, and he wraps his arms around me and kisses my head.

“Best fucking thing that ever happened to me,” I murmur, repeating the words from yesterday.

“Same page, Red.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

XANDER

I’ve been sleeping much better since Ivy’s been in my bed. I still have nights that are worse than others, but for the most part, I’ve been sleeping through the night.

And Ivy pressed to my side, her head on my chest and arm wrapped around my waist, is a big reason for it. Before her, I would just get out of bed and walk around my house at night. But with her, I’d rather lie here and feel her warmth against me.

And, amazingly, that makes me tired, and I end up drifting off.

She’s good for me in every way. I’m never letting her go, not even once I return to hockey. I bet she could work for the team or, at the very least, get a job in Denver. Shit, she doesn’t have to work at all, but I know my girl, and she loves her job.

There’s no way I’d want to leave her behind in Montana. I’m never there, and I’m too fucking selfish.

I want her with me all the fucking time.

Me.

The man who didn’t believe in relationships. And, to be honest, the thought of it still scares me. Because in my experience, women don’t stay. Marriage is a shit show. I’ve never had a desire to try to make anything stick with anyone. In fact, there’s a loud voice screaming at me to break things off with her and go back to being client and therapist before she can stomp all over my heart and grind it into dust, leaving me a shell of a man.

Dramatic? Maybe. But you didn’t witness my childhood.

Despite all that, I love her more than I’m afraid of what the outcome might be. The thought of losing her at all is terrifying. Full stop. Whether I’m the one leaving to try to save my own feelings or she’s the one that ends up walking away one day. Either way, the thought is fucking crippling.

Ivy shifts next to me and whimpers a little in the back of her throat. I brush her hair off her cheek and watch in the moonlight and the glow from the city as her eyes blink open and she gazes up at me.