Page 262 of Black Reign

“One.”

“This is food for eight.”

“You haven’t eaten.”

“I had a scone.”

“That was not dinner.”

“It had cream.”

He gives me a look.

I sit.

Xavier takes the chair beside mine rather than across from me.

Close enough that our knees touch beneath the table.

Neither of us moves them.

That tiny contact becomes absurdly distracting.

I take a spoonful of soup.

He watches.

I swallow.

His eyes remain on me.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“You keep doing that.”

“Doing what?”

“Looking at me.”

His gaze moves slowly over my face again.

Not hiding it this time.

“Probably going to keep doing that.”

Heat creeps into my cheeks.

Ridiculous.

Vesper has sent this man photographs wearing considerably less than a fluffy white robe.

Vesper once spent nearly an hour discussing exactly where Ghost’s hands might go if we ever stopped hiding behind screens.

Sabine apparently blushes when Xavier looks at her over soup.

I hate this development.