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The words came as a shock, a surprise, like a bucket of cold water. What was he saying? Could it be true?
“You were right about me,” he said, as he tucked a strand of blond hair behind her ear, his touch gentle, loving. “I was afraid I could never measure up to my father. To his dedication. I always thought it was because I didn’t want to be weak, but I know he wasn’t weak. Being faithful to my mother, that took real courage. Standing by her when she was sick, that wasn’t weakness. It was strength.”
“You don’t have to be him. What he did for your mother, few could do.” Emma couldn’t break eye contact. She felt the warmth of Xavier’s golden hazel eyes, the power in them, the magnetic pull.
“I probably can’t be as strong as my father was, but I was afraid to even try,” he said. “And when I think about how my fear hurt you...it makes me sick. Emma, if I’d stayed with that woman from the train, what could have happened to you? I could have really lost you.”
Emma shuddered at the memory of Jimmy’s rough hands on her, his big paw around her throat as he dragged her to a shadowy alley. The worst part had been the flat coldness of his eyes, the complete lack of humanity in them as he’d grabbed her. She swallowed, hard, and Xavier pulled Emma into his arms, squeezing her tightly.
“I want to make sure nothing bad ever happens to you, ever again,” he promised, a murmur into her hair. She clung to him, hoping that was true, as a million emotions flooded her at once. “If you’ll let me, I want to be your man. Your only man.”
Emma pulled away and craned her neck to see Xavier’s face, her heart tinged with doubt. This man who’d been so committed to casual sex, she just couldn’t imagine him giving it all up. “Are you sure? But what about the boredom of relationships and how it makes people cheat.”
“I think it does for most people,” he said. “But you and I know we’re not most people.”
Xavier dipped down and laid a sensual kiss on her lips, a small gesture that sent a current of want down Emma’s spine.
He broke the kiss. “You’ll quit Nost?” Emma asked, still feeling dazed by Xavier’s reversal. Could this be true? Could he really want to commit to her? Leave casual sex with strangers behind?
“I’m going to do more than quit Nost,” Xavier promised. “I’m going to take it completely offline.”
“But your business!” Emma cried.
Xavier shook his head. “I can make a new app,” he said. “I don’t want Nost up and running if a sexual predator like Jimmy can take advantage of it. I don’t want a single woman terrorized like you were because of something I made. I’m taking it down and not putting it back up until I can either fix it or replace it with something better.”
Emma realized Xavier was one hundred percent serious. “But just because one guy...”
“No,” Xavier said, sounding emphatic. “I can’t take the risk that anyone else will be hurt.”
Emma nodded. She felt so proud of him suddenly, so full of love for this man. “But what about sex with strangers? I mean, won’t you miss it?”
“Not if I get to have sex with you,” he said, pulling her closer. “You are the best thing that’s ever happened to me, Emma Allaire.”
“I don’t know what to say,” she admitted.
“Say you’ll be mine,” Xavier murmured in her ear.
“Yes, yes, always,” she said before he claimed her mouth once more.
EPILOGUE
One year later
XAVIER SAT AT the bar alone, drinking his scotch, when a beautiful redhead approached him, wearing a tight black miniskirt and a low-cut halter top. She was just his type: athletic, leggy, gorgeous smile.
“This seat taken?” she asked, smoky eyes never leaving him, as she signaled the bartender. She ordered a Hendrick’s and tonic, as Xavier took in the curve of her long legs and the strappy stilettos she wore that just screamed sex. Look at those amazing muscles in her calves, and her small, round ass. Probably tight enough to bounce a quarter off of, he thought. She gave him a small, come hither smile, everything about her posture screaming, I want to play. The bartender set the drink down and she lifted it in her delicate hand. Her pink pouty lips took their first sip of her drink and Xavier imagined them wrapped around his cock. His groin grew hard then.
They sipped their drinks, neither one looking at the other, each one all too aware of the other.
Then the redhead leaned over. “I don’t usually do this,” she said to him. “But do you want to fuck?” She licked her lips to show the invitation was serious.
