AllFreeNovel
Share Us
His eyes glittered with possessiveness. “I didn’t like looking for you in the crowd last weekend, knowing you weren’t there.”
“Oh.” My stomach coiled tightly at his gruff words.
He closed the distance between us, leaning in to brush his nose along mine. It was a whisper of the kiss I wanted so badly my body ached for it. But still, he didn’t give it to me, his mouth hovering just out of reach.
Butterflies fluttered wildly in my stomach. “What are we doing, Xander?”
“Nothing… we’re doing nothing.” His words were tight, tense. Almost as tense as his body beneath my touch.
“Okay,” I said softly.
If it made him feel better to pretend we were doing nothing, to pretend this meant nothing, I could play along.
So long as he didn’t shut me out again.
“Are you hungry?” he asked me, and it was such a one-eighty on the intense moment we’d just shared, laughter bubbled out of me. “What?” He smiled.
“Yes, I could eat.” Anticipation trickled through me. He wasn’t going to take me back to the Ford’s like this was a mistake. He was going to feed me.
“Come on. I’m freezing my ass off.” Xander stood, taking my hand and gently yanking me to my feet. I expected him to pull away, but he surprised me again, by keeping a hold of me all the way to his truck.
“Careful,” I said as he held the door open and waited for me to slip inside. “A girl could get used to this.” A smile played on my lips.
Xander shook his head, giving me a disapproving look, but I saw the twinkle in his eye.
He liked this: the banter, the tension, and intensity. Even if he didn’t entirely accept it.
I liked it too.
I liked it a lot.
* * *
“This isn’t the drive thru,”I said minutes later when we pulled up outside a building on a quiet block downtown.
“This is my place.”
His place?
“Oh.”
“We don’t have to… I just thought that we could eat in comfort.”
“Comfort, sure.” I shot him an amused smile.
Xander’s brows crossed. “Let’s get one thing straight, Peyton. This isn’t some attempt to get you—”
“I know, I’m messing with you. It’s just food.”
“Right.”
“In your apartment.”
He cussed under his breath. “This was a bad idea. I’ll take you—”
“Wait.” I snagged his arm. “I’m just joking. I do that sometimes… when I’m nervous.”
Understanding filtered into his eyes as he leaned in. “Do I make you nervous, Peyton?”
