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For several long, agonizing moments, he says nothing.
I peek out between my fingers to see him staring at me, a hunger like nothing I've seen from a man etching his features.
He clears his throat. "Right. Adults. We need to be responsible adults."
He grabs his clothes from the other side of the bed and dresses. I drop my hand, but I'm not relieved. Now that I know what's under those clothes, I can't stop staring or thinking about—
"Fair warning," Xavier says. "My ability to adult responsibly goes all to hell around you and if you don't stop staring at me like that, I'm going to kiss you like you've never been kissed before."
I drop my head and focus my attention on my laptop screen, but all I see is Xavier and all I can think about is kissing him.
***
The diner is packed and, according to Xavier, most of the patrons are locals. Several of them are casting glances at us in the booth, Xavier's arm around my shoulders.
"I wondered if the candy maker has a sweet tooth." I snuggle against him and smile up at him. "And your order confirmed it."
He frowns. "Everyone orders pancakes at the diner. They have the best pancakes in town."
I ordered the pancakes too. On Xavier's advice. "Okay. But does everyone order them with chocolate chips and extra whipped cream?"
His lips twitch. "It's human nature to love sugar."
"Uh-huh." I reach for my bag and pull out my laptop. "While we're waiting for food, I want to show you my ideas for your website." I'm proud of my ideas. Working on Xavier's marketing has been fun and I've been able to put the marketing classes I took to use. I think I might be good at it. I'm not good at much, so I'm probably wrong, but it just feels right.
"Sure." Xavier pulls back his arm and rests both elbows on the table. He doesn't ask questions or start talking about his own ideas, he just waits patiently while I open my laptop and turn it on.
I'm not so patient and the laptop is taking forever to wake up. "In my opinion, you need to focus on your strengths. It seems to me that you've been hoping the images of the candy will sell it for you, and you have great photos, but some people need more than that. They want to know they're buying a unique experience, something they can't get anywhere else. It's just a thought, but I think you should really sell the gourmet, unique, high-quality aspect of your candy. If it sounds good to you, I think we should focus on giving every website visitor an experience that makes them feel the way a good day at the spa does."
The laptop is awake and I turn to navigate to the pages I mocked up for him, but Xavier puts a hand on my arm. "Don't do that."
I freeze and turn back to him. "You hate the idea. I knew it. You want something more masculine and utilitarian, right? Something that's cool and aloof, like 'buy this candy if you want to live.'"
His brow crinkles, and he looks almost angry. "I'm not talking about the idea, I'm talking about the way you're presenting it. Don't second guess yourself. I'm all in, Cherry, and you're the expert here. Sell your ideas with the confidence you want me to have when I sell my candy."
I'm totally lost. "I don't understand."
He huffs out a sigh. "When you were explaining your ideas, you kept adding in caveats, like 'in my opinion' and 'it seems to me.' My ego isn't so fragile that I can't hear my website is shit and you've got a better idea. You're great at what you do. Own it."
My eyes burn, and my chest is tight. I already thought I might be good at this, but to hear Xavier say it… Impulsively, I lean forward and press a kiss to his cheek. "Thank you," I whisper.
When I pull away, he's looking at me with the strangest expression. I open my mouth to… I don't know, apologize for kissing him or check to see if he's having a stroke…
"Cherry?" a male voice asks.
"Xavier?" a female voice asks.
We look away from each other slowly and there's RJ and Alice, standing right next to our table. We couldn't have planned it better if we'd tried, but I don't feel lucky. I'm disappointed not to be able to show Xavier the website.
Xavier throws his arm back around my shoulders and pulls me in tight. "Good morning," he says, way too loudly and jovially. "Fancy seeing you here."
I bite my lip not to laugh as Alice stares at her brother like he's grown a new head. RJ looks equally confused, but he's glancing around like he might be looking for an escape.
"You'll have to excuse him." I cup a hand around my mouth and lean conspiratorially forward. "He had a fantastic night."
It takes a moment for Alice's confusion to clear. Her eyes widen, then she smiles slowly. "Oh. Ohhhh. Well, that's, um… That's great."
"That's not what she meant." Xavier's usual testiness re-enters his voice. "I asked her out last night and she said yes and we had a good date, that's all."
