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Even though he's been here every night this week, I'm not even remotely sick of him. It's a problem I'll think about later.
"Well, hello, handsome." Blue bats her eyelashes. "You must be the hot candy maker."
Xavier smiles and sits next to me in view of the phone screen. "You must be Cherry's cousins. It's nice to finally meet you."
"It's nice to meet you, too." Peach leans closer to the screen to check him out. "Cherry sent us some of your caramels. They were really yummy."
"And you are really hot." Blue leans her chin on the palm of her hand. "Now I understand why Cherry didn't get on the first flight home after RJ dumped her again."
"He didn't dump me." I will carry that technicality with me to the grave. "We would have had to be dating again for him to do that. And I haven't left yet, because I have to finish this project for Josephine and I've still got a few ideas for Xavier's candy shop."
"You're never getting her back." Xavier wraps an arm tight around me. "We're keeping her."
My stomach swoops at his words. He's just joking around. Probably. But it's nicer than I can say to have someone claim to want me around permanently.
"Good luck with that." Blue's earlier flirtatiousness vanishes. "Cherry's a city girl, through and through."
"She says nature is for people who can't afford luxury accommodations." Peach narrows her eyes like she's ready to do battle. "And small towns are where the party ends."
Thankfully, Xavier isn't offended. He laughs. "Cherry brings the party wherever she goes. And did she tell you? She went snowshoeing with Josephine yesterday. Spent three hours in the woods."
"It was against my will," I shout. "We had to find a missing reindeer."
Xavier pulls the phone from my hand and holds it up to his face. "She liked it. She told me she saw an elk in the middle of a clearing and it was the most magical thing she'd ever seen. She even told me the fresh air here has been good for her pores."
"Lies," I shout, laughing. "Don't believe anything he says."
"I'm not a liar." Xavier's frown is deep, but his eyes sparkle. "I'm as honest as they come."
"She can visit the outdoors from Vegas." Blue gestures toward the small windows behind them. We don't live in a great part of Vegas, so the view's nothing glamorous, but we can't see it over the phone screen anyway. "She's not leaving us for some nowhere Christmas town."
"You'll have to come here and pry her away from me." He wraps his arms around my shoulders and pulls my back against his chest. "I'm not letting her go."
It hits me hard, right in the sternum, how badly I wish he means what he's saying. How badly I wish he wanted to hold on and never let me go. Which is not okay. It's the absolute worst thing to ever happen. This man could break my heart. We're only friends with benefits and already I know I'm going to cry when we finally end it.
I pull the phone out of his hands. "Don't listen to anything he says."
Peach looks at me with wide eyes. "Maybe you should stay. He makes scrumptious candy, and he's adorable."
"She's not staying." Blue points at Xavier. "She's coming back to Vegas and getting her career back on track, which is what she should have done from the beginning."
"Goodbye, lovelies. I'll let you know when I have a flight home."
Blue and Peach say their goodbyes and I hang up.
"What was Blue talking about?" Xavier asks. "What happened with your career?"
I sigh. I so don't want to talk about this right now. Or ever. "I had an idea for a business. Like a life coach, right? Except I'm a life designer and I help them design their lives from the dream up." I wave a hand. "Time management, dressing for the job you want, balance, all that kind of stuff. It was stupid, and it failed."
"That doesn't sound stupid. It sounds like exactly what I need. Maybe then I wouldn't have to work at the candy store all day and the mayor's office all night."
Even though he's been at my place every night this week, sometimes he had dinner with me and went back out or he dropped me off and I didn't see him until he crawled into bed with me after midnight. Friends with benefits should mean he doesn't do anything but have sex with me in my bed, but I enjoy his company too much to point that out to him.
"You don't need a life designer. You just need to say no. Taking over as mayor meant making sure the bare minimum got taken care of. I doubt your friend expects you to lead town council meetings or referee parking lot disagreements."
"What am I supposed to do? Just let Myrna and Bert throw down in the parking lot?"
"Yes. And you call the police and let them stew in prison for a few hours. When Landon gets back, he can look into zoning laws and use agreements and determine which of them gets those two spots in the shade for their businesses. It's not an emergency. Just say no."
