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She laughed. “You misread me on that one. If I looked uncertain, it’s only because I don’t know what going home together means. Do we go to your place or mine?”
“That’s up to you.”
She sucked in a deep breath and blew it out slowly. “I think your place.”
“Okay.”
“Is it?”
He chuckled. “It’s fine, sprite. I don’t know if Jacob and Becca are going tonight. If they do, we don’t need to go home when they do. I can sneak you up to my room if you’re more comfortable with that.”
She nodded eagerly, and he chuckled.
“And tomorrow’s Saturday. So, there won’t be anyone around. The staff have the day off and Jacob and Becca don’t usually surface until lunch time.”
“So, you can sneak me back out again?”
He smiled through pursed lips. “If that’s what you want, then yeah. Or you could stick around. I’ll make you breakfast, and we can hang out. It’s only the first time that might feel a bit awkward. The sooner we get it out of the way, the better.”
“I suppose.”
“Hey. I’m not saying that I want to get our first time out of the way. You know that, don’t you?”
She laughed. “Of course I do! And you’re right. I should try to be more like Willow and just brazen it out.”
He leaned in and claimed her mouth in a deep, slow kiss that left her dizzy.
“I don’t want you to be like anyone but yourself, okay? If you’re going to be more like anyone, just be more you.”
She nodded happily; if his kiss had left her dizzy, his words touched her heart. She didn’t think anyone had ever wanted her to be more of herself before.
~ ~ ~
Xander took a slug of his beer as he watched Tori chat with Chelsea and Molly. So far, tonight wasn’t working out in the way that he’d hoped. They’d agreed that they had nothing to hide – that there was no reason not to let everyone know that they were together, but Tori still seemed wary. To be fair, she wasn’t the only one.
He’d thought that arriving together would give their friends and family a clue, but everyone was so used to them hanging out together that no one seemed to have even noticed. As soon as they’d come inside Muse, the girls had all crowded together. He didn’t know what that was all about, some piece of juicy gossip probably. Tori had shot him an apologetic look as Molly dragged her off to join them.
He'd come to the bar to get them a drink, and when Bentley had come to join him, he’d thought that this was his chance to come clean with her brother. He and Bentley had been friends their whole lives; he wasn’t expecting any opposition from him – but he did feel like he should talk to him man to man about his little sister.
However, Jacob had appeared on Bentley’s other side and started talking business. Xander knew better than to try to distract either of them when they started with that. He blew out a sigh and took another slug of his beer.
Slade cocked an eyebrow at him as he approached the bar. “Are you guys together?” he asked in a low voice.
Xander let out a short laugh. “We are. We were expecting to have to face everyone and explain ourselves tonight – but so far, no one seems to have noticed.”
Slade chuckled. “It’s not as though you came in with your arms around each other or anything, is it? And Chelsea corralled all the girls the minute they arrived – Grant said that she’s finally decided about their wedding.”
“Right.” It had taken those two so long to figure out their wedding plans that Xander wasn’t surprised that any announcement that Chelsea wanted to make would be big news.
“I’m sure they’ll be up for celebrating your good news as well.”
“I hope so. Although at this rate, it wouldn’t surprise me if we still haven’t come clean by the time we leave.”
“Leave?”
“Yeah. We’re headed for Nashville on Monday morning.”
Slade grinned. “You didn’t waste any time setting that up.”
