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Nearly.
“Xavi, I said stop,” I said, pushing him off me completely.
He backed off with a groan, though he couldn’t stop his gaze from slipping down to where my nipples, evident through the thin sheets, were making it very clear that even if my brain wanted to stop, my body definitely did not.
Traitor.
“Xavi,” I said sharply, then snapped in front of his face. “Up here, please.”
He rolled his eyes but did readjust his gaze eventually. “Fine. What?”
“You can’t keep doing this.”
“Doing what? Worshiping my girlfriend? Come on, Ces, it’s the only good thing going for us right now.”
“What, sex? That’s all? Xavier, I am not a consolation prize. Or a security blanket.”
He recoiled. “I never said you were! But it’s better than these sad-sack, everything’s wrong conversations, don’t you think?”
My mouth dropped. “Are you serious right now?”
Xavier shrugged, sitting back onto his heels on the mattress. I yanked the sheets farther up my chest and sat back against the pillows, eager to get as far away from him as possible.
“These are real issues,” I told him. “Real shit we are dealing with right now. These things affect my life. Sofia’s life. In a matter of weeks, too. And you couldn’t care less.”
“That’s because on top of your ‘real issues,’ I’ve got a boatload of my own, Francesca,” he shot back as he got off the bed. As if he, too, wanted space between us. Well, that was fine with me. “In case you missed it, my uncle is practically on death’s door. I’ve got a thousand-year family legacy to protect that suddenly means more than it ever has in my life. I’ve got family members circling the whole thing like vultures, and on top of that, I’ve got a daughter to get to know. I don’t have time for stupid gossip and your brother’s wedding and all your fucking insecurities! I just don’t!”
By the time he was done with his tirade, I would have thrown just about anything in the room at him to get him to stop. At last, the truth was out. I didn’t have to suspect anymore that Sofia and I were at the bottom of his list of priorities. He’d just spelled it out for me, clear as day.
“Your Grace?”
The butler’s quiet knock sounded on the other side of my bedroom. Xavier moved to open it, then looked at me.
“Don’t. Open. The door,” I gritted through my teeth. “We are still talking.”
Xavier glared at me for a long minute. Then he turned and twisted the knob.
Bledsoe popped in, took one look at me in the bed, and averted his gaze completely. “Mrs. Crew wished me to remind that you are due at the polo pitch in approximately ninety minutes, Your Grace. Benjamin has the car waiting in the front drive.”
“Thanks, Bledsoe. I’ll meet him out front.” Xavier closed the door, then turned back to me. “Look—”
“Don’t,” I said sharply, staring down at the sheets. I absolutely wouldnotcry right now.
He opened and closed his mouth several times, followed by a similar action with his fists. He looked like he wanted his heavy bag in the room but would have to settle for a pillow.
“I’ve got to go,” he said carefully. “The earl is going to be at this event too, and Frederick is actually all right talking polo. There will be members of the royal family there. We can’t miss it.”
“Of course you can’t,” I told him, my lower lip trembling. “I wouldn’t expect anything less.”
At this point, I really didn’t.
“I’ll send Ben back for you and Sof,” Xavier said. “The match is at noon. She’ll like the ponies.”
At that, I finally looked up. “You can’t possibly think we are coming to watch you ride a horse and hit a ball with a stick after the shit you just said to me.”
He stood there for a long time, then served me with a gaze that just about broke my heart, twisted as it was with confusion, love, pain, and yes, anger. And the anger, as he promised, was always there.
“You’re the only ones I want there,” he said quietly. “Do with that as you like.”
