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Macie considered Gia’s comment, then glanced at Xander’s arm, her smile growing dangerously wide. “For what it’s worth,” she said to Xander, “I totally approve.” Then she looked at Gia. “And so does Jeannette.”
Gia closed her eyes and shook her head. “God, Xander, I’m sorry about this.”
“Sorry about Macie, or about what you just said?” Xander asked.
Gia’s eyes flew open, confused. “What?”
Xander’s frown was quite pronounced, and she got the impression he wasn’t happy with her for some reason. “If Macie hadn’t come over here looking for gossip, I would have been shocked. I was perfectly aware of what was going to happen when the two of us walked in together and I kissed you.”
“You don’t care if…”
Xander’s frown morphed to a scowl as he twisted on the stool, tugging her between his outstretched thighs, his lips right by her ear. “You’ve already got one punishment coming to you for all that crap you just spouted to Macie. You might want to choose your next words carefully, Brat.”
Choosing words wasn’t going to be a problem because his comment had rendered her unable to speak at all. Her mouth opened and closed a few times, but nothing came out.
“Here’s how the rest of this day is going to go down,” he continued. “I’m going to eat the special and steal a few more kisses from my girl. Then, I’m going to go visit my parents and brother while you finish up your shift. I’ll be here at eight to walk you back home. We’ll deal with the punishment first, then expand on what we started last night.”
“You’re spending the night with me again?” She didn’t mean to sound quite so astonished, but she really had thought last night was a one-off.
Xander nodded, his dark expression growing lighter as he gave her an exasperated look. “Typically I wait for an invitation, but you’re not very good at handing those out.”
She laughed softly, recalling she didn’t invite him in last night either. “I have zero experience with one-night stands.”
Just like that, Xander’s scowl was back. “Call this a one-night stand again and I’ll drag you to that storage closet over there, bend you over one of the shelves, and make sure you don’t sit comfortably for a week. And believe me, I don’t give a shit if Macie, TJ, or the whole damn town hears.”
Gia had left her house this morning so physically sated, so sexually satisfied, she’d been confident she wouldn’t need sex again for another year.
Boy, had she been wrong. One heavy-handed, sexy-as-fuck threat from Xander, and now her pussy was wet, her nipples hard enough to cut glass, and she was seriously debating if she should throw down that gauntlet. Because her lust-addled brain cells were outnumbering her common-sense cells ten to one.
Xander, the astute bastard, smirked. “You’re going to get spanked tonight, Brat. Promise.”
She wished that made her feel better, but there was a hell of a lot hours between now and tonight. “For the record,” she said. “You’ve got an open invite to spend the night with me any night you want. In case I forget again.”
She thought Xander would laugh at her joke, but instead, he said, “Okay. I accept. I’m staying with you this trip. My luggage is still in my car, so we’ll grab it tonight when we get back to your place and take it inside.”
He was spending the entire two and a half weeks he was home with her?
Hooooooly hell.
Santa had come early this year.
True to his word, Xander had returned at the end of her shift after spending the afternoon and evening with his family.
She gave her cousin Adele a little finger wave goodbye. Adele was already up to date on the Xander/Gia front because Macie had met her at the door, chomping at the bit to give her sister the goods before their dad could.
Gia had spent the entire day trying to figure out how her one-night stand had gotten upgraded. Not that she was upset about it. That damn realist in her might be smitten, but her eyes were still wide open. So she knew this had to be nothing more than a holiday fling. After all, when Xander—the confirmed workaholic bachelor—talked about his next big adventure, the only things on his list to change were on the career front. Selling the company and doing consulting work. Nowhere in there had he discussed marriage or family or even moving back to Maris.
When they reached her apartment, Gia resisted the urge to pinch herself when Xander grabbed his suitcase from the car. She’d been a bit worried about what his family would say about him not staying with them, but she hadn’t had to hold on to that anxiety for more than an hour after Xander headed out to visit them.
Alison had gotten the news from Gus, and she’d blown up Gia’s phone all day long, the two of them texting back and forth. Gia had been relieved to know the bride and groom were both thrilled over this turn of events. So phew! That was a major hurdle cleared.
Gia pulled her key ring from her jacket pocket and waved it around to show Xander the door key wasn’t under the welcome mat. He grinned as he took it from her, unlocking the door.
Placing his suitcase by the door, he locked it behind them, leaning against the surface as Gia tossed her purse on the coffee table, then moved around the living room to turn on the Christmas tree lights as well as the lamp on the end table.
Butterflies had chosen that moment to break free of their cocoons in her stomach. Last night, she’d been blissfully ignorant of what kind of turn the night would take.
Tonight…she knew. And while she wanted it more than crunchy peanut butter spread thick on a chocolate Hershey bar, she’d had too long to consider Xander’s announcement that he planned to begin with a punishment.
