Page 63 of Xavier

“Have you always dreamed of going with Austin?”

His question catches me off guard, and my mouth falls open in response.

No. I’ve never dreamed of traveling with Austin, but I’d never admit that.

Sure, I might have thought I’d eventually marry Austin and settle down with him, but I always pictured myself on a romantic Parisian date with a mystery man.

A man that ignites desire in me with just one look. A man that worships my body all night long.

A man like Xavier.

I stand up and leave the rest of my breakfast untouched. As soon as I’m in the bedroom, I climb back into bed.

Xavier barges into the room a few minutes later.

“I need to show you something.”

Oh, yeah. The big secret.

I climb out of bed and follow him into the office. Neither of us speaks as he opens the closet door, pushes a couple of jackets to the side, and opens a secret door in the back of the closet.

How did he know about this?

As if reading my thoughts, he says, “I was looking in these boxes-”

“Being nosy?” I interrupt with a smile on my face.

“Yeah, well, I promised you I’d find out the truth. I don’t like sitting around waiting anymore than you do.”

His gaze sears into mine. It’s intense, and all I feel like doing is kissing him until we are both a pile of sweaty limbs, but my curiosity wins the internal battle.

“Alright, go on. You were looking in the boxes, and?”

“When I placed this box down, it hit the back wall, and it sounded hollow.”

“So you thought ‘hey, I bet there is a secret door here’ and then you found the secret button to open the door?”

“Yeah, sort of.”

I give him my ‘I don’t believe you’ look.

“I’ve been trying to figure out why your dad has a safe house and then this is the quality house he has. It doesn’t add up.”

He turns back to the closet and continues.

“The mere definition of a safe house is that you are safe. Sure, we might be in the middle of nowhere, but we aren’t exactly safe here. There isn’t a bunker, weapons, or a security system.”

It’s true that all those things are missing, but he doesn’t know what dad told Mom and me about his past.

Xavier doesn’t know that Dad is perfectly capable of handling any intruder that’s brave enough to break in.

A question pops in my mind and before I can think about whether I want to ask it or not, it comes out.

“What did you do in the military?” My voice comes out in a whisper.

A part of me already knows, but my mind refuses to believe it. I can see how intense he always is and how everything he does and says is calculated.

He’s had decades of practice.

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