Page 51 of The Keeper

He kissed me again. Softer but just as passionate.

I couldn’t look Bennet or Hannah in the eye when I staggered toward the elevator. At least I hope I didn’t stagger. I tried like hell to walk like none of this affected me in the slightest.

Xavier stood in the lobby, his eyes to glued to my every movement.

Bennet hit the button and just before the doors closed said, “Don’t forget your four o’clock, mate. I’ll be calling to check on you later.” His tone was clipped, almost imposing.

Xavier’s pissed off face was the last thing I saw as the doors shut.

Xavier

“Everything’s great, thanks.” I leaned back in the chair and watched Dr. Frances tap his pen on the notepad. “Can’t complain.”

“And now that we’ve established the bullshit portion of the session, you can answer me honestly from here on out.” He looked at me and raised his eyebrows.

“You’re really good at your job,” I shot back. “That was honest.”

“So, nothing out of the ordinary happened since the last time I saw you?”

Fuck you and your loaded questions. “No.”

Dr. Joshua Frances was just the latest in a line of shrinks I’d agreed to see over the years thanks to Bennet always being on my ass about it. The last one couldn’t find her own way out of a wet paper bag let alone figure out what goes on inside my head.

The questions were always the same.

What brings you here?

Why do you think you behave this way?

What can we do to shift your way of thinking?

How do you think you can recognize this behavior in yourself?

It’s not like I could say no to this anyway. Bennet and I had an unspoken deal this is what I needed.

“Xavier.”

The way this doc said my name made me want to punch a wall. Ironic, right?

“I don’t give a shit who you are or what you do for a living,” he continued. “That’s not what I’m here for. I’m not even supposed to be doing most of the talking. You are. This is your time to say whatever you want about anything you want. Dig deep. Enough with the rehearsed bullshit.”

Touché. As much as I hated to admit it, he was right. And if I was being really honest, I liked his unorthodox approach. Didn’t mean I was going to spill my guts to this Indiana Jones lookalike. My inner demons or darkness or whatever fancy buzzword that’s trending online these days only wanted to reveal itself to her.

Victoria.

Dark green eyes and lush, soft lips flickered through my mind day and night. She was so much more than what I’d assumed when I pulled off the road. At first blush she appeared to be a spoiled, pretty young woman on some trendy road trip through the English countryside. Shame on me for being so shallow.

Okay fine, I initially stopped because she was hot. It’s a fact and I’m not too proud to admit it. And yes, there’s the whole intense lust thing clouding my brain, especially after what happened this afternoon. And last night. And the night before.

But there is so much more beneath her stylish, expensive surface and the great sex. She’s intelligent, raw, passionate, driven.

It’s crazy to even think this way. I don’t know her well. But I like her. I like how I feel around her. Relaxed. Whole.

Oh God. My chest did the thing again. A demanding, frantic, thing.

I’m so fucked.

I did some internet sleuthing last night after I got home. It started out pretty innocent. I just wanted to know more about her and was curious to see pictures of Dartmouth. I did not picture her going to university in such a rural area. Lovely, yes. But she seems so metropolitan, not small town America.

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