Page 76 of The Grump

“On a scale of one to ten, do you want the truth?”

“Always.”

He leaned in, whispering in my ear, “I didn’t even notice the tree.”

“Xander, that can’t possibly be true.”

“I’m not noticing much tonight. Only you.”

My breath hitched as butterflies roamed around in my stomach. This man definitely knew how to sweet-talk me.

“Xander LeBlanc, what an honor to have you at this event,” a man said, walking up to us.

Xander instantly straightened up, turning to him. “Danielson, good to see you.”

Danielson then looked at me. “And you are?”

“This is Bailey LeCarre,” Xander said, “My date tonight.”

I swear to God, my chest pushed itself forward all on its own, simply bursting with pride at his words.

“It’s an amazing event. I love it,” I gushed.

“I can’t really take credit for much except sponsoring some of it.” He touched my arm. “But I’m guessing you’re the one I need to thank for Xander being here.”

“Oh, well—”

“Definitely yes,” Xander said. “I came because I knew Bailey would enjoy herself.”

“Well, since you’re here, I’d like to steal you away for a few moments if I can,” Danielson said.

Xander looked at me. He was truly deferring this to me? Would he turn him down if I said no? That was silly. Why would I even do that? “Sure. I’ll taste more of that amazing cake.”

Both of them started to laugh, then went a few steps outside the room.

I’d said that statement in jest, but looking at my plate, the remaining piece of cake did look terribly lonely. It needed a friend. So, I went back to the table with the sweets. They had food as well—mostly canapés, which made sense. You didn’twant a room like this to smell like jambalaya or something like that.

I decided on a chocolate cake. Just as I added a slice to my plate, I felt Xander put a hand on my waist and looked up, surprised he’d returned so quickly. Only this sexy man could distract me from cake.

“Xander LeBlanc,” a voice said from behind us, as we both turned around.

“Thomas!” Xander exclaimed.

The man named Thomas seemed to be the same age as us. He shook Xander’s hand. “Haven’t seen you in a while, man.”

Xander gestured to me. “Bailey, this is an old friend from high school, Thomas Halsey. Thomas, this is my girlfriend, Bailey.”

I loved how that sounded.Girlfriend.

“Nice to meet you, Bailey, and congratulations for getting this one here tonight. When I heard you were attending, I thought some miracle must have happened to pull Xander LeBlanc out of his office. Now things are starting to make sense.”

Xander shrugged. “It’s a busy season.”

“I know, man, but even so... Anyway, I’m not complaining. If it weren’t for you, my family and I would be in huge financial issues. We almost bought into Kyle and Beau Deveraux’s scheme. I know many who did and handed them money.”

Xander scoffed. “Too many, unfortunately. But I wasn’t going to let them do any more harm.”

“They were always assholes,” Thomas said, shaking his head. “Even in high school. Don’t know how they turned out like that. Their parents are decent people. I’ve dealt with them a few times. Their sister, Grace, is nothing like them either.”

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