Page 35 of Guarded from Danger

Turning in his lap, I straddle him, wrapping my legs around his waist.

He cups my nape, tunneling his fingers through my hair and tipping my head back to take our kiss even deeper. His other hand rests at the small of my back, holding me close and sending tingles of electricity through my body.

I love how big his hands are, one almost spanning the width of my back.

And I love how he’s so strong, yet so gentle with me.

And I…

Breaking the kiss, I draw back slightly so I can meet Xavier’s gaze. His eyes are almost black as he looks at me, pupils dilated so there’s just a thin ring of deep brown around them.

“Is this okay, Lucy?” he asks. “We’re not going too fast?”

“No.” I kiss him again before continuing, “It’s not too fast. And I…” My heart jumps. “I want to tell you something.”

Worry moves across his face. “What, hun?”

Just say it.

“There was something I wished I’d told you. Back in… well. You know. I’d been thinking about it for a while, and then I didn’t know if I’d get to tell you.”

“What?”

“I… I’m falling for you. Falling in love. I know you might not feel the same way yet, and that’s okay. But I just… I really regretted never telling you. And I?—”

“Oh, Lucy.” He lights up, happier than I’ve ever seen him. “I’m falling in love with you, too.”

Oh.

This joy.

And soon I’ll tell him the rest.

That I’m not just falling. I’m in love with him.

CHAPTER TEN

XAVIER

Everything is going to be fine.

Just because things went bad the last time I left Lucy alone doesn’t mean it’ll happen again.

And anyway, she’s not alone. Sarah and Rambo are with her. If there’s a problem, Sarah will call right away. If I’m running full-out, I can cover the distance from the west wing—where our offices are—to my apartment in under a minute.

But what’s that saying? Don’t borrow trouble? My soccer coach back in high school used to say it whenever someone on the team was worried about something. Like when I was a nervous wreck waiting for my ASVAB scores, convinced mine wouldn’t be high enough to qualify for Special Forces training once I was eligible.

“Don’t borrow trouble,” he told me. “There’s no point in worrying about something until it actually happens.” And then he patted my shoulder and gave me a smile that was more fatherly than my actual dad ever was. “And anyway. You’re a smart kid, Xavier. I’m certain you did just fine.”

He was right. For all my worrying, I scored well above what I needed. But at the time, the stakes were so high—a guaranteedpath away from my disaster of a family—it was hard to keep things in perspective.

It’s the same now.

Lucy is so important to me, and the need to protect her is so great, it’s a battle to focus on logic and not emotion.

I can tell myself all the reasons she’s fine, but it’s still not enough to ease my worry.

She has Sarah with her. Sarah’s not just an amazing person, but she’s also a social worker who counsels people for a living. Not that she’s spending time with Lucy in an official capacity—she’s just there as a friend—but if something goes wrong, Sarah would know how to deal with it.

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