Page 38 of Passed Ball

I head for the laundry room, going straight for the dryer. I wonder if Xavier is the type to put his clothes away immediately, or if . . . Bingo! I hit the jackpot, finding one of his shirts buried beneath a pile of pink and purple baby clothes.

Stripping off my damp clothes, I toss them in the dryer with the clothes that are still there. I instantly feel better, but my call with Harlowe isn't the naked kind.

Even though it's freshly washed, there's still a hint of Xavier clinging to it when I pull the shirt over my head and I'm not ashamed to admit I soak it in, burying my nose in the black fabric and letting the essence of him envelop me. He's been on my mind all day and this little hit of him is exactly what I need to soothe my still-frayed nerves from that massage this afternoon.

My phone rattles against the marble countertop, and a picture of Harlowe and me from last year's HarvestFest at the vineyard makes me smile.

"Um, where are you?" Harlowe's voice bursts through as my camera connects.

"At Xavier's. Had to come rescue Tenley. She got food poisoning, and he's got a game tonight, so she called me to help with Holland."

"You're in Ginger Daddy's house?" She leans in closer to the screen. "Is that his shirt?"

"Yes," I say, starting the drier so I can change back into my clothes before Xavier gets home.

"Spill," Harlowe demands as I step out of the laundry room and into the hall.

"Holland, his daughter, needed a bath, and I ended up soaked."

"Here I was hoping it was because you finally broke your dry spell, and he was the reason you were wet." She wiggles her eyebrows at me.

"No . . . but after the massage he gave me today, that's all too plausible."

"Way to bury the lede. You need to recruit that man to help you get off."

A muffled cough pulls my focus from my phone. I expect to find Tenley coming upstairs for something, not the man in question standing stock-still with a Bandits duffle slung over his shoulder and a heated question in his denim blue eyes.

"Um, I'm going to have to call you back," I say to Harlowe, my pulse pounding in my ears as I freeze just a few feet from him.

Chapter 19

Xavier

I knew Vivienne would be here. Her text after the game said Tenley was sick and she had called Vivi to come help with Holland. What I didn't expect was to go in search of her and hear her on the phone, mid-conversation with a friend, casually dissecting her sex life. And more importantly, the possibility ofmegiving her what she's missing.

Nothing could've prepared me for the vivid scenarios I've been imagining for weeks to suddenly be within reach. It's a sharp turn from the direction I expected my night to take, but her friend's words loop in my head like a siren's call getting louder with each step I take.

"You need to recruit that man to help you get off."

When I step around the corner and find her inmyhallway, wearing nothing but one ofmyshirts, my restraint snaps--all reason evaporates. She's here in my house, in my clothes, and for weeks she's all I've seen and it has me hurtling over the edge, reckless and ready to give her exactly what she needs. The reasons I've had for holding back suddenly don't seem unmanageable.

Her eyes lift from the phone and those plump lips part on a trapped inhale. She looks so at home, like she belongs here, and it's sexy as fuck. I vaguely register a hurried goodbye to her friend and the faint sound of the call ending.

Vivi freezes, and her eyes lock on mine as I let my gaze rake down her body. The hem of my shirt barely skims her thighs, leaving enough to the imagination to drive me wild.

I know I should walk away, check on my daughter, shove this ridiculous idea that I could have her out of my head. But I can't move. Not when she's looking at me like she wants me to be the solution to her problem. And not when every part of me is screaming to close the space between us.

Doing the right thing won't erase the memory of her in nothing but my shirt.

Maybe Vivi is the catalyst for me getting my identity back. Whether intentional or not, I can't ignore that any more than I can ignore what I just learned. This could all backfire, but the pull to her is too fucking strong and I'm too fucking weak.

There's risk in getting involved with Vivi, and no one stands to lose more than me and Holland. My daughter already has enough uncertainty in her life with Kristy missing. If Vivienne will allow me to have her the way I want we'll need boundaries and rules to keepeveryonesafe.

My mind made up, I step forward. My fingers find the hem of my shirt sitting high on her thigh. I rub it between my thumb and pointer finger. This close, her scent surrounds me. She reminds me of summer--it's an addicting mix of welcoming honeysuckle and citrus.

Her tongue wets her pink lips. "Did you hear that?"

"Every damn word."

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