Page 62 of Rear View
The blonde extended her phone my way. “Would you mind?”
“Nah,” Xavier said before he took it from her grasp. “She’s not here for that.” He held it up and the blonde wiggled into his side, then set her palm over his bicep.
A sudden urge to claw her eyes out struck because that was my arm she groped. Where my hand belonged. At least, I wanted it to be. Xavier lowered his brow, eyeing her as if he was half a second from peeling it off.
“Smile!” the girls squealed.
He lifted his gaze and clicked the picture. Abruptly, he handed the device back and stepped away, detaching himself. The blonde girl shimmied closer again and slyly tucked a piece of paper into his pocket before she scurried after her friends.
My heart tumbled inside my chest as I looked away and pretended not to see.
“Fuck sakes.” He jerked it out and ripped it up, tossing it onto the table. “Sorry about that, darlin’.”
I eyed the tattered remnants of that phone number and linked my fingers together. “Does that happen a lot?”
The horror that stole across his face made my own settle. “That’s a first.”
“Do you like it?”
“I like bein’ known.” He shook his head. “But not…”
The ache in my soul settled and I trailed a finger along the edge of the table. “Being pawed over?”
“Yeah.” He tipped his chin up. “That.”
“That’s not a perk?”
His gaze locked on mine, holding me. “There’s only one woman’s attention I want.”
The blush that seared my cheeks burned just as the employee showed up with our order.
“Here you go,” he said, setting it all down.
“Thanks, man.” Xavier popped open the box and sorted our paper plates.
The savory grease, dough and cheese scents hit me. I moaned and he froze, his throat dipping as he swallowed hard. Rolling his shoulders, he opened our drinks and took a mouthful of his own.
Pulling out the ketchup, I tore the packet and started squirting. His brow furrowed. The more ketchup I added, the deeper that furrow grew.
“Darlin’.”
I looked up.
His brow was cocked high. “The hell are you doin’?”
I inspected my pizza, then him, my pizza, then him again. “I’m making it better.”
He thumped his chest with the side of his fist while he mock revived himself. “You’re killin’ me here.”
I gasped. “How dare you! This is epic. Don’t judge me!”
“You’re butcherin’ a perfectly good slice.”
“Just try it, Judgmental Judy,” I said, grabbing another ketchup packet and aiming it his way.
He threw a hand over his plate, shielding it from my advance. “Don’t you point that desecration this way, woman.”
My mouth dropped. I held those icy eyes as I ripped said packet open and squirted it over my pizza.
