Page 67 of Boss Level

He approached me and gave me a quick kiss. “Okay. Then let me help you with your lines.Welcome home. Missed you.”

I was certain we’d never greeted each other withmissed you, and the edge was still in his voice.

Pretending our relationships were something they weren’t had gotten us here, and ignoring the fact that we both wanted Judith—we bothneededher—wasn’t going to help now. “I don’t want to call off the engagement.”

“Really.”

“Rather, I don’t want things to go back to the way they were. She should be a bigger part of our lives.”

Xander frowned. “She’s already a massive part of everything we do.”

“Exactly. Doesn’t that tell you something?”

He shrugged and shook his head. “It tells me we’re already all in a good place together.”

Fuck. He’d turned this into a contest. He was right, I was wrong. There was nothing overt in his words or actions, but I’d been with him long enough to know. People thought being a lawyer was all about winning, but what I did was negotiation, and that included knowing when I’d slammed into a brick wall.

I didn’t want to drop this conversation. I didn’t want to walk away with things unresolved. But if I pushed now, I may lose my chance to make my point, and we’d lose Judith.

“Am I right?” Xander asked.

Most definitely not. “You make a great point.”

“Spoken like someone practiced in saying one thing that means many things.” He closed the distance between us and gripped the back of my neck. “You’re not going to drop this, are you?”

“I am for tonight.”

Xander pressed his forehead to mine. “Good, because you’re right about one thing.”

I was right about all of it. “What’s that?”

“Telling the world I love you will be easy.”

I hadn’t said that, he did. As he tilted both our heads and crushed his mouth to mine, I couldn’t argue. I didn’t want to. Everyone should know how much Xander and I loved each other.

His demand grew more intense as he pushed into me, and my pulse roared in response. This shift in mood, the abrupt intensity, felt off. But did it? This kiss—the need flowing freely between us—was right.

We’d spent so long hiding, and now we could celebrate our love in so many new ways.

Xander pinned me to the wall with his full body, his hard frame boxing me in. I liked being trapped this way, by him.

I needed to be closer. To make sure he stayed. I gripped the short hairs at the back of his neck, tugging salt and pepper strands with my fists and holding him in place while I tasted every second of this kiss.

He dropped his hand to my half-hard cock, stroking it through fabric. Pulling until I was fully erect, and squeezing hard enough I ached. In the best possible way.

This still wasn’t enough. I needed more of him. I reached for Xander to do the same—to cup him and feel his hard length.

He grabbed my wrist with his free hand, never pausing in the way he stroked me, and pinned my arm above my head. He broke the kiss long enough to meet my gaze. “No.”

Was he serious? “I don’t—”

“And you won’t.”

That didn’t finish my thought or answer mywhy, but he tugged my dick harder, bit my bottom lip in a fresh, hungry kiss, and my questions flitted into the vapor.

Somehow, with only one hand, he managed to undo my belt and trousers. The actions were rough and clumsy, straining the seams on the clothing.

Not that my rock-hard cock wasn’t already doing that.

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