Page 48 of The Mistletoe Switch

"Ha. I'll believe that last part when it happens. But thank you for the apology." She points at Xavier and then at me. "And you two better be dating for real. I like you together and if I find out you're just pretending to get between me and James, I'm going to open the box."

Xavier gasps. "What the hell? That's got to be breaking about fifty rules of sibling code."

"And you'd deserve it." She grabs two more candy canes and saunters toward the door, but stops before she reaches it and turns back to us, eyes narrowed. "I'll be watching. This thing between you had better be real."

She walks out the door, the bell tinkling as she goes.

"What's the box?" I ask.

Xavier looks pale. "It's a metaphor. I think. It's the box in her brain where she stores all my secrets and misdeeds, all the blackmail material she has on me. She's never made this particular threat before, but I'm pretty sure it means she'll spill them all."

"Wow." My sympathy is totally pretend because I'd love to know his secrets and the fallout would be hilarious, I'd bet. "Harsh."

"Don't look so smug. Alice seems sweet, but she's got a hell of a vindictive streak. If you've got any secrets to spill, she'll find them."

I shrug like I'm not worried, but honestly, haven't I been the center of enough embarrassing moments with this man? "I'm an open book. She can't hurt me."

Xavier laughs, and I want to kiss him.

So I head back to my spot in his window and get back to work. I watch him when he's not looking my way, his body the most delicious thing in the place, the tension between us heavy. When he looks my way, I glance away quickly, but I feel his eyes on me like a touch that traces every inch of my body.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Cherry

"Did you have any luck tracking down James?" Xavier asks that evening as soon as I let him into my apartment.

I'm in my comfiest sweatpants and a cropped sweatshirt, my fuzzy socks up to my knees under it all. "He refused to see me." I slump onto the bed. "How can I convince him I've changed if I can't even find him?"

Xavier drops a small duffel bag onto the floor and sits next to me. He wraps a big arm around my shoulders and pulls me to his side. I snuggle against him.

"Are you sure you still want to convince him?" Xavier asks. "You're way too good for that loser."

"Yes. Being better than your partner is the best way to convince him to stay." I sigh. "Unfortunately, I've got an uphill climb to even convince him to see me as his equal."

"Want to talk about what happened in the shop today?" Xavier turns to face me fully, his expression unreadable.

"Nope. You're here to keep up pretenses of us fake dating for your sister so she doesn't rip you limb from limb, but we are fully platonic. I can't think straight if you kiss me again."

His smile rises slowly, not a sign of anger or disappointment anywhere on his face. He's a good man, not the kind who gets pissed when a woman turns him down. "Let me know if you change your mind, because I'm fully on board."

I grin. "I bet you are."

"Get out your whiteboard." Xavier slaps my knee. "I'll fix us some dinner and we'll make a plan."

I grab my whiteboard and a few dry erase markers from my closet and come back to the couch to find Xavier still sitting there, phone to his ear.

"That's right. Thanks, man."

He hangs up, and I stare at him.

"What?" he asks.

"Are you making dinner?"

He snorts. "The only thing I cook well is candy. I ordered us Thai. Didn't you say today that you haven't had it in forever and have a craving for a good pad Thai and coconut soup?"

"Um, yeah. Wow. You remembered that?"

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