Page 17 of Last Comes Fate

True, I ran away almost immediately after seeing her mouth touch his. If he had pushed her away, if I hadn’t been witness.

If he had told her off in his signature, rough Xavier way, I hadn’t heard it.

And knowing Xavier—knowing at that moment, he had been desperate for connection withme, and when he was like that, he wasn’t particularly forgiving to anyone who got in his way—well, part of me was inclined to believe him.

After all, a man wouldn’t fly nearly a thousand miles if he was cheating.

Would he?

The house Matthew and Nina had rented for the family was located about four streets up the hill from the piazza, up the main avenue of Vernazza, then down a much narrower street that ended on the other side of a cliff towering over the tiny village and the sea below. Xavier followed me there like a big wet dog, shoulders hunched while he breathed heavily from the cool night air. When we reached the threshold, I unlocked the door and led Xavier inside after he had removed his shoes on the front stoop.

“I’ll see if I can find some newspaper for those,” I said as I slipped off my heels and padded through the little living room in my bare feet.

“Don’t bother,” Xavier said as he stripped off his socks and tossed them onto the shoes. “They’re ruined now, and I’ve got a change at mypensione. It’s just a block or two from here anyway.”

I didn’t know why it hurt that he had gotten himself a hotel, but for some reason, it cut like a knife. Maybe on some level, I’d wanted him to barge into my bedroom and plant a flag like a conqueror, family and propriety be damned.

I’d wanted him to fight for one small part of me, even if it was just a corner of my bed. My stairwell. Wherever I ended up.

“Would you like some tea?” I asked as I walked into the kitchen to make myself a cup.

I still felt rather lightheaded despite not having any champagne at the reception. Not to mention exhausted from being, well, knocked up. A cup of tea and a book sounded like the perfect antidote for the evening. I’d have to settle for just one of them.

“Sure. Green if you have it.”

“We brought some.”

I puttered around quietly as Xavier proceeded to strip off his shirt. I turned just as he was unbuttoning his pants and nearly dropped the kettle.

“What are you doing?

He looked up. “Well, I’m not going to sit around in wet clothes. Is there a dryer in the house?”

I gulped, then nodded. “There—yes, actually. Here, give me those.”

I tried not to notice him, but it was kind of impossible, given his size and the amount of space he took up. Xavier smirked as he peeled off the denim, then handed me his pants along with his soaked T-shirt. His jacket, retrieved from the harbor, had been squeezed out on the walk home and now lay drying over the back of one of the chairs.

I looked away, but not before I caught a glimpse of the way his drenched boxer briefs were clinging toeverypart of him like wet tissue, and how the serpentine tattoo—an homage to Kiyohime, the serpentine woman who avenged her broken heart—climbed like a vine up his torso and down his left arm, gleaming black and red and gray.

“Oh, for Pete’s sake,” I muttered as I whirled around.

“Something wrong?”

The sly lilt in his voice told me he knewexactlywhat was wrong. It also told me he thought he could play that to his advantage.

“I’ll just get you a towel,” I said shortly, then darted out of the room before he could respond.

When I came back, features controlled, I thrust a striped beach towel I had swiped from the laundry room at him.

“Here.”

He took it with a cheeky half grin, then tossed it onto the sofa before reaching down and tugging off his boxer briefs. Well, crap. Now I was exquisitely aware that Xavier Parker was standing naked in the middle of the room, seawater glinting where the light danced everywhere across his golden skin, carved muscles, and the tattoo.

And I do meaneverywhere.

I wanted to lick off every drop.

Yeah, this babyreallywasn’t going to make it easy to be around him.

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