The only dark spot in my rather sunny picture was that Brant was a lot smaller town than I had been prepared for. Living in big cities in California, I hadn’t given much to gossip or worried about what my neighbors had been into. Brant was a different animal altogether; mainly, me living with Xander.
One thing salons were notorious for was gossip, and Cut & Clips was full of it. I heard more than I wanted to about what a catch Xander Raynes was and I had to let the gossip fly because I couldn’t tell people the real reason I was living with Xander. Sure, I stuck to the script that he was just helping me out as a favor to Karla and Trevor, but nobody bought my story. The town was full of women who believed in Lifetime Original Movies and romantic comedies that they convinced themselves that I waslivingwith Xander. So, the sooner I could move out, the sooner I could squash some of the rumors.
Not to mention, living with Xander was harder than I thought it would be. I learned early on that my living with him had no effect on his daily life. The man walked around in just basketball shorts or sweats all the time. Hell, a few times I caught him in just a towel, fresh out of the shower. And, trust me, that’s not a good thing when the man is shredded all to hell and is sexy as sin. I didn’t need my attraction to Xander to deepen. I had real-life problems that didn’t include a reformed jackass in my bed.
The surprising thing is that we got along fairly well. I was sure our personalities would clash, but they hadn’t yet, and we fell into a nice, cordial routine. I even stopped fighting his alpha tendencies and let him be the man of the house. Everything was working out, if only the women at the salon would stop plaguing me with questions about how good the man was in bed.
With the decision to start looking at places to live, I sat at the house computer in Xander’s office and pulled up realty listings for Brant, North Dakota. I wasn’t sure how long I’d been seated at the computer before I heard Xander’s deep, rumbling voice behind me. “What are you doing?”
I looked up, startled and surprised. “What are you doing here?”
He was leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed over his chest. “I live here,” he smirked.
I rolled my eyes. “I mean, what are you doing home already?”
“Fallon, it’s past six,” I said, jerking his head towards the clock on the wall.
I glanced back down towards the corner of the computer screen, and sure enough, it was a little past six already. “Shit,” I mumbled. “I hadn’t realized it was that late.”
“What are you doing?” he asked again.
I looked back up at him. Damn, the man really was a good-looking sonofabitch. “I was checking real estate listings for condos or apartments,” I replied.
I could see the tick in his jaw. “Why?”
I logged out of the website and powered down the computer before standing up and walking towards him. “Because now that I’ve got a car and a job, it’s time I find a place to live,” I said, leaving the ‘duh’ out of my answer, but letting it be implied.
“You don’t like living here?”
Okay.
I was not expecting that.
“That’s not the point,” I replied, a might bit confused. “This was a temporary arrangement, or did you forget? The plan was that I’d move out once I got settled, Xander.”
Something passed in his eyes and, suddenly, things didn’t feel that simple anymore. “You’re wrong, Fallon,” he said. “The arrangement was that you’d move out onceIfelt it was safe for you to do so.”
I was standing in front of him, blown away by his words. “What? What are you talking about?”
“The agreement was that you’d stay here until I felt it was safe enough for you to move out.” He straightened as he shrugged a shoulder. “It’s only been a few weeks,” he pointed out. “I don’t feel…uh, comfortable with you moving out just yet.”
I stood there not sure what I was feeling. He couldn’t be serious, could he?
I shook my head to clear the muddiness his word had created. “You don’t have a say, Xander,” I replied. “You…it’s not up to you, contrary what your alpha man mind may think.”
“That was the deal, Fallon,” he argued.
I wanted to be a jerk and tell him again he didn’t have a say, but I quickly realized Xander wasn’t being a macho alpha. I think he really was concerned about me leaving. Sure, we’ve been living together for a few weeks, but it wasn’t as if we’d become friend-friends. We had been…easy roommates; nothing more. So, his concern was a little…well, concerning.
“Xander, I…I can’t live here forever,” I whispered. “The whole point of getting a job and…all this, is to finally meet this situation head-on. I can’t do that if I’m living here.”
There went that tick in his jaw again. “Why not?”
“Because that’s the coward’s way out, Xander,” I replied. “This is my problem. I need to…deal with it myself.”
He looked pissed. “It’s not cowardice to accept help from friends.”
I didn’t want to be a jerk, but I wasn’t going to sugarcoat this conversation either. “Xander, we’re hardly friends,” I pointed out. “And even if we were, accepting help from a friend is different from putting them in harm’s way. Why do you think I don’t hang out with Karla as much as I’d like to?”
