XAVIER LOOKED SOpeaceful all curled up asleep in a chair in the hospital waiting room. I hated to wake him up, but Ava just delivered a baby boy and he’d want to know. I knelt down in front of him and that was when I noticed the dried streaks of tears on his face. I hated the thought of him in any pain - even in his sleep.
Xavier had told me about the nightmares he had almost on a nightly basis after he was attacked by Damien, but that was before we met.I brought back his music,I thought smugly to myself. He hadn’t said the L word back to me, but he showed me and told me how he felt in so many other ways. So, the sight of his tear-streaked face was like a punch to the gut.
I hated Damien Diamond aka Erik Schafnitz with a fucking passion. If Deaconhadkilled the slimy bastard I would have gladly shaken his hand and bought him a beer. Knowing that the little weasel took pictures of the man I love when he was vulnerable to use against him, made me want to dig his carcass up and kill him all over again. The level of hatred I felt toward him was almost frightening.
Xavier whimpered, pulling me away from my morose thoughts. “I love you, Ben.” Xavier’s words were merely a whisper, but I heard them all the same.
My heart hammered in my chest, sending my blood zinging through my veins. I leaned forward and kissed his cheeks while brushing my thumb across his full lips. “Wake up, love, and say those sweet words to me with your eyes open. You know how much I love your gorgeous brown eyes.”
“Ben?” Xavier’s eyes slowly fluttered open and he blinked several times while trying to wake from what appeared to be a very deep sleep. He looked around, trying to orient himself with his surroundings. “Why are we at a hospital?”
That must have been a really deep sleep. “Ava just gave birth to a baby boy about twenty minutes ago. Everyone is at the nursery window waiting for baby Jacob to be brought in for them to see. Gray and Chase said that you had fallen asleep and they didn’t want to disturb you.” I kissed his soft lips a few times and wished I could linger for a longer kiss. I missed him so damn much while I was away. “I came to the hospital as soon as my plane landed.”
Xavier jerked up straight in his seat like a volt of electricity zapped him. “Your plane crashed. You died Ben and left me all alone. Jesus,” he looked around him some more, “Chase and Gray took me home and I cried myself to sleep in your bed while wearing your shirt. I thought you were dead, but you came to me in my sleep and comforted me. You were going to make love to me in my dream. It felt so fucking real.” His voice broke as he recalled how destroyed he felt in his dream. “The thought of never seeing you, touching you, or hearing your voice was more than I could handle.”
I just knelt there looking at him in concern. “Baby, you dreamed those events, because none of that happened. I didn’t miss my flight and it didn’t crash. I had to switch planes in Colorado due to a malfunction with landing gear sensors on the original plane. I sent you a text earlier to tell you that I’d be home later than planned. Your mind must have taken that tidbit and ran away with it while you slept. There was no plane crash, baby. I haven’t left you, Xavier. I’m right here.”
His tears made sense to me now. I opened my arms and he launched himself at me, wrapping his arms around me and holding me close. “It was so real, Ben.” His voice broke and more tears threatened. He was lost to the memories of his dream and I wanted him with me, not lost in his dream again.
“Baby, it was all just a really bad dream. Although, I’d love to be slipping inside you right now.” I looked around the empty waiting room and then back to him. “How do you feel about exhibitionism?” I wiggled my eyebrows and made him smile. He crinkled his nose and shook his head.
“There you two are.” Chase’s excitement was evident by the loudness of his voice. He was a few decibels above enthusiastic. “You’re going to miss baby Jacob.”
“Babe, they’ll have him in the nursery for more than five minutes. Ava is exhausted and it sounds like Jacob is spending the night in the nursery so she can get some uninterrupted sleep.” Gray, as usual, was the voice of reason, unless the situation pertained to Chase and then all bets were off.
“Xavier, were you crying?” Chase asked him and then turned to me. “What the hell did you do to him?”
“Me?” I might have sounded a little defensive. “I didn’t do anything to him. He just experienced a really vivid dream that shook him up.”
“A dream?” Chase’s voice was full of disbelief.
“You were there and you were there,” Xavier said, not missing a beat as he pointed at Chase and then Gray.
“Very funny, Dorothy.” Chase playfully punched Xavier in the arm.
“That’s my guy,” I said lovingly. I leaned in and kissed his lips once, twice, and then lingered for a third kiss. “When we get home you’re going to tell methe wordswhile you’re awake. I heard you say them in your sleep, but I need to hear them while you’re awake.” I held out my hand and pulled him to his feet once he placed his hand in mine.
We followed behind Gray and Chase as we made our way through the hospital corridor. We were just a few feet away from the nursery when Xavier stopped abruptly and tugged my hand so that I also stopped. I turned to look at him in confusion until I saw the look in his eyes.
“I don’t want to wait another second.” Xavier lightly shoved me up against the wall and pressed his body against mine. “I love you, Ben. I crazy love you. I’m going to say it until you’re sick of hearing it.”
“That’s never going to happen, babe.” Xavier stood up on his toes and pressed his mouth to mine. “It’s been four fucking days since I’ve been inside you and I’m not willing to wait much longer. So, you might want to back up a bit unless you want me to drag you to the nearest bathroom stall and remedy the situation right now. I had hoped to be a little more romantic.”
“Not to mention more hygienic,” Xavier added with disgust. “With my luck, I’d end up with a staph infection.” Xavier backed away slowly and patted my arm as if he was trying to soothe the beast inside of us both.
“Ten minutes of oohing and ahhing and then we’re out of here.” I swatted him playfully on the ass as we joined the crowd gathering to look at baby Jacob. “He’s a cute little guy,” I said, peering down on his little pink face. He was wearing a blue knit hat and little blue mittens on his hands. I had a sudden urge to see his little fingers and toes. “Shit, I’m turning into one of them,” I said nodding my heard toward Gray and Chase who practically had their noses pressed to the window. “We should place a bet on how long it takes them to adopt or find a surrogate. What do you think? A year?”
Xavier scoffed. “Nine months max.” He turned and looked at me with such serious eyes. “Do you want kids?”
“Baby, I really want one of those,” Chase said softly. Xavier and I exchanged a smug smile. All joking aside, Gray and Chase were going to be amazing parents.
“I’ve never given much thought to kids, but then again I never imagined myself falling in love with someone either. What about you?”
“Same here.” Xavier reached over and placed his hand around the back of my neck. “Take me home, Ben.”
We said goodbye to everyone and left the hospital hand in hand until we reached his car. I pushed him against the driver side door and lowered my head until my mouth was just a hair’s breadth away from his lips. “My home is wherever you are, Xavier.” I kissed him like I had wanted to since I saw him sleeping in the chair. Our kiss turned insanely hot in a matter of seconds and I didn’t want to start something here that we couldn’t finish. “We need to find you a house with a garage so I can fuck you over Mistress’s hood like I wanted to the first night I saw her.”
“Okay,” Xavier said shakily.
