Even when I was a mess of trauma and fear and terrible decisions, he saw straight through to what I needed.
I pulled back enough to meet his gaze. “I’m still scared. What if...”
Xavier’s mouth crashed into mine.
The kiss silenced everything. Every fear. Every doubt. Every thought screaming that this was a mistake.
He cupped my face. Held me like I was precious.
I kissed him back, poured years of grief and guilt and need into the contact. Showed him what I couldn’t say.
I choose you. Whatever comes next. However long we have. I choose you.
When we finally pulled apart, both breathing hard, Xavier’s forehead dropped to mine.
“Not... leaving you.” Each word came with certainty. “Coming back.”
“You better.” I fisted my fingers in his shirt. “Because if you die in Geneva, I’m going to hunt you down in whatever afterlife exists and kill you again myself.”
A rough sound escaped him. Almost a laugh.
His thumb traced my cheekbone. Wiped away tears I hadn’t realized were falling.
“Come back to me,” I whispered. “And we’ll figure out the rest.”
Xavier nodded. Held my stare with an intensity that made my breath catch.
Then he kissed me again. Gentler this time.
Xavier stood, pulling me up with him.
He kept our palms locked as he led me out of the kitchen. Through the quiet hallway. Up the narrow staircase to the second floor. To the guest room we’d been sharing.
The soft click echoed in the silence.
No words. We’d said enough.
Xavier pulled me close. Slid his palms up my back. Slow, deliberate. Not demanding. Just touching.
Like he needed to memorize the shape of me.
I reached up. Cupped his face. Traced the sharp line of his jaw with my thumb.
The walls I’d built after Emma’s death, the ones I’d reinforced with sarcasm and clinical distance and the determination never to care this much again, crumbled.
I kissed him.
Xavier made a rough sound against my mouth. Tightened his grip around me, lifting me slightly.
My back met the wood. His body pressed against mine.
Gentle. Reverent. Like I was something precious he’d been afraid to break.
I wasn’t breaking.
I was choosing him.
The door clicked shut, locking the rest of the world out in the freezing hallway.
