“That crack in the sidewalk get you?”
“You can’t just say stuff like that without a little warning.” Xavier’s warm smile made her heart flutter. “Although if you want, you can—you should—say it again.”
“He sucked in bed.”
“Again.”
She laughed, pleased when he laughed with her.
He stopped her in front of someone’s showstopper of a garden just as the moon speared through the clouds, illuminating them as if on stage. “Beautiful.”
“Seriously. Are those poppies?”
“Not the flowers, doofus. I meant you.”
CHAPTER 23
In retrospect, “doofus” probably wasn’t the most romantic name Xavier could have called Justine, but a heavy wave of lust and affection blindsided him, making it difficult to do anything but stare.
The moonlight cast a glow over Justine’s already pretty features, and as she glanced up at him, the moon reflected in her eyes. Her smile lit as if from within, and he thought he’d never seen a more gorgeous woman in all his life.
He leaned down to kiss her just as she reached to pull him down toward her.
Unlike the other kisses they’d shared, this felt more intimate, filled with a heady warmth under all the passion that convinced him they were more than just friends. A pair of people so in tune with each other that they would be crazy not to seek more.
He slowly pulled back, his entire body alive with excitement, lust, and lo—a healthy dose oflike.“Wow.”
“No kidding.” She blinked up at him and caressed his chin. “Your beard is so soft, not scratchy at all.”
“I condition it. Yes, I’m vain like that.”
She smiled.
“Justine, I like you.”
“I like you too.”
He needed the words that refused to come. “I like you a lot. A lot-lot.”
“I get that sense, yes.” She squirmed in his hold, obviously feeling the erection pushing through his jeans into her.
“I—” He’d said she should set the pace of their relationship, and yet it was all he could do to hold in his new feelings. This excitement might be due to their newness or to the explosive chemistry they shared. But he’d never been so bowled over by any other woman and had no idea how to classify them as a unit. Friends? Lovers? Something more?
She kissed him again. “You what?”
“I can’t think when you’re in my arms.”
“Oh, wow. That’s poetic.”
“And true. We need somewhere private so I can show you what I mean.” Before he lost his mind and started doing a lot more than kissing in public.
“I know just the place.” She laughed with him as they ran together back around the corner to the apartment complex.
He had her hand in his as they brushed past Adam and Max talking in the courtyard.
Max frowned at them and shook his head.
Adam shot Xavier a thumbs up and grinned.
