Rylee rolled her eyes and tried to swallow back her laugh but failed.
“You keep making them love you more.”
“Disgraceful,” Xander whispered, pressing his hands to either side of his face. “Shame on me. My offense just keeps getting worse and worse by the minute.”
She punched him on the arm and he snorted.
“You know who’s really to blame here, right?” He wagged a finger at her. “It’s that Nova and her excitement. Nah, nah… it’s LJ and his hugs. Them kids are trouble, Snoop.Children of the Cornlevel trouble. I’m telling you. Look what they’re doing right now, getting me in trouble. Went to sleep and shit, leaving me to fend for myself in the wild. Just evil, baby.”
Rylee balled her lips to keep from smiling.
“Because when I answered a call to check out a toy store and their fire alarm,” he recalled, closing the distance between them and only stopping when he was close enough to wrap his arms around her waist. “And I saw those toys, I just couldn’t get out of my head how happy they would be if I brought them to them. And I didn’t tell you because I wanted it to be a surprise. Because yes, I love them kids…” He tilted her head back so she’d look at him. “Ireallylove you. And baby, while I get your hesitation, I’m tired of getting into fistfights with your fears. They hitreallyhard for real. And they’re impossible to duck.”
She scoffed a laugh.
“They giving me black eyes and busted lips and shit.”
She playfully slapped his chest. “Be serious.”
“Iam, baby, see...” Xander pointed at his eye. “They got me good right here.” He took her hand and pressed it to his chest against his heart. “And here.”
Rylee’s smile relaxed on her lips as she maintained eye contact.
There was silence between them. With the children in bed, the house was quiet on the other end of Rylee’s door, allowing Xander’s words to settle between them.
“I get it,” Xander continued, nodding now, lifting her hand to kiss and place it by her side. “I may have thought it once before, but that day I showed up to see you so…” He swallowed hard. “So down on the anniversary of Lennox’s death… I got it that day. Lennox wasn’t just your friend. He wasn’t just your kids’ father. He was the love of your life.”
He noticed when Rylee held her breath and didn’t let it go. So he held her firmer against him so she would exhale what she was holding in.
“I understand that now.” He nodded. “But I need you to understand this… you’re mine, Rylee. You’re the love ofmylife.”
Her jaw slacked a little, eyes never wavering.
Xander lifted his hand to brush the side of her face with his fingers.
“I love you with everything in me.” He bobbed his head up then down. “And with that, I know I have to love every part of you, including the loss and the pain. So I get it, aight?”
Her chest was rising and falling harder now.
“I need you to also know that you stole my heart and I don’t want it back from you.And…” His arms grew firmer around her waist. “As much as you try to fight it, I know you feel the same. I can feel it every time I’m with you. Around you. I can feel it deep down in my bones. IknowI have your heart too… what’s left of it at least.”
He noticed when her eyes began to water as she held their stare.
“Xander—”
Him pressing his thumb to her mouth stopped her. Xander ran his thumb down her lips, watching as her eyes closed, then he leaned in for a kiss.
He exhaled on her lips, loving the weight of her in his arms. Parted her lips slowly to slide his tongue into her mouth in search of hers.
She moaned, like she always did. Moaned in a way that made him feel like she wasn’t thinking of anything else but the two of them, there, in her bedroom.
Rylee kissed him back, her arms raising to coil around the back of his neck to take their kiss deeper.
Neither of them were in a rush. And that was clear from the kiss that was soft but aching, and filled with all the unspoken truths between them.
Xander confessed that she was the love of his life, but he didn’t tell her that he laid in bed at night wishing he could be in hers instead. How he wanted so bad to go to sleep and wake up to her every night and be whatever she needed in whatever way she needed him.
He didn’t say any of those things, but his kiss did. And he was sure she could feel that.
