“Relax, Snoop,” he advised, not bothering to look her way.
She rolled her eyes while balling her lips to keep from smiling.
His little nickname had grown on her. After almost three years of him not giving it a rest, it stuck, and as much as she tried to seem annoyed by it, she absolutely loved when he called her that.
Xander grabbed one of the face towels folded on the sink and turned to face Rylee.
There in just joggers, his torso sculpted obnoxiously perfectly, always beckoning Rylee’s admiration without saying a single word.
“Happy, now?” he asked, turning his attention to the hamper in the en suite to toss the face towel into. “I’m done.”
What she wouldn’t give to just pull him back in bed with her to cuddle up and get cozy for a long morning in. Make a pillow of his biceps, drape her leg over his waist, close her eyes and get lost in his forehead kisses and back rubs.
But she couldn’t. At least she’s told herself she couldn’t.
Her attention moved to the door before she was gesturing at him to keep moving.
“Cool, now get dressed.”
She was up on her feet, lifting his firehouse-branded tee off a nearby chair and handing it to him.
“Damn.” He chuckled, pulling his shirt over his head then poking his arms through the short sleeves. “You really got me feeling like you used me for my body and now you’re kicking me out on my ass like you paid to play.”
Rylee hollered a laugh then slapped her hand to her mouth.
She pointed at him. “Don’t make me get loud.”
He smirked, closing the distance between them. “Oh, you already did that last night.”
She tried to escape his hug, but she was too late. Or maybe she kind of wanted to get caught.
As he wrapped his arms around her then bent his legs at the knees to press a kiss to her lips, her defenses slipped, one by one, and she had no qualms about it.
It’s like Rylee told Dr. Liz, things had been great with Xander… too great.
He was an amazing man, with an even more amazing heart. He loved her, showed it, and extended that love to her children without hesitation.
It was that love for her children that made her nervous, though.
They absolutely loved Xander.
Loved him a little too much, according to Rylee.
Xander moved his lips off hers to press sensual kisses against her neck, making her eyes roll closed. His big hand slinked down past her waist and over her ass to take a palm full in one grip, igniting a slow burn across her body.
She couldn’t help the moan that left her lips, or the need to press her body even closer to his.
“Xander,please,” she moaned, already losing resistance. The bed was right there. Just one lean back and she’d be his again. Return to making that good loving, the kind that extended from the night and into the morning to the point Rylee was tired but still hungry for more. “I don’t want the kids to see you here.”
He moaned against her, dragging his teeth up her jawline, making her shiver against him. “Would that be the worst thing?”
She sighed in defeat, wanting to speak but not wanting to leave that moment.
That indulgent moment of Xander wrapping her up in all the things her body was craving more of.
She opened her eyes to a photo of Lennox on her night table. A candid shot she’d taken of him, years ago, after they had Nova. He sat in the rocking chair that used to be in her nursery, cradling her. His long arms and big hands making Nova appear smaller than a basketball in his embrace.
And just as the guilt she’d tried her damndest to fight off started to set in, her bedroom door burst open.
