Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 84401 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 422(@200wpm)___ 338(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84401 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 422(@200wpm)___ 338(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
He paused briefly when he spotted me, and his expression slipped: guilt.
I lowered my eyes to my mobile, pretending to be busy with business, which wasn’t even a lie. I still had about twenty-five emails I needed to read and respond to.
“Is this your assistant?” the girl asked.
Xavier didn’t say anything, and I didn’t bother to look up or confirm her assumption. His strong legs appeared in my peripheral vision. “Evie,” he said simply.
That deep voice. I was a glutton for punishment. I masked my emotions, and I peered up at him. “We have forty minutes to get you to training,” I said in a professional voice. Sophisticated and in control, both qualities I longed for at the moment.
“You haven’t answered any of my messages.”
“You can’t be late again. Your coach will put you on the bench next game.”
“I was worried about you.”
“You also have an interview with Women’s Health at three p.m.”
The blonde followed our conversation like a tennis match.
“Spare yourself the embarrassment and just leave,” I told her. “He won’t meet you again. He never does.”
She blanched, then pursed her lips. “Only because you don’t get laid, fatty, doesn’t mean you have to let it out on me.”
I didn’t even feel offended. I was already too broken up to care about an insult from her, and I had heard worse in school. Nothing was as cruel as teenagers.
Xavier whirled on her, making her take a step back. “I liked you better when your mouth was busy swallowing my cum.”
She sucked in a shocked breath. And I stifled my own gasp. That was low, even for Xavier. I’d never heard him talk to a woman like that.
“Leave—you heard what Evie said.”
She shot me the nastiest glower possible before she strode out, her head held high. I wished I’d managed that kind of departure three days ago and found myself relieved that nobody had recorded my walk of shame. That would have been the headline of the year.
“That was unnecessarily cruel,” I told him.
He turned back to me, with a look that made me more than a little nervous. “She got what she deserved. I don’t know why it’s always the same.”
“Oh, you know, women can be foolish sometimes,” I said lightly.
Xavier grimaced. He rubbed the back of his head. “Listen, Evie, I’m—”
“Late, I know,” I interrupted him. “We need to leave now. Get dressed.” I hopped down from the barstool, grabbed my purse and headed toward the door. “I will be waiting for you. You’ve got five minutes.”
I threw a glance over my shoulder at a pained-looking Xavier. “I’ll leave in exactly five minutes with or without you,” I warned as I stepped outside, closed the door and leaned against the wall in the hallway.
Four minutes and fifty-five seconds later Xavier stepped out of his apartment, dressed in his usual training gear. I turned and quickly called the elevator, my back to him.
He stopped close beside me. “How are you?”
Oh my God, was he being serious? “This conversation isn’t happening.”
“Evie—”
The elevator stopped on the floor and I moved in, then leaned against the wall. Xavier hesitated a moment before he joined me inside and pressed the button for the ground floor.
I had a hard time not checking him out in the mirrors. “I quit,” I said.
His head snapped around to me. “We have a contract.”
“I know. And I’m going to find you a good replacement for me, don’t worry.”
“I don’t want a replacement. I want you.”
Not in the way I want you.
“Six months. That’s the maximum you get. After that I can leave without a replacement.”
He glared. “If that’s what you want.”
I nodded. It was far from what I wanted, but it was the best outcome I could hope for. The moment the elevator arrived downstairs, I rushed out. We didn’t talk again during the drive.
We arrived on the training grounds at five to nine. Xavier jogged toward the field as I took my usual seat on the bleachers.
“That girl of yours saves your ass again,” the coach said with a wave at me.
I smiled in return. Soon someone else would have to save Xavier’s ass, even if it was the sexiest ass I’d ever had the misfortune of knowing.
Xavier and I barely talked in the following days. Mainly because my answers consisted of one-word replies and Xavier wasn’t used to women giving him a hard time, so he just gave up.
I entered his apartment as I did every morning, loudly, to prevent more embarrassing incidents from occurring.
I was busy preparing a cappuccino for myself when the sound of steps drew my eyes up, and I froze when the same girl as yesterday morning came down the staircase. Xavier didn’t do a girl twice. Ever.
I was still staring when Xavier followed after the woman. Then finally I focused on the milk foam, but I listened.