I bite the inside of my lip. But I guess he wasn’t a dream. Not if he’s standing here right now.
Does he want more? Is he back for work again?
When he left, we kept our goodbyes simple. We told each other how much we’d each loved the night. How we’d never forget it. Then he kissed me, and he drove away, and I turned around so I wouldn’t have to look at his taillights fading into the distance, taking my one reprieve from my overworked life with them.
Now he’s here, right in front of me again, and my mind is racing so fast that I don’t even register I’ve left him standing on the front porch waiting for an awkwardly long pause until he clears his throat. “Um… mind if I come in?” he asks, with a smile that makes his dark gray eyes light up.
That smile of his does wonderful, terrible things to my body. It makes my belly tighten with want, my thighs clench, as if they’re trying to contain the lust that’s certain to make my panties wet. The way his lips felt on my skin. The way he drove his tongue inside me. The way his thick, fat cock felt buried inside my pussy.
Fuck.
“Of course,” I say, my cheeks turning bright red even as I stand aside to wave him into the house. “Apologies for the mess,” I add with a glance over my shoulder at the dining room counter.
“It’s no problem,” he replies, stepping inside—he’s so tall the top of his head almost brushes our very low ceiling.
“Who was it?” mumbles a sleepy voice from the living room, and belatedly, I remember Devan sprawled across the couch.
I clear my throat hard. “Um, Devan, you remember me telling you about Xander, right?” I can hear a sudden rustle, as Devan shoves herself upright out in the living room, just before we step around the corner and I wave him after me. “Xander, this is my roommate Devan. We grew up together.”
She wipes sleep from her eyes with the back of one hand before standing and tugging her work skirt back into place. She’s a little creased in places, but she forces a smile anyway and sticks out a hand. “So nice to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you,” she says as Xander sticks out his hand, a bemused smile on his face.
“Is that so? All good things I hope.” He tilts his head, curiosity in his eyes as they dart toward me.
“Except for the naughty ones,” Devan replies, which makes my already red cheeks flare even hotter.
“Devan!”
Her smirk widens and she skips toward the dining room door. “Shall I grab you two anything to drink?” she asks, neatly skirting around me, since she knows I’d swat her if she came close enough to me. “Coffee? Tea? Ambrosia?”
“I’m all right actually,” Xander replies, his gaze fixed on me, laughter dancing in his eyes. He waits until she’s in the kitchen before he murmurs, “I see you found me worth mentioning to your friend, at least. That’s good to know.”
My face could boil the water in our kettle at this point. “I’m sorry. She just woke up; embarrassing me is her way of taking revenge for the nap interruption, I think.”
He chuckles. “It’s fine. I’m just glad to know you found me so memorable.”
Our eyes lock and hold, as Devan flounces back into the room. “So, to what do we owe the pleasure?” she asks. I notice she looks less rumpled now, and her cheeks glisten, as if she just splashed water on them. She probably did. Devan hates to look anything less than her best, especially around new people.
“I was hoping to talk to Melanie about something, actually.” Xander turns back to me. “It’s a business proposal, actually.”
“Oh.” I can’t help it. The sound just slips out, somewhere between disappointment and confusion. Business? He works on a charity that donates to farms. I might be a country girl born and raised, but I don’t know anything about farms. My mom worked in town, same as I do. We have a garden out back with tomatoes, like just about everyone around here, but that’s about it.
Still, I try to force the disappointment from my face. Okay, so he’s not back for another hookup. That’s fine. It still means I get to spend more time ogling him, at least. Because damn. He was hot as hell in my memories, but the real life Xander doesn’t do my memory of him justice. He’s even taller than I remembered, his eyes more smoldering, his jawline and cheekbones sharper.
And when he stares at me like he’s doing now, it feels like I have no walls or defenses up. As if he can see straight through my shields to the core of me. It both thrills and scares me at the same time.