“Come on, Kimmy!”
Kir is about to start his excited dance in front of my door.
Elsa and I promised to take him to Elites’ game and he’s been stoked since the morning.
I don’t share his enthusiasm. Going to Elites’ games and knowing Xan won’t be there is like inflicting torture upon myself.
But this has been a long time coming for Kir, and he’ll definitely throw a fit if I don’t take him today.
The other week Dad and I took him out for ice cream to celebrate Dad’s new job approval. He’ll now work in London and in the mornings alone, so he’ll have plenty of time for Kir.
Still, the little shit was only asking about when we’d be taking him to a game and told us that he can totally buy tickets online now.
My baby brother is getting bigger way too soon and I don’t even like to think about it.
While I’m hurrying to get ready, London jumps on the bed, demanding to be petted. I scratch under her chin and she purrs, then gets distracted by my keys and begins playing with them.
The door to my room opens as I’m rushing to gather my phone, one arm in my denim jacket. “Coming, coming.”
“On my face or around my dick?”
I stop in my tracks, jacket hanging off my arm and my bag open as the voice registers. That deep voice with a hint of playfulness.
His voice.
Please don’t tell me I’m imagining things, because that would be much too cruel.
I briefly close my eyes before slowly opening them.
There he is, standing at the entrance of my room, wearing a simple grey T-shirt and black jeans that outline his athletic frame.
He’s gained some muscles over this month, making him appear a tad more lethal, a tad more attractive.
His lips are curved in a small smile, creasing his cheeks with those hot as hell dimples.
The blue of his eyes swallows me whole until he’s all I can see and all I can breathe.
It’s him.
Xander.
The sensation that hits me is so violent, the bag falls from my hand, its contents spilling on the floor.
“This isn’t a dream, right?” I whisper.
He strides in my direction and reaches me in a fraction of a second. By the time I stare up at him, smell him, I’m already done for.
He lifts me up in his arms and I gasp as his lips crush to mine, his tongue invading me and feasting on me.
I don’t even have time to focus or to think. Xander kisses me with the desperation of a man on the verge of breakdown.
Like me, he hasn’t been breathing, and now, we’re sucking in each other’s air for the first time in forever.
I wrap my arms around his neck and my legs around his trim waist as I kiss him with everything in me.
He’s here.
He came back for me.
“Does this answer your question?” he murmurs near my mouth.
“Not really.” I brush my lips against his. “I need a bit more to make sure.”
He chuckles, the sound easy and heartfelt as he claims my mouth again. This kiss is slower, more passionate. He’s tasting me as much as I’m tasting him.
There isn’t that constant aftertaste of alcohol. Now, he’s only like mint and ocean and…Xan.
My Xan.
He’s breathing me in as much as I’m breathing him.
He’s feeling me as much as I’m feeling him.
He came back.
Oh, God. He came back.
“Wait.” I shake my head, needing to get out of my haze. “You still have a few more days, no?”
His dimples make an appearance as he grins. “I came out early for exemplary behaviour.”
“Really?”
“Really. I had to come back for you, Green.”
“I missed you so much.” My voice breaks with my confession.
He groans, “You’re killing me, Green.”
“You have no idea how much I missed you.”
“And you have no idea how much I love you.”
I pause, blinking. “Say that again. I didn’t catch it the first time.”
“I love you, Green. I’m in love with you. It probably began that day you hugged me and told me you’d never let me go. It’s only heightened since then, and I might have hated you for it over the years, but I never once stopped loving you.”
If there were a moment I could freeze in time, this would be it. I want to grab it, snap a shot of it, box it, and look at it in the future, preferably every day.
My heart nearly bursts as I let my fingers roam to his nape and I whisper, “I probably started loving you before. It became a torture over the years, but it was so worth it.”
He leans over and bites my lower lip into his mouth. “So worth it, huh?”
“Absolutely.”
“As in you wouldn’t change anything about it?”
I pause before I say with conviction, “No. It’s because of that I became who I am.”
“And you became mine.”
I can’t contain my grin as he narrows his eyes.
“You have to say it.”
“Say what?” I play nonchalance.
“Mine?”
“Yours.”
