Bachelor Unleashed - Brenda Jackson [21]
“You sure you want that, Farrah?”
She decided to answer him the only way she knew how. Honestly. “No, that’s not what I want, but I know that’s what I need to happen, Xavier. For my sake, you’re going to have to trust me on this.”
He opened his mouth to say something, and then as if he thought better of it, he clamped his mouth shut. He brought her hand to his face and gently rubbed against it. “Leaving you alone tonight isn’t going to be easy, Farrah,” he said in a low, sexy voice.
“And having you leave me alone won’t be easy, Xavier. But for my peace of mind, I don’t have a choice. Please say you understand, or please try to.”
He met her gaze and held it for a long moment. And then a slow smile of understanding tugged at his sensuous lips. “I’ll try, but only if you agree to see me again while you’re here.”
“What’s the point?” she couldn’t help but ask.
He cupped her chin in his hand. “To prove I’m not a bad guy.”
She shook her head. “I never thought you were a bad guy, Xavier. If I had thought that, you would not have shared my bed. In fact, I think you’re too good to be true and that’s what scares me.”
“Too good to be true?”
“Yes, both physically and emotionally. I could end up getting hurt. You wouldn’t hurt me intentionally, but I could get hurt just the same and I can’t let that happen.”
She knew she had said too much, had let her feelings become raw and exposed, but he needed to understand and accept what she was saying. He was becoming the one weakness she had to do without.
When Jules opened the car door for them, he slid out, and before her leg could touch the sidewalk, he had whisked her into his arms again. “Xavier!”
Jules raced ahead to open the glass door to the hotel, and Xavier didn’t place her back on her feet until they stood in the hotel’s lobby.
“I need to get my items from the front desk,” he said. “But first I’ll walk you to the elevator.”
He tucked her hand in his and they walked toward the elevator. “I’ll call you tomorrow, Farrah. I’d like to take you to a Broadway play while you’re here.”
“Xavier, I—”
He placed a finger to her lips. “At least think about it. It will be just two friends going out. No big deal.”
She drew in a deep breath. No big deal? Yeah, right. She’d assumed going to dinner with him tonight would not be a big deal either, but it turned out to be one anyway. “I’ll see if I’m available.”
“All right.”
He leaned down and brushed a kiss across her lips when the elevator door opened. She stepped inside and glanced over her shoulder at him. “Good night, Xavier.”
“Good night, Farrah.”
And as the elevator carried her from the lobby up to her room, she couldn’t help wondering how she was going to turn him down when he called her tomorrow.
Chapter 5
“Good morning, Mr. Kane.”
“Good morning, Vicki. Hold my calls for a while. By the way, you look nice this morning.”
Xavier entered his office thinking his secretary’s attire, a beige pantsuit, looked more appropriate for the office than those sexy outfits she’d been wearing. He was glad she’d taken his advice.
He eased out of his jacket and then sat down in the chair behind his desk. He was ready to roll his sleeves up and get some work done. He hadn’t been sure he would ever get to sleep last night, but when he had finally done so, he had basically slept like a baby. But that hadn’t kept visions of a hot and ready Farrah out of his mind. At least that’s how she used to be. This overly cautious Farrah would take some getting used to.
His cell phone rang and he leaned forward to pull it off his belt. “Yes?”
“When are you returning to Charlotte, X?”
He smiled at the sound of Uriel Lassiter’s voice. Since he and his five godbrothers had