Page 43 of Made For You

“A couple of GMs are interested,” Miles reports, and my eyes never leave Xavier’s.

I can see the way his eyes go a darker shade of gray. “Okay,” he says.

“Set up the meetings,” he finally adds. My eyes go big as I have to keep my lips sealed shut before I cheer for him. I know that it took a lot for him to take that step. “Then just message me back the dates, and I’ll set up things on my end.”

“I’m almost afraid to ask what changed,” Miles states. “So let me set shit up before you change your mind.” He just disconnects, and I wait for Xavier to say something.

“How are you feeling?” I can’t help but ask him, my hands trying not to shake while I wait for him to answer.

“Not the worst I’ve felt.” He looks down at my hands on his chest. “Will you come with me?”

“Yes.” I don’t even have to think twice about it. “Wherever it is.” He pulls me to him. His hands circle me as I lay my head on his shoulder, not saying a word, hoping he can feel my strength and energy go to him.

I don’t know how long we sit here before he kisses my neck. But it goes from bright and sunny to a bit darker.

“Let’s go watch the sunset,” he urges, and I think he means going up on deck, but instead, he means taking me out to watch the sunset. He unplugs everything, and in a matter of fifteen minutes, I’m walking back onto the boat.

“Look at you,” he throws over his shoulder at me, “a perfect yachtie.” He puts his arm over my shoulders when I stand next to him as I wrap my arms around his waist. He takes us to our spot, and I walk up to press the anchor button, the way he showed me when we were with my family.

“It’s good,” I tell him, and he turns off the boat before joining me on the sun pad. He props up the sun pad to lean back on it. He sits down and opens his legs for me to sit between them. I press my back to his chest, moving to the side so my face touches his. We both watch the sunset, neither of us saying anything. “Do you want to stay here for the night?”

He looks at me and smiles. “With you, I’ll stay anywhere.” He kisses me on the lips. I turn in his lap, and in a matter of minutes, we are both naked. He slides into me at the same time our mouths fall on each other’s. I cling to him as we both come, and we walk inside a couple of hours later. We munch on a couple of things, and his phone beeps. He looks at me, not sure of what to do.

“You can answer it tomorrow,” I tell him, and he just looks down at his hands starting to shake.

I slip my hand in his, the tears threatening to come, but I stay strong for him. “You are the one who controls this narrative,” I reassure him. “You. No one else.”

He kisses me softly before letting my hand go and walking over to his phone. I swear I’m holding my breath, waiting for him to tell me what is on the text. I hate that I’m itching to ask him what it says. Hoping he tells me before I ask him, I keep it neutral. “Everything okay?” I ask as the lump forms in my throat.

“Yeah.” He looks down. “Can you leave tomorrow?”

Even if I hadn’t been able, I would make it so I could. “Yes,” I tell him. “Just one little thing.” I hold up my hand. “I need to stop by my place and pack. The only thing I have on the boat is boat attire.”

He chuckles. “We can go by your place before we leave,” he assures me, and I look over at Beatrice.

“What about Beatrice?” I ask, and he smiles from ear to ear. I even think about taking her with us, or we can get a dog sitter to come and walk her.

“She’s going to stay with her favorite human in the whole world,” he says, looking at her. “Steven, my co-captain, is going to take her.”

I nod at him. “Then it’s settled.” I take a deep breath and smile to make sure he knows I’m okay, but deep down inside, I’ve never been more nervous.

CHAPTER26

XAVIER

“Don’t lookat me like that,” I tell Beatrice when I turn to pack some of my T-shirts in the luggage on my bed. She is sitting in the middle of the bed, just watching me. “You think I want to do this?” I shake my head, walking to the closet and grabbing the three suits I have. “It’s complicated.” I place the suits in the middle of the garment bag. “You’ll be fine.” She yawns in my face. “You think I’m not freaking out?” I shake my head, my heart speeding up when I think about it. My chest gets just a touch tighter, but I breathe through it. “Steven is going to come and take care of you.” Her head perks up, and she looks over at the door, listening to see if he’s here. When I called him last night to ask him to watch Beatrice, he jumped at it. It also helped that he wanted to come and stay on the boat. Out of everyone she’s met, she loves Steven. It helps he’s always bringing her some treat or another.

I look back into the bag, wondering if I am packing enough or if I am packing too much. It’s been such a long time since I had to dress up in suits. “Do you think I should pack another suit, or is three enough?” I put my hands on my hips, settling for the three suits. “Three is good enough.” Beatrice just yawns at me. “Toiletries.” I turn, walking to the bathroom and seeing the towels from this morning are still on the floor. After our walk this morning, Vivienne was going to go to her boat to shower since all her stuff was on her boat. But I persuaded her that we should conserve water by showering together. So now her stuff is in my shower. Picking up the wet towels, I hang them up on the hooks. When Miles called me, I was going to say no, but something just said yes. I grab the black leather bag, throwing my toothbrush in there with my toothpaste, along with my deodorant and aftershave. I zip it up at the exact moment I hear Steven call out my name.

I walk out of the bathroom seeing Beatrice look over at the door, not sure she heard him or not. “Who’s that?” I ask her, and then she hears him.

“Where is my pretty, pretty girl?” he calls, and she’s off like a bat out of hell. I can hear her tail hitting the walls as she runs up the stairs. “There she is.” I hear Steven, then I hear him laughing. “I guess you missed me.”

I shake my head, tossing my toiletry bag in the luggage and zipping it up. I take a deep inhale and exhale. “Here we go.” I grab the bag and walk up the stairs. Steven is sitting in the middle of the living room playing with Beatrice, who is on her back, waiting for him to scratch her stomach. He wears shorts and a T-shirt with a baseball cap. “Look who it is.”

He looks up at me and smiles. “Who the fuck are you, and what have you done with Xavier?” He laughs, and I shake my head and look down at my outfit. Gone are the boat clothes, and in their place is my other look. I’m wearing blue pants with a white shirt tucked in and white leather sneakers on my feet.

“I don’t look that different,” I say, walking to the door and putting down my bag. “Just more put together.”