She pulled away and slung her purse over her shoulder. “Many.”
She walked out of the bar, surprised at how steady on her feet she was after all those drinks. She was proud of herself for how well she’d handled her alcohol. A very responsible adult, she thought with pride.
Xander pulled two chairs out of her way before she crashed into them, then steered her out of the way of one of the tables. She looked pretty cute trying to pretend like she wasn’t drunk, he thought. He wasn’t going to let her even try to drive home though.
Out on the street, she looked to the right and left, trying to look for a cab so she could get home. She spun around, almost falling onto Xander in the process. “I forgot to pay our bar tab!” she gasped.
“Ryker took care of it,” he reassured her, running his hands over her back.
He heard something to his left and almost groaned out loud when he heard Suzy Martin screeching as she looked at him. Suzy was a woman who had tried very hard to entice him into her bed about three months ago. She had long, blond hair, a body that was as thin and flat as a cracker and beautiful eyes.
“I thought you were gay!” she said at the top of her lungs!
Xander’s eyes widened and he had to stop himself from laughing out loud. “Um, hello Suzy. How have you been?” he asked, extending his hand awkwardly. He wasn’t immune to the hilarity of her comment either.
“Don’t you dare ask me how I’ve been you bastard! You’re supposed to be gay!”
He didn’t roll his eyes, but it was close. “Why was I supposed to be gay?”
She flung her hands onto her barely-there hips, her cheekbones almost bursting out of her face because of a lack of body fat. “Because you weren’t interested! In anyone!” she yelled back at him, obviously furious with him.
He smothered his amusement as the woman he was painfully interested in snuggled against his chest. “I’ve really got to go,” he said, unconcerned with Suzy’s opinion of his sexuality.
“What does she mean?” Autumn asked, sighing as she laid her head onto his shoulder. She knew she shouldn’t, but he just felt so darn good!
“Don’t worry about her,” Xander said, leading her back to the parking garage and then gently tucking her into his car.
She was almost instantly asleep and he drove them straight to his place, not even considering heading back to hers. She’d said some strange things and he wanted her here where he could make sure to talk to her in the morning.
Autumn reared up in bed, looking around and then groaned in pain as her head felt like it was going to split apart from the pain shooting across her forehead.
“You’re not gay,” she whispered.
Xander sat up as well and watched with concern as she worked through the discovery of her hangover. “No. I thought that was pretty clear.”
She gripped her head in both hands while still trying to hold the sheet up over her body. “But Suzy said you weren’t interested in anyone.”
He got up out of bed and went into his bathroom. A moment later, he handed her a glass of water and some aspirin. “I wasn’t interested in those women.”
She took the aspirin and drank the entire glass of water. “Why weren’t you interested in them? And why did she think you were gay?”
She leaned back, unaware that it was onto his chest and not the pillows. All she knew was that she felt wonderfully safe and warm.
“I can’t speak for all of the women in Suzy’s mind, but as for her, I wouldn’t sleep with her. She wasn’t happy about that.”
Something in the back of her mind niggled at her memory. “What about that horrid woman yesterday?”
He rubbed her shoulders gently, trying to ease the pain of the hangover away but he suspected, from past, personal experience, that only time would ease her pain. “Which horrid woman are we discussing now?”
“The black-haired evil one that came in yesterday morning to speak with you.”
His fingers stilled on her shoulders while he went through the people he’d had meetings with yesterday. “Are we discussing Marcy Duprey, by any chance?” he asked.
“I think that was her name.” She leaned back, feeling slightly better now that the aspirin was starting to metabolize in her body.
Xander sighed. “Marcy Duprey came in to get her third prenuptial agreement signed. Her husbands have required it in the past.”
That was definitely news to her. “Why?”
“Because she’s a heartless, merciless woman who goes through husbands like other women go through stockings.”
Autumn laughed slightly but then stopped when the pain in her head throbbed. “I think I drank too much last night,” she sighed, rubbing her temples gently.
Something else occurred to her and she froze. Pulling away from him, she looked up into his eyes, needing to understand him. “What did your brother say last night?”
Xander rolled his eyes. “Which one? And at what time? They were saying a lot, probably a lot of things you didn’t hear.”
She shook her head then stopped when it hurt too much. “No, I heard this. It didn’t make sense at the time.”
Xander stiffened, worried about whatever his brothers might have said that would hurt her feelings. “Which comment, love.”
She bit her lip, trying to think through the pain that was still throbbing. “Ryker said ‘You wish’ after I said something about you dating all those other women.”
Xander pulled her back against his chest and resumed his massage. “Ryker doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”
She heard the words, but something about the tone of his voice didn’t ring true. “What aren’t you telling me, Xander?” she asked, more worried now than she had been last night. “I don’t understand you and I’d like to. But I can tell that you’re hiding something.”
Xander leaned his head back against the headboard slightly. “Are you sure you really want to do this?”
She thought about it for a long moment. “Yes. I think I do. Are you going to tell me something horrible? Like you’re a secret serial killer and I’m your next victim? If so, maybe you really should keep that to yourself. If I’m going to die a horrible death, I’d rather not know about it in advance.”
Xander was already laughing before she finished her comment. “No, I’m not a serial killer. But then, nor am I a serial dater.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Xander moved his hands lower, easing the tension along her shoulder blades. “Are you sure you want to discuss this? It’s going to change everything and you might not like what you hear.”
And instantly, all the tension was right back with her. She pulled away from him and stood up, grabbing his shirt from the chair and buttoning it up before she turned around to face him. “Okay. Tell me. What’s going on? What is this big secret?”
Xander leaned back against the headboard again, staring up at the ceiling. “I’m in love with you. My brothers have known about it for years.”
She stood there, staring. Not understanding. “But all those women…”
“They were just a smoke screen.”
She felt a small little flutter in her stomach. “So when that woman on the street said you were gay, it was because….?” She wasn’t sure how to say it.
He ran a hand through his hair in frustration. “Suzy doesn’t count.”
That was a startling comment. “Why doesn’t she count?”
“Because she’s too thin. I wasn’t even remotely attracted to her.”
“And Jessica?”
Xander shrugged again. “Too aggressive.”
“Marcy?”
He grinned. “Too mercenary.”
She couldn’t help but chuckle at that one. “And all the other women?”
His eyes turned wary and he hesitated. But when he saw the vulnerability in her eyes, he sighed and told her the truth. “They weren’t you.”
She gasped and tried to take another breath, but his words made her heart ache. In a good way this time. “How do I know?” she whispered.
He shook his head. “I can’t prove anything to you. My brothers know I haven’t slept with anyone for years. Suzy knows which is why she and all of her friends think I’m gay. I wouldn’t sleep with any of them, no matter how much they tried to tempt me.”
“You weren’t tempted?”
“Not even in the slightest.”
“But they’re all beautiful,” she stated as if he were crazy.
“They weren’t you, Autumn.”
She paced back and forth at the bottom of his bed, ignoring the pain in her head. “This doesn’t make any sense. You’re a very sexual man.”
“I am with you. With other women, they leave me cold.”
“We fight all the time!” she said, throwing her hands up in the air with exasperation.
“I like fighting with you,” he grinned. “I like fighting and talking and laughing and cooking but most of all, I like making love to you. I love hearing your moans when I do something that you like.”
She blushed and looked at her hands. “I moan all the time.”
He laughed, nodding his head. “I know that. I like it.”
She sat down at the end of the bed, her mind quickly moving through everything he’d told her this morning. “Why?” she asked, trying very hard to understand and believe what he was saying, but it was too hard. Because if he changed his mind, it would break her heart.
“Xander, are you trying to tell me that you haven’t had sex with anyone since you met me?”
He shook his head. “No. I can’t claim that. I’ve been with other women in that time. You were too young initially. And then you started dating that ass, Tim or Tom or something like that.”
“Tim,” she confirmed. “He was a nice guy.”
“He was an ass. He had a wimpy handshake and he was afraid of spiders.”
She laughed, remembering her telling her co-workers about how he’d jumped up on the kitchen chair when a spider had appeared in his kitchen one night. She’d had to kill it for him and left almost immediately afterwards. “You heard that conversation?” she asked.
“Yes. And went out and killed five spiders that day, just to prove my worth to you.”
She laughed hard, even able to picture him going into the woods to find spiders. “You never told me about your killing spree.”
He crossed his arms over his bare chest, denying her the view she liked so much.
She bit her lip, trying to figure out if she believed him or not. “So why haven’t you said anything in all these years?”
“Because you didn’t seem interested in me.”
“We used to be friends.”
“I want more than a friendship.”
And here it was, she thought. This was the brass ring. Dare she ask the question? “What do you want?”
“You,” he said without hesitation. “I want you in my home. In my bed. I want you to marry me and make me the happiest man in the world. I want to fight with you and make love to you ten times a day.”
Her eyes widened. “Ten times?” she asked, shuddering.
“I have a lot of years to make up for,” he explained. He waited tensely for her to respond to the other things he’d said but when she just sat there staring at her hands, he couldn’t wait any longer. “Is there any way you might learn to love me?”
She laughed and hiccupped at the same time. “Xander, I’ve been in love with you ever since you bought me those leather, cashmere gloves after I lost mine.”
His face was blank as he said, “Someone dropped them in the parking lot that day.”
She crawled up the bed, knowing he was looking down the neckline of the shirt, staring at her breasts. “You bought them at the store around the corner an hour before you gave them to me. The salesclerk had the receipt delivered over to you since you forgot to pick it up before you left.”
He grimaced, but since she’d reached him by this point, he helped her by lifting her up and arranging her so she was straddling him, exactly how he wanted her. “So I lied about that. What about the rest of what I told you?” he asked, his hands resting on her thighs.
She tilted her head to the side, considering all that he’d said. “I believe you.” She grinned. “Or more specifically, I believe Ryker and Suzy.”
Xander froze for a moment, then with a growl, he tossed her onto her back, tickling her in all the places he’d discovered she was ticklish. He didn’t let up until she was begging him to stop, laughing so hard she could barely get the words out.
“I love you,” he told her tenderly, kissing her smiling lips and looking down at her with all the love in his eyes.
Her fingers reached up to touch his hair and his face. “I love you too. I’m sorry it’s taken us so long to realize it,” she whispered.
He grinned lasciviously. “That’s okay. I’ll just have to make up for all the years you were too stubborn to realize what was going on,” he said. And he started doing just that.
“Is this your way of ensuring that I don’t look at another woman?” Xander asked, leaning against the doorway to their bedroom.
Autumn swung around, her shocked eyes taking in his buff body in the tailored tuxedo. “Goodness,” she breathed softly, unable to stop gawking. “Don’t do that.”
One eyebrow went up in inquiry. “Don’t do what?”
“Wear that tuxedo. It’s not legal.”
He chuckled and walked into the bedroom where she was finishing up. “What’s illegal is you, in this dress. I don’t think I like seeing you in this dress.”
She laughed and smacked his hands away but he ignored her efforts, just like she knew he would. She had just pulled on the blue, satin bridesmaid’s dress for Mia’s wedding. It was beautiful and sexy and she loved Xander’s reaction so she didn’t fight his hands too diligently. As if she would ever object to having his hands touch her in any way. “We’re going to be late if you don’t stop,” she said as he bent lower and nibbled along her neck.
“I think I need some handcuffs,” he said.
She laughed softly, but the idea had merit. “Who would be wearing the cuffs?”
“You, of course.”
Shaking her head, she stepped out of his arms and slipped her shoes on, feeling better now that she didn’t feel so short. In her heels, the top of her head at least reached his chin. “There’s no ‘of course’ about it,” she argued. “I don’t think I should have to wear handcuffs after last night.”
He grabbed her wrists and held her in place, just like he’d done the previous evening. “Ah, but you didn’t learn your lesson well enough.”
“I didn’t know there was a lesson to learn.”
“There’s always something to learn,” he came back, lifting her hand so that he could look at the diamond ring sitting there. His finger rubbed over the diamond and he smiled. “We’re still not going to announce our engagement today?”
“Absolutely not. This is Mia’s day.”
He rolled his eyes. “And you think Mia didn’t plan all of this?” he asked, indicating the satin blue dress she was wearing which was low cut and sexy as hell. “She’s up to something and you know it.”
Autumn laughed, agreeing with him. But since she and Xander were already a couple, neither of them minded that Mia was doing a little matchmaking. “So when are we going to announce our wedding?”
Xander shrugged. “Why announce it at all? Why don’t we just fly out to Vegas and get married tomorrow?”
She thought about that for a moment, then nodded her head. “Okay.”
He pulled her into his arms. “Would you really want to do that? What about a big wedding? Don’t you want all of your friends there with you?”
She smiled slightly. “Well, Mia will be on her honeymoon, I can’t invite Kiera and Cricket because they’re sick of weddings after this one. And I don’t want to wait another year or two for them to recover. So why don’t we just have a small party when we get back?”
He thought about that for a moment, then shook his head. “No. I want my brothers there with me when I get married. And I want you to have your friends there. I know you’ve known Mia, Cricket and Kiera for only a few weeks, but the three of you seem like sisters already. They should be there, ready or not.”
“We just finished helping Mia. I really don’t want to go through all of this again.”
He looked at her carefully. “Are you sure? You don’t want the white dress and the flowers and all that stuff?”
She grinned. “I can still wear the white dress in Las Vegas. I don’t need the flowers or the big reception. I just need you,” she said and stretched up to kiss him.
Xander pulled her closer, deepening the kiss even while his mind was working out a plan. He wanted Autumn to have everything, so everything she will get.