Business Always
CHAPTER 31—AMELIA POV

"For fuck's sake," I whisper a curse to my shoe. For the amount I paid for them—, hey really did me dirty at this time.

I clench my teeth trying to ignore the shooting pain in my ankle which was a consequence of breaking my shoe.

I curse myself too. I had one job, to leave quietly, and I couldn't even do that.

He had definitely heard me and now it was too late to turn back or attempt to make a

run for it. Besides I had a broken shoe and a possibly twisted ankle.

Grudgingly, I turn around. My remaining heel clicks on the ground and the sound confirms to Xavier that there indeed is someone outside his home.

He walks further out the door, triggering the motion sensitive porch lights to turn on.

The light hits my face harshly and causes my eyes, which had now gotten used to the dark, to squint against the accusatory brightness.

When I finally manage to peel my eyes open enough, all I can make out is Xavier's very surprised face. His eyebrows are comically high, and his eyes are wide open as he acknowledges that I'm standing in front of him-probably the last person he expected

to see.

"Amel-Miss Davis?" he corrects himself. "What are you doing here?"

"Nothing." I almost laugh.

"You're outside my house. This can't be nothing." His eyebrows are now raised in curiosity and slight amusement rather than surprise.

What was I going to say?

I came to say I love you but saw you with your new woman and decided to leave last minute.

I wasn't going to throw myself at him when I clearly wasn't welcome to.

I don't answer him. But instead try to walk past him and out of there with what little pride I had left.

That small amount of pride is completely destroyed when my already hurting ankle gives up on me, making me lose my balance and tumble forward.

Dim necnácený i kontriny arms out topping utley hear my ran" withrich fitter huntings my ankle, but my hands hit against Xavier's strong chest instead of the gravel ground.

I look up at him, his eyes glaring back down. The shadow of his face under the porch lights made him look more menacing but simultaneously much more handsome too. His hands grab my hips, pulling me so I'm standing straight and no longer a falling risk. A red blush explodes on my face when I realia our intimate position as I immediately pull my hands away and drop them to my side.

He doesn't move his hands. Instead, he returns that cold gaze. "What are you doing here?"

I look into his eyes for a moment, hoping I could replace any emotion, good or bad. But there was nothing.

My biggest fear had come to life, not that he hated me but that he feels nothing to

me.

Because I too hated him once, but that burning hatred is what kept him alive in my heart. That's why I knew that if he hated me at least I would still be a part of him.

"I came to talk," I say, followed quickly by, "But I don't want to anymore."

His hands drop to his side, my hips feeling cold where his hands once sat so comfortably. I don't lower my eyes, meeting his demanding gaze for as long as he wanted to.

"Talk," he says lowly. At first, I think he was clarifying what I said, but then, I realize he's commanding me.

"I don't want to," I say back.

"I think after you trespassed my property and wasted my time, I deserve an explanation," he saus sarcastically, a small smirk spreading across his face.

"I don't owe you anything."

He laughs sadistically. "You owe me everything."

"Why don't you go talk to Layla?" I let slip out, my eyes widening at my own audacity.

His eyes glint playfully. "So that's this is about?"

"Just leave me alone." I turn around to walk but wince when I put weight on my ankle.

"She tried it with me," Xavier says. I pause and immediately forget my pain. I painfully turn back to face him.

When I don't say anything, he takes it as an invitation to keep on talking.

"Giggling at my words even when they weren't jokes, touching my arms." He takes a step closer, caressing my face with his rough fingers. "She even asked me out on a date."

My body instantly hardens.

It was nice seeing you, Xavier. I'll see you tomorrow night.

I remember her words, so he's meeting her tomorrow.

"Good for you," I say, my jaw tighter than before. "She seems nice."

"Oh, trust me...she's very nice." He takes another step forward till there's barely any space between us, his chin hovers over my shoulder and his lips against my ear "unfortunately Miss Davis...I don't like nice women."

His proximity to me makes my mind go fuzzy, I'm trying to ask him if he has a date with her or not but all that comes out is a series of incomprehensible sounds.

He chuckles at his effect on me. "I said no."

My chest relaxes and my shoulders slump out of relief at his answer.

"You seem a little too pleased about that, especially for someone who got so sick of

me that she had to leave the state."

"I...I came back," I refute sheepishly.

"Is it not too late for that?" he teases.

"Is it?"

Is it too late?

My heart thumps against my chest as he says that. What if I was too late? Just because

he denied Layla doesn't mean he will so easily come back to me.

When he doesn't answer my question, I brush past his shoulder. His silence was an answer enough and it was time for me to leave.

"I'm sorry," I say one last time.

I wanted to leave as quickly as possible, but my aching ankle delayed my departure.

I look up at the night sky, the twinkling stars seeming like nothing but a false sense of hope and a dream I was so close to catching.

I wish I could've expressed to him how much I loved him before having to let him go. He's everything I promised I wouldn't indulge in.

I climbed the ladder and fell before the last step. But even as I fell to my misery, I felt like I was flying.

It was reasonable enough to hope that I did the best I could, even when I didn't.

I'm ready. Ready to close this chapter and hope a better one awaits.

But I know it won't because this is the best thing I've ever had.

It feels like an eternity, but I've only walked 2 or 3 steps away from him when a grip secures my hand.

I stop, not turning around. I look up to the sky-the stars seeming somewhat brighter.

I return his tight grip with my own significantly smaller hand, melting all the creases and lines of his fingers into mine.

He pulls me closer, and in that moment, my fleeting joy overpowers any physical pain as I walk closer to him.

Before I can do or say anything, he tentatively presses his lips against mine. The porch lights had long ago automatically turned off leaving just me, him, and the starry night

sky.

His hand moves out of mine and around my body, one on my waist and the other cupping my cheek. In return, I snaked my arms around his neck and manage to somehow pull us even closer.

My mind was blurred into nothingness, my only thought was him. I inhaled deeply, absorbing his intoxicating scent as he plunged his tongue into a duel with mine.

The rims of his dark eyes were inflamed as he pulled away for a moment, breathless and smiling as I was.

My heart was reacting, not a beat or a thump but as if an entire thunderstorm of emotions attacked it. "Xavier..." I mumble, tracing his jaw with my finger.

"Not now," he breathes out, pulling me into another long awaited and dirty kiss. "You're mine. Maybe not forever, but in this moment, you're mine."