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Samantha was curious about what had transpired between Ava and Xander. She explained that nothing had happened. He said he wanted to be friends, and that was a step in the right direction.
The next day Dani was nursing a hell of a hangover. She begged them to leave her alone for a few hours so she could sleep it off. They were happy to oblige since they were all going down to the hotel pool. Ava put on a black bikini that left little to the imagination. You could practically see her tattoo; the band was so low. Her weight loss was very noticeable, and she was once again closer to one hundred pounds than one hundred ten. The morning before she left, she weighed herself, and the digital scale had read one hundred three.
She didn’t care for food, and her stomach was always in knots especially on days she was with Xander more than she cared to be. But she was still muscular, and her stomach looked taut and tight. She put her hair in a ponytail and slathered on sunscreen before she slipped her sunglasses on and grabbed a towel. The guys had staked out lounge chairs for the group. They already had drinks and Nico, Stavros and Christos were already in the pool.
When Christos saw Ava come down, he called her into the pool. She slipped in from the side right into his arms, and he twirled her around in the water. She laughed and saw Xander frown. She was glad that she had sunglasses on because she could watch his reactions. She wanted to get him jealous. He just sat on the lounge chair watching her. Christos had his hands all over her and placed several kisses on her cheek and neck. Xander was getting frustrated with their behavior. He wanted to do those things to her, not watch some other guy do them. He knew she was trying to get a rise out of him.
He saw his chance to confront her when she went to go upstairs because she forgot her sunscreen. Her shoulders were beginning to redden. She walked toward the elevators and felt a hand on her elbow turning to see Xander behind her.
“I know what you are doing,” he said quietly.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“You’re trying to make me jealous.”
“Xander, I’m doing no such thing. We aren’t together, and you’ve made it abundantly clear that you only want to be friends. So why can’t I spend time with someone else?”
They stepped into the elevator. He pressed her against the wall and forced his lips upon hers. She responded as his lips moved and his tongue invaded her mouth. She became weak-kneed, and a hot flush began to flood her body. He removed his mouth from hers and pulled off his, then her, sunglasses. He looked her in the eye.
“Because I want you. As much as I have tried, and believe me, I have. I cannot get you out of my head. No matter what you’ve done, I don’t care. I want you so much. I haven’t stopped wanting you.”
“Wanting me is very different than loving me. You can’t keep doing this to me. You were so cold to me at the office for weeks, and now you want me? Just because another man is paying attention doesn’t mean you can interfere. Either you love me, or you don’t. I can’t change how things happened, but you seem to want your way without considering my feelings.”
He was about to answer her when the elevator stopped on a floor to pick up people. He moved away from her but stroked her arm with his fingers. She felt the electricity between them and her belly clenched. She wanted him but not if it had to be on his terms. The people with them got out two floors below theirs. He waited until they stopped on their floor to answer her.
“My way is our way. I see the way you look at me at the office. I see it when you think I’m not paying attention. You love me, too.”
“You hurt me, Xander. Out of everyone in my life you have wounded me the most.”
“I hurt you? You hurt me, too.”
She put her hand up to stop him because if this was going to turn into a tit for tat battle, she wanted no part.
“Just a few weeks ago we were at Z; you wanted to marry me. Now where are we?”
“I want to be at M.”
“What is M?”
“I want to make love to you. I miss holding you in my arms.”
“How is that M?”
“A is courting, G is dating, M is making love, S is engagement and Z is marriage.”
She looked at him like he was crazy. “That’s an interesting philosophy. But it doesn’t work that way.”
“It does,” he insisted.
He reached out to stroke her cheek with the back of his hand. She backed away from him not wanting to feel his touch. It would make her weaken, and she needed to be strong. They stood at the door to her suite staring at each other until Sam came out of the elevator a minute later.
“Hey, you two, are you coming back down to the pool?”
Ava answered her.
“Yes, I have to get more sunscreen. I’ll be down in a minute.”
Xander turned and went to the door of his suite. He was unhappy that Sam had interrupted their conversation, but there was nothing he could do. He went inside and went to the bar. He needed something to take the edge off his emotions and found a bottle of scotch that he poured in one of the thick crystal tumblers.
