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“Feel the same way.”
“Do you . . . do you know about all of her?”
Brick eyed him for a moment. “You asking about whether I know about her Little side?”
Xavier sucked in a breath.
“I know. I’m a Daddy Dom.”
All right then. That was good. He supposed. Fuck, it was hard being a good friend. A good person.
“Xavier?”
He glanced up to find her standing on the staircase. He hadn’t heard her, but she’d always moved around quietly. It kind of bothered him. Not that she could sneak up on him. But that she felt the need to be quiet. To move like a ghost.
He wanted her to stomp around, loud and joyful. Happy.
She wore her hair in two braids down in front of her shoulders. She was wearing her bathing suit, which looked more like a wetsuit, covering her from her ankles to her wrists to her collarbones.
And he hated that too.
Hated that she hid her body. That she wore black to fade into the background. Why had he never helped her with her hang-ups? He knew that she’d seen a therapist when she first arrived in Wishingbone. She always said she didn’t want to talk to another one again, but maybe he should have pushed her more.
Fuck, you don’t deserve her and that’s why you lost her.
He just needed to make sure this guy did deserve her.
“Hey, Twink,” he greeted her with a soft smile. “Brought you these.”
Her face softened as she took in the flowers he held up. “My favorite.”
“I know.”
Brick cleared his throat. Shoot, he’d kind of forgotten the other man was there. “That’s what you’re wearing swimming, Duchess?”
Duchess? Interesting nickname. And then he realized that Juliet had spoken. In front of Brick. She only talked to a handful of people.
And now him.
Fuck. This guy had known her for what, ten days? And she was speaking to him. Xavier eyed him assessingly. Yeah, he’d fucked up.
“Um, yeah. Something wrong?”
Brick shook his head. “No, baby girl. I’m gonna go get changed, then track down dumb and dumber. Don’t go in the pool without me. I’ll leave you two to chat.”
Christ, he was definitely a better person than him. That sucked. He wasn’t sure he could have left his girl alone with Brick if things were reversed.
But then he was starting to see that he was a messed-up asshole. The nice-guy act was just that. An act. Could he do this? Could he stay in Wishingbone and see her with someone else day after day? Knowing that she’d never be his.
You fucking fool.
“Xavier? Are you all right?”
He shook himself out of his introspection and smiled down at the best thing that had ever happened to him.
“Shall we put these in water?” he asked her, reaching out his hand to her. Then he snatched it back. “Sorry.”
She looked confused. “Why?”
